... with the Merkur 37c slant
Razor: Merkur 37c slant
Blade: Feather Hi-stainless
Brush: Shave Nation Synthetic
Cream: Hawkins & Brimble
Post-shave: Proraso Refreshing lotion/Hawkins & Brimble after-shave balm
The Shave:
A shave conducted not in the comfort of my own bathroom* but in the confines of the ensuite bathroom at The Gallivant Hotel at Camber Sands, a base from where me and my girlriend explored the impressively vast sandy beaches of Camber itself along with the very odd, otherwordly surroundings of Dungeness and its looming nuclear power station.
It was also my first shave with the Merkur 37c slant razor. After two passes, I was suitably impressed. The difficult areas on my neck - which usually require several buffing and polishing mini-passes to return to suitable smoothness - had already fallen to the Merkur's quick, clean, efficient sweep. The Feather blade in the razor probably helped achieve this too. One of these days I'll try another blade in there but I was so impressed with the results I'm not inclined to break up a wonderful partnership.
Then I went for a third pass. I'm not entirely sure why I did this as I was perfectly happy with the results. And that was when disaster struck, in the form of a weeper right at the top of my top lip. And I'd stupidly forgotten to pack my styptic pencil, or alum block. It's surprising how much you can bleed from one tiny, little nick, especially when you're about to out for dinner and you don't want the other diners pointing and recoiling. the weeper was the gift that just kept on giving. Just when I thought it had stopped it would start up again.
Note to self, then: Firstly, if you're happy with the results, never be lured into performing an extra pass, just to see what will happen. Because that will happen. And secondly, buy an extra styptic pencil and keep it permanently in the travel kit.
Apart from that it was a great shave and I'm impressed by the stubble-removing might of the Merkur 37c slant.
* And anyway, my own bathroom isn't very comfortable at the moment as it's being given an overhaul. It's a wasteland of bare brick, exposed wires and pipes. So I'm having to use the sink in the downstairs utility room as a temporary base. The sink is ludicrously small. You actually couldn't drown a mouse in it. Not that I've tried, of course.