I've been away from the blog for a while. And I've re-filled my well of ideas.  I have some things to share about shaving as well as some other topics that might be of interest. However, these things can be seen at my new blog site: https://shavingguitarstennis.blogspot.com/ Hope to see you there. I'll be writing my first post in just a few minutes. Happy shaving (and stuff ..read more

Recovery from CovidIn the last half of March, I had flu-like symptoms for two weeks: a body temperature fluctuating between about 98 F and 100.5 F, body aches, a slight tightness when breathing deeply - which triggered a slight cough. I suspected that I had Covid, and would have liked to have been tested. After all, Trump was on TV at that time repeatedly saying anyone who needed to be tested could get tested. But despite my wife being an emergency physician, I couldn't get a test. Trump was lying as usual, but if you get your news from Fox News, you probably don't know that. I finally had m ..read more

I don't like most shave soap fragrances: too flowery, too girly, too strong, too much like Grandma's potpourri. What to do? Discard? Suffer the olfactory insult? No! There is a better solution, and it lies in the fact that most fragrances are volatile. They won't explode, but they will dissipate over time if left in the open air. A great example of a good and inexpensive shave soap is Arko, which is often disliked because of its overpowering fragrance. The solution is simple. Unwrap it, and leave it exposed to circulating air. Over days the fragrance will start to diminish. Over weeks it b ..read more

I recently had a rare experience in which I was super-pleasantly surprised by trying a shave product that I had largely dismissed before really giving it a fair trial. Here's my brief story: For a few days I was trying a shave soap sample with a pleasant vanilla scent. The lather I was able to produce was adequate, but just a bit flat. Then I remembered that I had some lather-booster soap from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements (PAA). This is the version of lather booster that I've been using -- containing menthol. So for my next shave I swirled my warm, wet shave brush on the puck of lather boo ..read more