This morning I wanted a good shave and I had at my disposal no shaving brush, no shaving soap/cream and no quality blade. But again, I wanted a good shave. I woke up at 5:30 AM and at 6:30 AM already was in the hospital to stay with Joey, my baby born five days ago. I spent the entire day in the hospital, until 10:30 PM. I was allowed to see my son only at certain hours and, therefore, had a lot of free time with nothing to do. My wife, who is also in the hospital these days, had in her beauty case a Lavender bar soap and a Gillette Sensor 3 disposable razor. These were the sole tools at my disposal. But, after almost 17 years of wet shaving and over 5,000 DE/straight shaves under my belt, I was confident in my skills and wanted to accept the challenge. Hence, I went in my wifes bathroom and got ready to shave. First of all I gave my beard the best prep possible, running the whiskers under the hottest water I could stand for about three minutes. Then, I soaped my face abundantly with the bar soap and started to lather the soap using the fingers of both my hands. With roughly two minutes of vigorous circular motion I tried to emulate the lifting/softening action of a shaving brush, taking care to move my fingers XTG and ATG. No thick, creamy lather was actually built, but on the face it felt pretty slick. After that, I took the disposable razor and shaved. I proceeded super slowly and with a super light touch, as when using a straight razor. The first pass was WTG and XTG, the second pass was ATG. After the shave a refreshing cold water rinse. It was all good and I was satisfied. My friends, this experience does teach a lesson. You really do not need expensive brushes, luxurious soaps or decorated razors in order to get a quality shave. You simply need to learn a proper shaving technique and do the best you can. The most powerful tools are those you gain with time, practice and knowledge. And the greatest challenge is the one you are able to face and win against yourself.