The third-pass method I learned from Grooming Dept’s proprietor works extremely well, and today I discovered another benefit.
I used Grooming Dept Visage this morning. This soap has a pleasant nonspecific woody fragrance, as explained at the link. It also makes an incredibly good lather. Visage uses Grooming Dept’s new Mallard formula, which (as I noted in an earlier post) produces an even better lather than the original Mallard formula.
I used my Rooney Style 1 Size 1 Super Silvertip because I wanted to try the new method — I’ll call it the Aion method — with a natural-bristle brush.
I just recently used my Yaqi Mercury (here on the excellent stainless steel RazoRock UFO handle) but I brought it out again because of its excellent combination of great comfort and high efficiency (and low price).
The first two passes — with the grain and across the grain — went very well, and then on the third past I used the Aion method:
- Rinse as usual after the second (across-the-grain) pass.
- Squeeze the brush knot to expel the rich lather from the knot’s core.
- Use your hands to spread the lather over the shaving area of your face.
- Leaving the lather in place, clean the brush, rinsing the knot under hot water until the water runs clear, then under cold water. Shake the brush well, then stand the damp brush on its base to dry.
- Shave the final pass, against the grain except for any areas where you tend to get in-growns. For those, shave across the grain in the direction opposite to the direction used in the second pass.
Using your hands to spread the lather for the final pass is soothing and avoids irritation from the brush’s bristles on your freshly shaved face — and if the brush runs short of lather in that final pass, more brushing (to eke out the lather) means more irritation to your skin.
By squeezing out the rich core lather and patting it onto your face, you get the benefit of using this great lather instead of rinsing it down the drain when you clean your brush after the shave.
Moreover, having removed the lather from the knot makes cleaning the brush easier and quicker.
The Aion method does work like a charm. After the final pass, I rinsed my extremely smooth face, dried it, and applied a small squirt of Grooming Dept Rejuvenating Serum, which makes a very nice aftershave balm.
The coffee this morning is Fantastico’s Espresso Malinal: “Sweet, Full-bodied and Balanced With Bittersweet Chocolate and Toffee Notes Laced With Rich Dried-fruit Undertones.” I bought this in the stovetop-espresso grind, and I like the coffee much better when I use 29g instead of 31g (in a pint of water). The difference just 2g makes is surprising.