October 22, 2017 Razor: English Flat Bottom New Blade: Derby Extra (1) Brush: Razorock Plissoft 22 Cream: KMF fragrance-free Post: Alum, Listerine, WH I was at the beauty supply store yesterday to pick up some clipper oil and noticed that they had a couple of tucks of Derby Extra blades for $0.59. On a whim, I bought one. I've only shaved with a Derby once before- about two years ago, near the beginning of my journey. I wasn't all that impressed at the time but decided I'd give them another go, particularly since I had read on another forum that they had been improved since then. Just to play it somewhat safe, I decided to stay the the Flat Bottom New as it seems to work well with some otherwise troublesome blades. The result was two passes to a DFS with no blood but a bit of a tingle from the Alum. It was a better experience than I remember the last one being, but I'm not sure I could ever see myself using these blades on a regular basis. I'll probably stay with it for another day or so, just to see if the blade improves.
Gem OCMM Gem Stainless Semogue 2000 Stirling Gentleman Superior 70 First shave in a few days and it was treat. At first I was not a fan of the scent of the Stirling Gentleman, but the performance is fantastic. I have become used to the scent and use it regularly.
OCtober!!! October 22 Razor - '46-'47 Gillette Aristocrat Blade - (2) Soap - Arko Brush - BoS Omega 10066 Post - Alum Well, here we go. Day two with the Gillette Blue Blade that was less than impressive last night. Using a blade this old, even NOS, is never a guaranteed good shave given the nature of carbon steel to degrade. These blades that @BearCWY sent are in immaculate condition but it still turned tuggy and rough in a hurry last night. My hopes for tonight were pretty low. I did take the extra step of stropping the blade twenty times on leather just to see if that would help. No signs of rust on the edges so that made me feel better. I also chose to go with just Arko without the pre-shave soap tonight. One of the old vintage ads for a Gillette razor mentions the Blue Blade and calls it the "blade your face can't feel". Well, trust me, you can feel it. Right from the start tonight it was rough and pulling and....surprisingly.....very ineffective. I shaved my right cheek in spite of the feel and discovered it had barely removed anything. I have no idea how many shaves they originally designed these blades for, but as a NOS blade it appears to handle 1/2 of a shave, then the second half is rough and getting worse and a second just was in the cards. I switched over to my rescue setup - '59 Super Speed with a Super Iridium blade. That finished me up in two easy and smooth passes right down to a BBS.....AND....my face didn't feel the blade with the Iridium. There's a lot of great history in these old Blue Blades. Thanks to @BearCWY for sending me some usable ones to play with and I'm glad I can say I took the challenge. I'm also glad to say that one's in the books! Hope you have a great Monday!
Reading this, all I could think of was something along the lines of "Can an upstart blade from an obscure Chinese manufacturer outperform the blade that defined a generation of shavers?"
OCtober 23, 2017 Wolfman OC Ti (0.74mm) Personna 74 (8) Simpson Chubby 2 Synthetic Reef Point Test Depth Folsom & Co Capri Sad to say the weekend is over already. The "Soap Destroyer" continues to whip up the lather and eat the soap. I went with a traditional 3 pass shave this morning followed by touch ups along my jawline and lower right neck. Catching the baby was not in the cards this morning but I ended with a great shave. A splash of Folsom & Co Capri and I am ready for the day. I hope everyone has a great Monday.
OCtober 23 SOTD: Razorock Plissoft Brush CO Bigelow SC Gillette Sheraton Stirling Unscented PSB Proraso Green AS I am really enjoying this razor. It is fun, shaves well, and is easy to use. I also really like the CO Bigelow and Proraso combination. It all came together for a great Monday morning shave. I hope everyone has a great day!
Thank you Jim. The Sheraton is one of the coolest razors. I was very impressed with the CO Bigelow SC as well.
SOTD October 23, 2017 Prep: Stirling mentholated pre-shave soap Blade: Schick Razor: Schick E2 injector Brush: Surrey badger Lather: Arko shave stick Post: Witch hazel, Barbasol Pacific Rush aftershave WTG, touch up Back to a focus shave with the Arko stick. Likely the best Arko lather I've achieved was this morning. It started off what I thought was a little too wet but all of that hydration worked in and created a nice lather. Arko's post-shave feel isn't great but it gets the job done overall. A couple of weepers on my chin from user error with the E2. I have to be really careful with this razor and the rainy morning didn't help my concentration. Nice shave in the end despite that. Have a great day!
