[Check Notes From The Noob Entries 1-3]
Post 4
So I’ve found my first love – in the world of DE blades, that is. Gillette Wilkinson Sword. The packaging is completely unpretentious, bordering on ugly, but these blades have provided the best shave of the three brands of blade I have tried thus far.
Post 5
How many people anymore know what the heck that thing on the right is, printed on the under-side of the toilet lid in the airplane loo. I’m having a hard time remembering if I even knew what it was prior to my wet shaving enlightenment. But, seriously, even if you knew what that icon symbolized, would you actually throw the item itself down the toilet in the airplane?!?!
Post 6
Purchased in the ’50s by my Grandpa, and never used. Gifted to me this week by my Grandma. At long last it’s time for this thing to fulfill its destiny: honing my straight edge razor (which is currently being professionally honed by one Lynn Abrams of Straight Razor Designs – hear more on this topic on M&B – Episode 6)!
Post 7
As I’ve said previously, I am not a big aftershave guy. I was with the balm for a long time, and more recently I’ve been with the jojoba oil. However, following our interview with Mr. Scott Brennecke of Captain’s Choice Aftershave, I received a sample vial of the aforementioned’s Bay Rum. WOW!!!!! Do I love this stuff. I still cannot say I’m all for the sting, or even inclusion, of alcohol in a liquid solution intended for facial application, but my GOODness does this stuff smell good! And, for good measure, I wore it all week at Austin Film Festival, so now it will forever remind me of that magical experience (In addition to screening my feature doc Circle the Wagen, I met Paul Thomas Anderson!!!!).
Post 8
At Doug’s suggestion I ordered a 20-blade sampler pack from BestShave.net. But, after weeks of waiting, it still had not arrived. I went to the website to investigate, only to realize the blades were being shipped, for free, from Turkey. I checked my modern go-gettum impatience at the door. And, in due course, a tattered package was left on my front porch. A bubble mailer it was; but, more accurately, a cropped lower corner once belonging to a larger bubble mailer, the two open sides of which had been fused together by the latest “As Seen on TV” contraption fit for such a task. I admired the shipper’s resourcefulness for a moment before rending asunder his careful work. After having traveled over half our planet, I was amazed that the interior treasure had not, at some God-forsaken locale, slipped out only to be buried by the sands of time rather than fulfilling its destiny of rendering my face clean and free of the ever-encroaching stubble. Spreading the array of blades before me like half a deck of miniature cards, I admired the variety of interesting packaging, from brilliant to mundane to almost non-existent, and could hardly wait to try each of them out! I then proceeded to place them in random order for use, lest – like the kid who picks out all of the red and green Skittles, leaving only the orange, yellow, and purple for his lesser siblings – I go straight for the prettiest-looking packaging, leaving my future self with only the “whites” and “clears” with which to depilate myself.
Ryan Steven Green, aka Rynostevie, is a native Los Angeleno and a professional film and commercial director. Along with Douglas Smythe, he co-hosts the popular podcast–Moustache & Blade. It was Smythe’s discovery of his award-winning short documentary Between the Upper Lip and Nasal Passageway that initiated Ryan’s entree into the wet-shaving world. Contact Ryan: Ryan@moustacheandblade.com
About Douglas Smythe
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