Shaving Overkill

A few days ago, I wrote a quick blog on Get Real Family regarding the gear I use when shaving. Admittedly, this doesn't seem like a very interesting topic, and I suspect the majority of Erin's readership simply sighed and muttered, "It's a shame that girl married such a loser."

But then last week, I made an additional shaving related discovery that has proven that I am only a micro-geek in the shaving universe -- Badger and Blade. This is an entire web universe devoted to old-timey shaving gear and a new brand of officiando dubbed the "retrosexual." Egads.

I called Erin immediately and informed her that I wanted some of the stuff they were discussing on the site. She asked how much time I'd spent reading the site that day and when I wouldn't tell her, she assumed the worst.

Even more frightening was the discovery of this dude codenamed "mantic59." He has a "shaving journal" and a series of shaving videos on YouTube.

Personally, I found all of mantic59's info highly valuable, and I picked up some tips for my own shaving. But I did feel sort of funny spending an hour watching this dude shave himself, nicks and all. I fear that perhaps this puts me in the same creepy league as people who dress up as animals and groom each other.

And finally, I was most intrigued by multiple discussions on Badger & Blade's forums regarding "wet shaver meet-ups" at various locations around the country. What exactly goes on at one of these deals? Is that a code name for something I don't get? Does BYOB suddenly mean "bring your own blades?"