As MAYhem bears down on us, it strikes me that some here have never known the "joy" of experiencing one of these. Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
In retrospect, I don't think the Sayuri counts as a legitimate MAYhem shave. Its blade of the rottenest wholly untempered and almost completely unsharpened steel wouldn't cut melted butter, so even though I had zero experience with shavettes my actual risk of even slightly nicking myself was virtually nil...
Arko Adjustable April!! April 30 Razor - Qshave (Futur clone) (6) Blade - (3) Soap - Arko Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip Post - Alum Well, here it is boys and girls. The final shave for Arko Adjustable April! Qshave with the Sharp Star, the Wolf and Arko, two passes, touch ups. I got the baby in the house, no blood, alum just slightly warm in a few places. I'll take that as a fine finish to a fun month. Thanks to everyone for another great month here! We finished a little below the pace of last April but it was fun, informative, and all in all, another fine month in the old 30DC. What's up next? We all know the answer to that.......MAYhem!!! I'll have the new room open shortly.
The 2nd Annual 30DC Shavey Awards Thread is now up. Once Neal gets the May thread going I'll link them together, and we're off!
I still have a Sayuri and the Iroha. Maybe they deserve a second chance this month. My plan is quite uncoordinated by design (if that's possible) so I could confirm our previous opinions on them.
FWIW, and I have used my share of brushes, I would echo your sentiments almost to a T. A good boar, and Semogue can turn them out, is as good a brush as can be bought once they are broken in. The “traditional” badger style of even five years ago, and prior, are as soft as can be, but in my book, just not the performers that “modern” fatter, shorter lofted badgers are. They have their place in one’s collection, but I would never recommend one as a first or second brush. Or really even third. Maybe sixth. Yeah, let’s go with sixth. And I know I am not going to make a lot of friends here, but the Plisson type brushes are completely uninspiring to me. Keeping in mind I own a few of them, so I am allowed to wax prejudice here, I find them uninteresting to look at, and completely uninteresting to shave with. They are fantastic performers, I just find them to be,,,, artificial in form and feel. That said, I commonly recommend them to new shavers. One cann9t argue that they are good lather makers.
I missed the post that talked about you going. Glad you had a blast with them. Somehow I just bet you are a fun grampa to hang with.
As one who has migrated heavily to the Plisson types I understand how you feel. Using a natural brush to me takes a bit more skill, certainly some extra time, and provides some uniqueness. It's the speed and consistency of making lather than makes me a synthetic fan. Still, I feel like I'm not always being true to my "vintage guy" image I have of myself when I use them.
I kept my Sayuri, for whatever reason. I don’t think it deserves another chance, unless it is to cut painter’s edging tape. I’m not even sure that would go all that well, and no, I’m not actually being sarcastic.
We always need a beer assistant or two around here during May. Thanks for volunteering. Oh, and just in case peace breaks out over there for real we'll understand if you need a golfing vacation to the DMZ.
I missed most of MAYhem last year due to my pancreas deciding it needed some hospital time. (It really likes some of those painkillers so I let it drag me along) I did give the Sayuri a try and know what you are speaking of. But I figure I owe it a more determined trial - and without the residual Dilauded masking some of the pain.
Golf?!? I’m going up there and check out his pleasure squad. It’s all in the name of science, I’m sure Fuzzy wants to know if there any chunky redheads.
My bad. Yeah, I'm thinking science is important enough to do some experimenting. And there has to be at least one chunky redhead or else his minions have failed to provide perfection in a pleasure squad. Peace or no peace that sounds like a concentration camp offense to me.
@NCoxSTL @PickledNorthern Synthetics do feel "Synthetic". They lather like champs! I recommend them to newbies looking for "my first good brush", and readily concede they lack soul and have little value to the collector/luxury community.
