Then the steel gods should be merciful. Well, one can always hope. They really can be hard to deal with at times.

This is one of the best sentences ever written on a shave forum. So deadpan.

Yeah. I felt shivers up my spine. A moment of silence even.

I am never going to ask him, but I assume that was Russian steel. (tear rolls down left cheek)

If not we need an intervention. I'll get the boys ready to go. Which, you know, means sobered up. Give me a few days.

Might have been an Israeli Generic...or a Red Head?

So can we focus on decadence by only using our top ten bests in each category? Or are we supposed to pick our one most decadent setup?

Redhead?

We'll allow it.

That's totally up to you. Just make us green with envy.

Decadent December means whatever you want it to mean.

Redheads were always a favorite. Well, still are. Never married one though.....let's see....brunette, brunette, blonde, black, brunette. In between were a few redheads. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here if I had married one. The fatal curse.

I dated a lefthanded, redhead professional artist and it nearly ruined my life. It was, however, never boring.

Well I could go either way..... Just wanted to get into the spirit of the thing. I'm in!

Awesome! Should be a fun month.

November ended up being not a Focus but a Rockwell Rule for me. December is going to be a Focus because I intend to play around with soaps and brushes to inject some major Decadence into a couple days (I hope). I plan to continue practicing lather technique while using up my TOBS Avocado croap with my old boar or badger brush. However I have a sample of Castle Forbes Lavender soap and aftershave on the way, and when it gets here I intend to break out my plushest brush(es) and go to town for however long it lasts.

The actual Focus is going to be a Dual Comb December. I bought a Fendrihan Scientist in October. It's a really nicely crafted stainless steel razor with a good heft and a dual comb head (and at $55 Cdn it's just about the cheapest all-steel razor on the market too). But ... the one time I used it, it gave me a good close shave that had me feeling the whole time like I was skirting the edge of major skin loss. Now that I have spent the last month practicing good technique with a single razor, I want to see if I can handle the aggressiveness more comfortably or if it's still a notch too high for me. I'll see how long I last with it and if I lose any blood in the process.

Alternatively, I just discovered that in among one miscellaneous lot of shaving stuff I got once, I have a Magic brand shavette and two or three Feather brand "styling blades with shave guard"... On the other hand I'm not sure I'm willing to play around with that no matter how many cookies are at stake...

Save that set up for May, when MaYHeM happens.

Sounds like a plan.

It's true, chicks dig scars.

but some good advice....

I am a happy hedonist so decadent December it is. I will bring out the big guns but stick with my soap focus.