SMF

After my second life saving trip to the hospital I was forced to use what they had available for the nurse to shave me. It was electric. I decided that at my age (86) and health the electric made sense. I went to Consumer Reports and they said Braun was best so I ordered a level 5 one that was cheaper than the one they recommended but only differed in having fewer luxury features. It I coming from Amazon in two days. Hope I don't regret this.

You'll miss the shaving ritual, Pete, but the electric should do a very good job.

- Murray

Pete, use what makes sense that's all that matters. There are many roads to Rome, enjoy the one you're on.

The only advice I can offer is to use baby powder (or whatever powder you can use) as a lubricant. When I was a wee teen I tried an electric, one my mother bought me the Christmas after she and me father broke up. I had just started shaving at the time. I still have it and it only gets used if I need to even up a sideburn after a haircut, which is extremely rare. The model I have is an old Ronson and it came with a sideburn trimmer.

When I started to use it my barber advised me to powder my beard ahead of time with baby powder to make the head glide over my skin. At the time (the early 1980's) it made a tremendous difference in the comfort of the shave. Maybe that's still the case? If so, hopefully this helps.

Please let us know how you get on with it.

Chris

Many years ago I gave my dad a Ronson. It was about 1960 and the razor had a super thin foil top with holes.

Never fear, we'll keep you on as an honorary wetshaver! When my platelets were very low during chemo I was banned from using sharp objects, but somehow that didn't stop me shaving properly when I felt up to it - I hope you'll keep those razors around and give yourself a treat with one now and then.

Chris

As with Chris, when I was undergoing chemo I was told not to use sharp objects. In consequence, I took up an electric razor until I didn't have to shave. I must say that the electric gave a far better shave than I expected and noticeably better than the shaves I remember from my electric razor 50 years ago.

pete. I hope you have many years of good health using your new razor.

As an aside, arent there electric razors that work with a lather, or is that my becks induced imagination running amok?

clive

Thanks guys. My Braun arrives Monday and I will report even though it's not wet shaving, just to keep in touch.

Pete, I concur with all of the others -- you gotta do what you gotta do! And please just keep on posting about anything and everything that you've got a mind to. I hope you enjoy many more years of shaving, electric or otherwise!

Pete, I, too, would like to see you remain a part of our little community.

Be well.

- Murray

Clive, no it's not the Becks. I've heard of them also and I can no longer drink beer, or not a full one anyway.

Used my new Braun today. It is much larger than I expected. The shave took passes in all direction with light rubbing in ll directions. It was similar to my usual DE razor method. I got a close shave but not bbs. Rinsed the head under the tapa dn left to dry until tomorrow. I rubbed a bit of corn starch based baby powder onto my whiskers to provide a slippery surface.

Pete, you will probably get better results with practice. I get just as close a shave with my old Braun electric as I do with a blade. I bought mine well before I joined SMF, so it should be at least twelve years old.

I don't use powder or anything else. As long as the skin is dry, the shaver glides fairly well. The fact that I can go over and over a difficult spot - which I can only do to a limited extent with a blade - gets it mowed down generally more effectively than I can do it with a blade.

I wonder if the powder raises the shaver from the skin and impedes a close shave.

- Murray

Murray, I will try without powder. I get pretty close, but after a while I noticed plenty fo stubble, so I used the razor again without drying the head. Finally got a pretty close shave but it wasn't eas. I will re-read the instructions before my next shave. I can't believe that the latest, near top of the line (level 5) wouldn't be as close as your razor.

Pete, I am finding a bit of nostalgia in this thread as your experience matches closely my memories from those days when I used one.

I recall something similar, I too got what seemed to be a great shave only to look like I needed a shave later in the day. It also felt that way. I recall it was mid afternoon for these observations. I was 12 yo at the time so I don't know if that makes a difference.

Murray brings up a great point - maybe the powder has an impact on closeness? I don't recall noticing before my barber recommended it but I wasn't attuned to such things back then. I do recall it not being as pleasant before using powder. My skin tended to be more oily back then, if I recall.

From your description it seems you can rinse the head. I couldn't do so with my Ronson in those days (it's 34 years old now so the technology wasn't available back then, I think). But it makes sense that it may give a closer shave? All the whiskers, powder and debris cleared out seems like it should. I only used mine for a few months, maybe six months before I went back to wetshaving but if I take it out and lift off the cap from the head I can still smell the powder from those days. There's probably still 12 yo whiskers in there too.

Please report back how you get on as I'm interested.

Chris

EL Alamein wrote:Pete, I am finding a bit of nostalgia in this thread as your experience matches closely my memories from those days when I used one.
. . . . . Please report back how you get on as I'm interested.

Chris

Same here Pete. I've still got an old Norelco lurking around somewhere, but I haven't used it to shave with in about 10 years.