New Path to the Perfect Shave?

Okay, I should admit that despite my best intentions and efforts, I never vanquished my desire for the consistently perfect shave: baby smooth, no blood, no irritation.

I'm seeking that new path to a perfect shave.

I've come close, but there are challenges on all fronts. It's difficult to be consistently baby smooth with no insult or injury to my skin.

Lately I've settled for fairly smooth, but not quite baby smooth all over, and in return I've lowered the irritation factor to near zero except for limited weepers.

Previously, I tried using aggressive razors such as a slant bar and limiting the passes to two. But this increased the risk of damage to skin both in terms of nicks/weepers and just general irritation on my ultra-sensitive skin.

I also tried the multiple-razor approach of BruceOnShaving.com, which is to use a different razor for each pass, each subsequent razor being less harsh, less risky to skin. For me, this approach was a colossal failure, increasing irritation with no better results than just the normal three passes with my favorite solitary razor.

So here's my latest brainstorm for consistently achieving the perfect shave: first two passes with a mild razor such as my preferred Merkur 33C, then a final pass with a razor more aggressive than my Merkur 33C -- such as the slant bar or my Gillette Slim. And my plan is to try exactly that.

The idea is that this will possibly accomplish two positive things:

• Keep irritation, due to extra fussy passes, low by eliminating the extra fussiness.
• The more aggressive razor in the final pass will shave closer, thus making it easier to get an uber-close shave

The risk is increased chances of irritation, weepers, and nicks due to the aggressiveness of the final-pass razor. So I'll have to be extra careful, really on my game.

That's the plan. First I'll give the Gillette Slim Adjustable razor a go as my finishing razor. Then perhaps I'll try some shaves using the slant for the final pass. I'll report on the outcomes as soon as possible.

Happy shaving!