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SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 20, 2022
Woke up to an overcast morning! What better way to brighten things up than to have a great shave! Since it was day two with the French Vib’Raz, on loan from my namesake,
@jmudrick, I decided to give it another go on the dome. Yesterday’s effort led to a nick on the back of the head when I rode the cap. Riding the bar eliminated the issue. Unlike most of you out there, I never used carts with the exception of the Omnishaver, which resulted in a whopping case of ingrown hairs. So pressing a cutting tool into my scalp seems counterintuitive to a guy who spent close to half a century shaving with the same Schick Krona. Although in those days shaving consisted of a single WTG pass using canned Barbasol.
In thinking about yesterday’s shave, I thought that perhaps the issue was using a Feather blade. Since that’s mostly what’s readily at hand, I had to go digging for my Voskhods, a very smooth shaving, medium sharp DE blade. Loaded it up and started riding the cap. Well it wasn’t the blade! One small nick in the same vicinity on the back of the noggin, and aching shoulder joints probably just implicates “old man-itis”. The French Vib’Raz is definitely a very interesting design, just not for me. A return again to riding the cap on the sides and top of the noggin resulted in no issues. I confess to grabbing my faithful Bakelite handled Shake Sharp for a third ATG pass resulting in the kind of closeness I like in my noggin shaves.
The custom extra hollow 7/8 Kravchenko Zodiac was just the ticket for this morning’s shave. I’m happy that Yurii has reopened his business and is again producing the straight razors so many in our international shave community know and love. Many of his current production consist of blades exceeding 8/8 in width, which just aren’t for me. This particular razor was built to my exact specifications at 7/8, extra hollow with a pinch grip in the tang that I really like. A touchup on the Gokumyo 20k last night, and all was right with the world! Three passes with this wonderful straight razor delivered a blissful state of dolphin smoothness to match my dome. Velveteen smooth from neck to noggin!
RAZOR: Kravchenko Custom Pinchgrip 7/8 (Mug), French Vib’Raz (Dome)
BLADE: Voskhod DE (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a heavy scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE LE #005 Aluminum Handled SynBad Knot
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys WH. Finished with Old Spice Fresh Lime (Indian Version).
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