Shaving

Oops. I had intended to alternate serious (you may substitute long-winded or boring) posts with lighter (read mindless, insubsantial) ones. Yet somehow I seem to have managed to follow up a long post on an esoteric piece of mathematical machinery with an equally long one on art history and ... yawn ... something or other. Hmm.

Anyway, here's a corrective.

I'm going to share a secret with any of my readers who happen to be men. Actually, I'm sharing it with all of you indiscriminately, but if you're not a man, it shan't be of much use to you.

In two words: Shaving soap. (In three words, 'use shaving soap'; but I can do it almost as well in two.) Try shaving with proper, old fashioned shaving soap.

I think that peoplle gave up using shaving soap because it takes slightly longer than modern gels and mousses. However, if you are at all used to shaving soap it may take less than one extra minute. And boy, is it ever worth it. You get a far closer shave. Far, far, far closer. There's just no comparison. Have you ever shaved against the grain just to get a closer shave? Well, if you shave with shaving soap you can get that finish by just going with the grain. And if you go against the grain too; well, wow!

You'll need a brush to whip up a nice rich lather on the surface of your soap. The purists recommend one with badger-hair bristles, but these are astonishingly expensive. (A couple of years ago a decent-sized badger hair brush was £40 in England.) Anyway, there's nothing like trying it out for yourself, so off you go. Run along and have shave.

But not at the same time - weren't you ever taught not to run with blades?