Well, to start off, it's been a great three years on the wetshaving front: since moving from Gotham (NYC) to the wilds of New Jersey, I've made numerous improvements, in spite of moving from a soft-water locale to one considerably harder, even though we totally revamped our house's main bathroom (as well as much of the house itself). I've homed in on a fave new pair of DE razors (both Parkers: Variant adjustable for home, A1-R for "away-shaves"), returned to an old-fave cream (D.R. Harris Arlington), found three great blades (Astra Superior Stainless and Croma as my go-to's, KAI when I'm feeling a bit more spendy), and discovered the pleasures of a cheap-but-terrific synthetic brush (Yaqi Heavy Metal).
But possibly the most profound kick upstairs in my shave routine didn't emanate from the bathroom, but the basement:
The last major upgrade to the house was, in fact, supposed to be one of the first: the electric water heater was already past its "due date" when we bought the house four years ago, but we were sorting out so much other stuff at the time, and, as I raised the question of whether or not to spend the money on a whole-house water filtration/softening system (not cheap), I didn't help matters much. However, nervousness about the old heater crapping out over the winter and/or leaking made us finally move off the dime. we went with a conventional-but-quality gas water heater, since (1) most of the time it's just the two of us using it, and (2) "on-demand" units are generally a lot pricier (in terms of both initial purchase and installation) and more maintenance-intensive.
Naturally, compared to a badly-aging water heater, my first shower using the new heater was quite a treat: hotter water, and more of it, with higher pressure and greater consistency; no surprises here. What was a surprise, for me, anyway, was the first post-shower shave: without any change in prep or technique, there was a seriously palpable difference in the quality of that shave, for the better: thicker lathering, smoother, slicker glide of the razor, a more supple post-shave skin feel. What was going on?
Then, I noticed that that suppleness wasn't limited to my mug: head-to-toe, my skin felt somewhat less dry; this has always been a big deal for me particularly in Winter. Can a simple change-out of a water heater, without adding a filter or softener, have that profound an effect?
At the moment, I'm looking into a few relatively-inexpensive methods for softening water coming into the house, ahead of the heater. In the meantime color me pleasantly gobsmacked.
But possibly the most profound kick upstairs in my shave routine didn't emanate from the bathroom, but the basement:
The last major upgrade to the house was, in fact, supposed to be one of the first: the electric water heater was already past its "due date" when we bought the house four years ago, but we were sorting out so much other stuff at the time, and, as I raised the question of whether or not to spend the money on a whole-house water filtration/softening system (not cheap), I didn't help matters much. However, nervousness about the old heater crapping out over the winter and/or leaking made us finally move off the dime. we went with a conventional-but-quality gas water heater, since (1) most of the time it's just the two of us using it, and (2) "on-demand" units are generally a lot pricier (in terms of both initial purchase and installation) and more maintenance-intensive.
Naturally, compared to a badly-aging water heater, my first shower using the new heater was quite a treat: hotter water, and more of it, with higher pressure and greater consistency; no surprises here. What was a surprise, for me, anyway, was the first post-shower shave: without any change in prep or technique, there was a seriously palpable difference in the quality of that shave, for the better: thicker lathering, smoother, slicker glide of the razor, a more supple post-shave skin feel. What was going on?
Then, I noticed that that suppleness wasn't limited to my mug: head-to-toe, my skin felt somewhat less dry; this has always been a big deal for me particularly in Winter. Can a simple change-out of a water heater, without adding a filter or softener, have that profound an effect?
At the moment, I'm looking into a few relatively-inexpensive methods for softening water coming into the house, ahead of the heater. In the meantime color me pleasantly gobsmacked.
