I like to say I shave once a week whether I need to or not. Of course, I should probably shave more often, but that is another topic completely. In the winter months, I grow a beard. It helps keep me warm and makes up a little for the lack of hair on the top of my head. Shaving has never been easy for me, between my lack of sight and psoriasis flare ups. It is tougher when you are trying to keep a beard intact.

Today, for the first time in a long, long time, I shaved with a manual razor. The Gillette Fusion ProShield, to be exact. My Braun Series 3 Cordless Electric Razor hit the tile floor last week and that was the end of that. I had a look around Amazon.com a few times during the week, but never had enough time to really look for a replacement. I figured I would just give a manual razor a try and picked the Fusion Proshield up when we took my mom to Target.

Once I went into the bathroom to shave, I started asking myself how I was going to do it. With an electric razor, I just keep shaving an area then feel for stubble. With a manual razor, I could shave an area, but with all the shaving cream on my face, how am I going to feel the stubble? More importantly, how was I going to get close to my beard without accidently shaving bits of it off? The answer: very carefully. As I lathered my neck up with the shaving cream, I remembered how much I didn’t like shaving with a manual razor. I shaved my lower neck area first, then got close to my jaw line. Once I finished, Eliz came in and checked it (which she does when I use an electric razor, too — I can only imagine missing a clump of hair and looking ridiculous.) She touched up a few places, as she also does when I shave with an electric razor. For the most part, though, it surprisingly went well.

I have to admit, I didn’t think I’d still have a beard when I finished shaving. I thought I would have taken too much of the beard off and then be forced to shave the entire beard off. I was surprised. That being said, I’ll be purchasing a new Braun electric razor in the next day or two.