Investment or Indulgence? The Shaving Kit Saga

Posted on | April 19, 2008 |

Earlier this month, as reported in my Daily $$ entry, I spent a rather large chunk of change on some shaving equipment for The Son.  A week later, I spent another large amount of money on shaving product.  I imagine that some people will have trouble understanding how I could spend so much money on shaving equipment especially since the recipient of the equipment is a 13yo boy who has never even shaved before.  Well if you really want to know, get yourself a refreshment, pull up a chair, and read the story.

The boy in question is a tall, thin, slightly quirky youth of 13 years (he’ll turn 14 in August).  Although he’s taller than average, he looks younger than his peers.  He has a certain naive or unjaded look about him — he has always reminded me of a turtle without a shell.  Despite his youthful appearance, puberty is working it’s magic — the boy is becoming a man.  His voice dropped a full year ago — just dropped, overnight; not a single crack or break.  And he has a dark fuzzy caterpillar living over his upper lip and a few random wiry hairs growing out of his chin.  He’s not yet in need of a daily shave but I can see the day coming quickly when he will at least need a shave or two a week (well, okay maybe he’ll start with a shave every week or two and then move up from there).

When The Daughter was younger and starting down the puberty road, I knew what kind of equipment and information I needed to have on hand and I was prepared.  But with The Son I’m a little out of my element and I mistakenly assumed that The Husband would cover all of that (but that’s a different post altogether).

So far I’ve been able to negotiate these puberty-related issues (ie. protective cups for sports and “turn-and-cough” doctor’s appointments) but I’m still not very good at anticipating them in advance. As such, I’d never really put much thought into shaving equipment — what to get? When would it be needed? After all, I know quite a bit about shaving legs but I know nothing at all about shaving faces.

Then one day I came across an article by Glblguy at Gather Little By Little titled A Better Shave For Less Money.  Not long afterward, Brett (of The Art of Manliness and The Frugal Law Student) wrote about How To Shave Like Your Grandpa.  My foray into the art of shaving had begun.

Since reading those articles, I’ve gone on to do quite a bit of research on the subject of wet-shaving and have learned more about shaving than I ever thought possible.  I put this knowledge to use in deciding to introduce The Son to the concept of wet-shaving and in purchasing shaving equipment for him.

First, what is wet-shaving?  The term “wet-shaving” refers to the process of shaving with a lubricant and a razor as opposed to using an electric razor.

Other than during his various stints in the hospital, The Husband has always been a wet-shaver preferring the closer, smoother shave he gets with a wet shave to that of an electric razor.  As for myself, I know from experience that I get a much closer shave with a disposable razor and some soap than with an electric razor no matter what brand it is or what they promise.  Therefore, being wet-shavers ourselves, it simply never occurred to us to provide the son with anything other than a razor and some shaving cream.

But as I continued to read I quickly learned that there’s wet-shaving and then there’s classic wet-shaving.

The Husband is a wet-shaver. He uses an ancient Shick injector blade razor that I believe he’s owned for the better part of his adult life (mind you, he’s almost 73 so that’s a pretty long time). I’ve never seen him use a disposable razor but he speaks of them with the voice of experience so I assume that he has tried them at some point.  As for the shaving lubricant, The Husband uses Gillette’s lemon-line canned shaving foam.

As a real-razor user, The Husband was completely on board as far as buying The Son a real razor though he would have preferred to buy him a single-edge injector razor just like his own. Since no one makes single-edged razors (in fact, you can hardly even get the blades anymore), he had no option but to accept the idea of getting a double-edged razor (aka safety razor). However, being the kind of guy he is, The Husband balked at the idea of a badger brush and “classic” wet shaving. [What in the world is this "it was good enough for me" macho BS thing that men do? I really and truly do not understand that.]

Ah, but The Husband, in his ultimate wisdom, has left me in charge of guiding The Son through puberty.  That means I’m free to encourage The Son to try his hand at classic wet-shaving.

At first, the idea of using a real razor and a old-fashioned shaving brush appealed to me just because it seems so … classy. Now that I’ve done more research, I’m convinced that there are lots of compelling reasons to use a brush and shaving cream or soap over canned commercial foams. For one, canned shaving cream contains harsh chemicals. From what I’ve seen among the son’s shaving peers, shaving is tough on those adolescent faces. The chemicals and drying agents from canned foam and commercial aftershave are the last thing they need. Also, although there’s still waste from packaging, at least shaving creams and soaps don’t send empty aerosol cans to the landfills.

The practice of wet-shaving in general and classic wet-shaving (using a badger-hair brush with shaving cream/soap) have enjoyed a revival and there seems to be a thriving on-line wet-shaving subculture. 

This active sub-culture made educating myself on product, equipment, and technique an easy and interesting process.  Part of my self-education process has been to watch a number of excellent videos by Mantic59 on YouTube [his blog, his YouTube videos].  In addition, I’ve spent hours reading shaving boards [ShaveMyFace.com, BadgerandBlade.com, and The Shave Den] and perusing the offerings of on-line shaving equipment suppliers [Lee's Safety Razors, Classic Shaving, and The Art of Shaving].  I even took a few trips to local malls to visit stores that carry men’s shaving products [Crabtree & Evelyn and The Art of Shaving].

Wet-shaving is fine but why go all out on equipment and product for The Son from the beginning?

This, folks, is the million dollar question.  And I don’t have a simple answer.  Some readers will get it, others won’t.

To be perfectly honest, the main reason is “because I can.”  My budget isn’t so tight that I can’t afford to take the risk that The Son will hate using a safety razor and a shaving brush.  But that’s just the surface answer.  The real answer is slightly more complicated but more important.

For one thing, The Son is very much a creature of habit.  I knew quite well that whatever method, equipment, and attitude The Son had toward his first shave would likely be the same 15 years and many, many shaves later. 

Secondly, there are those who argue that shaving with a razor and a brush are more economical in the long run.  With the proper care, the razor and brush I purchased could potentially last The Son his entire lifetime.  This post is already novel-length so I won’t to go into a full shaving cost analysis but the numbers I crunched show that even if he were to neglect and abuse his shaving equipment and need to replace it in 10 years, the cost of disposables is over twice that of a safety razor and blades.

Even if the equipment expense worked to to being equal, there’d still be the obvious advantage of a decreased environmental impact.  Yes, with classic wetshaving you do have used blades and empty shaving cream jars or tubes but that seems preferable to a hill of used disposable razors and empty aerosol cans.

If that weren’t enough, as I stated above, those harsh chemicals are hard on the skin.  I can’t think of better time for a “man” to baby his face with high-quality product than when he still has a baby face.

Why not start with beginner’s products, like a Pure Badger brush, and buy up later? 

Again, partly because I can.

But more so, why buy two brushes when just one will do?  Starting out with a lower-quality product would likely end up costing me more in the long run.

From everything I’ve read, men who use shaving brushes always end up upgrading to a better quality badger hair.  And if a lower-quality brush is likely to have an impact on the comfort and satisfaction of the shave, The Son is more likely to take to his shaving brush if it’s of higher quality.   Therefore I’ve increased the odds that he’ll become a life-time shaving brush user and lessened the odds that I’ve wasted my money by buying a high-quality brush.

Wouldn’t it be easier to learn how to shave with a disposable and move up to a safety razor?

I’m not a status buyer and I certainly don’t believe in throwing money away. But I do believe in buying quality and I do believe that we do best by our children when we provide them with real tools when they’re ready to handle them.

I expect that there will be a learning curve to using a safety razor and a shaving brush. But surely there would be a learning curve no matter what shaving method he used — even an electric razor. There’s no reason to expect that The Son will, in the long run, have any trouble figure out how to shave.

Couldn’t such a large expense be saved for a birthday or Christmas or some other existing gift-giving occasion?

Maybe this thought won’t occur to anyone else but it was a thought that I wrestled with.  In the end, it was The Daughter who helped me decide this issue. She could understand the reasoning for giving the equipment as a birthday gift, after all, it’s pretty expensive. But the fact is, needing to shave is a rite-of-passage. It’s a part of the puberty process and should be celebrated as such.  She reminded me of how we had celebrated her onset of puberty with a special ritual (she was allowed to get her ears pierced).  I thought she was “spot on” and I appreciated her insight and wisdom.

So, that’s the summary of our foray into the exiciting world of classic wet-shaving.  Moms and Dads, how did you deal with your sons?  Or for those with younger boys, any plans?  Dads, are you wet-shavers?  What’s your take on all of this?

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