Trying To Keep It Down . . .

Discussion in 'Shave Soaps' started by Wicked-Knicked, Jul 14, 2020.

  1. Wicked-Knicked

    Wicked-Knicked New Member

    A band new brush and a scratched wooden bowl with an unopened generic puck of soap in a cellophane wrapper has rested on my bathroom counter for years. I have no recollection of how they got there or where they came from. Neither does my wife. For old times sake, I had found my old Gillette Slim from 1964 and laid it on top of the bowl for some kind of male decor bathroom scheme. All 3 of them have scooted to the end of the bench and watched Noreclo, Barbasol, and Schick come off the bench for duty every day to enter the shaving game while they parked their ischial tuberosities on the end of the pine sheepishly looking up to see if I would ever acknowledge their skills again.


    I have glanced at that set up every day for years, and a few months ago, I finally picked it up meditating on a change. I remember many times ruing the day I started shaving because it had become laborious. And it often was painful. Course cartridges and treacherous double edged blades had scraped across my facial landscape often leaving red paths of blood and cuts. That's why that Gillette Slim had not bladed up for many years to enjoy another day in the shaving game again. He appeared to be on the team by sitting visibly on the counter on top of the wooden bowl, but he only wore the uniform.


    Inside that wooden bowl, a cracked and yellowed cellophane loosely encased a small puck of soap. There was no smell to it. I picked up the brush, which had a sticker on it saying “pure bristles.” Later I searched the Internet for what that meant and determined it must be the lowest grade of badger.


    It had been over 40 years ago when I somehow got hold of an Old Spice brush and mug and whirled out piles of lather. I have no idea now why I stopped. But I was using the Gillette Slim back then and regularly butchering myself every day. So when I decided to whip this new puck into cream, I knew that the Gillette Slim was in the same category as Michael Jordan's jersey, hanging somewhere in the rafters never to be dragged down on the floor for service. Although I have occasionally thought that it, like Jordan, may come out of retirement to restart its career, I just can't do it. Too much blood has been spilt.


    So I slapped some of that shaving cream I had churned up onto my mug and grabbed what I have since learned is almost universally despised by wet shavers for all the reasons they have enumerated - a disposable razor. But this was a Schick ST2, a double blade disposable . Somewhere I read that if anyone ever does use a disposable razor, probably the best one to take in hand is not one of those multi-bladed saws that are about an inch wide with up to 10 blades. No. The best one is the one with TWO blades. It won't clog with shaving cream, won't erase near as much epidermis, is not near as likely to lacerate your face, and is CHEAPER.


    I have been using those Schick disposable razors exclusively since I have resumed wet shaving, and all I have said above is precisely the case as I have experienced it. I don't want to deprecate those who use and swear by safety razors, but I have already ridden that horse. However, I will make this allowance. Until just a few months ago, I had never used the 3 pass method. It was always straight up the face against the grain. One pass. Done. The face was buttery smooth and decorated with crimson accents. Without doubt, that is one of many reasons why we have the Red Cross. When I started experimenting with the 3 pass method, it made a significant difference, even with the Schick disposables. Though it would probably make a vast difference if I used a traditional safety razor in the same way, I find the Schick ST2 to be perfect. Only once have I created a slight smile with lipstick.


    Purists swear by a close shave with a safety razor. If I could get a closer shave than I am getting right now with those Schick disposables, I would have to sand my face. It is not possible. I shave just about every day, and I can get about 20 or more shaves out of one Schick ST2 Slim Twin razor. At $0.50 each, that is 2.5 cents per shave. Only the amazing cushion and slickness of the soaps I own can account for that. By using Barbasol or other canned creams, the number of shaves from a Schick disposable drops to the expected level of just a few.


    Anyway, like so many others, I have found this whole shaving topic all encompassing. I started reading about soaps and related things on the Internet and came across a New York phone directory of information on SHAVING! Who would have thought there was so much to it? People who make shaving videos on YouTube and blog in shaving forums seem to have similar strains of obsessiveness about it. In fact, they/we are that way about many many subjects unique to men, which women never understand. Suddenly I am not content to just shave in the morning like the normal person who doesn't think about it or who endures it as part of a routine. No. It has become more than that. I would shave several times a day now if I could.


    I see men who have 200 soaps, caches of after shave splashes, and enough brushes to make a fur coat. I am content with 3 brushes - one badger, one boar, and one synthetic. So far.


    I don't feel insatiable lust, however, for splashes an/or after shaves.


    But I am drawn to soaps. I have the no-name puck I found on the counter. I think it is tallow-based. Good cushion and post shave. The first one I actually bought was Lather & Wood Sandalwood, another tallow-based soap with good cushion and post shave. Then one day I was waltzing through TJ Maxx and saw a boxed container of The Art of Shaving Peppermint Shaving Cream for $8.00. They are usually $30. So I bought that. Groomatorium was having a sale on a wooden bowl and puck of Taylor of Old Bond Street for $19.99. So I picked that up. I was strolling through TJ Maxx again the other day, and, lo and behold, there was a small container of Proraso Green for $2.00. So I inherited that. Now I see how just a couple of soaps can quickly turn my front porch into an Amazon foot path.


    So here is what is going to happen. I am going to clamp all this down to about 5-8 of these recommended, well-known, smell-good, classic soaps. Where am I going to buy them? In unlikely places, like TJ Maxx. That is my new Shave Shoppe.
     

Share This Page