Kensurfs

When I first started to consider old-school, traditional wet shaving, this bloke – Ken Kirkup – was a huge inspiration.

Up until the point I started watching the Kenshaves channel on YouTube, I'd never watched shave videos. Why would I have done? It just hadn't occurred to me – ever – that people actually had shaving-related channels or that the act of removing hair from the face* with a razor could be an enjoyable, pleasurable, even mindful experience. Shaving, as far as I was concerned, was a necessary evil, to be conducted in five minutes, at speed, with a squirt of foam or gel from Pound Land and a disposable Bic going – oh Lordy, no! - against the grain. I'd never heard of a two, let alone a three-pass shave.** The extent of shaving sophistication for me was occasionally buying a supermarket version of a Mach 3 or a Fusion with some accompanying blades. But that was about it.

I can't even remember what it was that got me interested.*** All I know is that I went from an almost complete lack of interest in shaving to near obsession practically overnight. And once I'd started I couldn't stop.****

My obsession wasn't helped by the likes of Ken Kirkup. Here's a man who not only loves shaving but is very keen to share his passion with the world at large (as well as his passion for pinball machines and James Bond film posters, which adorn his shave den walls). At the time of writing he has a very healthy 14,000 subscribers***** – myself included – to his YouTube channel. A number, one would imagine, that will only increase steadily over the months and, hopefully, years to come. And he's not alone. There are so many shaving channels on YouTube that it's almost impossible to keep up with them all. I've deliberately limited myself to subscribing to just a handful. And Kensurfs is right smack bang in the middle of that handful.******

Cheers, Ken. My razor collection is bigger – and my wallet far lighter, you swine – and it's all down to you. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

* In particular, my face.

** I know. Horrific thought, isn't it? But Ken taught me well. Like a sort of shaving Yoda.

*** Which is mad, thinking about it. How can I not remember specifically the main impetus for something that's had such a big effect on me? Christ - am I going senile?

**** Really. One razor, two razors, three razors, four ... and counting. And that's not including the shavettes, the shaving cream, the brushes ...

***** Almost the same number of subscribers that I have. Give or take a few thousand. Quite a few thousand, actually.

****** And the channels in that handful aren't in any order. There's no favouritism here. What I like about the handful is that each host is completely unique in their approach and so, in my mind, one is not any better or any worse than any other.

#wetshaving #kensurfs #YouTube #safetyrazors