Blade angle, glasses, shaving cream
Thanks Obie,
As a novice, I couldn't swear to you that the angle of my blade to my face is the textbook 20-30 degrees, but for the sake of this discussion let's assume I'm spot-on in that department. So I have the blade at the perfect angle to a totally large flat portion of my skin, say the middle of my cheek. When the razor's edge touches my cheek, the ENTIRE edge is touching my face - no problem there. Here's the "rub" - let's assume I'm talking about my upper sideburns at the region of my zygomatic arch (i.e. cheekbone) - remember, mine is very prominent. It is impossible for the entire length of the razor's edge to be touching my face. If I tried to accomplish this, I'd slice off a slab of flesh over the cheekbone (exaggerating to make the point). To have the point (i.e. - non-tang end of the blade) razor edge in contact with the upper sideburns region, the tang end of the blade will not be in contact with the cheek. I'll email you a picture with me using a ruler as the razor - maybe that will help.
I'll try the glasses suggestion, also I may try to do my face without my glasses next shave. On the middle of my face, I don't think the lack of visual acuity will be an issue - I'm not so blind that I can't see the proximity of the razor's edge to my skin. I think the issue will be getting right against the bottom edge of my sideburns and defining the vertical edge of the facial hair joining my mustache with my goatee - for those the glasses may have to go back on.
Quick question - does the Bath & Bodyworks Bigelow shaving cream have a strong eucalyptus scent? I want to buy something that I can get locally. Actually, I was hoping to find some essential oils to use with almond soap (or other non-scented soap) and non-scented cream to customize my scent o' the day.
Thanks my friend
Greg
Neutrogena & Essential Oils
Obie,
My errands at lunchtime turned into somewhat of a fiasco. As I mentioned, B&BW didn't have the Proraso-like product in anything but a foam. I guess I got confused about the scented/unscented aspect. My goal was to find a local unscented shave cream to use in making Uberlather. Strike one.
When I got home this evening and decided to mix the bergamot oil with the almond oil, I re-red the bergamont oil label. It clearly says "Do not use on skin". The saving grace is that it can be used to refreshen potporri and really does smell great. Strike two.
I'm not going for strike three - I'm going to order some Truefitt & Hill's Ultimate Comfort on your advice of it being a fabulous "lather" shave.
***From what little I know of this Neutrogena, it is not a lather shave cream. Am I correct? ***
My last post was rather hasty as I was typing fast so I could leave for my errands, so I'll explain the Neutrogena better. In most of the areas we stayed in Africa, the tap water was not safe to use even when brushing your teeth, let alone for drinking. We used bottled water for everything. It's amazing how much water one uses just to brush one's teeth and rinse afterwards. I knew shaving would use more water, plus using cold bottled water to make lather didn't sound like a great idea. So I went to WalMart and found the only tube of unscented shaving cream I could find (Neutrogena). Scents attract mosquitoes; even when on antimalarial drugs, the risk is not zero, so the less mosquito bites the better.
When I saw on SRP that Uberlather calls for shave cream, I thought "good, that gives me a way to make use of the remaining Neutrogena". However, I just looked at the tube and the reason for my lather problems this morning are now clear. On the back of the tube it says "No foam formula" and one of the ingredients is dimethicone, an anti-foaming agent. Duh, no wonder my lather hardly foamed at all this morning. Other than the Neutrogena I didn't do anything different Sunday and the lather was perfection.
I do have another question. I love for my lather to be warm, if not hot. How do you keep yours warm?
Greg