And so, dear readers, I turn to you for help. Nothing major, just a grooming question. But I thought I'd draw upon your knowledge and experience to help me.
As I've mentioned on this blog in the past, I have an odd relationship with facial hair: love the ritual of shaving, hate actually doing it; wife loves the goatee, daughter prefers clean shaven, etc… Personally, my grooming style is based solely on whims. I like having a goatee — then I get bored, shave it off, and let it regrow. It only takes a couple of days to get a passable growth going.
And therein lies my problem. Achilles had his heel, I have my chin.
I have a very rough and quick-growing beard. I also seem to have a sensitive chin. For years, when I've shaved that area below my lip and above my chimple (chin dimple), I invariably bleed. I use a double-edge razor, with Wilkinson Sword (or Gillette, if I can't find former) double-edged razor blades. I change them regularly, so it's not a matter of getting dull.
Years ago on a regular visit to my then-barber (I have a thing for places with barber poles), Nick (my barber — and, now that I think of it, it's a pretty appropriate name) told me, in the midst of a straight-razor shave, in his thick Greek accent 'Well, some people bleed there, some don't. That's just the way it is.'
I took him at his word. Of course, Nick's also the same guy who greeted me for a pre-Christmas shave with shots of ouzo… at 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday! (I always say I'm grateful that I was the first client of the day. We downed two celebratory shots by 10:05… I can't imagine what he was like by closing time.) So, in retrospect, I'm not sure if he's really the best source of grooming advice…
So I turn to you. Your advice? Keep in mind that electric razors and disposables aren't an option — they just don't do a good enough job. As well, I have — and occasionally use — skin care products. I have both the Tolsom and the l'Oréal Men Expert lines at home. I just don't know if I have the dedication required for daily care. And maybe that's the problem.
I can't be the only one with this problem. Share your thoughts, your advice, your home remedies (and please, don't do the whole 'Hey, let's make up some really crazy remedy and see if the moron will try it!' thing), and your experiences. I know we've got some great products here that people swear by… so what am I doing wrong, or what am I not doing at all?
Show of hands here, folks. How many of you have cut yourself shaving… wait for it… on the nose?
Anyone? Hello? Bueller?
Really, just me? OK, then.
Yes, this morning I cut myself shaving. In searching for the source of the blood, I discovered that I had managed to take a small chunk out of my nostril. If that wasn't bad enough, driving to work with a piece of toilet paper stuck to the base of my nose enabled me to experience the sheer joy/humiliation of having this conversation with fellow motorists:
"Yes, that's a piece of toilet paper on my nose. No, there's nothing wrong with me. Yes, I cut myself shaving. Yes, I probably should be wearing a helmet when I leave my home…"
I'll admit it, I'm clumsy. I may be amongst the clumsiest here at Canuck Central (although there's a certain airplane-TV-head-whacking marketer and a fellow whatever-I'm-eating-I'm-wearing-walking-into-walls communications teammate who are in the running), but cutting myself shaving? On the nose? C'mon.
The sad thing is that I don't even shave that area all that often (perhaps explains my lack of technique). I generally have a goatee (yes, I know it's a Van Dyke [writer's note... Apparently our blog posting software doesn't like this word... so think the last name of the actor who played the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins]… but let's face it, goatee, while wrong, is what most people now call it), but every once in a while I decide to shave it all off and start fresh. Why, since December I've gone from goatee > clean shaven > full beard > clean shaven > goatee > clean shaven > gashed nose…
Suffice to say, this got me thinking about personal grooming. I'm a believer in manscaping and taking care of yourself (sidebar note — and to add further humiliation — I once did a magazine article titled Are You Man Enough?, where I went through a series of traditionally female-dominant beauty procedures. You can read it here. It may put this post in better context.)
I just don't take the time I should. But does anyone? In addition to the Tolsom products we have here, I have two or three other skin care systems lying dormant in my bathroom. Toners, moisturizers, shaving creams, shaving oils, shaving gels, pre-treatments, post-treatments… Yet, in the end, most times I end up dry shaving after a shower. Occasionally I'll use shaving gel, but most times I'm just pulling out the trusty ol' double-edged razor (I'm a traditionalist — and it was a gift from my wife many moons ago. Just try finding blades for it now, though…) and passing over whatever facial skin I'm choosing to expose that day.
I have a love/hate relationship with shaving. I like the ritual when it's done properly and I like taking the time to do it right. Why, I'd love to get a straight razor and do the whole sharpening-it-on-the-leather-strip thing. I just rarely take time to do it. Like I said, dry shave at the mirror and gone.
But in general the relationship borders on hate. I've been shaving since I was 13 (thanks Dad for this genetic gift) and I'm fed up. I'd love to go all Joaquin Phoenix, but that crazed Unibomber look just refuses to catch on. That's probably why I stick with the Van Dyke [again, aforementioned chimney sweep]… it allows for the lowest possible shaving maintenance — just cheeks and neck. No lips, chimple (uhm.. that's the dimple in my chin), philtrum, or — as we've seen today — nose.
So back to Tolsom and the other men's skin care regimens. Do you use them? If so, do you use them regularly or are you like me and just pull them out once in a while when you feel like a little extra personal care? What's your favourite skin care product? And to all the women out there, what are your thoughts? Does, or would you like the man or men in your life (talking fathers, sons, husbands, boyfriends — not polygamy) to follow a regimen? Or are you just fed up of guys like me whining while you pluck, wax, tweeze, and shave in silence?
Comments are open; share your thoughts! Oh… and does anyone have a styptic pencil?