Bookworm Speaks!- The Art of Shaving

Bookworm Speaks!

The Art of Shaving

by Myriam Zaoui and Eric Malka

Photographs by Susan Salinger

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Acquired: The Art of Shaving Retail Store

Series: N/A

Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1 edition (February 20, 2009)

Hardcover: 112 pages

Language: English

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A Non-fiction Review!

The Story: The average man will shave approximately 20,000 times over the course of his life, spending the equivalent of 139 full days doing it. He will shave off 27 feet of hair, from a total of 30,000 whiskers on his face. And he will probably be doing something wrong. So he'll suffer nicks and cuts, ingrown hairs, and rashes; his five-o'clock shadow will arrive before lunch, his neck will be irritated and red, and he'll get razor burn. Instead of reaping the benefits of a daily grooming regimen, he'll only suffer. Needlessly. 

The Art of Shaving will solve his problems (as well as the related problems of anybody whose cheek gets burned by his razor stubble). He'll choose the correct brush and razor and blade; he'll take more time lathering up properly and less time tending to bloody shirt collars. He'll feel better and look better. And he'll adjust his perception of this morning ritual, bringing art and passion to a daily routine.

The Review:  The best part of the whole book is the beginning, where the authors take a little dip in the history of shaving and grooming from around the world. Bookworm did not know that ancient Egyptians completely shaved their bodies. That was really interesting and frankly Bookworm wanted the whole book to be like that. 

Alas, it is not and we take a dip if not a dive into the different techniques and traditions of facial hair removal. The text takes its time to emphasize the importances of skin care while shaving. The two are not exclusive areas and Bookworm knows from personal experience that shaving can have a distinctly beneficial effect on your skin and the book takes special time to discuss the proper creams, soaps, and blades and the affect they can have on this shaver’s skin. 

That does make this book worthy of a read if not a direct purchase. If the information seems lacking due to the length of the book, it does at least make a few suggestions and plants the concept in the readers mind. 

This book would make an ideal gift for a teenager that is about to transition to shaving on a regular basis. Regular basis meaning that he needs to shave more than once a week. A very helpful guide for beginners and makes a good gift. 

A big problem with this book though, is how it ends. That may not seem like a big deal considering that this book is of the nonfiction variety but it really does make a difference. A key part of writing an essay is always the conclusion. One could make the argument that every non-fiction book is essentially one, long essay and the conclusion for this book is nonexistent. The text does not end so much as stop and it is actually rather jarring. A nice paragraph to wrap things up would have been a much gentler way to end it. 

Another problem is the photographs used in this book. For one thing: there are not that many of them. This seems like a topic that would benefit greatly from some visual aids and there are few of them to be had here. The majority of the pictures are artsy, black and white photos of various shaving implements and supplements. To the books credit, the are related to the topic of the text  but they don’t seem to enhance the topic. Visual guides would have been much more useful. The primary goal of this book seemed to be telling more about shaving than actually showing us the art of shaving. 

Final Verdict: In the end, this book felt like a really fancy and really pricey brochure for the Art of Shaving Retail Stores. That, or a smaller-than-average coffee table book. If one is looking for genuine advice on shaving, a better option would be to check dedicated books or websites. 

Three Straight Edge Razors out of Five