Hi. Past 9:30. How are you?
I tend to have my shower and shave moments at night, so that I can sleep in a few extra minutes in the morning. I've got into that habit in recent years. Maybe it's a bad one. I am not sure. But it is not the bad habit to which I refer in the post's subject.
The bad habit is likely the way I have been shaving for the past quite a few years. Ever since I started using those really expensive multi blades like the Gillette Pro Fusion Ultra Awesome Yippee, I have been shaving my face pretty much any way I wanted to. There didn't seem to be a wrong way to do it. Up. Down. Left. Right. Sideways. 72 degree angle. Didn't matter.
Since I have gone back to the old school way of shaving, with the simple razor blades my father used when I was little, I have had some problems getting a close shave. I figured I was not pressing hard enough. I pressed harder, which increased the risk of cutting myself. That didn't solve the problem.
I typically shaved up and down and didn't go against the grain. I continued this process with the razor blades. One night, it took me 40 minutes to get a close enough shave to make me happy. I could even then feel stubble when I "rubbed" up on my face, so my happy feelings didn't last long. I was wondering if I had made a mistake going back to the old-fashioned razors. Maybe I should go back to the Gillette Blah Blah Blah's.
I hate to admit defeat. I am the kind of Bevboy who, when offered a jar of pickles to open, will grab that sucker and twist and turn and beg and plead and bargain with that jar until it opens. I'll run the jar under hot water, tap on the lid with a butter knife, use one of those plastic things to enhance my grip. I don't care. Doesn't matter if I end up ruptured or if I have injured my wrist in the bargain. I don't easily give up.
So, I was inclined to keep trying to get a good shave with these old-fashioned razor blades.
Tuesday night, after my shower, I grabbed the razor and regarded it with an admixture of fear and contempt. "I am coming for you. You are mine. Shave me, Seymour!"
I applied the shaving soap to my face. Out of instinct more than anything else, I decided to shave with a lighter hand, and moved the razor back and forth, from left to right, on the left side of my face. I "heard" the whiskers coming off. I felt my face. They were gone.
I continued shaving in this manner until the left side of my face felt as smooth as... well, you supply a nice and clean example of something that's smooth and we'll go along with it.
I shaved from ear to mouth on the right side of my face. Once again, the whiskers were no match for the razor. I was done with my shave in barely 5 minutes.
Tonight, though, in repeating the process, I perhaps pressed a titch too hard on the razor, for I cut myself here and there. For the first time in many a year, I knicked the mole on my cheek. Those things can ooze blood for hours. I applied my styptic pencil to the area, and now all is well.
I think, then, that is the best approach. Shave from ear to mouth on each side of my face. Apply a lighter pressure. And brag to everyone that I am still using the same blade from 4 weeks ago, and that I have 4 more to go, and that these were the blades that came with the damn razor in the first place.
Guys, when you shave, assuming you don't use an electric razor, what is your "method"? Up and down? Side to side? What? All of a sudden this topic is fascinating to me.
A guy subject, on Bevboy's Blog. I love it.
See you tomorrow.
Bevboy
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