St. Patrick's Day Shave

Pre - Hot shower
Pre-Shave - series of steaming hot towels
Brush - Crowley & Tosh Silvertip Badger
Razor - Gens #14
Strop - Steer hide, 10 passes on flesh side, 40 on grain side
Scuttle - Georgia Pottery G20, filled with very hot water from kettle.
Cream - Acqua di Parma, tuned-up with a little glycerin
Post - alum block, styptic on ugly 1/2 gash in neck
ASB - Acqua di Parma Aftershave Balm

Yes, I still get excited about St. Patricks Day. Before I ventured out, I took my time prepping for a shave of a 3 day beard. The Gens cut like butter, got very close, and sang all the while. I did two passes: first WTG, then ATG. It went well, but too quickly. Still, I had to make one horseshoe sweep ear-to-ear along my jawline for a complete shave. I've found that from right ear to about the middle of my chin, it's best to use the blade toe-up; from the chin to my left ear, toe-down. Now, normally, the toe-down stroke is accomplished using the toe-end. This time, though, I was using more of the heal end. And, lo, the toe did bite -- I managed to let the toe bang into one of the tendon's on my neck, leaving a nasty red line about a half inch long. The bleeding stopped pretty quickly, but there was simply no way around the obvious -- I had a nasty cut on my neck.

Later, out hoisting pints in mixed company, someone pointed out the cut on my neck. A quick retelling led to two very pretty girls touching my face followed by obvious approval. Great shave.

Cheers,

Jack