05 Apr 2023
A rescue shave. Aargh.

depressing start to the day.
View attachment 281220
Growth: 24 hours.
Razor: Gillette Slim
Adjustable (I4)
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (1)
Soap: Modified
Arko. I had grated down the
Arko stick I received a few months ago, let it air for a month, then melted it down and added some Imperial Leather Aftershave. Smells better…. But: performance?
Brush: Old Vulfix Pure Badger 24 mm knot. I prefer the shape of this handle.
Face lathered: I loaded the brush like I normally do for the MWF, for around a minute from the puck, straight to the face. Seems nice and thick…………but did not perform well at all.
Passes: my usual three with clean ups.
Today was a struggle. Face lathering/painting seemed to go well, but the Razor head felt draggy and the blade felt tuggy in Pass 1.
Abandoned that ¾ way through, as suggested above, I added more water to the brush and lathered up again.
Pass 2 was a bit better, but blade still tugging.
For Pass 3 I added still more water to the brush and a few drops of glycerine, finally achieving some shiny slipperiness. Better for buffing.
This morning’s shave was hard work.

I left the tricky areas for another day and decided to take some stubble to work with me.
Alum was silent, no damage sustained. Thayers applied liberally.
Aftershave = Brut, not too bad, again not the best but I do want to finish this.
Scent for the day = Jo Malone London Orange bitter Cologne. Lovely, nice way to end an otherwise average start to the day.
So, either (a) I don’t know how to lather the
Arko, or (b) adding the Imperial Leather to the grated
Arko has damaged it, or (c) the Gillette Silver blue is rubbish, so just to be safe I have relegated this to the blade bin. Or all three of course.
Looking forward to see what tomorrow brings.
Hoping you all had better shaves this Wednesday

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