My First Year of Traditional Wet Shaving

After 30 years of shaving with multi-blade disposable razors and canned gel, I took the dive into traditional wet shaving early last April. The impetus? A nearly random trip to The Art of Shaving (AoS). I say nearly as 12 years ago I had used an entire puck of Wilkinson Sword shaving soap and a no name brush purchased at a pharmacy. I didn’t buy another puck or use the brush as the experience wasn’t good enough. This was my own fault as I wasn’t loading the brush properly nor creating sufficient lather. I didn’t even know I was doing it improperly! However, the seed was planted that there were alternatives to whisker-wacking through a coat of petro-products.

Back to my trip to AoS; the store proposed beautiful razor and brush combos on shiny stands, but at unaffordable prices. The sales person diligently took me through his sales pitch while I distractedly kept an eye on my 4 y.o. daughter’s wandering hands. Building a lather on a hand, feeling the slickness, and smelling the fragrance was a cool experience.

The sales pitch triggered my curiosity and later, once my daughter and I finished lunch and picked up our freshly serviced vehicle, we headed home where I plunged head first into Google’s search results for traditional shaving. I spent every available minute for the next 24 hours reading and viewing Internet content. Mark Herro’s Mantic59’s videos and articles closed the deal.

I was now heading with ever-expanding curiosity down the rabbit hole. I did not know how deep it was.

Spreadsheet quantifying various elements of each shaving routine.

Here’s an alphabetical list of how traditional wet shaving has affected me in the past year:

1. Acquisition Disorder: A year ago, I could easily remove a nagging want from the need column. I managed to stop being relatively materialistic. Traditional wet shaving changed all that. Initially it was all consuming and I rationalized all sorts of purchases that now seem frivolous. My control is stronger now when I remember to look at what I already have to realize that I have plenty of “software” to go through before adding to my stockpile.
2. Aftershave: I’m now a neophyte frag-head. I love scents and I’m still learning how to describe them. I purchased 12 essential oils and I’m learning how to like certain ones, like lavender. In March, I made 12 oz. of Bay Rum aftershave. I’ll know how it turns out at the end of May; that’s when the maceration will be completed. I discovered the scent of Bay Rum and really love it.
3. Barber shop: I thought that to complete the hair ritual, I should go where men have been going for centuries, a barber shop. This has turned into an anticipated event whenever I go.
4. Bathroom Cleaning: Like a chef keeps his kitchen clean, a traditional wet shaver likes to keep the bathroom clean. After my shaves, the bathroom gets cleaned. Well not every time, but a few times per week!
5. Button-up shirts: I used to only wear t-shirts when I wasn’t working, and since I’ve been a stay-at-home father for the past 5 years, it’s all I wore. I decided to up my dressing by only wearing button-up shirts.
6. Eau de Toilette: I had a 7 year old bottle of EdT that I used to wear when going out on the weekends when I was a bachelor. Since then, I rarely wore any. But now I have three bottles of EdT and wear some a few times a week.
7. Forums: I’d never been part of any forum before. Now, I’ve joined several wet shaving forums on social media and I participate actively in a few. I spend several hours per day perusing and reading them.
8. Fountain Pens: I started using a fountain pen I had purchased in the 90’s but had not used since then. There’s a bit of AD going on in this new hobby with ink and 2 more pens purchased.
9. Friends: Through my participation on shaving forums, I’ve interacted several times with a few people and I’ve become friends with them on social media outside of the shaving forums. Perhaps someday, we’ll have the pleasure of meeting. My biggest discovery with this is that despite differences of opinions on the obvious wedge issues, I focus on what we have in common and that keeps me grounded.
10. Hair grooming: I started using pomade in my hair, and using a comb. For decades, I only needed to pass my fingers through my short hair. Then I started using shampoo bars and homemade conditioner scented with essential oils. I now only wash my hair three times per week.
11. Moustache: the Movember moustache has remained and is now named “Captain Hooks”. I have to use moustache wax to keep the whiskers in place and then conditioner to remove the wax and moisten the whiskers.
12. Movember: I joined the HTGAM G+ Movember team in 2014 and enjoyed the experience of growing a moustache and doing the fundraising with my daughter.
13. Movie: a few months into traditional wet shaving, I thought of an idea for a movie. It’s still in my head only, but I’m likely to act on it soon as I work part-time at an independent film studio.
14. Photographing shaving kits: A year ago, I used to laugh at the SOTD pics, and now I produce a bi-weekly pic with comments. My, how time changes perspectives. I’ve even purchased a light box!
15. Shaving Frequency: When I was in the corporate world, I was forced to shave every workday. And unless I had a date on Saturday night, I wouldn’t shave on the weekends. Now that I’ve been a stay-at-home dad for the past 5 years, I only shaved 2 times per week. Since doing traditional wet shaving, it’s increased to 5 times per week. Although my skin no longer suffers from irritation, I still like to give it a couple days of rest per week, but if I could, I would shave twice daily.
16. Shaving Kits: My AD was consuming me so I decided to use that energy to help convert family members, then close friends. I’ve given 12 shaving kits with vintage birth year/quarter Gillette razors and everything they needed to start traditional wet shaving.
17. Shower Products: I’ve replaced the shower gel with a artisanal soap bar and changed from washing my face with only water to washing my face with an organic product that’s mild enough to exfoliate daily. I wanted something to make the rest of my face as slick as my freshly shaved face.
18. Spreadsheet: With no app available for my iPhone, I developed a Google Spreadsheet to quantify all the elements of my shave. This helps me keep track of shaving satisfactionFilling a daily spreadsheet to quantify the elements of my shaves
19. Straight Razor: I transitioned into straight razor shaving and enjoyed the more challenging skill to learn. I also purchased a single edge razor, Gem Every-Ready 1912, and found it to offer exceptional shaves that were close and comfortable.
20. Travel Kit: I don’t travel often, but when I did, I simply brought the shaving gear I was using at home. Now that it’s a more elaborate ritual and I want to minimize the risk of damage/loss to my cherished home gear, I’ve created a travel kit with high quality but replaceable equipment & software. I even have small containers waiting to be filled for the occasion!
21. Vintage Razors: I initially only bought one vintage Gillette birth year/quarter razor – a Slim Adjustable. I had rationalized it by saying that I would shave with it on special occasions like my birthday and wedding anniversary. Now, I’m passively hunting for the other Gillette models for the L-4 quarter. They’re main purpose is to comfort my obsessive mind!
22. Waking Up: I look forward to waking up every morning because I know I’m going to shave. The snooze button has become obsolete. The other two mornings in the week when I don’t shave are still easy to wake up as the other five mornings have trained my brain to wake up.
23. Writing: I’ve always enjoyed writing but never found a subject matter that inspired so many ideas. I’m now describing my various experiences in wet shaving through blog articles and periodic comments.

Shaving hardware collection includes Gillette vintage razors of my birth year/quarter (1966: L-4), and mostly open comb razors. My straight razor isn’t pictured. All my brushes are synthetic and have the color blue. No red as it’s symbolic of blood! Haha

 My wife and daughter support me in my enthusiasm for traditional wet shaving. They are happy to see that I enjoy this “hobby” so much, and they get to evaluate how my face feels after a shave and how the aftershave smells on me. They like to tease me about this obsession, but I choose to go with it, and I enjoy being identified as the shaving nut. At least it’s healthy and constructive.

A year has gone and my passion has continued to get stronger. Maybe it isn’t a rabbit hole after all; it’s more like a galactic wormhole in the shape of another dimension! Haha.

I’m not sure what comes next, but I’m confident that my passion will inspire other ideas and projects related to shaving.

Stay Sharp!

Christian Lévesque is traditional wet shaving enthusiast. He’s a French-Canadian New Brunswicker who’s been living in Los Angeles since 2008. He’s a stay-at-home dad to a charming five-year-old daughter, and works part-time managing various projects at an independent film production company. He loves preparing and eating food, enjoying tunes of all kinds, IPA “tasting”, and feeding his shaving obsession one way or another.