GOOOOOAAAAALLL!!!!

Well, I did it. Made it to March with no DE, and I lived to tell the tale.

Following up on the deal to exclusively use a straight for a week may not seem like a big deal to some, but when that cold steel is held against your throat, it makes you think about things. Things like health insurance...and scar tissue...and your wife's scorn.

But it was a good thing. My technique improved a lot, and I got to know my razors better, and I even started honing. I now know I can get a pretty darn good shave with a straight, but that it is DAMNED easy to nick yourself, not to mention cut your ear pretty well. I also found that, for reasons I can not fully understand, the straight is MUCH easier on my neck than the DE.

Even with meticulous care, no pressure and slow, careful strokes with my Futur, I almost always end up with redness and irritation on my neck, just to the sides of my adam's apple. With the straight, though, this didn't happen. Even if I managed to nick myself in those areas, there wasn't nearly as much discomfort and hardly any red at all. This fact was brought home to me today, after I finished my (very smooth) DE shave--my wife frowned and looked at my neck, and said "Didn't do too well today, did you?"

No, I guess not...

So, anyway, having proved something to myself, I think I might give this straight thing a bit more time. I'll go with my futur until my current blade gives out, then it's back to the straights for a while. I have some honing to work on, and some smoothness techniques to...smooth out.

Come back tomorrow for a product review twofer, ok? I PROMISE, there will be stuff NON-straight related.

I PROMISE.

Some, anyway.