I'm in!
Worst shave... hmm, I tend for sanity's sake to forget these.
But I vaguely recall as if from a bad dream...
My second time experimenting with wet shaving in senior year of high school, I was going to see just how close a shave I could give myself, and explore against the grain shaving. Up until that point I'd been shaving with a Braun battery powered electric I'd gotten as a gift from my father, just like my grandpa used to shave. (Although I did recall some double edge shaving equipment stowed away in grandpa's old stuff.) But, I was getting hit by acne during my teens, and was experimenting with various techniques to manage it.
I'd found a men's grooming and health book which said that shaving with blade and Noxzema cream could help with acne. I was already enjoying the tingle of washing my face with Noxzema (which smelled like some of the shaving stuff they used at the barbershop, and also helped prime me to go gaga over menthol eucalyptus shaving products, like Proraso green, this year). I decided, wisely, to experiment over the weekend. I don't remember what razor I used, some plastic disposable two blade. Not only did I slice off zits but some other bit of skin. I nicked and sliced myself but good in several spots: my neck, my lip, my ear, my chin. I patched my face together with styptic pencil, tissue paper, and a mini-bandaid in a spot, and spent the morning hiding in my room staunching the bleeding.
After it all healed, things were clearly better. Shaving with Noxzema cleansing cream and scraping a razor across my face ended up giving me better shaves and healthier skin than the Braun electric, so I stuck with it, moving on in college to the Gillette Sensor. Through each new Gillette patent and upgrade, I tried them all, but realized immediately or not long after, each gave me no better shaves, and in some ways worse -- so I stuck with the Sensor. Until the blades became harder to get, and the quality clearly began to fall off, as did the quality of the shaves, all as the price just rose and rose and rose. And then I began to actively start wondering, starting around this time last year, about alternatives. Hmmmmm....
Worst shave... hmm, I tend for sanity's sake to forget these.
But I vaguely recall as if from a bad dream...
My second time experimenting with wet shaving in senior year of high school, I was going to see just how close a shave I could give myself, and explore against the grain shaving. Up until that point I'd been shaving with a Braun battery powered electric I'd gotten as a gift from my father, just like my grandpa used to shave. (Although I did recall some double edge shaving equipment stowed away in grandpa's old stuff.) But, I was getting hit by acne during my teens, and was experimenting with various techniques to manage it.
I'd found a men's grooming and health book which said that shaving with blade and Noxzema cream could help with acne. I was already enjoying the tingle of washing my face with Noxzema (which smelled like some of the shaving stuff they used at the barbershop, and also helped prime me to go gaga over menthol eucalyptus shaving products, like Proraso green, this year). I decided, wisely, to experiment over the weekend. I don't remember what razor I used, some plastic disposable two blade. Not only did I slice off zits but some other bit of skin. I nicked and sliced myself but good in several spots: my neck, my lip, my ear, my chin. I patched my face together with styptic pencil, tissue paper, and a mini-bandaid in a spot, and spent the morning hiding in my room staunching the bleeding.
After it all healed, things were clearly better. Shaving with Noxzema cleansing cream and scraping a razor across my face ended up giving me better shaves and healthier skin than the Braun electric, so I stuck with it, moving on in college to the Gillette Sensor. Through each new Gillette patent and upgrade, I tried them all, but realized immediately or not long after, each gave me no better shaves, and in some ways worse -- so I stuck with the Sensor. Until the blades became harder to get, and the quality clearly began to fall off, as did the quality of the shaves, all as the price just rose and rose and rose. And then I began to actively start wondering, starting around this time last year, about alternatives. Hmmmmm....
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