When I remember it, I like to do a timed shave on Groundhog Day — not a speed shave, but just time my regular shave. I find that gradually the time the shave takes dwindles — not because I’m rushing it (rushing a shave is a Bad Idea) but because daily practice produces efficiency.
This year Groundhog Day falls on Sunday, and since I normally don’t shave on Sunday I decided to time today’s shave. I do get the water hot and remove the lid from the shave soap and the cap from the aftershave, but otherwise don’t do anything special before hitting the clock.
I did the usual pre-shave beard wash with MR GLO (20 seconds, I happened to note), and then loaded my Rooney butterscotch Emilion with Wholly Kaw’s very nice King of Bourbon shaving soap (10 seconds). It has quite a nice fragrance:
Well blended notes of Tobacco, Bourbon Vanilla from Madagascar, Ginger, Vetiver, Cypriol, Ylang-ylang and Cassia absolute.
Gingery vanilla gives off boozy notes without being too sweet on the drydown. Tobacco comes into play in the middle notes. Woody and earthy notes from Cypriol and Vetiver tone down the sweetness.
— and check out the ingredients:
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Donkey Milk, Water Buffalo Milk, Glycerin, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Sodium Shea Butterate, Garcinia Indica (Kokum) Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Water Buffalo Whey, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Lanolin, Fragrance, Benzyl Benzoate, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Linalool
With the brush well loaded with soap, I worked up a good lather and then did my usual 3-pass shave, using the Fine Marvel head on a UFO handle, lathering prior to each pass and rinsing after each pass. After the final rinse, I dried my face, applied a splash of Phoenix Artisan’s Cavendish, and stopped the clock: 4 minutes 15 seconds. That was a bit of a surprise — it’s been 5 minutes for a while now, but I suppose efficiencies gradually continue to emerge.
Again: the idea is not to set a speed record. It’s just to see how long your average daily shave takes. Still, I would imagine that from year to year the clock time it takes will decrease somewhat, even though the subjective time will remain about the same since you are absorbed in the task.