May 2020 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Great looking shave, Joe!

 

MAYhem Monster Razor ThrowDown

My experimenting on the shaver exchange plan with my co-worker continues.

Today's twist is the addition of Dr Carvers Shave Butter (another Dollar Shave Club offering) and a hemispherical addition of that shave tool I do love to hate, The freshly reloaded Mach3.

I find the shave butter to provide excessive cushion. So much that the cutting of hair suffered. For an individual that is used to mushing one of these shaving devices hard into the skin, I'm sure it helps protect. However, it is not something I recommend. I found it greasy and without a pleasant smell.

Having to apply a slimey, greasy substance with your fingers presented the reguirement to wash your hands with soap after using. Especially when handling edge forward shaving devices.

Hands down, the six blade (plus trimmer) out performs a brand new Mach3, which seemed tuggy from the get-go. I believe the shave butter prevented my getting a comparable one pass result of earlier shaves. I'll repeat the MAYhem monster razor throwdown tomorrow with a regular shave soap to crosscheck my findings.

Neither razor delivered a one pass SAS (socially acceptable shave) but more a just plain SAS (schmitty asked shave) on both sides.

The Feather DX got the call for a rescue. I've had a small run going with this tool. It is now on (9) with a Kai Captain Titan Mild PINK, which doesn't mean girly, rather; Plasma Ion New process by Kai. These are not as sharp as Feathers, but very smooth and longer lasting. I like them and will buy more.

Usually one ATG pass with the Artist Club DX delivers the rescue, but not today. Even though I could see the shave butter being carved off my face similar to water on a straight razor stone, too much stubble remained afterwards.

I rinsed, grabbed a brush and lathered up a conventional soap. Just like getting the slime off my fingers some effort was required on the face as well (read... gooey slime). This second ATG pass did the trick. (read.. don't buy Dr. Carvers Shave Butter).



So far, the Dollar Shave Club tool impressed me as far as cartridges go. They are no longer the venture capital start-up of their beginning with funny commercials. Having been sold to Unilever, who seems content to sell directly, 2 bladers for $1, the 4 bladers for $1.75, and these 6 blade jobs for $2.50.

The Dollar product also has a superior pivot design to the Gillette IMO.

Edison Carter reporting for Network 23 where we are investigating the complaint that cartridge razor companies may be using blipverts to control the masses.

 

Thanks, Gary! Same to you!

 

Great photo and shave, Clint. Those boys at Colonial certainly know how to build a razor! Both my Silversmith and General are incredible shavers. The Silversmith is my favorite modern DE, and my General V2 is my favorite AC razor.

 

Fabulous shave report, Bill! I have some Kai Pinks, but prefer my Feather Supers. Enjoy your weekend!

 

Thanks, Clint! I hope yours is good as well!

 

Fantastic report, Joseph! The new handle on the DE-vette looks wonderful. Sorry to hear about the dragging, though--almost nothing wrecks a shave for me more than dragging (I'll even take a bit of blood over dragging).

Super mentholated Florida Water sounds absolutely wonderful

 

Thanks, Jason! I’m sure he does, as does our old friend and crew member, @Terry. I miss his ‘Razor MacGyver’ hijinks. Haven’t seen him posting lately. Both the G-Bar and the Eveready Streamline are great shavers. My shave today was just awesome.

 

Lovely shave report along with the usual breathtaking photo. You own some remarkable modern artisan razors!

 

Great shave report, Patrick! Dracula was a Romanian. Maybe you should name the razor, Stalin! He killed 20 million of his own people!

 

I have never shaved with anything sharper than a new Feather Super in my Artist Club DX.

They are the only blades in the AC format that caliper out thicker and deeper than others.

I don't have any safety razors in the AC format, but I'll stand by your preferences in that regard.

I don't think they last as long as the PINKs or Prolines.

 

Thanks, Joe! My quandary is what do you do when you have so many great razors? Most of the Gems shave well. The only Gem I had a problem with was a Model 1914. It just didn’t shave well for me. It may have been damaged. I sold it after 4 consecutive bad shaves. At my age, I don’t have time to mess around!

 

Awesome way to wrap up a job well done (did the exact same thing, myself). Truly a wonderful line up today--love those camel bone scales, and the barbershop soap and AS sound amazing

Only one thing to say about a shave like that...

 

Great report, Bill.

Thank you, Jeff!

 

You’re spot on, Bill! I agree with respect to the Prolines. I once achieved 28 consecutive shaves with the same Proline blade with cleaning and palm stropping between shaves. Don’t have enough experience with the Pinks to comment, but I’ll take your word for it.

 

Awesome photo and report, Bill! I'm impressed that the 6 blade was able to outperform the Mach 3 (I had terrible luck with the Mach 3 as well, so I figured six blades would just bog the whole process down even more). I do okay with shave butters, but usually keep my hands very wet at all times and keep reintroducing them into the shave butter; otherwise the shave butter gets too sticky for me. Definitely a hassle when using a shavette!

 

”May 23--In the Mix-it-Up-of-Mystery May”
Shavette Shave #75--"It Was the Best of Times; It Was the Best of Times”

Traded blows with my back yard all morning long--neither of us won. It looks slightly better (kumquats and grape vines are now manageable), and I’m looking slightly worse (scrapes and scratches mostly). I wanted nothing more than to get cleaned up and enjoy a successful shave...

Gear

• Razor: Max Headroom Focus R21 Shavette
• Blade: Gillette Rubie--I was very impressed with this blade
• Brush: Semogue Boar
• Soap: Stirling Iced Pineapple & Texas on Fire (chilled with ice water, 4 Frost Drops added)--at least twice as much ToF as IP gave me a wonderful smoked pineapple vibe; I hit the perfect ratio today.
• Menthol: Stirling Frost Drops
• AS: Aqua Velva Ice Blue (2 Frost Drops added--treat yo self!)
• Balm: Stirling Glacial Unscented

The Shave
Awesome. Shave. Today. Everything fell into place: the semogue boar whipped up the perfect amount of a perfectly hydrated lather--a lather that was perfectly chilled and perfectly blended from two different soaps; the perfect amount of menthol added; and the Gillette Rubie performed perfectly. This is a blade to chase with. I didn’t (tomorrow is a designated chase day), but by gadfrey did I ever want to.

The plan: 3 pass shave (WTG, XTG, and ATG) with no touching up or chasing. The Rubie let me follow the plan to the letter, but I could easily have caught the critter were I so inclined to do so. I can only imagine how wonderfully awesome the results would have been had the blade been paired with my Flare Tip, Slim, or Lupo.

Three smooth and efficient passes left me BBS on all my face save the southernmost point on the chin and two small spots on the outer edge of the upper lip. Those two spots, as well as along the hollows of my throat were DFS. No irritation.

Have the best weekend ever!

75 down, 25 to go!

 

Yo do love your Techs! Have a great day, Gary!

 

Wonderfully perfect, Tim! Congrats hitting the 3/4 point!