Feb. 7 Hell Week--
Episode 6: "Winning Record?"
Happy Friday, everybody!
I went in to today's shave at 3:3, and
really wanted to finish the week at 4:3. Still a loss by my standards, but at least a winning season, right? The good news is the last acquisition for me was the Gillette Flare Tip kindly PIF'd from Evan
@MrEE . The Flare Tip is my smoothest, mildest shaver, so I was coming into this game with the home field advantage.
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I was surprised how much I love this razor. I thought I disliked mild shavers, and because buying vintage always seemed like a bit of a crap shoot, I discounted the idea for years--sooo many lost years. Full disclosure: even if the Gillette somehow manages to score lowest at the end of the month, I'm still keeping it. I can't say this about any of my other razors... even the 1912.
Week 1 Gear
- Blade: Personna Blue (1st shave)
- Brush: Kong
- Soap: Soap Commander "Drive"
- AS: Clubman Original
- Balm: Nivea Sensitive Cooling
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The Shave
In spite of the pressure being on to log a winning week, I came into it fairly confident, and my 1st pass (WTG) went without a hitch. Light, light pressure... "Reveeeeerse Pressurrrrrrrrre. Ohmmmmmmmmm." No problems. Quite a bit of stubble left, but no blood. 2nd pass (XTG) went equally well. Still pretty rough, but I'm not paying attention to that kind of stuff ever again--it's all about the comfort, baby!
Going into the 3rd (ATG) pass, I
should have been supremely confident, but the opposite occurred. I was
sooooo close to chalking a win here that I was terrified I'd drop the ball on the 1 yard line. As the fight or flight response started to build, my large-muscle groups took over, and fine motor skills were becoming... difficult.
Mind Games
(relevant, but unnecessary story--skip if you're pressed for time)
When I was a kid getting ready for bed, I'd turn the lights off, and dread those 10 steps to the bed. Clowns, vampires, the Creature of the Black Lagoon, and even Jaws at various periods in my life were denizens under the bed waiting to snatch my ankles and drag me under--I foiled all their attempts by jumping the last 5-8 feet into bed (take
that Gill-man). At around the age of 18 I started to feel a bit foolish doing this. So, I started to purposefully,
slowly, walk to the bed, peel back the covers, straighten my pillow and climb calmly into bed. The problem was I was
not calm, and the harder I tried to impose my will to slowly raise my feet into bed, the harder it was to control my feet. They'd spasmodically jerk up and down, and it got
worse the closer I got to actually getting in bed.
Now imagine that is happening with a razor. The closer I got to finishing those looooooong YouTuber passes the less control of my fine motor skills I seemed to have. The more I tried to impose my will, the jerkier I got. I don't know how I didn't wind up cutting my head off completely.
The Score
In spite of the touch-and-go nature of that 3rd passz I pulled it off blood free. Do I feel foolish for making such a big deal about this stupid shave? No comment. But here are the scores:
- Comfort: Upon application of AS, I got the sting and some burn (which usually means a bit or irritation); however, 1 hour later there is hardly anything--maybe a small tingle at the corners of my mouth and by my lips. Score: 4. I'm very happy with how this shave turned out.
- Closeness: Like most of the shaves this week, overall I feel DFS, but a lack of touch-ups has some rough-ish spots--I'd call it DFS/CCS. Score: 2.
Week 1 Wrap-up
(thoughts on monogamy and YouTube)
Honestly, I'm not happy with how the shaves went this week. I've been wet-shaving for 7 years, and thought I was pretty much done with all the blood. I think part of the problem is I tend to have a fairly monogamous relationship with my razors--I find one that works for me, and stick with it for long stretches at a time. I didn't start switching between razors until a few months ago when I bought my 1912 on the bay and had a free MMOC tossed in by the seller. I felt and acted like I was shaving with familiar razors all this week--but they were
not familiar.
Another thing I noticed. I
really dislike those loooooong YouTuber passes. I suppose with a 30DC focus I could master them, but I don't fully see the point. Who knows? If I get stuck for ideas, I might take it on, but right now the most annoying part of my shaves have been those passes. Starting next week, I think I'll loosen things up a bit and do some soul shaving--do what
feels good. Parameters: touch-ups permitted along the way, but stop at three passes. Buffing permitted. Still... chase comfort, not closeness.
I've had what seems like a year's worth of blood in a single week of shaving. That nonsense has to stop. Tomorrow I draw names from the Super Dad mug to determine shaving order. Really looking forward to shaving next week. Hope you all have a fantastic Friday!
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