SE SEptember 2017

Thank you Doug and Happy Friday. I think I will take off around lunch.

 

Sounds like a plan to me Clint.

 

September 1, 2017

Gem MMOC today, with a Gem Personna stainless blade, Williams mug soap and store brand Skin Bracer.

It was a fantastic BBS shave!

 

SOTD September 1, 2017

Blade: GEM stainless
Razor: GEM Featherweight
Brush: Omega 10049 boar
Lather: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post: Witch hazel, Fine American Blend aftershave
WTG, touch up

Nice and easy start to SEptember. Featherweight today with good results. The lather from Mitchell's was fantastic as usual and everything came together nicely. Enjoy your day!

 

Schick Injector E1
Chick (2 or 3)
Omega Baby Pro
Stirling Gentleman
Superior 70 Bay rum

My plan was to continue with the Micromatics this month, but I reached for the Schick Injector E1 donated by @Linuxguile to the raffle. I have had a blade sitting in the razor for a while and don't remember the shave count on it. It is much lighter than the Gems I have been using. I got sloppy and used a little too much pressure and gave myself a minor cut. Overall, a very nice shave this morning. I still have the clog pruf and ocmm lined up for the month, but I think the Schick will be making some appearances as well.

 

SEptember 1 is finally here. My first SEptember shave was a great success.



I started off with Proraso Pre Shave. The Jeff's Soap Shaving Soap face-lathered well with the Jayaruh #213 Synthetic brush. I did the two passes with the Schick C and a Personna Stainless blade and ended up with a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayer's Lemon WH and then Florida Water. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

 

Friday, September 1, 2017

The Varlet Everset K2
Saponificio Varesino Stella Alpina
OneBlade Genesis V1
Feather FHS-10
Myrsol Aqua Balsamica
ADP Blu Mediterraneo Ginepro

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September 1, 2017

Razor: Gem MMOC
Blade: Gem by Personna (1)
Brush: Razorock Plissoft 22
Cream: Simpsons Luxury
Post: Alum, Listerine, Every Man Jack

I dimly recall that back in the '70s, when I first started shaving, I shaved a few times with a Gem MicroMatic that I had picked up at a flea market. I seem to recall that young and naive me was surprised to find that they had made a razor which took those scraper blades in the green dispenser. (Oddly, I don't recall ever seeing a Gem Contour, even though those should have still been in production.) I seem to recall liking the shaves but not the fact that the blades would rust if you so much as looked at them.

Forty years later, I'm older and somewhat wiser and looking at Gem razors and blades again. Today's shave was with a newly-acquired MMOC and the supermarket Gem SS blades. Honestly, I should probably have waited a bit to write this as I'm still trying to process this shave. On the up side, the result was a BBS. The down side was some definite heat from the Alum and some lingering irritation. Despite the MMOC's reputation, the only other issue was a weeper which was definitely from a technique fail when I had trouble finding the angle during an upside-down ATG stroke.

I think my big issue with this (and probably my other Gem razors) is finding the correct angle. The convention wisdom is to put the cap flat against the face. I suspect I'm having an issue with putting it flat enough and trusting that it will still be effective. This is something for me to work on this month. I'm also wondering that, in the end, a Gem may just be too much razor for my face and beard at this stage of my life. Definitely a lot to think about this SEptember.

 

SEptember shave #1, 29 to go

Schick L3 razor
Personna blade
JR #85 brush
CO Bigelow SC
Osage Rub/Witch Hazel w/aloe
Barbasol Brisk A/S w/added menthol

Not sure how many shave are on the L3/Personna combo, it didn't matter cuz the shave was great. Smooth, very comfortable and close, that's what we're looking for. So, I'm ready to go for sure. Now go enjoy your day folks.

 

Razor: ATT Bamboo SE1
Blade: Feather Pro (1)
Brush: Shavemac ATG LE The Nisky Silvertip Fan
Soap: Eufros Tierra Humeda
A/S: Old Spice
Decanter: Old Spice Lighthouse 1973 ID # 3828

I have had an awful time with this razor getting the blade seated properly. Feeling that I had a legitimate concern I contacted Stan at ATT and included some pictures of the head and base of the SE1. Stan responded very quickly and asked me to send the head to him as it was defective. The razor head was sent back to me very fast and today was my first shave with the ATT SE1 with the new head. I found the blade loaded very easily and the razor gave me a very near BBS. Thank you Stan for your amazing service and making this right for me.
I also want to thank @ram57 Guy and @Str8on2 Gus at ATG for their assistance.

 

Forgot to take a pic, but had a great shave from my Pal Injecto-Matic to kick off SEptember!

 

It is nice to hear of great customer service since we often only here when things don't go well.

The Old Spice Decanter is simply fantastic.

 

After a month of Adjustable August shaves I was ready to mix it up. Could have used a Schick but I scratched my itch with a Bunny. With an unknown number of shaves on the blade I loaded a fresh Chick. Took a moment to be sure it was aligned - it seemed to be high on the far end away from the injector key. Better than dragging across the stops. A quick tickle with a finger nail dropped it into alignment. Since I hadn't used this prototype in more than a month I swapped in the MILD comb and reacquainted myself with it's near 90° working angle. For or five passes later I hadn't run out of lather, but chasing the baby leads to razor burn. No worries though. Alum was quiet & the shave was close. I think I might stick with this razor for a couple days. The Schicks can wait!

 

The week I had the Bunny was one of the best shaving weeks I've ever had...

 

I have several SE razors now so I can participate in this thread. This morning I was rushed so I simply applied one of my shave creams without a brush and used a Gem Micromatic Clog-Pruf loaded with a Gem by Personna blade (3rd use). It was quick, but efficient.

 

My sotd


Great shave tonight. Love the scent of the soap. Bbs smooth, but boy did the aftershave bite!!

 

September 2, 2017
Gem Damaskeene Open Comb
Gem GTFE (8)
Ever Ready 100T with TGN Finest
CRSW Jeff’s Soap
Floid Blue

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Thank you Clint. Enjoy your weekend.

 

Another great picture Clint. Gem is really shinny.Good looking setup to boot.