What was your first shaving equipment?

I started with an Edwin Jagger DE89, Perfecto pure badger shaving brush, Astra SP blades, and The Gentleman's Hangar Sandalwood shaving cream. After a week of shaving I bought TOBS Eton College. Then after a few weeks with that I discovered Maggard Razors and the fun began. I ordered Catie's Bubbles LMR and Soapy Bathman Orange Ouli, a Maggard MR8 handle, and Colonel Simpson best badger shaving brush. This was all before discovering a shaving board but I was watching plenty of shaving videos.

1987- Gillette Super Speed, Williams, Ever Ready boar brush. Was my permanent setup for over 20 years until I found these fiendish type of sites and did a major overhaul.

Ah, life was so simple back then.

My first wet shaving item was passed down from my dad to me as a teenager. It was a schick injector. Many years and journey through electrics, multi blade monstrosities, I rediscovered my wet shaving roots with the purchase of Edwin Jagger DE89, with a van der hagen deluxe shave set. I purchased a de razor sampler set. That was 5 or so years ago.

My first shave gear was a Gillette double edge razor in 1966.

I was in the U S Army trying to use that thing.

I needed a mentor to teach me how to use it, but I didn't have one.

So I gave up and bought an electric shaver.

And that is my story.

My first wet shave experience was at the Art of Shaving store in Dallas the weekend of my 30th birthday. My wife and I went down for the weekend and while walking through the Galeria we stumbled across the store. I watched as a gentleman received a shave and thought man that looks pretty cool. Soon I found myself in the chair and the experience was so relaxing. I had long had trouble with terrible razor bumps and ingrown and the barber explained to me the advantages of using straight razors. After he finished my wife was amazed how smooth my face was and I was ready to jump right in. My birthday present ended up being a T.I. AoS stainless scale model and sandalwood travel kit. Three days later I worked up the nerves to try the straight razor and have never looked back. Don't use the straight much but the sandalwood from AoS is still one of my wife's absolute favorite scents.

My first set up in 1964 was a blue tip that belonged to my dad (he preferred the red) if I recall correctly, and I used his boar brush and Old Spice mug with whatever he had in it. The first razor I bought was a slim. In college I used a straight razor. Then for long periods of time I just mowed my beard with clippers. Never really got into the plastic, which gave me too many ingrown hairs. I have been known to shave with a knife on quite a few occasions, whenever the Dan'l Boone mood strikes. My dad taught me that too.

About 13 Months ago


First Razor

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First Blade

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First Cream

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First Aftershave

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First Brush

I believe my first razor was a Merkur Futur and my software was TOBS Eton College cream. I can't for the life of me think what brush I had, possibly Men-ü. I know I brought a New Forest Mountain Badger very quickly.

I had the help of some forums where I lurked, and all those glowing reviews on Amazon, for the following:
Merkur 34 HD for $35 approximately.
Ambroley best badger, $35 (really liked this brush, but lost it to an accident)
TOBS Natural, $15
Perfecto Deluxe Chrome razor and brush stand, $17
That roughly $100 was to be it, along with a sampler blade pack from Maggard Razors.
But wait, is that a Rabbit Hole, full of shiny objects, wonderful soaps, soft brushes, etc., etc., etc.?!  And why is my credit card groaning?

Gather 'round, citizens of the internet, and I will regale you with one of my most embarrassing stories:

The year was 2008 (or 2009) and I was 23. My relationship with shaving up until that point had been a Mach 3, Edge Pro Gel, and Bath and Body Works aftershave balm of some sort. I did this for, maybe, a month or two in high school before abandoning it for a cheap electric (which, honestly, was pretty amazing). Being prone to all manner of irritation, I only used the trimmer portion 99% of the time, and eventually graduated to a beard trimmer which I used without a guard. I thought clean shaving was something that I'd just never be able to do.

Around that time, I somehow became aware of wet shaving. I promptly bought a brush, razor, and cream on Amazon with absolutely no knowledge whatsoever. The brush (which I still have and use in my shop to brush resin dust out of my forstner bits) is an old synthetic with massive fibers. Branded badger, it looks like banded boar and feels like grim death. The cream was Proraso green. The razor - and this is where things get fun - was possibly the cheapest TTO razor that has ever existed. The best part is that I had absolutely no idea it was TTO (or that TTOs were a thing), and before I even had my first shave I seriously damaged the doors trying to pry the thing open like an otter trying to crack open a clam. This led to an incredibly frustrating hour before I gave up. Days later I learned that twisting the very non-descript bottom of the razor magically opened the doors - which, slightly, worked.

Of course I didn't let this stop me. Did I have any notion of blade gap? Angle? Nope. Didn't care. I wet my brush, squeezed a little Proraso into a champagne flute of a mug, and spent the next 20 minutes progressively adding more and more Proraso to the bubbly soup. 1/8th of a tube later, I just decided to go with it - after all, I had done something similar to what I read. Cream and brush were mixed with water by a brush, I figured that had to be all there was to it, and the amount of cream used would make up for anything I could've possibly done wrong. I wound up having to soak the brush in the soup and then press it against my face to let the bubbly soup run out, as there was no way I could paint it.

And there I was: shave time! I picked up The Mangler...

Really, you know how the story ends. I butchered myself into oblivion and I didn't leave my apartment for a few days.

Even with that introduction to wet shaving, however, I didn't let it stop me. I've also been (sadly) gratified to hear just how many others have similar first experiences, though I've never heard of anyone else buying a TTO razor with no idea how to open it..