Literary reference ...

C

chicken neck

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I found this in a weekend magazine. It's from James Joyce's Ulysees ..

"What advantages attended shaving by night?

A softer beard: a softer brush if intentionally allowed to remain from
shave to shave in its agglutinated lather: a softer skin if unexpectedly
encountering female acquaintances in remote places at incustomary hours:
quiet reflections upon the course of the day: a cleaner sensation when
awaking after a fresher sleep since matutinal noises, premonitions and
perturbations, a clattered milkcan, a postman's double knock, a paper
read, reread while lathering, relathering the same spot, a shock, a
shoot, with thought of aught he sought though fraught with nought might
cause a faster rate of shaving and a nick on which incision plaster with
precision cut and humected and applied adhered: which was to be done."

You may have to read it a couple of times to understand it (I did!), but I really like it. What is really interesting too is that he recommends NOT rinsing your brush between shaves (presumably just squeezing out the excess lather and opening up the bristles a bit to dry). I am going to try this. I have noticed that my brush builds a lather much quicker when I have to pick up soap from the puck mid shave, so I imagine this would work just as well for the first lather.

Anyone else care to try ...

In any case, it's a lovely emotive piece of writing.

PS I would like to shave more at night but I think my wife my find it a tad anti-social!
 
Lovely extract, bear in mind that he is probably referring to a stiff boar brush that may benefit from not being rinsed.

I rarely shave in the morning any more, I like making the time for it, and it is appreciated that I smell and feel good.
 
chicken neck said:
Why would a boar brush benefit more than a badger brush?
Click to expand...

I understand that boar bristle "absorbs" more water compared to badger hair which "holds" more water, which is why with comparable brushes, the bristle will take longer to dry. Allowing the lather to dry between shaves may soften or keep the hair soft by trapping moisture which I think will be more effective with bristle rather than badger.

Henk will have a more scientific explanation...
 
It is a brilliant piece of writing. Shaving at night, don't you have a beard the next morning? I'm all for it, unfortunately whenever I've tried it, about noon I always get asked, usually by my bosses, "Not shaved today?" I do think you get a better shave at night, maybe because the skin is a bit 'puffy' in the morning.

Puffy! what the hell is happening to me, I read this before posting and thought to myself "Puffy, oooh! get her" :oops:

Help

Metrosexuality running wild
 
A lovely piece of writing. If I remember rightly the opening passage to the book also includes some shaving. I agree with Joyce that night-shaves are the way to go. I have quite a heavy beard but I can get away with a night-shave through most of the day after. Unlike Rangers 'wolfman' 62 there! :mrgreen:

I wonder what my brush would look like the next day if left full of lather? I might try this but the only problem I could see is the scent of yesterday's soap lingering, but I suppose you'd have to rinse the brush out before starting a new shave anyway...
 
Pig Cat said:
If I remember rightly the opening passage to the book also includes some shaving.
Click to expand...
Your memory serves you well PC: Buck Mulligan sweeps down the stairs of the martello tower with a razor and a bowl of lather, intoning "Introibo ad altere dei" and procedes to wind up Stephen Daedelus whilst he shaves. As I'm also doing this from memory, the Latin is probably all to cock, but it means (approximately) "I approach the altar of God" - it's a skit on the Mass.

Here's another one from Moby Dick, which explains my avatar:

"At that time in the morning any

Christian would have washed his face; but Queequeg, to my amazement,

contented himself with restricting his ablutions to his chest, arms, and

hands. He then donned his waistcoat, and taking up a piece of hard soap on

the wash-stand centre-table, dipped it into water and commenced lathering his

face. I was watching to see where he kept his razor, when lo and behold, he

takes the harpoon from the bed corner, slips out the long wooden stock,

unsheathes the head, whets it a little on his boot, and striding up to the

bit of mirror against the wall, begins a vigorous scraping, or rather

harpooning of his cheeks. Thinks I, Queequeg, this is using Rogers's best

cutlery with a vengeance. Afterwards I wondered the less at this operation

when I came to know of what fine steel the head of a harpoon is made, and how

exceedingly sharp the long straight edges are always kept".

My apologies for the formatting but I don't have time to sort it out now.
 
antdad said:
chicken neck said:
Why would a boar brush benefit more than a badger brush?
Click to expand...

I understand that boar bristle "absorbs" more water compared to badger hair which "holds" more water, which is why with comparable brushes, the bristle will take longer to dry. Allowing the lather to dry between shaves may soften or keep the hair soft by trapping moisture which I think will be more effective with bristle rather than badger.

Henk will have a more scientific explanation...
Click to expand...

Duh.

But yes, not rinsing a brush will slow the evaporation of water, especially that absorbed by the hair. I would guess though that both boar and badger hair will actually absorb water. For a stiffish hair like boar, that may well keep the hairs soft, whereas letting the brush dry would mean that the bristles need time to soak up water at the next shave. I doubt whether this would keep the brush softer than what can be achieved by immersing it in water for say 15 minutes before shaving though (as in throwing it in a filled sink and leaving it there while taking a shower).

Plus it will eventually precipitate moulding and decay, even though the presence of soap may slow the onset of that somewhat. But maybe boar brushes were cheap even then ;-)

Henk
 
henkverhaar said:
I doubt whether this would keep the brush softer than what can be achieved by immersing it in water for say 15 minutes before shaving though (as in throwing it in a filled sink and leaving it there while taking a shower).

Henk
Click to expand...

Certainly, but I was also considering the context in which the passage was written and the availability of hot water, running or otherwise.
 
antdad said:
henkverhaar said:
I doubt whether this would keep the brush softer than what can be achieved by immersing it in water for say 15 minutes before shaving though (as in throwing it in a filled sink and leaving it there while taking a shower).

Henk
Click to expand...

Certainly, but I was also considering the context in which the passage was written and the availability of hot water, running or otherwise.
Click to expand...

Fair enough ;)
 
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