I do like the new world where being a "beer-geek" is a thing. I knew once enough hipsters stopped swilling that PBR garbage they would start to peer towards turning beer into an art, and lucky for them the infrastructure was already there. While I don't really consider myself a "beer-geek" (now that I know that "OG" on bottles refers to the "original gravity", I'm still not quite sure what original gravity is all about), I am knowledgeable enough to find what I like and observant enough to recognize an interesting fact.
Who wins in a world with "beer-geeks"? FANS OF BEER, that's who. The fact I mentioned above? In Long Beach we live within a hundred mile radius of probably the greatest beers ever produced in the history of mankind, and that's not hyperbole. It's an amazing time to be near the San Diego and Orange County beer-volution.
Anyway, this post is about shaving. Another thing hipsters brought renewed focus upon as something that I don't find that annoying is shaving.
I believe it started with the love of the mustache (on my continuum from earlier the "mustache as my own facial hair" is far from tolerable), but discerning men decided to revive interest in the art of the shave.
Right after we moved to Long Beach from Texas I went exploring the South Coast Plaza Mall. South Coast is an enormous institution, and, situated in the swanky part of Costa Mesa---the part that comes together with Newport Beach and Irvine (as opposed to the working class Latino-family section that borders Santa Ana)---is full of swanky, high priced stores. That combo has turned it into routinely the number 1 mall by annual-revenue in the country.
The first place that caught my attention was a knife and blade store and I went in to get a sense of their selection. What caught my attention beyond their knife collection, which was good if unspectacular, was that they had a wide collection of old-timey safety razors and lather-brushes and shaving soaps. I asked some questions about the razors and blades and got some reasonable answers, and started to imagine myself switching.
Three years later when I was asked what I wanted for a birthday something in my memory crackled and I asked for a lather brush and soap holder. It would be almost another year before I'd pick up a new razor.
My brother Dan got for me this wonderful combo:
The brush came labeled as Dachshaar, which is German for "badger hair" (a dachshund is literally a "badger-hound", which is one reason why wiener dogs aren't your typical 'small dog'). After doing some research a few weeks ago I'm happy to report that badger hair is the top of the line, so thanks Dan!
At first, like during the first dozen shaves, the brush smelled like wet wild-dog. After the very first two or three shaves it wasn't so pleasant on the softness scale, but the soap I was using was so much more soothing than anything from an aerosol can.
The cup itself is a wonder of ergonometric design. It fits perfectly and comfortably in my left hand as I work up lather. Eventually, I told myself, I would move away from the cartridge-based wet-shave razors and into old-timey safety razor realm.
It turns out there is an entire world of shaving that I was woefully uninformed about. Among fellas there are two basic kinds of shaving going on: dry shaving and wet shaving. Dry shaving uses electric razors, wet shaving uses water, lather, a razor and a blade. Wet shaving is itself split up into three areas: cartridge blade use, safety razor use, and straight razor use. I may be missing something exotic, but this discussion can move forward.
The straight razor has much too steep of a learning curve for me in my current job, and I'd already focused on trying the safety razor beat, so, during this most recent winter break, I went out and picked up a razor, some double-sided Japanese blades, and got to work...
...butchering my face.
Those double sided blades are flimsy and soft. You put them on the cross bar in the open razor above and tighten the neck-bolt. Those open faces come down and bend the blade taught, giving you a single exposed edge on each side.
The first time I went to shave I didn't know what the hell I was doing. It took five times as long, wasn't nearly as close as I was hoping, and it looked like I lost a knife fight---I was all kinds of bloody. I asked people I'm acquainted with on Facebook if they had experience or advice, and was directed to a number of resources.
Shaving like your grandpa is a pretty sweet experience when you get to know what you're doing. Once I learned the basics---the ANGLE is paramount, no lather means no blade, learning how to read your stubble---the closeness is amazing. The health of my facial skin is higher than ever. And while I do cut myself more now than when I was using the cartridge-based razors, they heal, and each time I'm getting better.
Teaching your sons to shave wasn't just a bonding time for fathers in the past---there was/is a serious protocol to the maneuvers and decisions needed to shave oneself with a safety razor.
Up soon on my quest is to teach myself the ultimate safety-razor shave: the cold-water/no-mirror shave. Cold water shaves are an acquired taste, but they're even better for your skin than hot water shaves.
Like with the desire and execution of eating better because of years of ignorance and poor habits, I'm trying to treat my face better. Years of cartridge shaving, tobacco use, and no sunscreen are being addressed with these new shaving protocols.
Good job.... shaving daily has to be an annoying.... but at least you have many options
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