SOTD 10.9.2017 Pre-shave: coffee, hot shower & Shave Secret Soap: Williams Mug + Head Slick Mentholated Shave Cream Razor: vintage Probak (3rd shave in a row) Blade: German Wilkinson Sword (6) Brush: Marvy boar Post-shave: Thayer's Lavender WH, Nivea Men Sensitive Cooling Balm, Skin Bracer Last week I did a mix of Williams and Head Slick cream and really liked the results. I had to do it again and this mixture provided a creamy, pleasant, skin-friendly, slick lather. I'll be mixing these two again many times in the future. This was my third shave with the Probak and the 6th with the Wilkinson blade. Since I haven't shaved for 72 hours I discovered this blade wasn't "cutting" it very well. I love Wilkinson blades, but since my face stubble was heavier and this blade had already seen a lot of shave action it was time to change it out. I didn't even get through a single pass and I reached for a new blade. I went for my open pack of $1 DE blades (from either Family Dollar or Dollar General) made in Vietnam. I hadn't used these for months since I've acquired better blades. But I need to get these used up as well. I've had both good and questionable blades in these packs. Today, I got a good blade. The end result after 2 full passes, and a clean up pass on the neck was a very close, comfortable shave... nearly baby smooth but I'm not ready to call that. Happy shaving, everyone!
OCtober 9, 2017 Timeless OC 0.95mm with Triad Ti Aristocrat Feather Rudy Vey Rover with TGN Finest CRSW Jeff’s Soap Floid Blue
Thank you. What did you think of the soap? I will certainly be trying some other Cold Rivers Soaps in the future.
On deck for tomorrow is an valet auto stop which is from England. This is my first time shaving with one and I just modified a gem ss blade for it.
OCtober 2017 - day 10. ATT SE2. Kai Captain Titan ProTouch MG (2). Yaqi model R1605-S. Jabones by Luna "Azahar". Hawkins&Brimble ASB. Trying to find the right blade for the aggressive SE2. This combination razor/blade is OK, comparable to the combination of day 9 (Kai Captain Titan Mild Luffy).
OCtober10, 2017 Timeless OC 0.95mm with Triad Ti Aristocrat Feather Shavemac LE with DO1 2 Band Flat Top Reef Point Test Depth Witch Hazel with Menthol Cool Water EDT
Well, yet another surprise. We are on the next to last pairing of the first round; a Gillette New SC vs a Fatip Grande The Gillette New SC was very nice but the Fatip Grande was every bit as pleasant and even more efficient. There have been several reports of difficulty aligning the blade in a Fatip but in this case I just dropped the same Feather that I used in the Merkur 25C and it aligned perfectly. The result was a PDG+, near perfect two pass shave with minimal touchup and no nicks, weepers, cuts, scrapes or irritation. I've got to say this round went to the Fatip. The Gillette New SC was really nice but the Fatip was GREAT. Today was once again old Old Spice and the brush was a Strongset wood handle boar. Strongset was one of the brands from Leopold Ascher in New York and this is an unnumbered brush. It is, like so many boar brushes from the period, a fantastic brush to build lather. Sixth from left on bottom row: I really expected the New SC to blow away the Fatip, but I was very, very wrong. What's been interesting so far is that by using the razors alternating each day I notice things I had not noticed when the razors were just next up and not really paying attention to how they differ.
That is a very cool Probak. I am expecting my first one this week. Evidently there was a big patent war between Probak and Gillette in the late 20s. Here is a quote from another site: The Gillette merger with Probak was announced on October 16, 1930. It was actually a significant event in Gillette's history. The big deal with Probak was not it's razors but it's razor blades. The purpose of the merger appeared to be three fold, 1st to eliminate competition, 2nd to avoid a patent infringement lawsuit and last but not the least was to gain Probak's superior manufacturing and sharpening of it's blades. After the merger all of Gillette's blade making tools were scraped and new automated equipment was installed. A most significant result of the merger is that Henry J. Gaisman, the founder of Auto-Strop and Probak, became Chairman of the Board of the Gillette Safety Razor Co.
Sotd This was a freakin awesome shave. The valet and gem SS combo is out of this world! Super smooth, no weepers, didn’t even feel the darn blade cutting. incredible shave!