I’ve been wetshaving and enjoying the simple pleasures of a good shave for a while now.

Say… about eleven years and four-ish months. I’ve also been blogging about – and advocating for – traditional wetshaving for a while. This blog is nine years, six months, and twenty six years old today – or at least, that is how long it has been since the first post went live.

But this blog is not the first time I posted about the benefits and enjoyment of traditional wetshaving. The first public, on the net for all to see, post I ever made about wetshaving was eleven years ago today.¹ I was in Africa at the time, in southern Sudan to be specific. In what a few months later became South Sudan, in fact. And below is a verbatim copy of that post, typos and all:

Simple pleasures
It is something very satisfying to whip up your own lather before shaving… to see a tiny bit of shaving cream and a few drops of water turn into a nice, thick, rich and nice smelling lather. The slightly cool feel as the eucalyptus and menthol lather first touches, and then covers, most of the face – and then taking it off with long, controlled strokes with my old fashioned safety razor. A quick splash of water, and then the sting of the alum as it finds the small nicks and scratches that I couldn’t see in the mirror.

For those that are curious:

– Parker 22R safety razor – considered to be a somewhat aggressive razor, but it suits my face just fine. Nice long handle, easy to change / clean blades.
– Feather Light blade – claimed to be the sharpest blade there is. Might well be, todays blade have seen 10-12 shaves already and is still sharper than my gillete ever was.
– Proraso shaving cream w/ eucalyptus oil and menthol. Large tube, long lasting, smells and feels good.
– Piece of Alum on a string. Stings, but helps seal the nicks and cuts really good.

Copy of a post from my old blog known as “Blog From Unmis“

I still uses the Parker razor – in fact, it was the razor in my rotation this past week. Feather blades still features in my shaves, even if I only pair them with mild razors today. It’s not that long ago since I picked up a new tube of Proraso cream. And I still uses alum daily, but it stings a lot less now – since I don’t get as many nicks.

I have more than a few more razors than I did when I made that post all those years ago. I got more brushes too. And aftershaves. And a lot more soaps. I also have a significantly better technique then I had then

But one thing has not changed. There are still simple pleasures to be had in the morning, in between crawling out of bed and heading to work. There are still the simple pleasures of making lather, putting it on my face, and shaving. I still take that time to ground myself and enjoy a moment of zen.

Footnote:

1. The time of this post have been carefully selected to match that time to the minute…