Thread: Throw those crutches away

I had a lesson in stark reality with this mornings shave. I did no prep, used cold tap water and for soap Williams shave stick which is a soap quite a few would call marginal. The razor was a Tuckmar wedge and the brush a Semogue 1350 boar. The result was a BBS shave.

The lesson I took away was that technique trumps almost everything else. You don't need hot water or a scuttle. You don't need an expensive brush or expensive soap. You don't need an expensive razor. What you do need is a sharp well stropped razor that you get from good technique. You need good technique with a brush to be able to get a decent lather from a soap. You need good technique with the blade when shaving. Don't get too side tracked by all the nice to have extras. They do make it easier and more enjoyable to shave but may also let you get away with a less good technique.

Yea, it was an eye opener and no my technique is certainly not perfect. I just wanted to underscore how much more important developing good technique is than those nice to have crutches. As a beginner I think I needed that reality check.

Bob