Tag: wet shaving

Musings on Future Posts

Since my last post yesterday I have done some thinking and some spontaneous things, I have decided that I will definitely be nore active with this and maybe other social medias too. I have purchased the domain to this blog so that it is now Valleyreading.uk and I was playing with my laptop and created a cute little logo which I like very much.

I feel that if I have an investment and incentive to inspire and encourgae me to regularly use this and post here too. The small financial investment is a reason to not neglect this. I have a few ideas for content and although the address and typical content is bookish I don’t think that would be my only content, I may diversify through my interests of which there is many and I am expecting 2025 to have a few twists too which I will be sure to document.

For content I am thinking of doing the following:

Book Reviews
Anime reviews
Tech reviews
Game Reviews
Shave of The Day/Week posts
General musings and life posts.
Relating to my interests
WordPress Daily Writing Prompt

Those are just some of my ideas and similar to what I already have posted but I will put more effort into it like I used to with my old blog which I grew quite well before I killed it.

From my last post I have began to jot down a rough reading list but I have sooo many books to go through I sort of don’t want to. Being a bit of an anorak I have every single book itemised and numbered on a spreadsheet so I may do a random number generator and see what it falls on for some reads. Could also use CoPilot AI to suggest some reads and see what it comes up with.

I am like a London bus, wait a year to make a post and then two at once, and probably a third to follow imminently….

Shave of The Day 5/1/2024 – First of 2024

Vie Long 13061b

Rockwell Model T2 Stainless Steel

Shark Platinum (1)

Razorock XXX Fresco

Child’s Farm Baby Moisturiser, Razorock Fresco Aftershave & Acqua di Parma Colonia

First shave of the year, had some excema to take care of and had to be presentable for today. It was about a week since my last shave. I find in recent months I have preferred to grow out my beard for a week or two between shaves. I quite like the look, whereas previously I was a daily shaver.

It was a super shave and the Rockwell razor is a superb bit of kit. Very expensive and not really affordable but you get what pay for in terms of quality and materials. A superb fully adjustable modern safety razor that gives a very comfortable and close shave. The geometry and balance is excellent, its a heavy razor but made of 99% stainless steel parts its to be expected. Certainly a heirloom razor that will be still running when I have long since kicked the bucket. I paired it with a Shark Platinum razor blade on its first use, an excellent blade for me.

I went for the Vie Long horse hair brush and as always it was superb, a little scratchy but it helps exfoliate and work the lather in. A very underappreciated material for shaving brushes and animal friendly too, with the hair being harvested via grooming as opposed to skinning with boar, badger hair and the future issues of synthetic hair brushes.

Feeling a little bunged up I went for something mentholated in the Razorock XXX Fresco soap and aftershave splash. It certainly woke me up and gave a nice menthol blast. Excellent performing soap and a nice mentholated take on Acqua di Parma’s colonia. I finished up with a spray of it.

The photo I had taken a few days prior before I put away my Christmas decorations. I had always planned for this first shave of the year.

New Year, New Posts!!!

A New Year and new beginnings and promises. I’d like to start with wishing all who read this a Happy New Year and hope health, happiness and prosperity finds them.

For me this year I’m hoping to keep this updated more regularly (famous last words) and maybe diversify the content here. Though the name is ValleyReading It won’t just be a book or reading blog. I will also post stuff from my other interests such as wet shaving Shave of The Days (SotD) and a new interest of mine anime and manga, mostly Attack On Titan which I love.

For shaving I’m starting the year growing a bit of a beard, though I may shave it soon as I have a slight breakout of excema so I may shave this week to sort that and enjoy the use of one of my recent razors (Rockwell T2 Stainless Steel or Tatara Masamune).

In terms of anime I’m looking forward to watching Attack On Titan again, I enjoyed it immensely from start to finish and I would like to watch the English dub of the final episode which is coming out this weekend (7th January). I would also like to watch more of One Punch Man which I am enjoying very much as well as Death Note. I have several others lined up to watch and the Attack On Titan manga which I’m 5 books into out of 34.

Finally my reading flagged last year when I discovered Attack On Titan and it is no lie that I was and am completely consumed by it and its lore, fan theories etc. So my reading took a hit. I was on about 35 or 38 books when I discovered it and I was flagging on my reading goal of 50 books until the end of November (I would have smashed it by June if I didn’t discover AoT). I finished the year with 61 books thanks to my Christmas reading, which I always make time for and enjoy very much.

This year my goal is set at 25 which is easily accomplished and just merely used as a placeholder. My true goal remains to read daily whether its a short book, a chapter or a page. It all counts. I also wish to read longer books. I started reading The World by Simon Sebag Montefiore (1350 pages) 18 months ago and been dipping in and out of it. I hope to finish it this year! As a challenge I would like to read Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce too.

My first book of the year will be a short one and a humourous one. The Diary of A Nobody by George Grossmith. I have read it before and thoroughly enjoyed it. Seemed a nice choice to start the year with, though usually I start with a Yasunari Kawabata novel either Thousand Cranes, Beauty & Sadness or Snow Country.

So that’s my plans for this bit of internet over the next year. Let’s see how we get on!

Shave of The Day: 29/3/2023

Simpsons Trafalgar T3

Timeless Aluminium .45

Voskhod (1)

Martin de Candre Original

A very nice shave today, I used top quality products and had a comfortable and enjoyable shave. The Timeless razor is a mild and comfortable shaver, though there is a little blade feel to remind you its there. The brush is a good quality synthetic fibre bristled brush, a bit on the large side – in hindsight maybe a T2 brush would be plenty. The soap is excellent with a beautiful herby scent, I can certainly make out the lavender. To look at it you would think its unused but over 2 or 3 years its been used about 100 times and barely a dent made in it, given the cost of it it has excellent longevity and value. For post shave I used a Baby Moisturiser that is good for adults with sensitive skin and finished off with a fragrance oil, the name of which slips my mind currently – a very nice fragrance with a very strong sillage and lasting.

This was the first SotD I set up to photograph in a long time, I’m undecided whether to stick with the set up or change to black or even use my bookshelves for a background. I’m sure I will chop and change until I decide on a set up or backdrop.