Shaving
I always hated to shave. I have sensitive skin and the hair on my neck and jaw tend to run in different directions. My wife on the other hand can’t stand me with any spikes at all which means I have to go over my face/jaw/neck in multiple directions in order to produce a smooth face. Unfortunately this always means razor burn along with plenty of cuts and nicks. I grew to the point that I refered to shaving as slitting my throat a millimeter at a time. I tried the dry shaving via different electric razors but none of them really gave me that good a shave, they always left scraggly patches unkempt and uncut. Wet shave wise, I began probably as most teens did with disposable razors, everything from those single bladed dollar a bag variety up to the $8.00 a piece multi-bladed variieties. I can say there is definately a difference between the quality of shave you get from a generic twin or three blade razor and the four and five blade brand name varieites. The brand name varieties tend to provide more shaves and glide smoother over the skin than their competition. A lovely lady on Etsy (www.etsy.com) gave my wife a sample of shaving soap for me to use, it made a good difference in the quality of shave and lessened the skin irritation, this sorta paved the way for me to go a bit old school with my shaving. Last week after reading about how shaving has taken a back road over the past few decades, I decided to buy a safety razor. For those who may not recall a safety razor, they are the old heavy metal (usually brass or nickel/chromed brass) razors with the bombay doors which takes double-edged razor blades. I am sure some people will remember them. The sad thing is that they no longer make safety razors in USA. Gillette basically stopped making them decades ago and still holds the patent so no one else can make them. Clever if your Gillette whom sells disposable razors for $8. Well my razor came in the mail today, and I purchased a mug soap disc, a shaving brush along with blades and took it for a test spin. My experience was simply amazing, the blade glided through my tough stubble effortlessly with no drag. The razors weight was all the pressure needed to produce a pretty much pain free shave. It did take a bit of learning to get the right position of the shave head to the face in order to efficiently eradicate my 5 O’Clock shadow, but what a difference.
I really can see why some models of the vintage gillette safety razor are going for $50, they are durable looking, and it makes more sense to buy blades for a razor than a disposable which will only end up as landfill.
