Shaving Redeux...

[Yvsa]

Most of you guys who have been here for any length of time know this is a subject we’ve hashed and re-hashed many times over with all sorts of suggestions. I was really intrigued when Sarge told us about the shaving oil he had found, "Shave Secret," and I almost couldn’t stand it until Barbie was able to get some so that I could try it. And then I got even more excited when she brought some home and using it before I got too kept bragging up how well it worked. When I did finally get around to shaving with it I was quite impressed with the quality of the shave I got with it as well, except found it kinda awkward to use according to their directions as I had too use considerably more. It was also gonna be sorta spendy for us to use because of its expense... I can’t recall now but it seems like it was damned near $4.00 for an 18.75 ml. bottle!!!

So y’all can imagine my excitement when quite by accident I stumbled onto something, which for me anyway, is a whole helluva lot better and is very affordable, a bit less than $4.00 for 7 ounces!!! What is it? Williams Lectric Shave!
The way I discovered it would work well with my old Trac II was one day after shaving with my very old electric Norelco with a very low battery and finding it quite unsatisfactory I grabbed my old Trac II outta the cabinet and, after wetting my face just a bit, started shaving the stubble the Norelco wouldn’t touch!
I was amazed at how close a shave I was getting as well as how easily my old Trac II was gliding over my face!
Admittedly it works better if I shave every day or every couple of days before what little bit of beard I do have grows out too much but/and if I keep on top of it all I have to do is prepare for shaving as usual by running some steaming hot water into the sink, drop my razor in it and then prepare my face by holding a hot wet washcloth on the places with the heaviest beard.
Then I pour some Lectric Shave on a cotton ball until it’s almost dripping off and start swabbing my face with it until it’s thoroughly soaked, then I dip the cotton ball in the water and lightly re-wet my face then grab my razor and get after it. In my experience the combo of the Lectric Shave and water really lubricates my face up! I sometimes have to add a bit more water to the cotton ball and re-wet the more difficult areas but for me it's still a whole helluva lot faster and not nearly as messy as with the old lather!:thumbup:
This stuff is totally amazing AFAIC because I get a closer shave using it than I ever did using lather in the old traditional way and to top it off I very, very, seldom nick or cut myself shaving anymore using this method! YMMV...

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[Kismet]

Not fair.

The pretty keep on finding ways to get prettier.

 

[C.S. Graves]

I've heard folk rave about Shave Secret, but ain't heard quite as much about Lectric Shave. Is this the same Williams that makes the ubiquitous pucks of shaving soap in the square blue boxes?

Would I be correct in assuming it's a kind of shave oil, Yvsa?

 

[Yvsa]

Not fair.

The pretty keep on finding ways to get prettier.

Kis, are you alright my friend? 'Cause no one has ever accused me of bein pretty...
Well I take that back... There was that one ol' gal that said, "Yvsa is pretty two ways." "Pretty damned ugly." and "Pretty damned apt to stay that way."

Oh, and belay that first question, everybody knows you're Not Alright, seein as how you're Half left.

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[Yvsa]

I've heard folk rave about Shave Secret, but ain't heard quite as much about Lectric Shave. Is this the same Williams that makes the ubiquitous pucks of shaving soap in the square blue boxes?

Would I be correct in assuming it's a kind of shave oil, Yvsa?

C.S. probably the same outfit, although I've never seen an "ubiquitous puck of shaving soap" before...

No sir, Lectric Shave is more like an After Shave although it does leave an oily film on your face when you apply it in the amount I'm talking about.

Do bear in mind though that my beard is one place where my ndn blood really comes through for me! The one time I grew a mustache it took me two full years and then it still wasn't nothing to write home about.
When I stop and take the time to get a really close shave I can go two full days before I start lookin the least bit shaggy again, third morning.
The helluvit is even though I don't have to shave all that often what little beard I do have is rather tough and my face is really tender and soft. The combo isn't at all the best one too have.
But in spite of that this is the absolute best way I've found for me too shave!!! The reason I say that is after shaving using the Lectric Shave the last four or five times exclusively the last time I shaved I tried it using the lather I still have and the experience was Not a Good One! I wound up wiping off what lather was left and started all over again using the Lectric Shave, much, much better, almost instant gratification!:thumbup:

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[C.S. Graves]

No sir, Lectric Shave is more like an After Shave although it does leave an oily film on your face when you apply it in the amount I'm talking about.

Thanks Yvsa! I actually spotted some today in one of the local grocery stores and got to read a bit off the back of the bottle. Mostly alcohol, water and - I think - tea tree oil? Intended for use with electric razors... interesting... not being and electric user, I'd have assumed using such things might lead to clogging of those fancy blades, but there you go, I guess it ain't enough of a problem to hinder its effectiveness!

Do bear in mind though that my beard is one place where my ndn blood really comes through for me! The one time I grew a mustache it took me two full years and then it still wasn't nothing to write home about.

AH yes... I once heard that in pre-Columbus times, facial hair on First-Nations folk was practically unheard of! Which makes me question whether Toshiro Mifune was really an Inuit in that Arctic movie he was in.

 

[Yvsa]

Thanks Yvsa! I actually spotted some today in one of the local grocery stores and got to read a bit off the back of the bottle. Mostly alcohol, water and - I think - tea tree oil? Intended for use with electric razors... interesting... not being and electric user, I'd have assumed using such things might lead to clogging of those fancy blades, but there you go, I guess it ain't enough of a problem to hinder its effectiveness!

C.S. I'm thinking that since it now has the, tea tree oil, it must be a later mixture than the ancient bottle I've been using out of for I don't know how long! Barbie did get a new bottle the other day but I have yet too see it so I don't know if it has the, tea tree oil, in it or not... I'll have to ask Barbie where she put it.

AH yes... I once heard that in pre-Columbus times, facial hair on First-Nations folk was practically unheard of! Which makes me question whether Toshiro Mifune was really an Inuit in that Arctic movie he was in.

C.S. I don't recall ever seeing this movie but what you heard about the, "pre-Columbus times First-Nations folk" is still largely so today and even more-so on my more full blood kin.:thumbup: (Barbie and I were invited to a Sweatlodge down just across the Texas line. We were setting on the backdoor stoop when S.B., a full blood came out and noticed the sparse hair on my legs and started teasing me about having hairy legs. S.B.'s legs looked as if they were freshly shaven. hehehe!)
I don't know how old the movie is but if you want to watch a movie about a real "Eskimo" try renting, "Nanook of the North."
I used "Eskimo" as a purely generic term because I'm not real sure if Nanook is/was an Inuit...
Bear in mind if you can find a copy to rent or whatever the movie is about real life in the frozen north and is about a totally different culture and time. The Tulsa Zoo has a cut version of this movie running on a loop, from what I understand some very graphic parts concerning wife and dog beatings were cut as being to harsh for modern sensibilities. :foot:Although I gotta admit in this case it was the proper thing to do because of all the kids that might see such things and not understand.:thumbup:

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[Roger Smith]

Edutsi, I will try this tomorrow. Got some Lectric Shave for Father's Day a few years ago and it's been hiding in the sock drawer next to the soap on a rope.

Will let you know how it goes in 2 weeks.

 

[gravertom]

Shave? What is this "shave" thing you speak of?



I guess the little pre Columbian blood I have is not dominant!

I do run a razor around the edges before church every week, to keep a clean border, and since my wife prefers i not get the length required for braiding of the beard ala Gimli in LOTR, I trim it back to 1/4 inch every couple of weeks with the hair cutting clippers.

Lots of gray in the beard, but if i were to be clean shaven, at 45 i might still pass for a teenager, without close inspection. Hence, my wife prefers the beard.

Since my boys are 50% Asian in blood, they may not have the capacity for shagginess that I do. If my body hair was not very light, i would soon pass for a caveman, without the need for any special effects!

Tom

 

[C.S. Graves]

C.S. I'm thinking that since it now has the, tea tree oil, it must be a later mixture than the ancient bottle I've been using out of for I don't know how long! Barbie did get a new bottle the other day but I have yet too see it so I don't know if it has the, tea tree oil, in it or not... I'll have to ask Barbie where she put it.

Err, I might have mixed up the names... I think it's actually carmellia oil, though the tea plant is a member of that family I guess. Close enough fer me.

C.S. I don't recall ever seeing this movie but what you heard about the, "pre-Columbus times First-Nations folk" is still largely so today and even more-so on my more full blood kin.:thumbup: (Barbie and I were invited to a Sweatlodge down just across the Texas line. We were setting on the backdoor stoop when S.B., a full blood came out and noticed the sparse hair on my legs and started teasing me about having hairy legs. S.B.'s legs looked as if they were freshly shaven. hehehe!)

Geez, I wonder what full bloods would make of my shaggy chimp-arms? No shortage of testing material for blade sharpness at least.

I don't know how old the movie is but if you want to watch a movie about a real "Eskimo" try renting, "Nanook of the North."
I used "Eskimo" as a purely generic term because I'm not real sure if Nanook is/was an Inuit...

Ahh, I just read up a little on it.. a silent film from 1922! I wonder if perhaps it's in the public domain by now? If so, it may be freely downloadable!

 

[warty]

I have only recently began shaving, I have been bearded since the darn thing would grow back in High School. I was giving myself a haircut when I was suddenly moved to shave my head bald and remove the beard, I guess I had forgotten what my face looked like after ~35 years of not seeing it... whatever the reason, I was suddenly faced with the knowledge I would be shaving my head at least for the foreseeable future so I went out to get some of the generic 'Lectric Shave, which is $2 cheaper for the Mondo Size bottle than the name brand and went home only to find my shaver had likely died a long time ago from disuse. The stuff had already been applied though so I grabbed a disposable razor (bought them just in case) and rubbed my head with menthol Barbesol (I love the cooling feeling on my head it gives me) and went to work... SHINY SMOOTH! It really does work just as Yvsa says and I even failed to shred my scalp or nick myself shaving my face. Both things I was sure would happen since the face and head had not seen a razor in so long... that was four days ago and I have been using it the same way with the same results since then...

Was never in the armed service and the Peace Corps didn't ask me to shave so I have never heard of this shaving oil before now.
I am just saying that if it gives the same effect as generic "pre-shave for electric razors" does then it must be the shizzel!

 

[C.S. Graves]

Hmm, I may consider picking some up before long, given the good things folk are saying about it. I'm sure it'd work with a DE no problem too.... no?

 

[KChuck]

AH yes... I once heard that in pre-Columbus times, facial hair on First-Nations folk was practically unheard of! Which makes me question whether Toshiro Mifune was really an Inuit in that Arctic movie he was in.

Speaking for myself, as a full-blooded Asian (Korean), I shave three times per week whether I need it or not.

But then again, I've been told that there's genetic evidence that Japan was settled by folks from Korea... who then immediately displaced the indigenous, ethnically caucasian Ainu people. But the intermixing of (formerly) Korean with the Ainu is the reason that so many Japanese men can actually grow significant facial hair on their cheeks. I know that I haven't ever been able to.

Aside: When I was younger, I always thought that the pictures of old Asian sages (Confucius, et. al.) showed such wispy mustaches and goatees 'cause they'd been shaved down to those and then thinned out... don't ask my why I thought anyone would be willing to do that, Korean men used to stretch their ear lobes too 'cause it was thought that long ear lobes denoted wisdom. A number of years after puberty finally caught up with me, I realized that the wise men in those paintings and photos had those kinds of facial ornaments 'cause that's all they could grow. Like me. Just like Yvsa, I'm physically unable to grow anything resembling a full mustache. Tried and failed miserably; although I didn't stick with it for two years the way Yvsa did.

C.S. [...] what you heard about the, "pre-Columbus times First-Nations folk" is still largely so today and even more-so on my more full blood kin.:thumbup: (Barbie and I were invited to a Sweatlodge down just across the Texas line. We were setting on the backdoor stoop when S.B., a full blood came out and noticed the sparse hair on my legs and started teasing me about having hairy legs. S.B.'s legs looked as if they were freshly shaven. hehehe!)

Ya' know, I've actually dated girls who started shaving their arms 'cause they couldn't stand the fact that they were visibly more hairy than I was...? :jerkit:

The sparse hair on my legs (almost all below my knees) didn't start growing in until, like, my junior year in high school. I was the only guy that didn't have to shave his legs before district and sectional swim finals. :thumbup:

Other than occasional, brief periods, I've always been really grateful that I don't have much body hair 'cause hairy chests and backs have always kinda' freaked me out. But maybe that's 'cause I'm Korean...?

 

[warty]

Well, I don't know if all Italians are as hairy as I am but I even have hair on my toes and the knuckles of my fingers. I was able to grow a full beard at the tender age of 14 and did so immediately. I only recently shaved it and my hair off because I couldn't remember what I looked like without a beard after 30+ years of having a big bushy one. I had started balding at about 37 so I had begun cutting my hair short then but before this, when it was full and curly and bushy, I wore it very long, down to my *ss in fact, usually in a big, thick braid because the wind while riding my HD would tie it in knots that were hell to work out of it.

But all things change and so a couple of weeks ago, when I went to shave off the beard I did keep the mustache), I found myself taking the 1/2" of hair off of my head too and honestly, I like it a lot better this way. It is so much easier to simply shave my head and face every day or every other day when not going to town as much than having hair was, even short hair. However, the rest of me is still covered in fur and I don't care who it bothers of turns off anymore.

 

[C.S. Graves]

But then again, I've been told that there's genetic evidence that Japan was settled by folks from Korea... who then immediately displaced the indigenous, ethnically caucasian Ainu people. But the intermixing of (formerly) Korean with the Ainu is the reason that so many Japanese men can actually grow significant facial hair on their cheeks. I know that I haven't ever been able to.

Ahh, the Ainu... is it true they sometimes suffer discrimination as an ethnic minority in modern Japan, or do I have bad info?

 

[KChuck]

Ahh, the Ainu... is it true they sometimes suffer discrimination as an ethnic minority in modern Japan, or do I have bad info?

Uh... I'd only be able to reply based strictly on hearsay since I've only been to Japan a couple of times and only briefly both times. What I will say is that there's a reason the rest of Asia hates the Japanese: the behavior of the Japanese during the Japanese Colonial Period (some parts of which the Japanese Gov still refuses to admit ever happened). And while I've liked most of the Japanese individuals I've known, the government and "elite" tend to be much more bigoted than "normal" Japanese... in my experience.

So all in all, I've heard the same things about general reaction towards the Ainu... and have no reason to doubt it. I mean, I've seen and heard people in Tokyo make fun of nihonjin (ethnically Japanese people) from Hokkaido (which is where almost all the Ainu now live AFAIK), why would they hesitate to do the same or worse towards Ainu? :jerkit:

 

[KChuck]

Personally, when I have the time, I prefer shaving with a straight razor since that will usually let me get by almost a week without having to shave again. The reason I most often use an electric instead is that I tend to go a bit overboard when I shave (as opposed to buzzing my face w/ an electric appliance).

Part of my pre-shaving prep is to slather a bunch of lotion on those (few) parts of my face with any real "beard" before applying cream/lather. I haven't tried anything like shaving oil or 'Lectric Shave, but the lotion is mostly oil and since I use the cheapest generic moisturizing lotion I can find, it's probably less expensive (even though I haven't compared prices but may next time I'm at the drug store or Wally-world).

I noticed that the lotion (and I really do slap it on thick) makes a real difference in how close and comfortable the shave is.

HTH & YMMV.

 

[Yvsa]

Barbie did get a new bottle the other day but I have yet too see it so I don't know if it has the, tea tree oil, in it or not... I'll have to ask Barbie where she put it.

C.S. The last time I shaved, week ago today so far, I happened to notice that the Williams "Lectric Shave" had, "Real Green Tea" added...Perhaps you mistook that for the, "Tea Tree Oil" you thought you saw?

Since I only have enough of the "Real Williams Lectric Shave" for maybe another shave I tried that new stuff Barbie picked up for me. "She didn't pay attention and she picked up a different but similar product, Electric Shave."
We compared the ingredients and they all appeared the same so I went ahead with it and it worked just as well.
However the scent does has a great deal more alcohol smell that I don't really care for since it works alright I'll go ahead and use it all up and see how long it takes me to use this bottle.

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[C.S. Graves]

C.S. The last time I shaved, week ago today so far, I happened to notice that the Williams "Lectric Shave" had, "Real Green Tea" added...Perhaps you mistook that for the, "Tea Tree Oil" you thought you saw?

Yvsa, I actually picked up a bottle today, and got a better look at the ingredients. I think it was the camellia sinesis leaf extract that I took to be tea tree/camellia oil. Anyway, I'll be curious to try it out. If it works as well for me as for you, I may have a hard time going back to use up my many pucks of shaving soap!

 

[Yvsa]

Yvsa, I actually picked up a bottle today, and got a better look at the ingredients. I think it was the camellia sinesis leaf extract that I took to be tea tree/camellia oil. Anyway, I'll be curious to try it out. If it works as well for me as for you, I may have a hard time going back to use up my many pucks of shaving soap!

Great, hope it works out well for you C.S.!!!:thumbup: Just remember if your razor starts pulling to dip the cotton ball you used to put the Lectric Shave on with in your hot water and rub it over that area again... I'm sure you recall that old sing song that it takes days to get outta your head? "The wetter the shave the better the shave..." I wouldn't/won't subject you to the whole thing even if I could recall it myself.
When I'm getting started I put enough of the E.S. on the cotton ball to where it almost drips, be sure to use it with plenty of ventilation and stay away from fire and anything that might spark!

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