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UGLY RAZOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020
At the suggestion of one of our 30DC Crew members at TSD, it was decided that this Sunday all on the Crew who wished would shave with the ugliest razors in their collections. In my case I decided to shave with a newly arrived Thistle Cut Persian and my safety razor nemesis, my French Spadson safety razor. I did not clean up or replace the scales on the Thistle Cut straight razor, but only set a bezel and honed it up on a Naniwa progression through 12k finishing on my jasper stone last night. The scales are not original to the razor and much too large. The Spadson was designed to have two shaving edges, one mild and the other aggressive. In the case of this safety razor the proper adjective is assaultive.
Although both razors appear somewhat the worse for the wear, only the Spadson provided a troublesome shave. My Omega Pro48 whipped up the two types of lather I enjoy - a thinner, wetter one for the mug and a thicker, more yogurty one for the dome. I will say that the edge on the Thistle Cut 4/8 was an amazing surprise, and I received one of the best three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) straight shaves I’ve ever had on my mug. Once this razor is cleaned up and refitted with proper size scales, it’ll be one of the jewels of my collection. It’s smaller blade size makes it highly maneuverable and a true joy to shave with.
The French Spadson, on the other hand, proved a trial to use. The razor never sold well. It was designed to supposedly offer an aggressive shave on one side and a mild shave on the other. My experience with it is that both sides are assautive. I’ve been shaving with DEs since the late 60s, and so say with some level of assurance that I know my way around a standard DE. My usual shave with this monster is generally restricted to May Mayhem shaves. Safety razors are used on my dome daily, but after today’s shave, I’ll have to take a day or two off to allow my scalp to recover from the irritation and weepers (several) I experienced with this beast! The best I can say about today’s dome shave is that it’s over! Thank goodness there’s always tomorrow!
RAZOR: Thistle Cut Persian 4/8 (Mug), French Spadson (Dome)
BLADE: Kai DE (2)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Omega Pro48 Boar
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub.
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