It has been an interesting weekend and, as a result, I am off on a new Focus. On Friday night, my wife and I were discussing some issues when the topic turned to issues she was having with my traditional wet shaving. Basically, it came down to the fact that the smell from the shaving soap was making her sick and that I needed to do something else.
I think I've mentioned in the past that she and my daughter both have sensitive noses. What I don't think I've mentioned, though, is that my wife also suffers from chronic nausea from a botched Gastric Bypass and from PTSD from childhood abuse. The latter is especially relevant in this context as one of her triggers is traditional shaving-related scents (e.g., Old Spice, Skin Bracer, etc.). In the past, I've tried to address this by staying to pretty simple soaps (VdH, Williams, Cella) and not even considering A/S or cologne. Apparently, though, this is no longer enough (or she has finally had enough). I'm not completely positive if the issue is the residual smell in the bathroom or the smell on me, but I suspect both based on her various comments.
At my request, she gave me a suggestion as to what to try instead- women's shave cream, no floral scents, preferably Vanilla or Baby Powder scented. On Saturday, I picked up two, one from EOS and one from Gillette, both Vanilla-scented. More on that in a moment.
So, this is my new shaving challenge and Focus- Find a replacement for using a shaving soap which is acceptable both to my and to my spouse. The challenges: no soap, no traditional "male" scents, no florals. I'm starting with the women's cream per her suggestion but, after calming down and doing some reading, am also looking at alternatives such as oils, hair conditioner, and body wash. The alternative appears to be to go back to what I "used to do" which was to shave in the shower with a multi-blade disposable and bar soap.
This brings us to today...
December 9, 2017
Razor: Gillette Adjustable 195 (3)
Blade: Astra SP (1)
Cream: Gillette Venus with Olay, Vanilla Cashmere
I've never been much of a canned goop person; it always seemed too messy as compared with a bar of soap. The Venus with Olay is an aerosol can of gel which you rub on wet skin and work into a lather. It's a simple enough process, though I feel like I have to rinse my hand off before I actually shave. I ended up using a bit too much on the first pass and got a somewhat dry lather that threatened to gum up the razor. For the second pass, I used less product and got a slicker, shinier lather. I can't say that it was as comfortable as I'm used to, but that may be a function of not having the lather dialed in.
A quick comment about the scent- It is definitely pleasant (at least if you like Vanilla), but seems more pervasive to my nose than the soap smell. In this case, though, I'm not the sole judge.
In the end, a decent DFS. The Alum seemed a bit less quiet than usual, but that's probably to be expected until I dial in the lather.
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