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This "no pressure" thing is really paying off in triple cherries. Today I shaved with my trusty Merkur HD razor, Merkur Platinum blade, Vulfix #2235 badger brush, only this morning I hauled out my deepest, darkest, guiltiest pleasure when it comes to shaving -- Trumper's violet shaving cream.

I've waxed on about this excellent cream before. While other shaving creams may be slicker (Cremo Cream), more refreshing (Proraso), more moisturizing (Taylor avocado), or more soothing (Taylor rose), no shaving cream is more decadent and delicious than Trumper's violet.

It's purple. It's Trumper. And it smells better than any other shaving cream on the face of the Earth. I unscrew the cap off the tub and jam my nose in there, inhaling deeply and dreamily. This cream single-handedly turned a lifelong flower smell hater into a floral scent queen. I went so nuts after discovering Trumper violet shaving cream that I hunted down some Claus Porto violet bath soap and not just one but two violet colognes, Santa Maria Novella's Violetta (smells better on beloved wife than me, so it's hers now) and Trumper's own Ajaccia Violet cologne (a keeper). I can't get enough of this scent. And the shaving cream is the best smelling of all this stuff -- every time I take a whiff I can't believe how good it smells.

Trumper's violet also happens to shave like the devil, putting it in the top rank of shaving creams I've tested. I've got a lot of tubs of shaving cream, but the only one that's always near-empty is my preciousssssss violet.

I always get a superlative shave with Trumper's violet, but today was the first time I used it without any added pressure on the blade. Just let the weight of the razor do the job for me. And damned if I didn't get the very best shave I've ever gotten from this purple wonder cream.

The funny thing is, the less pressure I use when shaving, the better the shaves get, and the less the cream seems to make a difference. I mean, yes, it pays to use a good quality shaving cream. No doubt about that. But when I don't apply any added pressure to the razor, the differences between these various creams which used to be so stark have now shrunken to near-irrelevancy. Whether I'm shaving with Cremo Cream, Taylor's rose, or Trumper's violet -- three creams which previously couldn't have smelled and shaved more differently to me -- as long as I don't apply any added pressure to the razor, the shaves all go equally well. It's like I've taken what was once a crucial variable right out of the equation. Which is great, right?

Um, right?