Double Edge Razor! [x-post from /r/wicked_edge]

7 Dec
0

Some of you may have seen my earlier post about trying to find a good DE razor in China. I did eventually find a Weishi 9306-C, and had an acquaintance order it for me, as most of the payment options on that site are not really useful to anyone lacking a Chinese ID card or some special information that I must not be privy to. Anyway, it arrived last night, with a pack of Dorco blades and some Gillette Super Thin Platinums (with Vietnamese [I think] text on the package). I resolved to test my new pride and joy the next morning, using the Dorcos because I had heard they were fairly forgiving, and I was, to be completely honest, a little intimidated.

I should probably inform you all at this point that I had been participating in No-Shave November, and no I did not have electric clippers and no I wasn’t about to give Park’n'Shop any business today, they gave me change in counterfeit bills last time. I trimmed it down as best I could with some scissors instead. So I took a quick shower and washed my face with some glycerine soap and tried to get as much hot water on my beard as I could before it ran out (the plumbing in this building is atrocious), and continued my prep. I had been using a brush and shave soap for some time with my cartridge razor (a store brand which was, surprisingly, much better than the Gillette Fusion I had butchered my face with long before), so I lathered up as usual, although with more attention to detail. I found an effective angle for the blade and went to town. It took two terribly long passes just to whittle the beard down to what could be called stubble, but to my delight, when, after mere millimeters had covered the blade with hair, all I needed to do was pass the head through water and it was clear! The multi-blade behemoths would always clog up so badly that it would sometimes take a few cartridges to do away with long stubble, but this could handle a full beard with hardly any difficulty.

Finally, I made a third pass, XTG mostly. It wasn’t completely smooth, as that would have required another pass and I could feel some irritation by the third, but all things considered, my shave was successful, and I managed to not slice myself up. I’m going to try and get closer (probably with a fresh blade, since this one probably had a few shaves’ worth of wear today) in another day or so.

tl;dr: First shave with DE went well.

My goofy face before and after: before before after after

*note: DE = double edge, XTG = Across the Grain*

*Other note, I love my ums even if she prefers me looking like an old man.*

Back from the vortex!

5 Dec
0

Last night Rachelle made some delicious lentil soup and we had Jenny and Sebastian over for dinner and Cards Against Humanity.  While Rachelle finished up dinner preparations, I downloaded the game and ran it down to the little print shop next to the Dig’n'Shop, across the parking lot.  I returned back and Rachelle and Jenny spent some time cutting out hundreds of little pieces of paper while we waited for Sebastian to arrive and the soup to finish cooking.

The soup was delicious, but the wine we had was not so much.  China does not have a long-standing wine tradition, and even the oldest vineyards are very…industrial? so pretty much every bottle of domestic wine I’ve had tastes at least a little off, with some flavors that don’t quite belong in wine and the ones that do belong still being slightly off-kilter.  I joked that the best way to enjoy Chinese wine is to already be drunk.  Fortunately we had plenty of beer as well to wash it down.

I don’t think much more needs to be said about Cards Against Humanity, other than that Sebastian got a crash course in the seedy underbelly of American culture.  He still managed to win a few points by playing cards he didn’t fully understand, though.

I thought I would have enough time to sleep last night, but I forgot to tell you that Chinese wine, in addition to its sub-par taste, also has a devastating effect on my battle-scarred intestines.  Lordy lord.  I woke up at 5:30 in the morning and ended up having to skip my Chinese class for the day just so I could try and get some rest.  I finally managed to drift off for about fifteen minutes before my body said NOPE, time to piss!

Grumble grumble.

So I was going to try to fit in a little more sleep before I had to seriously finish preparing for the class I teach in the afternoon, when China decided to thwart me again.  I get the feeling that the enthusiasm most Westerners feel about watching sports, or having sex, or both at the same time, pales in comparison to the way most of China feels about noisy construction activity.  I closed my eyes, and a hammer started pounding downstairs.  Then another joined in.  Before long a whole chorus of hammers were pounding away beneath me.  At first part of me worried someone was at the door (Rachelle was out at Pilates, and she wasn’t quite supposed to be back yet, but you never know), but eventually drowsiness overcame disturbance and away I drifted for the next hour.  By the time I had finished hitting my snooze alarm, my headache was less terrible, my guts had mostly settled, and I was ready to get on my laptop with its annoying colorful stripe down the middle of the screen (that’s another story, for another day) and finish my lesson.

On a positive note, the new double-edge razor I ordered (well, had someone order for me because most of Taobao’s payment methods require Chinese citizenship), and hopefully I will not turn my face to hamburger in the process of removing my November beard.