Sunday, June 20, 2010

Sunday shave

During the week I shave with an electric razor. Angela got me a nice cordless one for my birthday and it does a pretty good job. I don't let my whiskers grow for two reasons, one they get quite itchy and two I can't grow much of a beard... I'm not the only one in my family with this issue but its something I inherited from my mother's side. At best I get a patchy, bumpy, weird looking high schooler kind of abomination so off the hairs must go.

While the electric does an acceptable job "as close as a blade" is not the truism one might expect, or rather if you're a skeptic like me its exactly what you'd expect. True shaving takes time though and since I like my sleep I only really shave on Sunday. I usually do it in the afternoon, what Douglas Adams called "The long dark teatime of the soul" when I don't really have anything else to do anyway.

If I haven't shaved on Saturday (which I usually haven't) I'll do a quick job with the electric. Its not really required but means the razor won't clog as much. Then I start the sink filling with hot water, while I'm waiting on that I lay out my razor, shaving mug and brush. My razor isn't anything exciting just a disposable, "Preserve" brand. Its not really the razor that makes Sunday shaving satisfying its the soap. Until this year I'd always used some sort of aerosol shaving cream. Even the best shaving creams leave me with some level of razor burn. In a strange fit of schizophrenia Angela also bought me a shaving mug, soap and a brush for my birthday (same birthday she bought me the electric razor...) so once the water is mostly full I dip the brush in the water and start stirring the soap.

Its a bar of soap, just like any bar soap, and I stir the top of it with the brush until it lathers, then brush that on my face. The warmth of the soap is great as is the feel of the brush, no aerosol can come close. The razor glides painlessly across my face and the hairs are gone like magic.

If you hate shaving and you haven't used shaving soap get out and get some. I've no idea why I didn't learn this one sooner but better late than never...

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