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SOTD SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020
Today I had planned to originally do the entire shave with just my Seki Feather AS-D2. however, my new barber’s razor, the Monsieur Charles was beckoning me from the straight razor shelf. And quite frankly I was interested in why users raved about this quite inexpensive barber’s razor. I traded a Viking Chieftain TTO which I’d never used for it. The recipient had not used the Monsieur Charles(MC) either.
What is immediately apparent upon picking up the MC razor is its heft in the hand. The blade and tang are much beefier than the Dovo Shavette’s and a few other comparably priced barber’s razors. Heftwise, it felt almost identical to my straights, if not even a bit heavier than the Dovo Special in hand. But what I like most about this razor is that it uses injector blades of which I have many. The shave was a delight. The result was a DFS++ which I’m more than content with for a first bloodless run with a new open edge razor.
I was initially concerned with the length of the blade, but it actually works well. One of my issues when I first started down the open edge journey was the length of the blade on my Dovo Special which led to some minor nicks around the ears. The MC blade design avoids this entirely! I found that housing the blade at the toe end is quite clever. Three passes (WTG, ATG, XTG) were a breeze, and trimming around the goat a piece of cake! I like this razor, and the replacement cost is nominal.
The Feather AS-D2 sheared through my dome stubble in its usual effortless, muted manner. A shave brother who doesn’t use Feathers in his AS-D2 describes his shave experience with the razor singing the “buttered toast” song as it did it’s work. My usage is always silent due to the sharpness of the Feather blade. Its usual two pass (WTG, ATG) always feels like I’m just brushing away the lather. This razor is definitely one of the stars of my 27 actively used safety razors. I just love the skin feel of a freshly shaved dome after using a great safety razor! The feeling can only be described as refreshed, cool, clean, and oh so velveteen!
RAZOR: Monsieur Charles (Mug), Seki Feather AS-D2 (Dome)
BLADE: Schick B-20 Proline (Mug), Feather DE (2) (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Rabid Banana Preshave Cube
BRUSH: Rearden Razor 316L SS Synthetic
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat w/ 6 drops of M-Bomb
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub. Finished with Cremo Cooling Post Shave Balm.
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