For today's minimalist shave, I used a last-shave, about-to-be-recycled Astra Superior Platinum blade in the Gillette Slim this morning. The adjustable razor was set to three, which is a fairly mild setting on the one-to-nine dial.
My stokes were pretty much all oblique and against grain, with the exception of my upper lip and chin, which were cross grain. Being a minimalist shave, it was pretty much one pass with a few extra touch-up strokes here and there.
The shave was a bit harsh feeling both during and a few minutes after the shave. There were also four or five very small weepers that would have probably disappeared with a few cool-water rinses, but I chose to give each a touch with a styptic pencil. So I did deviate from the absolute minimalist shave by using the trusty styptic pencil. However, there was still no need for the alum block or any after-shave balms or lotions.
The best news is that the resulting shave was very close -- very nearly baby-bottom smooth on much of my face and neck, and very close elsewhere.
Tomorrow I will try to isolate the cause of the harshness of today's shave (including the weepers) by repeating with the Gillette razor set to three, but with the almost-new Lord blade from Friday.
Happy shaving!
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| Pictured are two of the four key components of a minimalist shave: a high-quality shave soap -- in this case my own proprietary #10A for sensitive skin, and razor, which today was the Gillette Slim Adjustable set on three. In case you're wondering, the other two key components not shown are blade choice and stroke technique. |
My stokes were pretty much all oblique and against grain, with the exception of my upper lip and chin, which were cross grain. Being a minimalist shave, it was pretty much one pass with a few extra touch-up strokes here and there.
 |
| Though today's blade was not at all new and was nearly ready for the recycle tin, it was an Astra blade as pictured above. |
The shave was a bit harsh feeling both during and a few minutes after the shave. There were also four or five very small weepers that would have probably disappeared with a few cool-water rinses, but I chose to give each a touch with a styptic pencil. So I did deviate from the absolute minimalist shave by using the trusty styptic pencil. However, there was still no need for the alum block or any after-shave balms or lotions.
The best news is that the resulting shave was very close -- very nearly baby-bottom smooth on much of my face and neck, and very close elsewhere.
Tomorrow I will try to isolate the cause of the harshness of today's shave (including the weepers) by repeating with the Gillette razor set to three, but with the almost-new Lord blade from Friday.
Happy shaving!
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