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Wallace and Gromit are big at our house. We've got the three classic short films on DVD, we went to see "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" as soon as it came out this summer, and my daughter thinks all cheese is called "Wensleydale!".

So when I found this Wallace and Gromit shaving kit on eBay while searching for W&G stuff, I had to have it. For the kids, I mean..

These kits were made for the UK pharmacy chain Boots, which was also responsible for the Homer and Bart Simpson shaving kit I yoinked awhile back. The Wallace and Gromit kit came with a cheap disposable twin-blade razor (I replaced it with a vintage Gillette travel razor, without a blade so the kids can play with it) and a can of "Wallace's Shaving Foam", which is where things got weird.

I say weird because one whiff of this stuff and I almost lathered up and started shaving right then and there. Godammit I miss the smell of shaving foam inna can.

I know, I know, we're shavegeeks, we use expensive English shaving creams scented old-school -- lavender, voilet, rose, sandalwood, lime. We howl in derision at modern drugstore dreck like shave foam and shave gel, because they don't lather and lube nearly as well, and they've got all kinds of crap like butane and propane and god knows what else that messes up your skin. We make fun of proles who shave with this dime-store garbage and feel superior to them when we see them suffering through another painful, irritating shave with that lowly mentholated crapola.

Still...

Man does this stuff smell good! It's got that classic foam inna can thing going on. Every foam I ever shaved with -- Gillette Foamy, Barbasol, Noxzema, Brut, et al -- shared that certain olfactory note that's driving me crazy about Wallace's Shaving Foam. I don't know what it is exactly that I'm smelling -- maybe the butane? -- but it's like a time machine taking me back to all those years of canned shaving pleasure. I cupped a handful of this stuff to my face and huffed it in like a kid sniffing glue out of a brown paper bag. Honestly, I figured once I got this shaving kit in the mail I'd toss the can of foam along with the plastic razor, but I took a sniff for old time's sake and it knocked me for a loop.

So now I'm thinking maybe I should catch a shave with this stuff. How bad could it be, really? I shaved with far lesser foams and gels, I'm sure, for many, many years, and with horrible razors to boot. As long as I use my Gillette Super Speed DE, what's the worst-case scenario? Nicks and cuts galore? Nawww. I bet I can get a decent-to-excellent shave with Wallace's Shaving Foam, as long as I use a good safety razor in the usual shavegeek manner.

I want to try it. I need to try it. Maybe tomorrow, after I've had a bit of Wensleydale.