“A good shave” means for some that the final result is good, and in that sense today I had an excellent shave: fully BBS with sign of a nick or burn. However, I use “a good shave” to refer not just to the result, but to the entire experience, from turning on the hot-water tap at the start to splashing on the aftershave at the end. In that sense, my shave today was not so good.
The problem began when I started the shave and realized I had forgotten to wet the little horsehair brush I was going to use. Normally, I will wet the knot of a boar or horsehair brush before I shower and let the wet brush sit while I shower. By the time I shave, the knot has absorbed water and is soft and ready for lathering.
I wet the brush immediately, then washed my beard and rubbed the Ogallala shave stick against the grain, and started brushing briskly with the wet brush, but nothing much happened. A little lather, but very little. I again rubbed the stick over my beard, thinking the problem might be too little soap, wet the brush a little, and tried again. I got some lather, and I did the first pass, using the Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements double-comb razor (both cap and guard are open-comb).
For the second pass, no joy, and I threw in the towel, grabbed the RazoRock angel-hair synthetic, and used Dr. Jon’s Savannah Sunrise. This time I got an excellent lather with no problem, and the shave after that was good (in both senses).
A splash of The Holy Black Gunpowder Spice aftershave, and I’m enjoying an impeccably smooth face. I’ll have to return to that brush and that soap soon and figure out what the problem was.
Filed under: Shaving
