It’s been a long time since I had a bad shave — good products and much practice does provide a strong safety net — but still from time to time I find that a shave is unexpectedly good: better than the usual daily shave.
Naturally enough, when this happens I try to figure out why. I had such a shave this morning. My best guess:
- Prep products. The Emperor 3 Super is a fine brush, but I think most credit must go to The Dead Sea, an unusual (and unusually good) shaving soap from Italian Barber. It requires only a barely damp brush — you can add a little water, gingerly, if the brush is not loading, but take care: this soap can easily be over-watered. The soap is good in terms of both lather and fragrance.
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Prep duration. Because I was enjoying the brush and the lather (fragrance and feel), I prolonged the lathering beyond my usual quick job.
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Razor + blade. The right combination for you of razor and blade makes an enormous difference, of course — that’s where the steel meets the face. The Above the Tie R1 works extremely well for me, and I haven’t used it for a while so I forgot what a fine razor it is. It holds a Personna Lab Blue blade, and those also work quite well for me (but perhaps not for you: you have to do your own exploration to find your own best blade for each razor).
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Technique. At this point, my technique has been developed through years of practice, and that’s why my shaves are always good now. But when technique is added to the above, the result is exceptional, as it is today.
A splash of Latha’s Post-Shave Splash provided a fine finish, and the weekend lies before me, ready for anything reasonable.