I almost always have a very good shave — lots of practice plus good tools and products — and I was wondering this morning why, since such a good shave is a routine occurrence, it continues to be such a great pleasure. The specific stimulus was my thinking, “What an exceptionally good shave!” and then realizing that it was not, in fact, “exceptional” but rather much the rule: day after day I get very fine shaves, yet after each I am struck by how very good it makes me feel.
I think it must be something about sensory pleasure, which done rightly is always gratifying. While a fine meal may not be so pleasing if one is already satiated — “hunger is the best sauce” — good food well prepared and consumed at reasonable intervals is almost always a pleasure (though eating one meal after another without an interval generally is the opposite of pleasure and even sickening). Since I get but one shave a day, the experience is always welcome, and doubly welcome on Monday, since I skip the Sunday shave.
Because I chose Achilles shaving soap (by Van Yulay) as the shaving soap, it seemed appropriate to use the Fine Classic shaving brush. (A dad joke lurks in there.) The lather as always was excellent, and I enjoy this fragrance — and I like the soap’s ingredients:
Stearic Acid, Coconut Fatty Acid, Palm Stearic, Castor, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Tobacco Tea, Aloe Vera, Coconut-Emu-Tallow-Meadow Foam-Borage-Argan Oils, Kentucky Bourbon, Sodium Lactate, Herbal Ground Tea, Calendula, Extracts, Poly Quats, Allantoin, Silica, Bentonite & Kaolin Clay, Glycerin Soap, Tobacco Absolute, Mica, and Fragrance.
I note that the bare spot at the bottom of my tub of soap is slowly growing. I have a metric ton of shaving soap, so replacing this tub when it finally is exhausted seems silly — and yet…
My Fatip Testina Gentile is a very nice razor — good aesthetics (though that’s certainly subjective) and excellent performance, being both comfortable and efficient. My face was totally smooth after three passes, and the splash of Achilles aftershave splash was a fine finish.
The weekend begins well, except for the weather: “Heavy rain expected this weekend across most of Vancouver Island.” OTAOH, I have no need to go out, so I’ll have a snug weekend in the apartment. I even have a couple of buttercup squash, and those when roasted are a fine rainy-day snack.