SMF

We should enlist someone to just call Charles and ask him if he remembers making that particular video and does he ever accidentally cut himself with his ninja moves. Enchante is located in Austin TX, unless he's moved lately.

Gary: you have just volunteered. We look forward to your post telling us what you found out.

Bob

That might be fun! Stay tuned ---

I see that he's still in business. His primary shaving line seems to be Trumpers. If I get to talk to Charles, and depending on how it goes, I think I probably should order something. I'm all stocked up on soaps and creams, but he's got some other things like Body Scrub and fragrances and such that might make it worthwhile to have a conversation with him. I'll let you know.

I didn't call Charles, but I did browse around the website for quite a while today, and I watched and enjoyed all of his videos that are featured there, some of them more than once, to gain a full understanding of what he's doing. I am at the conclusion now that Charles is a good guy. I like him, and I follow what he's saying without much confusion. He's passionate about his Method Shaving innovations, and should be. In the first video he stated very clearly that he does have a Feather Platinum blade in his Merkur razor. I believe it. I've got some burlap I bought at the fabric store, and I see no reason why I shouldn't at least give it a try with some of the products I already have on hand. He even has good old SMF linked on his home page, (didn't check to make sure it is the new SMF2 and not the now-disconnected website) and he mentions that Mark (Mantic) is a friend of his. All the best to Charles Roberts and his shaving interests.

I just used Method Shaving for a full 3 pass straight razor shave this evening. I used my own homemade soap and a regular wash cloth to make the lather in my hands just as Mr. Roberts teaches us in his video. I didn't use the cutting balm because my soap didn't need it to make thick lasting lather (without a brush). I applied the lather to the beard with my hands just like the video. Anyone can do it with normal shaving products and a wash cloth. The biggest variation is the fact that a brush isn't used. My hat's off to Charles for what he's done. Yes, I shaved with lather made from shaving soap without a brush and bowl. That's it. I think if someone was going to go into this method lock stock and barrel, their biggest challenge and learning curve will be to take a water soaked wash cloth and a tub, puck, or stick of hard shaving soap and make the lather in their two hands and the cloth without making too large a mess out of the counter and sink area. If I were to do this again I'd spread out a towel on the counter in front of me to catch all of the drips and globs of soapy water and lather that naturally comes from holding and building a suitable shaving lather with soap, cloth, and lather in the hands and applying the lather to the beard for shaving. Charles has done it thousands of times, and makes it look easy.

Thanks for the update/report Gary. No interest for me on this front --- I like my old fashioned brush and soap style. Glad to hear you had success, though.

Are any 'Methodists' still in our midst? (Of the Roberts persuasion, of course, not the Wesleyan!) I remember reading Mr Roberts' primer some years ago and frankly, I did not understand what the fuss was about: he merely advocated the use of selected products and traditional techniques, as opposed to others which he considered less effective; that was his opinion, to which he was entitled, although many of us disagreed. Nevertheless, I recall that more than a row blew up over it and, as always happens in schisms, some lasting animosity ensued. I found the whole affair fascinating, no doubt as a student of religious history and psychology; something of the contemporary cult movement and the anathemas of yore coloured many people's reactions. As for myself, I have never dealt with Mr Roberts. I found his writing to be prolix though, and unnecessarily 'esoteric'; that discouraged my interest.

Kind regards,
Daniel

P.S. Incidentally, if memory serves me well, the original method made use of a brush, the shaving cloth being a considerably more recent innovation.

Not just any brush, the Simpson Manchurian. Quite a story that but Gordon will tell it better.

jww wrote:Thanks for the update/report Gary. No interest for me on this front --- I like my old fashioned brush and soap style. Glad to hear you had success, though.

Wendell, I guess we could say I succeeded, seeing as how I did manage a full shave, and did it with a wet cloth instead of a brush. Maybe another word for what happened would be "I overcame a self-imposed inconvenience due to a contrived circumstance". I'd consider it a harmless and well-intended "stunt", with no actual recognition for completion other than being able to say - Method Shaving?, yes, I've been there and done that! Something to brag about?, probably not. More of a source of puzzled amusement for my forum-mates, if I may say that. After seeing me with globs of wet lather halfway up to my elbows, and squeezing it out of a dripping wet rag and rubbing it all over my face, my longsuffering family might make me a t-shirt that says I shaved with a wet rag.

Edit: If we rewind to before the rag, then we will have the soap, the brush, the cutting balm, the shaving cream, the skin conditioner, the aftershave, and wow, the same stuff everybody else has, cutting balm being what, Lucky Tiger liquid shaving cream/Myrsol shaving lotion? Ok, then I don't get it. what's different about that?

I got my own method based on the principle wet shaving doesn't mean messy shaving.

Gary, What!....no cutting balm!?....well, pshaw!... you can hardly be said to have 'method shaved' then! ( chuckle ). Of course you can make useable lather with your hands and any decent shave cream or soap....this is news? The lather isn't really quite as good as with a brush though. Afterall, shave brushes came into widespread use in the 18th and 19th centuries for a reason...gents always had their hands or a rag.

Daniel, Yes, definately. Charles originally advocated a shaving technique and products that he borrowed directly from Trumpers and David Carter. And he made several of his initial contacts because of help given him by Scott at Cambridge Chemists in NYC. He came into this gift shop in Austin and got the idea of featuring some different sort of gentlemen's shave gear but didn't personally know anything about the subject....hence, contact with Scott. So, what he originally advocated was a strictly traditional style of shaving but with a special handle Sensor ( a la Ian Matthews of Trumpers ). Then he started to get into DEs a little and pushed only the most expensive models of Simpson brushes ( which he marked up substantially over the price of the same brushes at even the most exclusive NYC shops...but who in most other parts of the country would know...wink, wink ). But, he had his eye on Eric Malka of AoS's move into proprietary products and decided to move that way himself. At that point specifically 'Method Shaving' began to take shape. It became more and more complicated ( which, of course, necessitated more and more of his proprietary products ) and it changed frequently, so much so that even some of his followers could not keep up and grew disgruntled. Perhaps by now it has settled down somewhat, I don't know. Through out this whole drama Charles increasingly lost credibility with more and more wetshavers, especially those who had a little more experience. It's a pity that Brett doesn't post much these days as he and his wife had at least one dinner with Charles and Brett's observations were interesting.
Regards,
Gordon

I can hardly believe anyone in his right mind would consider this huckster a guru. I sat through all that post and used the links to look at the opening of a couple of others. Other than his "method" he wastes so much time teaching you that a double edge blade is really a two sided single blade just like a straight that I had to turn them off. No, he is not "shaving"; no, it is not "lather"; no north or south. Ugh!!

Pete, Well, there you go. But trust me, Charles WAS quite the shaving guru to a number of gents...they even had their own 'Method Shaving' forum for awhile. In fact, that is were I first met our members Brett and Marion. As I mentioned, initially Charles' advice about shaving and products was straight from Trumpers and Simpson's David Carter. The copy on his original website was quite reasonable even if he did have some of his historical facts and spellings wrong. But once he decided to move into proprietary products it just got...well, more complicated and esoteric. The prose became increasingly dense and difficult to follow as well as wordy. Both Brett and Marion were originally 'method' shavers but both, for somewhat different reasons, calmed down and moved on ( or back ) to more traditional techniques and products. The whole thing was quite controversial for the first few years of these forum's existence but I've not seen Charles mentioned here until this thread in quite a long while.
Regards,
Gordon

Although I posted my non-interest in this method shaving, I have to confess it is remarkably similar to my showering routine! I am going to post a full description of that procedure for the curious, and because I have the time on my hands right now. In the Gentlemen's Parlor.

Ha, some years back just the mention of Charles or Method Shaving was sure to fill several pages with responses.

I'm just wondering if Charles has posted on SMF in the past.

Years ago he told me he read the postings here.

Gary, Sorry that I missed your question until now. No, Charles never posted on SMF, nor on any other shave forum other than his own ( the original one or another one also accessed from the Enchante website that had a brief and very under-active existence a few years later ). As far as I remember he never even posted personally on that 'method shaving' forum that one of his main adherents at the time created ( the one on which I first encountered Brett and Marion ). Charles did not seem interested in interacting with shavers who knew as much or more than he did about the subject. He seemed interested only in teaching/selling. When I used to speak with him on the phone some of things he didn't know or was unaware of was sometimes...er....surprising.
Regards,
Gordon