Shaving, Part 6

Now onto the enjoyment of wet shaving: there are certain ways of doing things that make shaving actually pleasurable. There is a strange satisfaction that comes from making proper lather, from the cooling sensation of menthol soaps like Proraso green, and from the sound that the razor makes as it cuts stubble from your face. It really is quite enjoyable. The razor burn, though, is not. I have been told over and over again that it should not occur, but the culprit is probably pressure. To use a DE razor, one must have an extremely light touch.

I read about a sort of concoction that further enhances the experience: one should take Williams shaving soap and, just before lathering, add a few drops of Aqua Velva. The resulting lather is called a "Blue Willie," apparently a wonderfully cool thing to do on a hot day, and because of some magical ingredient in the AV, a particularly rich lather. So, off to the local drugstore went I, looking for Aqua Velva. The only one that they had is stock was a Sport scent, but the price seemed right and so I bought it (I didn't smell it).

I should mention here, if my readers are sad and anxious, that the AV does not smell bad. It smells fine but not really nice. Of course, there is a reason why, as children and young people, we used to make fun of people wearing cheap aftershave. It is what it is. But it did make me want to buy more aftershave.

So off I went looking for Old Spice, my favourite "go-to" when I was young (a cheap aftershave wearer that got made fun of). They still make it (though those in the know say that you should look for the Shulton version made in India rather than the P&G version made in North America) and it's in a familiar (plastic) bottle. As an aside, my father is famous (among his wife and children, anyway) for having a stash of old aftershave in one of his dresser drawers. This week I asked my mother if he happened to have any old Old Spice in a glass bottle, and my mother checked and found that he had two. I asked that they be mailed to me immediately.

By the way, I tried the "Blue Willie" concoction. I enjoyed it. I should mention, though, that I apparently used the wrong version of Aqua Velva, perhaps the source of my olfactory dissatisfaction in the first place. I was to use the Ice Blue Classic variety rather than the green Sport variety. I think I will call my version the "Lesser Green William."