Not the safety that you were probably thinking of when you saw the title, but it has everything to do with safety...razors that is. I think I talked about the unfortunate situation a while back when the care package my mom sent was promptly returned to the states without my knowledge. That storm has passed however, and after finally getting to transition to the next phase of my shaving journey I can say that I´m quite please. I gotta show appreciation to my mom for taking the time to send me some new shaving goodies and I have enjoyed them show much I´ll even give a free shoutout to the products I use.

Now you may not shave or you may not have the exact same genetic makeup as I do that makes me prone to skin irritation after using multi blade razors, BUT I do think that most people will shave at one point or another in their lives and if I can give you some insight into some products that are top notch, it would be my pleasure. Plus I feel like the reviews you get on websites, not the super in depth blogs such as this, are sparse in the usage description and reaction. Pardon me but 3.5 stars out of 5 doesn´t tell me a whole lot about what I´m about to buy.

The core reason I´m writing this is that over the years I was one of those people caught up in the train of thought where after hearing Gilette added another blade it must be better for me. After years of dry skin and irritation I decided to call it quits on the multi blade experience. I can thank DAPPERED for the nudge in the right direction and they also have great deals for any guys looking to upgrade the wardrobe without emptying the wallet.

Out with the old.

My mom sent me a variety of products and I'll go through each one that I've used so far.

Also I think presenting them in the order you would shave in, is most convenient.

Step One: The Pre Shave Oil

L´Occitane Shaving Oil

Let me first say that my mom really did me a solid here. I didn't even ask for the extra shaving cream and oil as I know they can get pretty pricy. So yes these may not be the entry level product and you use a less expensive brand, but that´s even more of a reason to talk about them. Also with the razor (yes it's pricy) you can make up for the cost of buying replacement cartridges within the first year of use. Hopefully when I'm back in the states I can compare to some other brands. 

So after you've showered it´s time for the pre shave oil to go on. This particular oil doesn't smell particularly great, they really aimed for the male musk with this one, but it doesn't matter because you've got at least a few cream applications and some rinses before it´s all said and done. This oil may not smell so rosy but as men is that what we want?? Plus it does a really good job of getting your skin ready. After you shower pores are open and your skin is holding moisture. This oil does a good job of keeping your face moist and makes it even easier for the blade to do it´s job.

Step Two: Shaving Cream and Brush

L´Occitane Shaving Cream

Again this brand comes through in a good way. After the oil it´s time for the shaving cream and this stuff is considerably better smelling for starters. They say in many shaving guides that you only need a ¨dollop¨of shaving cream to do the job. I´ve always had trouble with this word not only because it sounds funny to me but because when I think of dollop I envision large portion of whipped cream topping off a piece of pie. Because this word is often open to interpretation, I went on the conservative side and found that a quarter sized amount is just fine. The cream definitely works into a nice lather without a large amount plus at this rate you´ll that many more shaves. Win win.

Art of Shaving Silvertip Brush

 

It´s hard to review a brush because I´ve only had this one. Though I can say that so far it has been as advertised. I know it´s not one of the highest quality animal hair brushes but so far it has been a pleasant upgrade to the lathering process. I really don´t think you need to buy a bowl either, because in hand works just fine.

Step Three: The Shave

The Jack Black Double Edge Safety Razor

In with the new. Looks cool too

I was pretty excited for this to come in the mail as the indicator strip on my Gilette fusion was screaming, ¨STOP USING ME¨ but I had no other option at the time. Aside from the cool name and packaging the Jack Black looks exactly as it it´s shown and has good weight to it as well. There is also a blade included in the box that can go unnoticed if your not paying attention. 

Upon first use, I was delighted to find the difficulty cutting through longer beard hair presented by the 5 blades was erased. The safety razor cut through each subsequent length of hair like a molten knife through butter. (Hot knife just wouldn´t do the description justice) The warnings are true and you do have to focus on not cutting yourself. Before you could just tug and pull at the hair until it came off, with a razor blade that´s not so wise. Blood there will be young padawan. If you follow the instructions in the box you should be fine. So to summarize, the build quality is great, there was absolutely no trouble with any hair length, didn´t pull or tug on the skin at any point.

Step Four: After Shave (probably the most important item)

L'Occitane After Shave Balm

 

Now that the shave is done the last step is the aftershave. For years I had been using a mixed bag of products some containing alchol and some not. I have no doubt the contributed to my dry skin and irriation. Alcohol based aftershave products are a big no fly zone in my opinion. Just think, if drinking alcohol can dehydrate your entire body imagine what the stuff will do to your face. 

This product is outstanding in my opinion. The cream doesn´t sting at all after you put it on and it leaves your face feeling good for a long while. I found in that past that other products would wear off after a few hours but this stuff does the trick. Oh and it smells good too.

I hope that this short review helps anyone that comes across it. I´ll link the products and hope that if you´re stuck in a rut of razor bumps and dry skin you´ll make the leap to a safety razor. If a fusion proglide or another multi blade razor gets the job done for you then ¨If it ain´t broke don´t fix it.¨ For the others out there, this helped me and it will probably do the same for you.

Thanks mom.

I will preface this by saying that I do love Spain and most of this is just hyperbole of the actual scenarios. The people are great (awesome in fact) and the beach is awesome despite some near traumatizing visuals you will most definitely get there. Also they love soccer and have some pretty amazing fans so that's a plus and I can dig the lifestyle. Lounging by the beach just laying in the sand gets pretty comfortable real quick. Maybe living in the big city would change some of these things but there's no changing the fact that there are some things would be better served with a change or that stand out to me due to my near year long absence from American soil.

1. American Food 

This is how I feel about American burgers after living here for so long. The burgers here are simply not the same. I dunno if the beef is different but it doesn't taste like the burgers I know. One things Spain does have on point is the ham and the sausage. I wish I could take a few pounds of botifarra with me back to the states. That stuff is da bomb

This is how I envision my first trip to In N Out will be upon my return home. Get ready Lindsey.

2. Common courtesies 

Now this one has a bit of a list attached to it but I think one that stands out has to do with walking and spacial awareness. Now that I walk pretty much everywhere I go I like to avoid the others I share the sidewalk with, you know give them there space because I've got big shoulders and I'm not trying to bump anyone. But people here I've noticed just don't care if the sidewalk is only two feet wide they are not gonna move. Or If you're walking and someone else cuts you off, there's no oops, excuse me, perdon. Nada. Everytime I get cut off by an old lady I wanna throw down.

3. Modern barber shops

This is also a big one. One that I did not see coming either and it's more race specific than the rest of this list. Being black presents some grooming challenges that others may not appreciate. I mean I'm way below average when it comes to caring about grooming too much, but it does get to a point where you want to go and get a quality haircut. I've found that here my type of hair isn't seen around a whole lot and plus the barbers still cut with straight razor for head hair. I didn't even know that was still a thing. This plays into number 15. I guess I can't complain because not many black people are getting haircuts here, but it's a bummer when you can't get a good haircut or even buy products for your hair in the store. The kid at school were bewildered by my brush.

4. Adequately sized everything 

Clothes in my size? Nope

Shoes? Wrong 

Beds? You wish

Meal portions? I'll take two of those

Now again I'm just poking fun but at some point I'm like come on I'm not a giant. I know I'm above average in height and weight but are there no other Spanish people of my size or at least enough to create a demand for similarly sized items. 

This is the reaction I get when people here what size shoe I wear.

Granted I do wear a size 49.5 in European so for all you big footed men out there, including the German gentleman I talked with in London, Amazon and Zappos are your friends.

5. The presence of 24/7 establishments

I never thought I would appreciate the value of stores that never close. My first week here in Spain I got sick, not surprisingly after being exposed to hundreds of small human germ factories, but I couldn't buy any medicine to supplement what I brought with me. Even if it's just one little shop or gas station in a town that you know you can rely on in a pinch. Here a pinch stays a pinch most of the time.

6. One stop shopping

I'm no diehard Walmart fan, but stores like it offer most everything you need in one place, with reasonable prices to boot. I miss the days of Costco runs. Don't worry Costco muffins, I'm comin for you!

7. People asking how you're doing

Maybe it's because I don´t look like a local, and I recently heard that the culture here has change over the years due to the influx of immigrants, but I don't feel like there is an air of friendliness surrounding some people. It's like their eyes antagonize you and interactions can become small battles of will to make the non-local make their responses as expedient as possible.

8. Politeness in the check out line 

Ok now this one actually bothers me because in the like 10 seconds between getting your change back from the cashier to putting in your wallet, pocket, purse, other hand or whatever, the person behind you in encroaching on your very spot and you haven't even put your hands on the items you just purchased. All I'm sayin is if you could wait a few extra seconds that'd be nice.

9. Customer service 

Nope. Just nope.

10. Free refills 

Yup. Would appreciate those.

11. Driving in the lanes

Whenever someone asks me if they want to drive somewhere:

And then I'm in the car: I mean if we can learn anything from people and their relationship with budget airlines, safety is a distant second to ease and speed of travel on the list of priorities.

Ok so maybe it's not that bad, but there is no denying that people here take a more nonchalant approach to signaling, staying in lanes, other essential driver activities, etc. I miss my car

12. PB and J

The problem is that they aren't here. I vastly underestimated their value over the years. They are a great snack.

13. Free bathrooms 

This I think is pretty self explanatory. Paying for bathrooms just feels wrong but I can understand it. Shame on you too Dublin.  You're awesome and have great wifi but paying for bathrooms? Really? The bigger issue is the lack of access. I was taken aback by all the public urination I saw after my first long night out in Barcelona. It´s not like I didn't see it before back home, but I think that was just more a product of drunkedness. Here there seems to be a lack of options when you get to the 3AM on la Rambla, so before I realized that I got some good practice learning to hold it:

14. Wifi that works

Sometimes the wifi is great and sometimes its not so great. Leaning more toward most of the time but hey what can you do. I didn't expect google fiber status but maybe a few notches higher on the internet speed scale.

15. Feeling like I live in the 21st century 

In addition to the barbershop using medieval tools and the wifi being all over the place there are some other technological advancements that could make a home here. There are some newer buildings around be the majority are pretty old and I guess that's due to the economy/crisis. However if new buildings like that awesome gym they have in this town can spring up then there is hope for future renovation.

Up Next:

Things I'll miss about Spain once I leave. You didn't think I´d just hang this place out to dry. 

NO WAY, they've got bravas and I may always have love solely for that reason.

I guess I forgot to make a post about this. Probably because I knew the video portion would take days to upload, ok maybe not days but a long while. Even now when I tried uploading I only got one video uploaded so far so the rest will post when I can get blogger to agree with me. Anyway, I went with the school to this place called Bosque vertical (the vertical forest) and it turned out to be a really cool experience. I had never been ziplining before but I've rock climbed plenty so getting the harness system down along with the added safety precautions wasn't a big deal. The course was split into parts and you could choose the area you wanted to go making for an interesting and fairly challenging day because the advanced course takes about an hour and the kids didn't exactly know what they were getting into.

Let me back up a moment. After we had arrived and gotten all the harnesses on, there was a short instructional talk from the workers at the camp. It was all in Catalan so I was just watching to learn the proper safety measures. I thought this was a good idea seeing as though most all of these kids have NEVER done this kind of activity and they will soon be in the trees high above the ground. The baby course that the instruction was done on was indeed easy and I didn't expect it to be an all encompassing demonstration to prepare for the advanced course. The next step though, in my opinion, would have been to ask the kids who felt confident enough to do the advanced course after this basic training. After some hands inevitably went up,  I would have laughed and demanded that everyone go to the beginner course and work your way up from there. This was not the case though and after the instructions were given out kids just ran off to do whatever course they felt like doing. Now I'm not saying that they aren't all capable of doing the course but I don't think 5 minutes is enough practice time for these complete and utter beginners. 

Alas, I'm not in charge and the children ran off to put their fragile bodies at risk. Not surprisingly there were some issues on the more difficult courses. There were kids getting stuck at certain points and others having trouble with the cables' locking mechanisms. Commence epic mental face palm. The one good thing from a safety aspect is that once you are hooked onto the cables its impossible to not have at least one carabiner connected. So even if little Jonny just lets go of everything he'll still be secured by one part of the harness. This was comforting to a degree, however no amount of safety will suddenly make you a better climber or advance your logic to years beyond what we had at the zipline park this day. Oh well. Luckily no one was hurt.

After doing my time on the baby course, I went to the advanced because I didn't feel like the others were as challenging. I also felt like because I've climbed in the past it wouldn't to much of an adjustment. Especially because the hardest part is just keeping your balance while you walk across various obstacles in the sky (planks and logs and whatnot). Before I could start though, I went over to the first tree of the advanced course and saw that the kids were having some issues/going reallllly slow. This is where my previous concerns came to fruition. If a kid is stuck up in a tree 40 feet in the air they're not really in danger but it's a drag to have to wait while this problem is resolved. Especially because I couldn't climb up to help given that you aren't allowed to go up without the safety line and often the kid would still be connected to that very line. So the only method is to shout instructions up to a struggling child and hope they can get through it themselves. Talk about trial by fire.

This first video is me after I decided to help move things along by going up to the top of the first tree and help any kids that had issues. There were many.

The views from the tree tops were pretty cool actually and I'm glad I decided to bring the GoPro along for some adventures. The obstacles in the trees weren't super difficult but the most challenging aside from the balance was the fact that the main line you hooked on to was just about nose height relative to me. This made walking perfectly upright impossible and as you'll see in the videos the vantage point is from right above the cable. It wasn't too bad but it did make it a little harder to maneuver. 

All in all I had a really good time and it made me miss rock climbing back home. I'll have to try and do more of that wherever I end up. It was good to able to add ziplining to the list of adventures especially when I had no idea that it was coming.

La Liga champions 2014 (I'm still a ManU fan)

After the result today in the La Liga final between Barcelona and Atletic Madrid, I felt as though my American football roots were offended by the result. A tie led to Atletico winning the crown, but I think in a winner take all match there should at least actually be a winner. I'll let Jason sum up my thoughts more efficiently