Our grandfathers were hardcore.
For the last while, I have been using a single blade “safety razor” to shave and it kicks ass. Up until this, I was using the good old Gillette Mach 3 Turbo and before that, it was the Sensor Excel. I was actually considering jumping up to the five bladed powerhouse that is the Fusion, but I decided to take a step back instead. Wielding a single blade gives more control and actually irritates my face a whole lot less, which is surprising given my choice of lubrication for the process – an exotic concoction by the name of soap. That’s right, plain old soap. My current bar was supplied to me by the fine folks at Homewood Suites when I took a trip to San Diego in October. By using a shaving brush, a bowl that I picked up at Big Lots for $0.99 (they were out of cappuccino cups) and hot water, I can get a good lather going and cover my face in foamy suds.
There are some great resources out there in the intertubes to help with technique, so I’m not going to pretend to be an expert and try to teach my own. Just do a search for “double edge shaving” – your face will thank you and you’ll feel way more hardcore. I guess the next step from here is a straight razor, but that ‘s going to require more courage on my part.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
OUCH!
You are a brave man to use soap suds. I have to use a sensitive lubricant for my face otherwise I brake out in some mean ingrown hairs. I cant image what it would feel like if I only had soap.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
It’s not actually that bad. I find that the ingrown hairs have been significantly reduced by the multiple passes with a single blade, working toward beard reduction rather than beard elimination. The action of multiple blades pulling the hairs out and cutting them so short that they end up below the skin’s surface is what causes a lot of these ingrown hairs. Of course, I’ll be investing in some good shaving cream as soon as I can find something not “brushless”.