View attachment 56513
Prep - facial scrub
razor - Gillette Slim (3)
blade - Lodz Polisiver (lost count)
brush - Yaqi 22mm Cola
soap - Valobra - Fougere
post - witch hazel
a/s - Old Spice classic
balm - none needed.
So - day 101 of lockdown - it is July - how the hell did that happen? - last time I looked it was March. I think that a major reason I have not gone completely mental in the previous 100 - has been the company of the mice. They're a grand bunch of lads when you get to know them. In order to pass the time in a more educational way - we have started a book group - it got off to a fairly rocky start - in retrospect my first choice of '
The Cat in the Hat,' was - at best - insensitive - realising my mistake - I went instead for Hemingway - '
The Old Man and the Brie,' and that calmed them down - funnily enough - they thought it was turgid macho posturing too. Mice turn out to be surprisingly vociferous in their opinions on literature - Gerald and I came close to falling out when the group were discussing the central themes of '
A la Recherce du Temps Perdu,' - perfectly reasonably - or so I thought - I suggested - it really comes down to '
involuntary memory' - it ends up describing - what is in effect - a secular apophatic theology - all things reduce to the voice of the author - it becomes the only fixed point in the universe. '
Shite,' according to Gerald - it could only be understood in the terms of semiotics - memories become symbols - he got quite shirty about it - Steve - ever the peace maker - stepped in - and we agreed to differ. Bollocks to him though - what the hell do rodents know about Proust? So the mice get to pick our next title - I absolutely refused to read '
50 Shades of Gruyere,' - total pish - middle class mummy porn - but I might compromise on Kafka's '
The Fetamorphosis.' We could even try a bit of theatre? - Beckett - '
Waiting for Gouda?' So - there you go - I haven't gone stark raving mad - as sane as I ever was - sorry - that has nothing to do with shaving.
I went straight back to using the Valobra again - for me - it is remarkably good soap - in every respect. Couldn't fault it - in any way. Sure - it doesn't smell of much - other than soap - but I don't consider that a disadvantage - it means you can reach for any aftershave you please without a potential scent clash. Funnily enough - it reminds me a lot of the Valobra tallow stick in performance - I must check the respective ingredients to see what differs in their composition. No need to use a balm afterwards - so that puts it in the elite category for me - I consider myself very fortunate to have it - shame it has probably been consigned to the soap graveyard. The Yaqi brush really has been an eye opener for me - it is superbly efficient - I've used it with softish - Extro - hard - OSP and milled soaps - Valobra - and it has passed with flying colours. It is just fun to use - because it relatively cheap - you can just thrash it about - you are never going to be precious about using it - as you might with £100 + badger. So - from zero expectation when I took it out the box - to part of the rotation within three shaves - high praise indeed.
Enjoy your shaving - one and all - stay safe - yours - completely sanely - I.
@Dcshaves - happy birthday mate - nice present!