A Great Sunny-Sunday Shave!

I had a very satisfying shave this morning.

My Variant razor provides most of my shaves once a blade
is adequately "seasoned" after four to six shaves per the PRA
process. See Sharpologist.com for more details.

I continued with my now-standard practice of PRA (Progressive Razor Aggressiveness -- see my article on Sharpologist.com) which today paired a 15th-use Shark blade with my much-appreciated Parker Variant razor. I also used a three-pass process, using the common shaving directions for each pass -- respectively being with grain, then across grain, and, lastly, against grain. My Variant was set on 3.5 for the with-grain pass, on three for the across-grain pass, and on 2.5 for the against-grain pass as well as for the final clean-up strokes under my jawline and on my neck.

Williams is unpretentious but effective.

The soap that I used for today's shave was the unpretentious marque, Williams. (I have an article appearing in the near future -- again on Sharpologist.com -- that compares humble Williams to the Rolls-Royce of shave soaps, Martin De Candre. Coming soon to web devices near you!)

Off the shelf, not my favorite. But
when cut with witch hazel and having
menthol and peppermint added, the
bouquet and the cool soothing is great!

I got a close, comfortable shave that ended with rinses of cool water and, once my face air dried while putting away my shave gear, I added a splash of my favorite after-shave lotion. My fave after shave is a home-made concoction of which I've written before.

I use a base of about 80% common drug-store witch hazel. To that I add a bit of peppermint oil and menthol crystals, which have to be melted in using a microwave oven. Then I add the remaining 20% liquid from my bottle of Ice Blue Aqua Velva. The result is a soothing, cooling, great smelling (but not overpowering) finish to a really good shave on this sunny late-winter day!

Happy shaving!