Pogonotomy

Since I started shaving as a young man, I have always looked for convenient reasons to not shave. I grew beards (4 times) , I shaved at strategic times during the week to minimize my rendezvous with the razor. I have them whiskers that are not the TV kind so they do not all just fly off at the sight of an electric razor. Shaving with a non electric razor has pretty much been it for most of my life. Occasionally I would get an electric razor as a gift (perhaps due to my lack of wet shaving?) and try it yet once again with the same results: the first 3 shaves would be alright and then my whiskers that initially fled the whirling blades would now be long enough to get caught in the electric beast and shortly thereafter I would be in a fetal position on the floor whimpering and reaching for bandages.

So I said all that to say that don't really like shaving. That is, until now. You see, I just returned from a vacation where I was hanging out in a drugstore and I noticed some shaving soap. Hmm, I didn't even realize that they still made that! Well, if they did, then I would need a brush because that is what is used in the westerns. But they also use them wicked (and extremely cool) looking straight razors too with that strap that they go to town on with the razor. Those razors look dangerous, at least that is what my neck said, so I opted to wimp out and take a look at the double edged safety razor. After a few minutes on Amazon, I realized that they were a little more expensive than their plastic cousins. At least the initial price is. If you pay $30 for a razor that will last you years, that is cheaper than the Gillette Sensor's that I usually use. The problem with them is that I hate buying them so I want to make those razor heads last as long as possible which fits in nicely with my aversion to shaving in the first place. This of course is a vicious circle as making those little rascals live a loooooong life meant pain, but not the kind I felt in my wallet.

Assuming that I will live till I am 70 (which is a pretty BIG assumption), I figure that I am not even close to half of my shaving career. I might as well get a grip on this situation and accept and embrace my fate. So suggesting that my wife let me do my own birthday shopping, I bought a Merkur razor with some blades, a shaving mug, and some Clubman Bay Rum aftershave. Cool! Now I just needed a brush. Those were also a little more expensive than I was hoping for. Luckily, Wal-Mart had a brush (boar hair supposedly) that was less than 5 bucks! Armed with my new toys, it was time to do some cutting.

The root problem I ran into is that I had no idea what I was doing! Not so easily put off, I remembered all those old TV programs I had watched and I was doing things that was pretty close to what I remembered. While my actions seemed almost spot on, the results were not. I wasn't sure how to do the whole cup+brush+soap=lather thing. I tried my best and got a lather but it was not really up to Paul Drake standards. It must be my soap! A reviewer on Amazon said that my soap didn't lather. This must be it, so time to jump ship and side with Colonel Conk. Armed with the Almond soap that came with my mug, I attacked that as well. Same problem. What I did notice is that I could get a lather (from both soaps) but it wasn't what I was hoping for (or what was happening in the videos below). Oh well, when life gives you lemons... I applied the lather I could produce with my bargain brush and set to shaving. Not too bad! I was apprehensive about the razor but in the end, I had only a few little cuts that I was happy to have and my shave was okay. Not the baby's butt kind of shave, but that will come.

A few days later, I noticed that I was really looking forward to shaving! In fact, I even shaved twice in one day. That is progress. Unfortunately, my thirst for doing things the correct way led to my discovery of some great shaving videos on youtube. After watching some of these, I realized that I wasn't too far off the mark, but I was correct about my poor lather. I intuitively shaved with the razor correctly, but the lather was still an issue. After seeing the correct way, it was apparent that my technique (don't forget it) was to blame. Returning to my new favorite place in the house (my little half bathroom) it was time to lather up. After a few times of not really getting it right, I reviewed the new sacred videos on lathering and realized that my bargain brush really stinks! Not only does it not lather very well, or hold water very well, it really tears up my face. When I get my newly ordered badger brush, I will the cheap brush to clean my BBQ grill or remove wallpaper from the upstairs.

My spirits are still high and I am not too bummed out about the cheap brush. I am madly in love with the aftershave. It smells too good. I might have to add it to our yearly fruitcake come November! Who knew that aftershave could smell that good?

I want to give some props to mantic59 for his terrific videos. I wish I had seen them earlier, although, I do use an aftershave with Alcohol in it which he advises against.

In order, these are the ones that you should watch if interested in learning more about this adventure. He nails it with the intro to the first installment.

WetShaving #1


WetShaving #2


WetShaving #3


Techniques #1


Techniques #2


Preparing For A Shave


Shaving Brush Basics (A MUST WATCH!)