I’ve been on a bit of an article hiatus since my laptop died. I have a desktop (which I’m on right now), but I built it 8 years ago from the clearance section of NewEgg, and it sounds like it’s about to die. In the last 12 months, we’ve had 3 computers go, and this’ll be the 4th once it kicks the bucket…. fun times.
Anyway, I know that y’all are just dying for some Trashy insight, so I’m gonna try to make the concepts of this article come together. This is mostly a “look at the cool razors I have” post, but I’ll try to shoehorn libertarianism in there somehow. I love these stream of consciousness articles because it doesn’t involve any planning!
I started my post-pubescent life like most other men and women. I got a free version of the latest Gillette razor in the mail, and I ran that trial pack of blades until they weren’t even sharp enough to cut tissue paper.
This showed up in adolescent trashy’s mailbox
I heard the common refrain from everybody. “They’ll give you the handle for free, but they’ll gouge you on the blades.” Turns out they were right. Gillette had a virtual monopoly, with Schick in a distant second, so they could charge anything they wanted for their blades. Add in a small psychological ploy to rely on consumers’ sunk cost fallacy, and you’re set for life.
There were three problems that cropped up. First, I was a broke high school/college student, so I was running the blades until they started to rust. Second, the shaves were absolute shit. Third, the shaves were a chore. Slather on the disgusting canned foam, scrape 5 dull blades across your face, have razor burn for 2 days. My skin is a bit sensitive, so a poor shave meant a couple days of sore face. How did I cope? By growing a beard. Yes, in high school, I had mutton chops and a circle beard because I hated shaving.
This seems like a good time to go on a social/libertarian tangent. There’s something about products like this that irk me, and I’m not entirely sure why. You have people with 1000 different needs from their razors, and you offer the same blades and the same orientation with the same lotion bar at the top. It strikes me like the perfectly beautiful, but completely tasteless tomatoes you can get at the grocery store. Sometimes, giving up choice in favor of the lowest common denominator results in absolute shit product, and that’s what the modern cartridge razor has become. If your cartridge razor works well for you, count yourself lucky. The cool thing about the free market is that you don’t have to follow the fickle trends of the masses. You don’t get stuck with the Comrade 4 blade because Supreme Leader Bernie decides that nobody needs 32 kinds of razors. You’re free to experiment with different types of product, both from now and from the past.
Back when razor makers were artisans
Speaking of the past, those guys really knew how to shave back then. It was a small luxury to get to shave, and it’s something that I have found immensely enjoyable, both from a “gotta do it, so might as well enjoy it” standpoint and from a “hobby that connects me to the past” standpoint. I shave with a 1957 Gillette Super Speed.
It cost me roughly $15 on ebay, and my razor blades cost a few pennies each and last me 5 or 6 shaves before they dull. Both men and women used to shave with safety razors like this.
Let’s dive into the hobby aspect of this stuff, and some of the nuances will start to come out. You’ll quickly understand why a single blade type at a single preset angle isn’t preferred.
At a macro level, we’re talking about wet shaving. Just as a quick disclaimer in case some woman happens to stumble across this site (because we know there are no female liberatarians) and wonders what the hell is going on… I’m talking about shaving one’s face, but my understanding is that it translates fine to doing legs, too. Wet shaving means that there is water involved. You don’t just slather canned goop on your face and start scraping. You don’t fire up some gizmo and hope it gets close enough that you look like you actually shaved today. Wet shaving is about preparing your face to get a close shave with comfortable results. In broad generalities, there are three phases to a wet shave: skin preparation, shaving, and skin protection. You prepare your skin to be lubricated enough to allow a razor and a blade to glide across your face without catching on the skin. You also prepare your stubble to be as erect as possible so that you lop it all off when you pass the blade through each hair.
As an aside, one reason why irritation is so common with cartridge blades is because the multiple blades act to pull the hair up out of the follicle and trim it below the skin line, resulting in irritation and a higher chance of ingrown hairs. It’s a very “close” shave, but it’s really too close.
You will find that most traditional forms of shaving involve a single blade, thus reducing the likelihood of such . . . uncomfortable . . . consequences. There are four types of shaving. Cartridge blade razor (including disposables), electric trimmer, safety razor, and straight razor. The bolded ones are the ones closest associated with wet shaving. Yes, you can wet shave with a cartridge razor, but you’re only getting partial benefits in that situation.
Some of the guys who make custom straight razors do some great work!
I’m sure we’ve got some straight razor folks here in Glibertopia, but I’m not really experienced with them. Besides the barber cleaning up the back of my neck with one, and the rare barbershop shave (which is shit once you figure out how to properly wield a safety or straight razor), I’ve never really even seen one in person.
However, the principles between safety razors and straight razors are much the same. The muscle memory is different and the stakes are higher with straights, but the process involves lubing up your face, holding the blade at a certain angle, and dragging it across your whiskers.
I’m big on connections to the past. Things may be “better” in the present, but often the consumerist impulses of today result in bland mass-produced products. There’s nothing beautiful about the latest Fusion razor. It’s an uninspired amalgamation of neon plastic and chromed plastic. However, I’ve seen some straight razors and safety razors that are works of art! Craftsmen made the shaving tools of old. Assembly lines stamp out today’s shaving tools.
There’s something about using a 60 year old work of art to do a mundane hygiene task that makes it less humdrum. When you add in the other components of a wet shave, it adds a small luxury to your morning. Back in the day, men didn’t mind taking a minute and enjoying their morning routine.
Pre-Shave
Before starting your shave, it’s important to prepare. Preparation is as important as execution in wet shaving, because your razor doesn’t have training wheels anymore. You can push pretty damn hard with a cartridge razor and not be worse for the wear. Safety razors reduce the chance of slicing your face open in comparison to a straight razor, but both types of blade are very unforgiving to mistakes.
There are two types of pre-shave preparation. 1) Skin preparation, and 2) Mapping your beard.
Skin Preparation
It is important to do two things to your skin prior to shaving. You need to lubricate your skin so that the razor glides along and doesn’t get stuck. You also need to get your hair follicles to stand up as much as possible to get a close shave. There’s a simple way to do both… hop in a warm shower. Many people shave in the shower to get the maximum benefit of the warm water. I’ve never found it particularly attractive an idea, but you do you. If you didn’t just hop out of the shower, a warm, wet washcloth to the face will do the trick. If your skin tends to be dry, or if you’re a beginner prone to making mistakes, you can use a pre-shave oil or a pre-shave cream to supplement the warm water. It also adds a pleasant aroma to the beginning of your shave. Like I said, small luxuries.
In the pic, I have one of each. There’s a Truefitt and Hill pre-shave oil with a citrus scent. Next to it is a Proraso pre-shave cream with a menthol finish. I don’t really use them very much any more. Occasionally I’ll use the oil because it is the closest to real-deal citrus as I’ve ever found in a citrus scent.
Anyway, you take a sparing amount and rub it into your skin, and all of a sudden you’ve got a slippery face.
Mapping your beard
Unlike a cartridge shave, where the blades are equal opportunity offenders, single blades are quite sensitive to the grain of your beard. If you go with the grain, it’s the least uncomfortable and it’s the least close shave. If you go against the grain, it’s the most uncomfortable and the closest shave. Usually people will do 2 or 3 passes in order to get a close and comfortable shave. For example, they may do a with the grain pass, a cross-grain pass, and an against the grain pass. If you properly do three passes like that, your face will feel like a baby’s ass.
The thing is that the grain doesn’t just go in one direction. Just like your hair on your head, your beard has whorls and direction changes and all sorts of unique challenges. For example, my left cheek grain goes down, but my right cheek goes backward. Knowing which way the whiskers go helps you avoid accidentally going against the grain in some areas on the first pass.
Lathering Up
You can see in the above picture the two brushes that look like huge weird makeup brushes. I’m not sharing the bathroom with Mrs. trshmnstr, so they’re not hers. Those are my shave brushes. They’re made from badger hair. Yes, they literally pluck hairs from badgers to make these brushes. You can also get boar hair brushes or synthetic brushes (think paintbrush bristles). I’ve never used either of those, but I like my badger brushes. The one on the right is a normal badger hair brush. It has enough resistance to stand up to vigorously rubbing your face, but the hairs aren’t irritating. The one on the left with the frosted tips is a silvertip badger brush. These are premium brushes due to the nature of the silver tipped hairs. The hairs stand up enough to be able to make a good shaving lather, but they’re quite soft at the tips, making for the perfect balance.
The purpose of a brush is simple, you load it up with shaving cream and you apply the shaving cream to your face. I should be more precise. You can use shaving cream (roughly the consistency of toothpaste) or shaving soap (a hockey puck shaped bar of specially formulated soap). This is where wet shaving completely leaves normal shaving behind.
You can see in this next photo a few shaving soaps. On the left is TSE Texas Leather Tallow Shaving Soap (yes, tallow as in animal fat… the best shave soaps are made with tallow), which literally smells like my cowboy boots. In the middle is Proraso Green, which has the same menthol hit like the pre-shave cream. On the right is Gentleman John Sandalwood Soap, which is my current go-to for everyday shaving. The left two soaps are a little bit creamier and aren’t really in puck form, so I use them directly from their containers. The Gentleman John didn’t come with a container, so it’s in my shave bowl.
There are two primary ways of lathering up, face lathering and bowl lathering. They’re both perfectly legitimate, but they yield different types of lather. The face lather tends to be more of a wet, slick lather, whereas the bowl lather tends to be fluffier and drier. Depending on your preference for lather, you can choose the appropriate technique.
Face Lathering
Face lathering is my go-to. It’s easier when you don’t have a ton of space, because you don’t need additional bowls and you don’t make a foamy mess all over the counter. Face lathering is two steps: loading the brush and lathering. First, to prep for the shave, you need to add a few drops of water to the soap to “bloom” the soap (meaning that the soap absorbs some of the water and the top layer softens up. Also, I like to leave the brush in warm water while I shower. If that’s not an option, just run some hot water over the bristles, because the brush will absorb some water. Then, give the brush a single shake (you want to get rid of some water, but not all), and start swirling the bristles over the soap puck. The soap will begin to foam, but you’re only loading the bristles with the soap, so you don’t want to go too long.
Once the brush is loaded, you proceed to swirl the brush on your cheeks until a foamy lather builds. Once the lather builds, you can paint it on other parts of your face until you have built up a nice slick, cushiony lather on all the places you’ll be shaving.
Bowl Lathering
Bowl lathering is very similar, but instead of taking the loaded brush to your face, you put it into a bowl and start swirling. Because of the fact that the bowl doesn’t have any moisture in it (as compared to your lubricated face), the lather tends to dry out, which makes it fluffier. Once you have a good lather built, you can just paint it on your face with the brush.
Want an added touch of luxury? Pour some hot water into a shave scuttle and heat up your lather while you make it!
Shaving
I’ve written an entire article’s worth of info, but we haven’t even cut a single whisker yet. In reality, once you get a hang of things, the pre-shave portion takes 2-3 minutes at most. Now it’s time to choose a razor and blades (for the safety razors). As mentioned above, my experience is with safety razors, so that’s what I’ll talk about.
Razors come in all different shapes and sizes, but there are three most important attributes: weight, balance, and aggressiveness. The key to shaving with a single blade razor is to avoid pressing. The blade should glide over your face, and even the slightest pressure can make for a bad shave. As such, the right weight razor keeps you from having to exert pressure to get the razor to cut. Too light, and your blade will skip right off your face. Too heavy, and you have very little control and feel as you cut. Balance also influences the control and feel. A well balanced razor can be held by two fingers and you can almost feel every whisker yield to the blade. Aggressiveness is about matching your style and skin sensitivity to how much the razor tries to take off on each pass. Some folks like really aggressive razors. Some (like me) like less aggressive razors. It’s all about getting a close cut without causing razor burn. Certain safety razors have adjustable aggressiveness. You twist a selector, and the blade bends to a different angle, reducing or increasing aggressiveness.
The blades themselves are also seen as aggressive or not. Feather blades have a reputation for aggressiveness, but I happen to like them in my Gillette Super Speed because it mellows their aggressiveness. Others are less aggressive. Most likely these differences are due to minute differences in the manufacturing tolerances, despite the fact that the blade’s form factor has been standardized for 80 years.
One of the great things about shaving with a safety razor is that besides the initial investment in the razor (about $10 for each of mine on ebay), the blades are super cheap. I’ve gotten deals under 10 cents per blade, and each blade usually lasts 5 or 6 shaves, if not more. However, like any other hobby, you can get lost in all of the options and spend hundreds of dollars on shave equipment. There are some rare vintage razors that go for over $100.
Shaving is very much an exercise in muscle memory. It’s quite similar to knife sharpening in that you need to find a proper angle, hold it at that angle, and make smooth strokes. You know it’s right when you can hear the blade cutting the whiskers. It’s a soothing sound. Unlike what you’ve likely learned shaving with a cartridge razor, it’s not about pushing down and dragging across half of your face. That will end with blood everywhere. With a safety or straight razor, it’s about smooth short strokes with almost no pressure. You only exert enough pressure to keep the blade from skipping when it hits the next whisker. I’ve found that when in doubt, you’re using too much pressure. The goal is to “reduce” the hair rather than “eliminate” the hair. This is why you do two or three passes. The first pass takes the stubble down lower, the second even lower, and the third down to the skin.
Also, this is a literal razor blade. Razor blades cut you if you drag them sideways along your skin. Your short smooth strokes should be directly perpendicular to the blade’s edge. Turning corners is an advanced move for when you stop cutting yourself.
After a bit of practice, you start to be able to feel when a blade is getting dull. Before then, replace your blade on a regular basis. Usually 5 or 6 shaves is about as much as you can get out of a blade. If you have an old house, there may even be a blade depository in your bathroom. It dumps all the used blades into your wall for the contractor to find when you decide to remodel the bathroom.
Finishing Up
After you shave and wipe off the excess lather, you’re not quite done yet. Your face is in an “open” state due to the warm water, the lather, and the razor. One refreshing way to close up your pores is to splash your face with cool water. If you have a couple tiny nicks that are thinking about bleeding, sometimes this step will convince them not to bleed.
Once you’ve rinsed your face with cool water, it’s time to apply after-product. This is purely optional, but I find that my face thanks me. I have extremely dry skin, so this is the perfect time to add some moisture and avoid redness, cracked skin, etc. In come two categories of after-shave. In front is Clubman Pinaud, which is a traditional Home Alone aftershave. It’s alcohol based, and it’ll let you know if you nicked yourself. To me, this is the smell of a barbershop, and it lingers with you for the rest of the day.
Behind the Clubman is some Tea Tree leave-in conditioner. I forget who recommended it to me, but this stuff is the absolute best at moisturizing my face. I just rub it in like lotion, and my dry skin issues go away within a couple hours. It doesn’t linger like Clubman, but you can still smell it a couple hours later.
Also, while you’re cleaning up, rinse out your brush and get as much water out as you can. I hang mine alongside my razor to air dry the rest of the way. I also leave the soap container open to air dry.
But what if you got a boo boo? Bleeding is a part of learning to shave, and it sucks. Rather than sticking toilet paper to your face or bleeding everywhere, get yourself a styptic pencil or an alum block. They both contain chemicals that help your blood clot up and stop the bleeding. They aren’t magic, so don’t start rubbing your jugular while you’re bleeding out, but they’ve stopped cuts where the blood was dripping down my chin before.
I’ve never found out the right way to clean the styptic pencil. I usually rinse it off under the faucet, but the pencil doesn’t play well with water.
All of this to say, nobody needs 32 different kinds of razors. In Progtopia, we’re all gonna be stuck with shitty off-brand disposables and silly-string for shaving cream.
Everyones going to die.
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/06/19/google-ai-can-predict-when-youll-die-with-95-percent-accuracy-researchers-say.html
Easy to do, the machine predicts “within the next day” and shoots you.
Now we can get rid of the death panels, let the computers make the decision.
More jobs lost to automation! Where will it end?!
I am sure it can also predict the climate.
It’s going to change, then change again, and again……
I use the Schick Hydro 5. Prefer foam to gel.
My grandfather gave me his old straight razor when he was put on blood thinners. It has ascrimshawed bone handle. I have no desire to use it for shaving, but it’s a damn pretty piece of craftsmanship.
I shave in the shower without a mirror. It took a lot of practice, but I no longer miss any spots.
I think we’ll need a ruling from OMWC on this.
*symphony applause*
It’s true, but much less shit involved. Usually.
Stop shaving babies.
Also, what are people’s feelings on electric razors?
Never found one that actually resulted in a shave. They were worse clippers.
Negative. Terribly uneven, plus scraped the hell out of my neck around the Adam’s apple.
I used to use one, but it never looked better than a day-old growth on me. Italian facial hair, man.
I’m a Proraso green man myself. Inexpensive, lasts a while, great lather. I just pop it out of the tub and press it into my mug. I use a Gillette Slim adjustable from the early ’60s and Personna blades. Since I don’t shave every day (usually every other day because I have sensitive skin and work doesn’t require it), I buy a box of 100 blades and they last me about 2 years.
Someone gave me a tub of Taylor of Old Bond Street Lemon and Lime cream, and it was very good, but hell if I’m paying that much for shaving cream.
It’s been a couple of decades for me. I got a decent but not great shave. However, when the blades got dull look out. I got cut more than once and it hurt like hell.
Did you book the Grand Bohemian?
I’ve used nothing else for decades. But I don’t go for the “clean-shaven” look so there’s that.
I use one, but I only shave the cheekbones and a small patch on my neck. The last time I actually shaved was 8+ years ago when I went to China for 2 weeks and I took my beard down to an anchor beard.
I found a compact travel one, ran on AA or AAA, at a PX years ago and it was decent for a quick dry shave. Lost it somewhere along the way years ago.
Everyday, once I started shaving my head. Getting the right one for your beard is key. I can’t use a screen shaver, but a Remington rotary will cut my whiskers as close as a razor, if I use skin bracer.
When I still used a regular razor:
Nicking yourself with a razor on the crown of your head can turn into quite the event.
I was a Captain briefing a Major General and the little piece of toilet paper on my head itched.
I scratched and suddenly my uniform collar was wet and blood was dripping off my ear. The CG gave me shit about that for the next six months.
I noted below, but I’m loyal to Norleco shavers. No fuss, no muss. Blades sliced my neck to ribbons.
Works fine for me.
Saves time and it gets close enough.
All I use
Its fast, painless, portable, no mess, and even if its not as close as a blade, I really don’t care.
That sounds too much like work, I’ll keep my beard.
I fought acne well into my 20’s. So for decades I’ve been using electric razors so as to not bleed out every time I shave. Now that that is pretty much in my past, I should look at safety razors. Although, when you are running late for work, shaving in the car with an electric razor is super handy…
When I started reading I thought it would be a TL;DR, but I was wrong. Really good article Trashy!
I use a Merkur, the replica of the o.g. Gilette safety razor. You’re not kidding about wet shaving, man. The first time I used a brush and soap I was like, “What in the hell have I been doing all these years!?”
I use a long handle Merkur with Astra blades. It works great and it’s so much cheaper than disposables.
Awesome article Trashy!
I use a Parker 26C open comb, feather blades, Proraso cream and Proraso after shave. I usually inly shave 3 times per blade, but I generally don’t shave every day.
I hate that I can’t bring it when I travel. I have a Harry’s cartridge one for that.
Yeah, TSA frowns on having a four inch razor in your carry on.
I loved watching my Dad do his morning ritual shave with mug and such when I was a tot. I hadn’t thought of that in years. Thanks, TrshMnstr.
One of my favorite pics is tiny Tundra ‘shaving’ next to dad. He would give me a bladeless safety razor and I would lather up and go. I don’t use a brush these days, but I can almost smell the soap he used.
Good times.
My dad always used disposable razors. I tried some recently for my travel bag. Just downright awful. Even the supposed high end ones.
I use mail order razor and blades from Harry’s. I’m very happy with the quality and price compared to Gillette. Plus I shave my head as well and I would not risk using a safety razor or straight every other day in the shower.
I use Proraso shave cream that has a great eucalyptus sent and sensation. I follow up after with an aftershave lotion with a sandalwood scent.
Is the stuff from Harry’s worth it.
Wife bought me a set about a year ago and I’ve stuck with it. The blades get me through four or five shaves so the price works out for me.
I didnt care for it. Not enough flex in the handle.
I would say it is worth it. I found my self being cheap with the Gillette blades and using them way too long. These are cheap enough and sharp enough that you can use one a week without concern or stretch to one every two weeks.
Thank goodness I don’t have to shave my face.*
*Just everywhere else, I guess.
Thank you for the opportunity to practice restraint.
Right? I had to get up and walk away.
I can’t get up and walk away right now.
Sure when *she* says it, it’s titillating, when *I* say it it’s creepy.
#FemalePrivilege
I’m only ever here to help. … Probably.
I’m with you Q. Guys should clean up their crime scenes too.
Great article. My brother is super into this as well and has some nice straight razors. I’m a beard guy and have been for basically a decade with a brief interruption 8 years ago. But I imagine there will come a day when I will need to shave again so this is good info.
My wife buys the bath and body works shaving cream made by Proraso when they are on sale or as part of some coupon offers and I stock up on it.
Fun article.
I did the Merkur thing for awhile my wife even made the shaving soap for me. It was fun for awhile but got tiring and I kept losing blood.
Now I shave in the shower with a buck-something disposable from the grocery store – new ones are as good as any Gillette, last for a couple weeks and no blood loss. For shaving cream I use cream rinse – the stuff you use on your hair after the shampoo. Works better than anything purpose built for shaving that I’ve ever found and it’s basically free.
I used to grow a beard in the winter before I started using a CPAP, but I’ll never understand how anyone keeps a beard in the summer. Can’t stand that sweaty face feeling.
It helps if the summer beard is short.
I keep mine year long and it is currently about 3-4 inches below my chin. It helps that I live in Portland, OR so the summers are mild. The other trick is to bathe after any serious exertion and to otherwise take it easy. But I also use shampoo & conditioner on my beard which seems to help keep the skin underneath moisturized.
That’s too much beard. That long and it starts to be more trouble than it saves in shaving.
It does take more maintenance than when it is shorter, yes. But I don’t find it that much trouble. I’ve had it this long (and at one point I went ZZ Top with it) for long enough that the maintenance routine of shampoo/condition/brush daily is simply part of the routine and it seems less onerous than shaving to me.
I can’t stand long hair of any type in summer. I buzz my head close to the scalp year-round anyway but the last few times I had anything longer than a quarter inch or so I was miserable.
I don’t go quite that low, but I do keep the sides and back of my head short during the summer. Being able to feel hair on my neck in the summer is a horrible feeling.
I’ve been using a Cadet open comb razor for the last couple years. Its new manufacture, but made of brass and the heft is really nice and makes it properly aggressive.
Its summer, so I’ve recently switched to Kell’s Original hemp and aloe blend for the soap, or a menthol soap from Momabear soap. If you have dry skin, Kell’s is a great soap.
My bowl is a small wooden salad bowl I found at a thrift store. Right shape and size, won’t explode in a million pieces when I drop it.
Haven’t tried a straight razor, and won’t until my kids are old enough that I can trust them not to get into it and slice through a tendon in their finger. The way the young one is going, I expect that to happen in about 40 or 50 years.
https://smile.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Straight-Razor-Dovo/dp/B0028B8O7K
I been shaving with a Dovo & silver tip badger for about 1.5 years. It forces you to pay attention or suffer the consequences. Great write up, Trashy.
I was using a safety razor for a while but I could never get skilled enough to avoid a lot of blood from my upper lip and chin. Do you have any tips for those areas? I’d be willing to try again, I still have all the stuff including some vintage “black” blades still in their metal cases.
I just go slow around the chin and make sure that I’m adjusting the blade angle with the curve of my face. That, and most of the time I’m not trying to achieve the perfect shave. If it’s still a bit stubbly, I can usually live with that.
I think what happens sometimes is you shave, get bumps from the irritation, then next time you shave, those bumps get sliced up. This causes a cycle where you are constantly shaving over bumpy, irritated skin and just cutting yourself even more.
When that happens to me, I go a day or two without shaving to give the skin time to return to its normal state.
I find it hard to get under the nose with my Gillette super speed, but my merkur long handle and Gillette tech do just fine. Razor geometry matters in those tight areas. Also, more aggressively moving your nose helps. It’s a little awkward and uncomfortable, but reduces nicks. My skin around and under my nose is really sensitive due to some excema type condition, so it takes a whole lot of control to avoid bleeding there. Since i wear a beard, it’s not an issue anymore.
Fuck blades. I endured painful razor bumps and rash on my neck for years, because previous electrics did a shit job. I tried a bunch of different blades and shaving creams, but got the same result.
I’m Norelco-only wet shave now. No bumps or rash. Best of all, it gets the scourge of middle age: ear hair.
Uggh, I’m lucky mine is very, very blonde.
Once, I discovered a ~2″ hair coming out one ear and curving to the back. Nice, that must have only been there for weeks/months. I only noticed it because of some fortunate backlighting.
How the hell did that survive multiple trimmings?
OT: Nice goal you gifted to Senegal, refs. Comically stupid.
Worst officiating yet – travesty.
Yeah, the whole match was a bit of a shitshow. But oh well… I was rooting for Senegal anyway.
This comment: but my understanding is that it translates fine to doing legs, too.
All I know is that nothing will ruin a razor quicker than her using it to shave her legs.
“Holy fuck, woman, did you use that to pull down the wall-paper? Can’t you at least rinse the hairs out of it?”
This is the other reason I only use an electric nowadays.
If I hadn’t caught on to the fact that she’d used it, the arterial bleeding and burning pain were immediate give-aways.
Gillette gel and razor. Works good enough to present my face at work. At my age, no one cares how smooth it is or isn’t.
some single-bladed plastic jobber that my wife buys for her legs. in the shower. i use the reflection off the chrome shower head. it’s about a 2cm wide surface. sometimes soap, sometimes not.
anybody have a recommendation for a shower mirror? preferably not real glass since it could break and i’ll be nekkid.
also use to “shave” next to my dad with a little plastic toy razor with ACTUAL FOAM! getting that sad nostalgia feeling just thinking about it.
I use a safety razor with just water. It took a while to get good at it but I rarely cut myself anymore.
Once my son (5 at the time ) told my wife to shut up and I turned my head in the middle of shaving my upper lip, it looked like a crime scene in the bathroom.
It’s fucking surprising how much blood can come out of the upper lip and chin. Must be highly vascular areas.
Oh my god, I don’t miss cutting my lip shaving. Sure, I’ve got 20 extra minutes to wait for this thing to clot.
I use soap in a dish for my lather and a Merkur safety razor. You can buy multi-packs of different brands of blades for pretty cheap, so I go that route. Aftershave afterward.
I’m a genetic freak so I only have to shave once a week. Oddly enough, I have a full head of hair but can’t grow a beard to save my life.
A neck beard, on the other hand…
A friend of mine in the Marines was Navajo. Never had to shave, period. No facial hair.
I think that’s how I get away with a safety blade and no lather. I have enough indian in me that I don’t have much to shave. I can grow a goatee, but that’s it.
A friend of mine has some Cherokee (like actual Cherokee) a few generations back in the family tree, and he’s always had very fine, sparse facial hair. I, on the other hand, am like a Chia Pet. I can go from skin to old timey gold miner in like two months.
One shave doesn’t last me a full day. So there’s not point. Biology insists that I should have facial hair.
In front is Clubman Pinaud, which is a traditional Home Alone aftershave. It’s alcohol based, and it’ll let you know if you nicked yourself. To me, this is the smell of a barbershop, and it lingers with you for the rest of the day.
I use this same stuff myself. It’s surprising how many women I’ve had tell me they like the way I smell.
I really should try the safety razor route. Thanks for the great article.
I use Clubman Bay Rum, and I’ve also gotten a ton of compliments on it.
Moot point for bearded me, but still… this is mandatory.
“Curly, shave some ice!”
I haven’t shaved anything since I was 18. My beard is manly and robust. Shaving is for girls.
Your beard resembles Yasir Arafat’s.
Inshallah.
It matches the table-cloth hat.
Nice article. I haven’t used shaving cream in years. I just wet-shave in the shower. I use the latest rob-you-blind razor from Gillette, and I get a nice smooth shave.
I need to ask SP what razor she uses for shaving my toe-knuckles.
Children that young shouldn’t have access to razors!
I shower, shave and run to the store with instructions to get stuff. I get back and we are talking about shaving?
I dont ‘clean up the crime scene’ as y’all so gracefully put it. Hot and humid as hell plus any stubble will make you look like you jumped crotch first and naked on a bull nettle. As for my face I shave with plenty of my wife’s home made fancy soap after a hot soak using a disposable. That is usually around 4-5 am. What’s the point? By noon I could use my face to sand furniture.
I just use one of the older Gillette razor cartridges and shave gel, but thoroughly loved the article. Now I feel like buying a jar of barbicide to put on the bathroom counter.
“Works good enough to present my face at work. At my age, no one cares how smooth it is or isn’t.”
Cut me a little slack, I suck at jokes – Two men are on lunch break sitting on a sidewalk bench watching girls walk by.
Man 1 “My God look at that girl! That is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen! I wish I could turn invisible so I could get really close to get a better look”
Man 2 – “Turn invisible? Hell, thats easy!” *takes a bite of sandwich and chews noisily*
Man 1 – “Really? What is the secret?”
Man 2, mumbling with a full mouth – “Turn 40”
HAHAHAH…heyyy….
/turns 40 this August
Curse my Finnish heritage, I’ve never had any propensity for growing facial hair. The upside being that I get a fine shave with just wet skin and a wet disposable two-bladed razor. All the extra foofy skin care crap just seems unnecessary when it takes you a couple days for your five-o’-clock shadow to set in.
yeah, that’s confirmed
https://www.google.com/search?q=patrik+laine+beard&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi5_c7MquDbAhUB0FkKHcWZC5sQ_AUICigB&biw=1057&bih=1647
It looks like Patrik Laine would have been one of the suspects in True Detective Season 1.
Speaking of that: I have been reading a fair amount of local history lately and I ran across this creepy story –
https://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/05/abandoned_pet_cemetery.html
I immediately recognize some of the elements. Apparently TD1 was cobbled together out of a number of local true crimes.
The only thing I remember from TD1.
I learned how to shave with a safety razor. And how to tear little pieces of toilet paper to staunch the ensuing hemorrhaging.
These days it’s a Harry’s Shave Shop razor, shaving oil and Burt’s Bees aftershave balm.
Nice article.
I have used a mug and brush since college. Infinitely better than that canned crap. Nowadays, I just toss my slivers of soap (“sensitive skin” Olay or Dove) into the mug. It got to where it was hard to find shaving soap, and the last straw was when I grabbed some stuff of the shelf that had such a horrendous perfume I had to throw it in the trash after about the second shave.
I just buy some sort of two blade disposable “sports” razors. I have seriously considered switching to an olde style safety razor, but never pulled the trigger.
OT: One way to make a flight more interesting.
https://twitter.com/KileyTully/status/1008405393582804993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpeople.com%2Fhome%2Fvideo-of-couple-caught-having-sex-on-a-plane-in-front-of-other-passengers-goes-viral%2F
If you dont want people videoing you screwin’ in public, dont screw in public.
I think that’s how you make twins.
Shaving cream is a racket!
I haven’t used any shaving cream since I read this article and haven’t missed it a bit. I also use a single bladed safety razor.
I tried doing it without cream after watching the movie Predator, but once i started getting chatter and cuts on my skin I went back to cream.
A few tsp of olive oil clears up the chatter. Many of the pre-shave oils are made from olive and other cooking oils.
This post would also be appropriate under #40 above.
Wow – I could save dozens of cents a month this way.
Yeah, it takes me about 30 seconds to shave.
I’ve had a beard since the time when I could grow one. I don’t shave anymore usually. I use the trimmer on the bare bits of my face. Back when I did shave I just used the double blade disposables with the lube strip. I didn’t use shaving cream or anything, just wet my face and shaved, smooth every time. I never got the fancy razor craze.
I was very blond as a young man. I could grow a beard or mustache – but they turned almost white as soon as I got some sun. I decided to shave instead of looking like Santa Claus or a gay man from the 70s.
I joke that my nieces and nephews are confused by clean shaved men, every man in the immediate family has a beard.
I was reading Spiked-online.com last night and noticed the commenters complaining that links were no longer allowed in the comments. They seemed pretty pissed about it. I dont know if Spiked had that done or if Disqus is doing it but the suspicion seems to be that someone is trying to dampen down on controversy online. I thought it was interesting that a site devoted to free speech *snort* would disallow linking in the comments. It seems an essential part of arguing a point.
I am a bit distracted so I failed to include, yet again, my observation that nearly all of the lefty websites no longer have a comment section. My theory is that they are tired of getting called on their bullshit. As usual their solution is to just shut down discussion altogether.
I’ve heard some Lefties in real life express disdain for the entire idea of comments. Someone told me that they are trying to avoid websites that are primarily user-created content.
While I understand that comment sections are often full of bullshit (take this site, for instance! I kid, I kid), it’s an important way to “call out” falsehoods and logical fallacies made by the author.
I think it’s just part of the Leftist drive to shut out independent thought and establish a monopoly on public opinion that is controlled by carefully selected “experts” (e.g. people who stick to “sensible” ideas like gun control and socialism and won’t put out any crazy notions of individual liberty).
That is exactly what it is. There is a reason communist countries are single party states that have a monopoly on what information is publicly disseminated. It is the same reason that the left is always shouting people down or shutting them up. they dont want people to have a choice because they know they will be rejected.
They prefer to be on the giving end of the screeching.
Most sites’ comment sections aren’t comments but shrieking matches. This is the ONLY site I bother the read the comments on.
I read the local rag’s comment section. It’s like 3 guys who don’t even live here complaining about shit the city council does and one creepy dude who always links to his blog that has the “real” news.
I kind of enjoy the comments at TTAC.
It might have to do with pernicious EU regulations.
That crossed my mind but it doesnt change my suspicions. In fact, it makes them seem more likely.
^^
there is likely liability concerns with content that commenters will post.
you can police things people type. but if they link to “nazi racist kiddy porn snuff films”, its your ass even tho your filters don’t catch it.
OT: Got a copy of Atlas Shrugged in the mail today. Should be interesting; I’ll start on it as soon as I finish reading As You Like It by some old white man.
I also ordered a book called The Tyranny of Metrics, which is about, well, overreliance on metrics, inaccuracy of metrics, and how this leads to fucked up results in the real world. I’m looking forward to this one after seeing headline after headline about how “data science” has allegedly proved a ton of things that are clearly not provable by analyzing patterns in a few simple metrics.
You may think at some point you have reached “the speech”, but you haven’t. Then you realize that you’ve read the same thought rehashed 15 times and your mind starts playing tricks that you just forgot to turn the page several times but you have turned the page, perhaps even skipped a few. Then you’re in the speech.
I listened to it as an audio book, I think that helped slog through the terribly stilted dialogue a bit easier. I saw part three of the movie at the local dollar, just part three the lowest quality movie and the worst part of the book. I think a dollar is a good price for it.
That book has been sitting on my book shelf for 3 years with a book mark in the middle of the speech.
I read it all the way through once. It’s not as dull as Dracula, which is my standard for a book where it becomes so damn dull that I can’t plow through to the end, but it drags on at points, and “the speech” is one of them. It’s the kind of thing you read and think, “This is why God invented editors”.
Mental Health Therapist huh? Still would.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/06/19/woman-28-gets-upset-over-nails-allegedly-drags-nail-salon-employee-with-car.html
I’ll take ” The Rapist” for 1000 Alex,
+1 Anal Bum Cover
Give me “Swords” for 200
-Mr Connery, the category is “S” Words
Well it starts with a bloody S!
“aaaaaaand Tom Hanks is caught in a dry cleaning bag.”
Hell yeah, she looks like fun. And jail time.
Her mouth looks like the Joker. I guess if you’re into role play it could work.
Huh, I think her mouth looks sexy. But I already know I’m weird.
Great, that’s my town. If this keeps up I’ll have to change my handle to “Indiana Man”.
I’d want to know where the sharp things are.
Also, ‘Indiana Woman’ so she’s probably packing.
*takes one glance*
That would be a huge mistake.
Perhaps “Mental Health Therapist” code for prostitute.
I mean, when you duck face for your mugshot…
This is great. Public transportation would be possible if it weren’t for those meddling
KIDSKOCH BROTHERS.its almost as if they operate on some kind of….principle.
What is their fascination with choo-choos? I thought we were supposed to be the autistic ones.
What is their fascination with choo-choos?
They have a history.
I dunno, but I decided to look up the Phoenix light rail Nashville is right to vote against it.
Time and time again rail has proven to be a huge waste of money outside of a few cities that have conditions favorable for train systems – namely, that have over half of their job base within a dense urban core. I don’t know the numbers but I’d say it’s pretty safe to assume that Nashville isn’t one of those.
Scott Walker will always have a warm spot in my heart for cancelling the Milwaukee to Madison rail program that Doyle started.
Light rail is horseshit in every American city except for very densely populated ones. Otherwise it’s just a huge boondoggle.
Well, it does help bums move around the metro area so they can steal from the burbs and then be back in time to get their gimmedats from the government in the downtown core.
Nothing offers opportunities for graft, theft and corruption like building choo-choo trains. Think about all of the eminent domain, cronies to hire, price over-runs and construction that never ends, deadlines never met, budgets to exceed, new taxes…and the list goes on.
The left are just grifters who mostly figured out how to stay out of jail. Of course they love massive public works.
Sometimes trains do good work.
Rail is great for moving heavy freight – terribly inefficient for moving people in most circumstances.
What they want is government transit, not mass transit.
I’m reminded of a piece John Stossel did on 20/20 about the “dollar vans” and how the city government hated them.
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-pasco/land-o-lakes/venomous-caterpillar-sends-land-o-lakes-boy-to-er-mom-warning-others
Venomous caterpillars? I would have thought they would be in Australia, not Florida.
I mean, Florida is America’s Australia.
I dont remember how many species of stinging caterpillars we have here but it isnt a small number. Some are a lot worse than others. The spiky, dangerous looking ones aren’t nearly as bad as the soft fuzzy looking ones. I learned young that those soft, silky looking critters are bad, bad news. I think the one that got that boy is the worst in NA. People have died from its sting.
Some simple warning signs of dangerous critters:
It doesnt run away.
It looks harmless.
It is a bright color that draws attention.
Many of the fuzzy caterpillars exhibit all three of those.
*silently gives thanks for cold winters*
Yeah, every time I bitch about seasons I think about mosquitoes venomous insects. It doesn’t get all that cold here, but it gets cold enough to keep the numbers down and at least give you a few months of respite.
They have those in Okinawa and I had never heard of such a thing.
I was playing with my daughter, passing one back and forth.
Luckily my wife came out and freaked, so we stopped before either one of us got bit.
Shaving sucks. Thankfully I have slightly more hair than a newborn and it grows slow.
Wahl clippers #3 for hair, snap off comb and run down face. every 3-4 weeks.