NOVember is NO whatever you want it to be! Apparently.
November 12
Razor - Razorrock TTO
Blade -
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Soap - Van der Hagen Scented Luxury
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Post - Alum
A bit of an early night tonight. Winter arrived in the Lou today. Nothing terribly serious but snow all day, some slick spots, wet and cold, so I stayed in to avoid the idiots who have to be reminded how to drive in the winter. I randomized the shave and had a few concerns, mainly the razor. I haven't had much luck with the Razorock TTO. Seems like it's always been a bit rough and bitey for some reason. One of the scuppers seems a little off on it and I've always attributed the difficulty to that, though I never knew for sure. Mostly I gave it a few tries, sliced and diced and put it away. Well, the randomizer brought it back. It did grab the Gillette Platinum blade, however. A very good Russian blade from St. Pete. If you want just a basic Gillette platinum coated blade, this one is excellent. Smooth and sharp. Nothing fancy, it just does what it's supposed to do.
The Canuck turned up for its second and final appearance this month and the gods threw in the VDH Luxury soap. Ok, I can deal with that. VDH is another "drug store" soap that proves you don't need to spend a lot to get a great lather. And the Canuck absolutely loved it. Loaded and lathered three full passes with ease.
I focused on keeping the angle right on the TTO. I am wondering about head geometry. Perhaps it's just a bit different from the others I use so I'm not giving it an adequate chance? I dialed in the angle and noticed that, when cutting well, it's a noisy razor. Don't remember that before. I held the angle and kept the pressure off for all three passes and.......no blood. Then I grabbed the alum. Yep, this will prove how bad it was. Except it was quiet. Nice and quiet. As in silent. I'll be. Could it be that settling down and accepting the tool for what it is allowed me to finally bring technique to solve the problem? Technique Trumps Tools!
The baby is in the house, the VDH Luxury reminds me of Mountain Man for the scent and I had a great shave. And that's the truth.
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