This evening brought with it a shave and the theme 'What are shaving?'
My SOTD this day includes my definitive guide to shaving in an abbreviated format.
An abridged history of shaving:
Man
Facial hair
No facial hair
Razor:
Modern razors come in many forms and material choice. The more popular ones are made of pseudo metal plastic and can be found on supermarket shelves between condoms and toothbrushes. For obvious reasons of course......? They are also available in a disposable format where the user can toss them in a bin after using. Or before if so wished.
Moving to the more traditional side of wet shaving we start to see razors manufactured from steel, brass and.................pseudo metal plastic. We also see a rise in cost making them less of a disposable item, although one does have the option of shoving them at the back of a cupboard or a drawer when they might as well have lived in a bin.
Straight razors are still available, but they are only for hard bastards and pirates. What's the difference?
There is now the option of printing yourself a razor and here is one I printed earlier.
1. It is fucking huge
2. The only way of firmly holding the blade in place is by using sellotape
3. Takes forever to find the shaving angle
4. It is utter rubbish
5. And here are the results of getting wet
6. It is utter rubbish
7. In which case one may as well used the blade on its own (see remarks as to straight razors)
8. Did I say it is utter rubbish?
So here is a non-printed razor I purchased made from stainless steel* (an Ikon B1) and doesn't fall apart when dipped in water. It will quite happily takes chunks out of ones face (see remarks as to straight razors). On this occasion it was my razor of choice and no it didn't strip skin away. That is because I am a hard bastard (just not as hard as the straight brigade)
9. It is not rubbish
* probably made from a claimed 'marine grade stainless steel'. I've worked on ships for the past 44 years and as a Master Mariner all I can say is ships tend to be built from fucking shite steel. Nuff said
Soaps, brushes and
bowels bowls
Soaps are very useful for doing soapy type duties, brushes for doing brushy things and bowls being an answer to useless buggers who cannot face lather. Me. However it is notable that not all soaps, brushes and bowls can be used in the context of shaving.
For example this one is more attributable to washing dishes but not for shaving. Unless of course (see remarks as to straight razors).
So for this particular shave I chose to use 'real and proper' shaving associated items. 'Real and proper' being a soap named Arlington by Dr Harris and a brush named 30mm Tuxedo by Mr Cadman. Looks jack shit like a Tuxedo, but I'll go with it.
I presume this Dr Harris chap is a well founded doctor in soapology and knows his stuff. It appears to be the case.
Having given in on the printed razor idea it was more a case of mix and match all the items together in some kind of order and 'voila ici' a shave extraordinaire. A big grin and I know I am so smooth and sexy that I decided to show my ankles in public.
To put the icing on the cake and round off a most delightful shave; a scent was an absolute must.
Scents come in a number of variations, EDP, EDC, EDT, EDF and EDPiaf. The following is not usually the type of scent one would use in the name of smelling divine and fragrant, but does a damn fine job in the shower room for those moments divine and fragrant are required.
On a more smelling divine and fragrant level I found that Goutal's amazing Eau De Monsieur does a slightly better job than a can of Neutradol
Feeling smooth and smelling divine. My wife was duly impressed and so I legged it off to the local supermarket to explore the aisle to the left of 'shaving'. By the time I had queued to get in, took another hour to get through the till, questioned by the police as to how a packet of three toothbrushes was considered 'essential' I received a text message
'Gone to sleep'
So here we are at the end of my SOTD and you are blessed that, yes, some bad things do come to an end. Have a safe and healthy week all and I wish you all and your families the very best during these testing times
Well not quite. What Gillette and all the rest don't mention is what is a shave if it doesn't have some Japanese ladies?