Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Favourite Christmas Presents

It may be a little late, but I thought I'd share my favourite Christmas presents with you. The first was a 3 pack of Rapha (luxury cycling gear) merino wool base layers (underwear to some of you) which are fabulous. They keep me warm and wick sweat away from my body but even when they get a bit damp, they are still really warm in the way that wool is but nothing synthetic seems to manage. Toasty


Perhaps my absolute favourite and certainly my most terrifying present was a Merkur Vision safety razor. Unlike the usual Gilette razors with 5 blades, this has only 1 normal razor blade, it is big, heavy, sharp and frightening. The first time I used it I was amazed that I only had a couple of nicks and since then I have gotten better and better at using it although I did bleed quite a lot this morning after removing part of a mole...

The blades are really cheap compared with Gilette razors and the whole experience of shaving is completely different. You have to take your time and normally do the whole things twice, but I am enjoying the 5-10 minutes I spend shaving with it in the morning and am now looking forward to the arrival of my new shaving brush...
Thanks to MK and T&B for the ever generous gifts.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:37 pm

    Bet the undies were required at the weekend. I'll be staying off my bike until the ice has long gone.
    You razor looks like a remake of a very traditional design of patent razor. My Dad had something very similar but I think it's gotten lost, though maybe I've only forgotten where it is.

    The old rules used to be:

    Wait until you have been up a while before shaving.
    Never cut 'against the grain'
    Use a good lather and very hot water.
    Use a hot prewash (it used to be hot towels) to soften the bristles.

    Messrs Wilkinson and Gillette have learned a few tricks over the years not least how to market ever more expensive blades.

    (I'll wager you won't get the old fashioned single blades though airport security checks!)
    G

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6:42 pm

    THe vests look good.
    Do you use the razor on your legs?
    m

    ReplyDelete
  3. I expect you're right about that, I don't think it would get through the arport the airport. I did some research about how to use it before the first attempt and it seems that you start with the grain, then acros the grain (both ways if you want) and then finish against the grain although I haven't tried that yet and don't seem to need more than one with and one accross.
    The hot towel seems to help and i am looking forward to the brush arriving.
    It's a bit like doing a crossword each morning, you have to concentrate!

    I think Merkur have been around for a long time so your dad may well have had one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:01 pm

    One down and two across - sounds like a prompt for a cryptic crossword clue!
    One up, one down, one polish of course has a different connotation.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous8:15 pm

    On reflection Dad's was probably a Parker. A good investment is also a styptic pencil.
    G

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8:58 pm

    wick-edly esoteric as usual.

    ReplyDelete