I smell flowers... I think... or maybe Juniper?

( subtitle: What the hell is Junpier anyway? )

( subsubtitle: The trouble with being straight... )

Partly due to the recent 43folders shaving tips but also due to some frustration I've had with my overall shaving experience, I've gone out and invested in some new shaving products. I now have a shaving brush, a number of different shaving soaps, some Witch Hazel astringent (which my last girlfriend would be very happy about), and a number of different after shave products. So far I've noticed some significant improvements in...

• The softness of my skin
• How irritated my face gets after shaving
• How my skin smells

What's interesting about all of this is that it also applies to my hands, which are intimiately involved in what goes on during the shaving process.

Something else I've determined is that I probably should have just spent the $111 buying all of the products that Merlin Mann suggested, as I have a feeling I would have gotten a much greater reaction to those products. Maybe once I learn how to actually use the things I've got, I'll "graduate" to him and his $17 brushes and $35 shaving creams. (note: the $25 shaving soap I bought from "L'Occitane" seems to work better than the $12.50 shaving cream I bought from "The Body Shop"; I'm starting to believe that Merlin says about shaving creams only making a difference at the high end)

Now, while I was at "L'Occitane" (I could be spelling that completely wrong) I was given samples of other shaving creams, after shave "balms," and toilet waters (there's a French way to type that too, but I'm not going to attempt it)... Even though I have zero experience with these "waters" (note: they're specifically "por homme", so I felt like it was safe to experiment) and have not consulted anyone else about them, I decided to give one of them a shot today. A little spritz on the wrist... the chest... the neck... having no idea about the potency of these drugs nor how to apply them...

Well, now whenever I sit down (even in the car with windows down at 65 miles per hour) I smell a sweet and yet slightly musky scent. My right-hand smells like it too, which baffles me because I don't think my right-hand was involved in the application process, but maybe I'm wrong. In some ways it's confusing. I always feel like I'm around a woman, then I realize it's just me, and I just don't know how to feel...

Alas, there's no hope for me . . .

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