A VERY CLOSE SHAVE

Shaving. Face, legs, underarms, heads. In Religion, shaving is often an integral part of your faith. Buddhist monks shave or pluck the hair from their scalp as a symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem. Islam on the other hand it is usual practice for one to grow a full beard and maintain the mustache if possible.
Alexander the Great was an advocate of shaving as an advantage in battle - believing that shaving would avoid 'dangerous beard grabbing in combat' (and possibly because he had a subscription to Greek Fashion Quarterly, but this cannot be confirmed)

For some, the act of shaving is a tedious affair. Something that merely has to get done, in the same vein as taking out the trash, and mowing the lawns. For others, it is an artform - an almost zen like trance where one can dedicate time to themself and contemplate the deeper meanings of lifes conundrums.
If your razor uses unnecessary adjectives in it's name - I have bad news for you. You have been sold lies. Lies upon Lies. A veritable Jenga tower of cons and mis-truths.

Excel, Power, Fusion. Rivers of flowing Aloe Vera, spatulas with 14 blades attached. Barechested male models who have already shaved, wiping shave gel of their face with bladeless razors. Topped off with some european model draped over their shoulder. The best a man can get. I call bullshit.

Somewhere along the way convenience and marketing won out. Barber shops no longer pampered our delicate chops with hot towels and straight razors. Talking about sports and politics. Now it's all about speed, razors with batteries, electric razors. Razors with blades, blades and more blades. If you are terrible at shaving, you might even need training wheels:

Nowadays, at Walmart a 10pk of Gillete Mach 3 cartridges runs for some change under $25 USD Not only are they lies, they are expensive lies.

If you were go go back in the ages and suggest that someone should drag an object with 5 razor sharp blades across their faces - people would have thought you were crazy! And yet here we are led to believe this will yield the closest shave. Shaving needent be a complicated affair. One sharp (and i mean *sharp*, not gillette sharp) blade. One piece of precision german engineering to hold aforementioned blade. A good brush, and your lather of choice. Thats it.

1: the brush

Lets start with the brush. Arguably the most iconic part of any wet shave experience. Definitely the biggest improvement you can make to your routine - even if you change nothing else, adding a good quality brush to your routine will deliver a more desirable shave. Gently massaging your skin, lifting the hair off of your moneymaker, and exfoliating dead skin away at the same time. For the new wetshaver, picking a brush to go to war with can be a daunting experience. From the el-cheapo horse-hair brushes to the wank-factor of a giant oversized badger brush that screams inadequacy (Really? you need a $550USD silvertip brush the size of a fist that sends lather flying round the room with every flick of the wrist?). Badger brushes absorb/release more water than horse hair and are far more deleicate on your face. In my opinion, Vulfix brushes offer the best value by far. Cared for, this will last for years on end proving you with close shave after close shave. You may even be able to pass it onto the next generation.

2: the cream

If your cream comes in a can, and costs about the same as some weird 'coffee' from Starbucks then you are probably not getting the most out of your shave. Their has been somewhat of a renaissance lately with boutique shaving creams, and you can really take this as far as you want. But in reality, a good tub of cream that will last you over a year will only cost you around $20USD. You can get all types of fancy - when i like to pamper myself i break out a tub of trumpers 'rose violet', but in reality my favourite day to day shave comes from the Body Shop, and a 4oz pot lasts for over a year at only $16USD.

3: the razor

If I hear you cry 'A disposable gives me a perfectly adequate shave!' don't be offended when i have security show you the door. At a pinch, sure. But when it comes down to it - a safety razor is less work and far less cost than constantly reaching for a new disposeable. My weapon of choice is a Safety Razor that takes DE Blades. An initial outlay to be sure, but a potential heirloom that can be handed down to the next generation if cared for correctly. A safety razor takes a single, double edged razor blade (which arent created equal). Long/short pole, open/closed bar, Slanted/fixed/adjustable, gold/chrome. There really are a lot of options, but from the novice through to the advanced - you cant go wrong with a Merkur HD classic. I found this was giving me a great, if slightly conservative shave. As of this morning i recently graduated to a Merkur Short Pole Slant Bar Plus, they just look cool...

4: the blade

All of the above is for naught if the blade is not up to scratch. After all, this really is the pointy end of the stick. You don't need four. You definitely do not need 5. One blade, sharpened to a dangerous level, with nothing else getting in the way. You can buy cheap drug store brand double edged blades - and they will perform OK. Better than a disposeable, but in for a penny, in for a pound. Blades definitely vary, and you can buy sampler packs for very little money (30 blades from 6 different makers for around $20 USD) Your mileage may vary - but for my money, the Merkur and the Feather blades are consistently my favourites. In reality, the difference between the two is night and day. As with the consensus online - the Feather blades are lighter, last longer and sharp. I mean sharp. In the hands of a novice, it can be like peeling an orange. After my first time with a feather, I returned from the bathroom looking like something out of a Stephen King novel.