On Friday I sold my pen collection to a local dealer, who came with her pen technician to inspect the collection. I noticed that he shaved and, naturally enough, in the course of conversation I asked him whether he enjoyed shaving. I received the response I have come to expect: “I hate it!” He said that shaving was physically painful and he dreaded shaving. He uses a Gillette Mach 3 and changes the cartridge every 2-3 days. (A Mach 3 cartridge runs $2. Assuming a change every 2.5 days on average, that’s 146 cartridges a year, or $292 per year. Compare that to the $5 per year I spend: he’s spending about 60 times as much (6000%) for a shave that’s painful.)
I had to act. I have taken an oath to fight painful shaving everywhere, and so I gave him my Omega S10005 brush, a tub of Tim’s Soaps Wood and Roses shaving soap, a new Dorco PL602 from the stash I keep on hand for situations exactly like this, and five packs of different brands of blades.
A brief tutorial followed. I made some lather, showing him how to load the brush and warning about how synthetic brushes tend to hoard water, so it’s necessary to give the brush a good shake or two. I explained about pressure (very light) and the angle (handle away from the face). The dealer pointed out that this is exactly like fountain pens: use very light pressure and experiment with angle to find the sweet spot.
This morning I got an email from the dealer:
He is really raving about the awesome shaving experience this morning. I thought he’d be bloody and covered with bits of toilet paper, but he’s saying it is the best shave he’s ever had. No nicks at all. He tells me for the first time in his life he’s looking forward to shaving. I think you have made a convert.
And she said she’s ordered a copy of the Guide for him.
That has already made this a very nice week (probably for him as well as for me). I pointed out some musings on shaving that I made in this article from a little over five years ago.
Filed under: Shaving
