One of my better ideas

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brothers
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One of my better ideas

Post by brothers »

Mornings were OK, but as my enjoyment of the daily removal of regrowth increased, my time spent on it was jamming me up as I was doing other stuff so I could go to my job. It took a very long time to figure it out, but I tried shaving at night and it easily became my preferred time of day. Relaxes me, I'm not leaving the house, not planning anything other to hit the sack. Makes it nice. I recommend it. :)
Gary

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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by marine-mp »

Gary, great minds think alike!!!!!!! (although mine ain't so great!!!) I considered that very idea a couple of days ago. Although all I did was entertain the thought, where-as you acted on it. My thinking was the relaxed atmosphere in the evening and a "not-so-hurried" shave in the morning. I don't so much as "hurry" in the morning, but I believe a evening shave would be relaxing. My only reservation would be....I rise at 0445 and still have a fairly smooth face when I exit my job at 1500. I like the idea of coming home to Mama w/a fairly clean-shaven, smooth face, upon which she plants her kisses!!!!! I would prolly have some whixers if I shaved in the evening. Albeit, I shall try it this evening an see what it feels like in the A.M. Thanks for the inspiration!!!!!! Semper-fi Mike
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by CMur12 »

I've been a night shaver since I joined these forums, as Gary said, so that I could take my time and enjoy it. Before that, I shaved in the shower with a Schick Tracer and shampoo for "lather."

Mike, it sounds like you still might have reasons for a morning shave!

- Murray
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by marine-mp »

Murray....I know your your right!!!!!! :) Mike
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jww
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by jww »

I almost always shave on Saturday evening before I hit the hay. I started it for mainly because of my early morning Sunday commitment to be at Church most weeks at 7am.

I also shave in the evenings when I am travelling for work for pretty much the same reason.
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by ShadowsDad »

If I still punched a clock I'd definitely shave at night for all the reasons stated. I might actually go to that since as you write (basically), so that my time doesn't get bunched up. It makes perfect sense.
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by harper »

I shave every morning because that's what I have done all my life. When I was working if I had shaved at night I would have looked like hell by noon the next day (my beard is normal heavy) and my clients
would have thought I was weird (and when I began working in an office in 1950 or so I would have been weird unless I had grown a beard which would have been equally weird at that time). Now I don't think the day starts right unless I shave sometime in the morning. Since I no longer work I can shave any time of the morning but still like to get it done about 9 or 9:30. 99% of the time I wet
shave but occasionally I will use an electric but then have to use it again about 6 or so. I suspect there is no right or wrong as to the time of day one shaves and it is a preference but I like mornings and will continue shaving in the a.m.
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by Nitrox »

During the week, I shave in the afternoon after I get home from work. There's no time in the morning as I need the time to get ready to leave.
On the weekends or holidays, I shave in the morning. This has been my routine for as far back as I can remember. Plus, shaving in the morning and going to work would irritate the crap out of me all day. I don't have a nice air conditioned office job...... :lol:
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by harper »

I think I picked up the morning shave tradition from my dad who always shaved in the mornings before he went to work. I suspect he picked that up when he was a US Army fighter-pilot in WW! ... yes WW ONE, It followed him through life after that and when I began shaving I just did what he did without thinking about it. He did not use a straight but most likely some kind of Gillette DE razor that he brought back from the army which was supplied to the troops via Gillette. As I recall, he used a brushless cream because a good part of the time that was sometimes all that was available in the US during the Second war. Now, if I don't get up and shave and wash my hair every morning the world is off kilter.
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fallingwickets
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by fallingwickets »

there is definitely something to be said about going to bed all smooth and smelling of roses :D :D

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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by jww »

I suppose, as everything, ymmv. :wink:
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by Squire »

Anytime of day is a good time to shave.
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Squire
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by brothers »

harper wrote:I think I picked up the morning shave tradition from my dad who always shaved in the mornings before he went to work. I suspect he picked that up when he was a US Army fighter-pilot in WW! ... yes WW ONE, It followed him through life after that and when I began shaving I just did what he did without thinking about it. He did not use a straight but most likely some kind of Gillette DE razor that he brought back from the army which was supplied to the troops via Gillette. As I recall, he used a brushless cream because a good part of the time that was sometimes all that was available in the US during the Second war. Now, if I don't get up and shave and wash my hair every morning the world is off kilter.
Bob, I followed the same pattern, and if I didn't shave, I felt as if something just wasn't right. Up until a year ago when a series of events found me shaving at night. We were away from home for about 3 days, and I had just decided I wasn't going to take any shaving stuff with me, to keep it simple, packed up, and took off. Got back after a few days, none the worse for wear, except I had a pretty good crop of unshaven whiskers. I knew the following Monday morning I was going to have to be somewhere at an earlier time than usual, so off I went, enjoyed the shave a lot, and slept like a baby. Woke up, completed the simplified morning ritual in record time, and hit the road. Had hardly any noticeable stubble to be concerned about. (Even if I did, nobody ever looks at my face anyway :shock: :shock: :shock: .) Decided to do the same thing the next night, and now it's been just about a whole year. I think if I eventually retire from work, I can take Squire's advice and shave just about any dang time I feel like it, maybe even twice a day!
Gary

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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by harper »

Gary: sounds like you hit it right ... for you. I am retired and can shave when I want but I still like to shave in the morning as I did for so many years. My beard is fairly normal ... maybe very slightly heavier than normal ... and I find that by the end of the day I can feel whiskers in the corners of my mouth and they are like a mosquito in a tent in the dark so I will often take my electric and get rid of them but only them. I don't like shaving more than once a day although when I do I don't have any skin problems but suspect I would if I did it routinely. One of the things I like most about morning shaving now is that I can take as much time as I want and rarely am I rushed and that makes my life better. I once went five days without shaving ... up in northern Nevada ... and it didn't seem to bother me but I shaved when I got back into the city because it just made me feel better to be beardless. I suspect I will never grow a beard even though I have a moustache and have had one for about 40 years. My kids don't really remember me much before I grew one and when they see pictures of me without one they go "yuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by bernards66 »

Chuckle....well my sons have never seen me live without the goatee and when they look at old pictures they're taken aback also. I'm with Harper, I almost always shave in the morning ( for me, with my schedule that means LATE morning...ahem ). Pretty much for the same reasons too; that's just the way it is/was done. My dad ( an electric shaver guy ) often didn't shave on the weekends unless he and mom were going somewhere Saturday night, but during the business week I'd often wake up to the sound of his electric shaver in the bathroom down the hall. That's just what white collar guys DID in the '50s and '60s ( and I gather, in the decades preceding those also ); shave before work. When I was at university ( the first time ) I rarely shaved and in the almost two decades following it was the same. I couldn't have cared less and the way I lived it didn't matter. But in the early '80s, when it started to matter, I just picked up the pattern I'd grown up with, shave in the am before going to work. And I still do, even on weekends. Although my beard is in the moderate to heavy range I shave well enough that I can skip a day without it being very noticeable ( especially to most folks these days ), or I could shave at night...and I have occasionally. But on the whole I feel better shaving before I leave the house. I generally have adequate time to do so in an unhurried fashion, but even years ago, when I didn't, I still managed to shave before leaving for work ( I showered at night though ). But, Squire's right, there is no prescribed 'correct' time to shave; whatever works for you.
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by harper »

Gordon, I am a creature of habit I guess and that is not necessarily a bad thing. I shave before I shower because that's the way I like to do it. I shave every morning unless I am sick and even when I was in hospital for an extended time as soon as I felt better I had my wife bring me an electric razor so I could shave in bed (and, yes, I have an electric because I used to keep it in the office for those days when I had to go out for the evening directly from work). A lot of SMF members recommend you shower before you shave and they may be right but my system works for me and at the end of the day that's what counts. I didn't pick up the shave before shower idea from my days representing Gillette but now that I think of it their test shavers (and they have a lot) go to work and then test shave various razors and blades, shaving creams, etc., without showering first so maybe ...
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by bernards66 »

Bob, Yeah, me too...shave than shower. I used to do it in the reverse because you're right, that is what is usually recommended ( by the likes of Trumper and Taylors for example ). To tell you the truth I'm not sure why, a number of years ago, I switched it around. I think it was because I found it pointless the other way because I would have to dry off completely then put on a pair of pants and THEN start to shave and by that time how 'soft' had my whiskers really stayed ( sorry but I just couldn't get with shaving while dripping wet or entirely in the nude ). And even when I used to shower first I never could tell any practical difference and I remember posting that on the old forum. So, at some point, I thought, 'hell, if it really doesn't seem to make any difference than shaving first is easier and less complicated. That's my story anyway.
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Gordon
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by brothers »

I tend to shower in the morning, and that means there's no shower to contend with when I shave at night. Makes my morning routine a bit simpler.
Gary

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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by harper »

Gordon, et al, just for the hell of it I showered and then shaved this morning. I could see or feel no difference except trying to keep a towel around my waist was pretty much a losing battle. I used the same Futur razor set at 2.5 with the same Derby blade I used yesterday (second shave with the blade), used my same favourite Vulfix 2235, Trumper Coconut Oil shave cream. The only variable was the shower first and shave second, contrary to my life-long habit. For me, it is much more convenient to shave first, then shower. I wash off any residue of shaving cream (this, unfortunately, does remove all traces of the scent but I am currently showering with Equipage soap which reminds me of Paris ... no longer made but I still have a two-year supply) and when I emerge I feel about as good as I am ever going to feel ... and that's pretty good for 83 years old. What this points out to me is that the only thing we are all the same in is we are all different (Psych 101) and what works for one person may not work for another. I think by now we all know that anyway.
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Re: One of my better ideas

Post by Squire »

Hell if we all did it the same what would we have to talk about.
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