December Focus
The Twelve Blades of December!
Hard to believe we've almost put this year to bed. Wow. Where did the time go? But, here we are and as a gift to everyone here I'm offering up my shaves with twelve blades that have never touched my face, randomly paired with twelve of my DE razors. Two shaves with each setup to finish on Xmas Eve. So, sit back, get the fire burning and enjoy what I hope is an enjoyable month of further proof Technique Trumps Tools. I hope for that....my expectations aren't as optimistic.
December 5
Razor - '47 Gillette Super Speed
Blade -
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(1)
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post - Cold water, Alum, The Veg
Day five of the twelve blades and it's the first day for a mysterious blade. The Gentle Man Platinum Steel. When I first encountered this blade the information connected with it said it was from Russia. Aha! Something new from.......Moscow? St. Petersburg? Chelyabinsk? Siberia? Kiev? Oh wait, that's Ukraine. I enquired as to the manufacturer and discovered that it is not a Russian blade, as far as we know. I was told it was made in America for sale overseas. But, that made little sense to me and, in fact, the seller was not able to confirm that from the supplier. There is nothing on the tuck that states a country of origin or manufacturer. And, a search of Google produces absolutely nothing. Other than, of course, the info from tryablade.com that I was working from in the beginning. So, off to the bay. Searched the name in all its forms there as in Google. Nothing. It's a ghost. Amazon? Same thing. B&B? Nope, nothing. I even posted in the razor blade forum asking for info and got nothing (though that's actually how they seem to work over there...post a question, get three answers that have nothing to do with the question and then silent). The blade itself is blank, no printing on it at all. And, nothing on the wrapper. I thought perhaps Chinese but can't find anything to prove anything. It's a silver blade, stainless steel, says it's platinum coating and that's that. So, what's left to do but shave with it, right?
The razor for the ghost blade is the '47 Super Speed. Love this razor. It was the second vintage razor I ever bought and was replated by Chris at razorplate.com. It's BoSFat for a lather since I want the best protection I can get against this blade. Just in case. Lather was perfect and rich, thick, and very slick. All's well in the beginning.
The first stroke was somewhat surprisingly not bad. Notice I didn't say good, but not bad. There's a bit of built in drag with this blade. Not really a pull or tug, but dragging. Reduction on the first pass wasn't horrible but wasn't great either. I began to think it might perform about as well as the Dorco Prime. Second XTG pass and the dragging continued. It's not horrible but noticeable. Clearly not as sharp as most. Definitely needed a third pass to finish. ATG and Gillette Slide and I ended with a DFS. Not the best, not the worst, but satisfactory. I didn't feel too irritated, nor was my neck terribly red so there's that. Alum provided a bit of extra sting than usual which I'm blaming on dullness and drag.
Overall for the first shave with the Gentle Man I'm not impressed. Yes, I got a decent shave, even to the point of DFS, but again I worked three full passes to get it. And, the dragging just didn't make it enjoyable. It wasn't miserable, just annoying. Now, to see if it gets worse tomorrow or stays the same. Hope your Saturday was a good one.
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