I'll begin this by declaring I truly believe that whatever particular set up gives you your best shave is the way to go; if your favorite paring knife and Arko get you there then more power to ya.
I started traditional shaving because my son took me for a walk one Christmas morning and we stopped in front of a rabbit hole. I didn't know I was looking at one at the time. He gestured toward the interior saying "It's way less expensive than buy those cartridges." He showed me the brush he was using and had a couple soaps for me to sniff--then pretty much shoved me into the rabbit hole. Okay, fine, I willingly walked in. We all know how the story goes.
This last week I had to travel to Atlanta for business--only a couple of days, so I was packing light enough to be able to carry the bag on the plane, which meant no DE blades. Color me unamused.
Suck it up and pack your old Harry's razor, I told myself. I found some measure of comfort in knowing I could still take a brush and my new tub of green Proraso with me. So, off I went.
Took a nice, long, very warm shower. Loaded my brush and face lathered (a nice lather too). Still not excited about going Red-ski (two steps back, one forward, anyone? Bueller? Bueller?) I picked up the Harry's--with a brand spanking new cartridge on it, mind you--and began to shave.
First thing I missed was hearing the blade go through the whiskers. I will offer up one hearty positive: was nice to be able to use the single blade at the top to effectively and fully get directly under the nose. So, I finished the first pass and rinsed figuring that one pass should be sufficient with a multi-blade cartridge . . . it had been for many, many (sad) years before.
How the hell did I find this result satisfactory all those years? No, this would not do. Another pseudo XTG pass would be needed.
Didn't quite go ATG, didn't go fully XTG. Wasn't quite sure how my skin would handle my usual passes, so I tried to find a kind of happy medium.
The end result? I can say with certainty it was, by definition, a shave. It was not a wholly satisfactory one, however. Sure, it reduced the stubble, but left me feeling like I'd shaved three hours prior. An SAS I suppose, but I much prefer at least a DFS and clearly the cartridge isn't going to get me there no matter how much I try.
I haven't shaved with a cart since I began DE shaving back in January. I remember when I first started I thought the results seemed kind of similar, and in fact they probably were . . . at first. But now I can easily discern the difference between the two. I am all the more convinced DE (or straight, which I haven't done) shaving is the proper path to shaving enlightenment. Much closer with a far more satisfactory, comfortable result.
Thank goodness I only had to do it twice.
I started traditional shaving because my son took me for a walk one Christmas morning and we stopped in front of a rabbit hole. I didn't know I was looking at one at the time. He gestured toward the interior saying "It's way less expensive than buy those cartridges." He showed me the brush he was using and had a couple soaps for me to sniff--then pretty much shoved me into the rabbit hole. Okay, fine, I willingly walked in. We all know how the story goes.
This last week I had to travel to Atlanta for business--only a couple of days, so I was packing light enough to be able to carry the bag on the plane, which meant no DE blades. Color me unamused.
Suck it up and pack your old Harry's razor, I told myself. I found some measure of comfort in knowing I could still take a brush and my new tub of green Proraso with me. So, off I went.
Took a nice, long, very warm shower. Loaded my brush and face lathered (a nice lather too). Still not excited about going Red-ski (two steps back, one forward, anyone? Bueller? Bueller?) I picked up the Harry's--with a brand spanking new cartridge on it, mind you--and began to shave.
First thing I missed was hearing the blade go through the whiskers. I will offer up one hearty positive: was nice to be able to use the single blade at the top to effectively and fully get directly under the nose. So, I finished the first pass and rinsed figuring that one pass should be sufficient with a multi-blade cartridge . . . it had been for many, many (sad) years before.
How the hell did I find this result satisfactory all those years? No, this would not do. Another pseudo XTG pass would be needed.
Didn't quite go ATG, didn't go fully XTG. Wasn't quite sure how my skin would handle my usual passes, so I tried to find a kind of happy medium.
The end result? I can say with certainty it was, by definition, a shave. It was not a wholly satisfactory one, however. Sure, it reduced the stubble, but left me feeling like I'd shaved three hours prior. An SAS I suppose, but I much prefer at least a DFS and clearly the cartridge isn't going to get me there no matter how much I try.
I haven't shaved with a cart since I began DE shaving back in January. I remember when I first started I thought the results seemed kind of similar, and in fact they probably were . . . at first. But now I can easily discern the difference between the two. I am all the more convinced DE (or straight, which I haven't done) shaving is the proper path to shaving enlightenment. Much closer with a far more satisfactory, comfortable result.
Thank goodness I only had to do it twice.
My son (whom I stayed with as he's stationed there) had plenty of blade and soap options--but flying to Greece then over to Santorini should have been a warning to heed.
