The facial hair has grown well and Dani now has some photographs to look back on with his furry faced old dad. It was time to think about shaving it all off. I had this second part of the Beard Blog already written in draft and my trusty Gillette razor at the ready. The best multi blade razors on the market. Or so I thought…

An unexpected turn…

While reviewing the draft blog post I spent some time reading the news websites. By a bizarre coincidence I spotted an advert offering quality razors at a fair price. Basically their website claims that men are caught between two problems. On the one hand there are the over-priced razors made by the well-known companies (like Gillette of course; not mentioned by name but obviously implied). On the other hand there are cheaper razors that to be honest, more or less rip your face off. Let’s just say that a good example of the latter are the razors made by a company better known for making ball point pens – I will say no more.

I am sure that all you men out there can agree that this is indeed the situation we are in. Well maybe not for much longer.

I wrote to the company and told them what I was doing with my blog and facial hair and suggested that if they send me a sample of their blades then I was willing to put it to the test in a direct challenge to my trusty Gillette razor. A shave-off no less.

That company kindly obliged and so I now have their full 5 bladed razor kit ready for action. The problem is that my trusty old Gillette was a mere 3 blade version of their extensive range. So in an effort to make this a fair fight I wrote to Gillette explaining what I was doing and offering them the chance to supply me with one of their 5 bladed weapons. As you may or may not know Gillette is part of the much larger Procter & Gamble organisation. A huge behemoth of a company. They kindly gave me the name of a contact at their PR/advertising agency and so I emailed him the same information. I have only just received a reply. It seems the contact I was given does not handle the Gillette account but has now passed on my enquiry to the correct person.

Delayed shave…

Therefore, in order to make this a fair fight I have decided to leave my bearded mush a little longer than expected and give Gillette’s agents the chance to provide me with the best 5 bladed weapon in their armoury. I mean, I should not have to fork out for their best razors just so that I can defend their honour. Should I?

I do not expect a favourable response but I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. My little Blog is hardly as important as having the Real Madrid football team (amongst others) on board is it?

Meanwhile, ironically, all this facial fuzz is not bothering me anywhere near as much as I thought it would. I am in danger of getting used to it so the sooner I can do this shave-off challenge the better…