and now here's an update-he'll be here next Wednesday. I may try to SEE if the light permits me to shave in the bathroom between tomorrow and next Wednesday, but I'm not confident. Oh well. Might be a real challenge to do a hallway soap-shave, as I'd rather the excess soap go into my sink, not the carpet.

I have to wait til next Wednesday for him to come...I blame you .

Harder to get leg hair out of the carpet too unless you've got one of those vacuums rated for pet hair with a HEPA filter.

Mayhem SOTD 5/1/17
Razor: Cheap Chinese DE
Blade: Flying Eagle Brand
Brush: 24mm Envy White Troth handle
Soap: Beaver Woodwright Queen Anne’s Revenge
Post: Cold Water, Alum, Thayer’s Rose Tonic
Aftershave: Beaver Woodwright Queen Anne’s Revenge


I was actually more worried about today’s line up of razor than the one that tore me up on Tuesday. This is a cheap Chinese Razor that @stingraysrock PIFed as a door prize in the February TSD raffle. I believe Jim said it cost about a dollar, and came with a razor, blade, and case. His note warned me not to tighten the handle down too much, as it would bend the stamped base plate. I actually bent the plate when trying to remove the razor from the case. In the true spirit of Mayhem, I decided to run it with the Flying Eagle Brand blade that came with it. When I tightened it down, I realized I may have bent the base plate more than I thought, as I couldn’t really get the blade to align, and the blade exposure was big. I was expecting the blade to be bad. It is carbon, not stainless. Looked sharp. One way to find out.

Lather with the BWW soap was awesome as usual, and the scent on this one is a sweet floral one, with some pineapple. I had some confidence in that this set up was actually intended to be used this way, and is meant to shave a face. Because the gap was so uneven, and the blade exposure so big, I approached this shave as a DEvette. Put the full cap on the face, and rotate down until it starts cutting. Blade tugged some, but seemed to be cutting. Used as little pressure as possible to do my first pass, being very careful around the two big cuts on my chin and jaw from Tuesday. Only used one side of the blade, so I would have a fresh one for my ATG pass. Blade tugged a lot, but seemed to be working. First pass done, rinsed, and there was some reduction. Lathered back up and went for ATG. Blade began to be even more tuggy, but was still cutting. Kept the pressure as light as I could, and kept at it. Had to do some cross grain strokes before I could do ATG. Rinsed, and had a SAS. Decided to go for a third pass, XTG. Blade wasn’t actually painful, but not really comfortable either. Finished my third pass, and decided to avoid pressing my luck by cleaning up my neck. My face, chin and jaw were almost DFS. My neck was approaching CCS. Alum was silent, which I did not expect. Opened one weeper from a scab from Tuesday. Aftershave burned quite a bit where I had done the cross grain strokes, but faded quickly. Not an ideal tool to shave with, but not impossible if you have good technique. Blade actually performed better than I thought it would. At about 12 hours post shave, I have a shadow, and can probably shave tomorrow if I want to. (I am 13 hours into a 15 hour shift right now, so I probably won’t.) I will call this Mayhem shave a success.

MAYhem!!! - Finally!

May 11

Razor - '46-'47 Gillette Aristocrat
Blade - (1)
Soap - Soap Commander Courage
Brush - WSC Synthetic
Post - Alum

Ok, let's get the rest of this month on the road!! Thanks for all the well-wishes and expressions of concern. I'm doing fine, and awake tonight. I got home from work yesterday, ate, sat down here at the computer and put my head back for a second....which turned into 2 hours before waking up and going to bed. Still trying to get the meds out of my system, or at least down to normal levels.

So, you're asking, what is MAYhem-ish about the setup for tonight? Nothing at all, other than the slight tremor in my hands from all the meds of the past week. I decided a couple of days on a safe setup was prudent. And, the 'Crat and Sharp Star are a perfect combo for a totally smooth and burn free shave. Quite an excellent way to start things over this month.

Planning to stay with this setup a day or two then I'll get more caught up and get going with the real stuff. Hope your week is going great!

I'll be doing my best to catch up and find out about that idiocy!!! I feel like I've missed the best part of the year so far. When did MAYhem become our Christmas on here? LOL

My wife refers to him as my "evil twin". I have several other names, none of which would be allowed in polite company.

It may be safer to have the Chinese blade makers stop trying to hone any and all of their blades. Yeah, the reduction is zero, but the lack of pain and regret is amazing!

You've been through enough Mayhem this month to deserve a break. Although hand tremors with a Marvy brush and soap, followed by a shave with a haunted razor and Flying Eagle blade would be an interesting diversion.

The haunted razor and Flying Eagle. Hmmmmmmm. Don't have any Flying Eagles but I do have Tiger and Quick Tiger. And the Marvy combo is ready to go. I've had it dug out of the back of the cabinet just waiting for this month! I'm also going to try the synthetic brushes on it just to see if that may be a cure to my lack of lather with it. They won't help the smell though.

Cheap Chinese razor and Flying Eagle - you're the man! I'm seeing comments about previous cuts and blood. I've missed so many good things already. It's catch up time!

This is the most disturbing that this thread has ever been.

Carry on.

Link broken...

I am not worthy. Just awesome!

That is the worst blade I have ever used.... but YMMV tell your friend to give a try.

Wow, I got 5 pages behind since around noon today.

Thank you Perry! It's unusual for sure. I an enjoying badger knots so much more when they are set deep enough to avoid floppiness. This is my second piece of cypress come back to me. Looking forward to Jason's LE handle next!

Not sure if I missed details of the story. Was it an unexpected riverside dismount, or a soggy over hydrated brush loading mishap?

Doug was just giving the soap a taste of 'basic training'.

Nothing so dramatic as a riverside dismount. Just was in a hurry and added to much water.

Doesn't seem fair to punish the ladies of Kentucky over a beef with an old codger on a shaving forum.


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