NOVember is NO whatever you want it to be! Apparently.
November 16
Razor - Rapira El-Cheapo
Blade -
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Soap - Jeeves of Hudson Street Bay Rum
Brush - Jayaruh #54
Post - Alum
Boy these shaving gods. They watch me pick up the wrong razor last night, load it wrong and commit butchery, then turn around and hand me the Rapira razor tonight. This el-cheapo isn't exactly high quality nor does it give great shaves normally. It's usable, and you can find it stamped Gillette with some other blades as well. Mine came as a freebie with some Rapira Platinum Lux blades from Russia. It first earned the distinction of making a Voskhod blade rough the first time I used it. That's pretty bad.
Well, in their more merciful judgment they did give me the Jeeves Bay Rum and the JR54 for lather. That's a good thing. And, they handed me the classic Gillette 7 o'clock Super Platinum Blue blade. This is a pretty rare blade these days. In fact, I looked at Ebay just to see what was available and found a few. One seller, bless his heart, shows a stack of them for sale but then in the description has a disclaimer that "packaging may be different". In other words, you'll probably get the black wrappers which are the next generation blades and not nearly as good as the original blues. So, with that blade and the lather - there's hope.
If there's one lesson we've all learned on here it's technique trumps tools. If there's a second lsson it's ride the cap. So, I made an outstanding lather, loaded the blade and got up on the cap. Rode that baby all the way across my face for three passes. WTG, XTG, ATG and kept the angle solid on the cap. Brought the baby home.....almost. We'll call it near-BBS. And the alum was only mildly warm on my neck. With the thin metal in this razor and its tendency to bow the blade toward the ends that's a pretty good result. No blood tonight and the existing cuts didn't reopen. A win!
The weekend is upon us again and I hope you have a great one!
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