Shaving like them good old days
If you're familiar with my previous posts you will know that I tend to experiment with all facets of life. Previously I've experimented with a Facebook-less month and although I do not intend to dedicate an entire blog post to the outcome I thought I would mention it in this blogpost just before I start ranting about lousy 2-5 blade shaving head systems.
So a month without Facebook is interesting. First few days I had to stop myself from going all autopilot and surfing to the website but I was clever enough to replace my normal keycombo 'fb' to go to another website instead (I choose random Wikipedia page, knowledge is power). Those first few days were a bit weird in the sense that I was missed something...like missing chocolate or the feeling you have when you leave your home and you left something on like the stove. Eventually this feeling disappeared and I was ok without Facebook and not knowing every little thing people shared. Yes I have to say that after like a week it felt like bliss not having to check up on social updates. Facebook really can be an addiction and after a month without I can say I've dropped the monkey I had on my back. After a month I logged in and noticed that I had missed.....wait for it....NOTHING. Yes that's it....nothing new. Sure enough people were still posting stupid stuff that was of no interest to me. But this led me to take steps in the way I use Facebook. I've vastly thinned out the amount of people I get updates from in my News Feed via the Show in News Feed option (uncheck the mark).
I got Facebook when I started to travel Australia and with the intent on keeping up-to-date with friends I met along the way. So keeping that in mind I currently have friends a plenty on Facebook but I only get events from close friends (maybe 10 total) and the rest are only travel friends. I still prefer Twitter over any social media and I'm sticking with that to get my personally flavoured news and main interaction with social media but Facebook will not leave my life...at least for now even though I only check it on a weekly basis from now on.
Getting back to the main subject of this post. About a year ago I was introduced into the world of safety razors and straight razors by my colleagues. I was already fed up with paying between 15 to 25 euro for 4 shaving head cartridges that probably cost less that 5 cents to make (excluding design cost) but wasn't really familiar alternatives. After some insight from those colleagues I was reading up on safety razors and straight razors. The later being to much of a change and not wanting to slice my skin off I went with the safety razor. ;)
After receiving my kit (details below) I had to adjust to shaving the proper way. It's a lost art these days and something that was probably handed down from father to son before we had the throw away cartridge systems. I learned mostly from just doing it and geofatboy's Youtube videos. I certainly cut myself in the beginning during my adjustment period. Nicks and skin irritation were commonplace in the beginning while my skin adjusted to a single, albeit very sharp, blade. I also learn that having a well prepared face with good soap instead of the crap that I normally used makes all the difference. It's the most important part of shaving properly I would say. So make your face wet with hot water, soaping it in with proper soap so your hairs hold a lot of moisture while you shave is vital. And your blade/razor should be warm/hot as well, cold metal is a nono. If you are really interested in the proper shaving technique I would recommend you head over to geofatboy's Youtube channel, he has a ton of videos about that as well as differences in safety razors.
I also started out with a shaving blade starter kit which included 5 different brands but ultimately the only way to go for me is Japanese steel, Feather Hi-Stainless to be exact. I also like that this way of shaving has way less impact on the environment. With cartridge based systems I would throw way plastic plus metal which is hard to separate but now it's just a metal blade which should be very easy to separate and recycle.
My current kit plus prices:
- Merkur razor - 25C - € 27,00
- Proraso shaving soap, 150ml. Sensitive skin - € 5,95
- Alum - € 9,15
- Proraso After-Shave Balsem - € 12,95
- Thiers-Issard Badgerhair Shavingbrush - black handle - € 40,00
- 30 Feather Hi-Stainless Double Edge Safety Razor Blades - € 14,41
- Total cost € 109.46
The shaving soap lasts about a year and a razorblade for about 2 months (I shave about 2 to 3 times a month as my beard doesn't grow that fast or isn't that coarse).
In conclusion I'm really glad I went with another system of shaving. It might be a higher cost to buy the full kit but in the long run you only need to buy blades that cost nothing in comparison. I might try the straight razor in the near future but for now I'll only shave with the safety razor.