30 Day Rule/Focus; September 2023. All Are Welcome!

SRS # 959 - Sample Soap Sunday/Stirling September - Vanilla Sandalwood

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: C V Heljestrand 14. 7/8” Camel Bone Scales
Brush: Shore Shave Player 26 mm
Lather: Stirling Vanilla Sandalwood
Aftershave: B & M Sandalwood
Additional Care:
Omega Alum
Dickenson’s Original Witch Hazel
Stirling Unscented Glacial Balm

Outstanding straight shave this morning. The Stirling VS provided a nice lather, which really goes without mentioning, to allow the blade to do its work. I received a super close shave with the CV H, however, managed to get one of those post shave 10 minute weepers. Such is life.

Now I am sitting in the sun at Citifield for a Big Sexy byBartolo Colon Retirement Ceromony. Excellent weather with mostly sunny skies and warm temperatures.

Hope you all have a great day gentlemen.

 

Nice whiteish shave Gary

 

awesome shave shave and pic Joe.

thank you

 

Great shaves, gents! And the photos are superb.

 

In modern blades, you have three main choices:

1. Personna come in a white plastic 20-count cartridge clipped onto a metal base with injector "key" attached. Personna are the most common blades to find in shaving shops. They are also the ones all the injector manufacturers rebrand and sell as their own with their injector razors. (Parker, I am looking at you. Also the older Supply Co White Label blades).

The Personna generic container is, frankly, crap. Half the time it falls apart. The blades themselves are decent. Good sharpness, fairly smooth, and excellent durability. I can use them without complaint.

2. Schick made in China (aka "Chicks"). If you find injector blades in the drugstore, they are probably Chicks. Most people rate them as better than the Personna - slightly sharper, much smoother, and the containers being all metal don't fall apart. I have never used them so I can't say myself, but Schick injector blades have always been good.

3. Supply Co.'s newish Black Label blades. Come in a chunky all-plastic black 8-blade container. The container looks clumsy and crappy but doesn't fall apart. I don't know who makes these blades for Supply (trade secret) - but they say it's a Japanese maker in Seki. Seki is Japan's cutlery city - most of their best knifemakers are based there - but I am not actually aware of any razor blade manufacturers there. Injector community consensus is that it is probably NOT Feather.

The Black Label blades are IMHO sharper and smoother than Personna. Supply claims the 8-blade container is a 90-day supply - roughly 11 shaves per blade. However, a number of reputable and experienced injector users in the community comment that they dull quickly and need to be replaced more often than Personna -- 4 to 6 shaves per blade instead of 10 to 12.

Personally I like the Black Label blades but don't notice a huge difference between them and Personna blades. They are more expensive than Personnas though (and probably Chicks.)

Being produced for a relatively small niche company, Black Label are not available in drugstores. They are available only by mail order directly from Supply or from shaving distributos such as Fendrihan Canada or Maggards in the US.

That leaves the other main source of blades: vintage. There are some very old (pre-1960s) blades out there, which are probably carbon steel and should be avoided. However the majority of the vintage injector blades offered on eBay, on shaving site BSTs or in antique stores are post-War and are all stainless steel and generally coated. As long as the metal container isn't rusty, they should be fine. Most were made by Schick.

My opinion is that the vintage US-made Schick blades are the best blades out there -- very sharp, very smooth, very durable and top-notch QC (I have never had a dud blade). The last and best of them are called variations on "Platinum Plus" or "Plus Platinum". Packaging looks much like the modern Chicks. Containers are all-metal. If you see some for a reasonable price, grab them.

Incidentally, Schick all-metal cartridges, both modern and vintage, can be reused by carefully front-loading Personna blades into them after the generic Personna "white plastic body on metal key and base" cartridge has fallen apart...

 

Thanks Joe.

 

Terrific shave Gary. I can't wait to hear your final assessment on the Silver Star blades.

 

Thank you for a detailed and informative post John.

 

Great shave Joe. You picked a great day for a ballgame. Maybe the Mets can have a great game. Enjoy the day.

 

Sept 17 SOTA

Good afternoon.

Schick I-1 Injector Razor
Personna Injector Blade (1)
Rockwell Synthetic Brush
Captain's Choice North SS and AS
Stirling Alum Block
Modessa Witch Hazel
Beard Growth: 24.5 hrs



I decided to use my milder Schick Injector again because I switched the blade out for a never before tried Personna Injector Blade. The reason was the Pella Blade had more than 10 shaves on it and didn't want to press my luck. I picked the Capt Choice North bundle because the scent is clean and mild. The soap produces a nice lather, but I had to constantly work it. It is a thirsty soap. Here's my lather:



After 1 pass, I was at IBSS ( in between smooth shave which is in between a DFS and BBS result ).
Two passes and I could have called it done, but I did a third pass. The razor is mild, but efficient. I was just under passing the cotton ball test BBS result, but I still consider it a BBS shave. The alum feedback was slight. Finished the shave with my usual routine take care.

 

Thank you John. That was very helpful!

 

Great post John, very useful information thanks.

Hopefully not off topic here, but...



Where do these fit into the equation. When I ordered my Personnas from Connaughts I picked up a pack of these "just in case" and to justify the cost of postage

Which SE razors do they fit in? Just a gimmick?

 

any "L" and newer injector..

 

What Gary said. Any late model Schick injector razor can handle them. Also the similar vintage PAL or Personna injectors.

The "twinjector" blades were sort of a gimmick developed for the last commercial injector razors in the 1980s. (And still are in Japan where they appear now and then -- Japan continued making commercial Schick injector razors well into the 2000s.). They were a marketing attempt to let the injector razor go toe-to-toe with Gillette's newest innovation that was taking the shaving world by storm and achieving market dominance -- the first of the multi-blade cartridge razors, the Trac II: "Look! Your Granddaddy's old razor can use multi-blades too, just like those new plastic whiz kids!"

They didn't catch on well because, aside from marketing value, they really don't bring anything to your shave. They work but are no better than the standard single injector blade. Plus the very narrow gap between the twin blades tends to clog quickly. People who wanted the high tech wonder of multi-blade razors moved on to the Trac II and everybody else went back to the old standard injector blades.

 

Thank ayou Gary

 

Very nice Joe.

 

Thank you Joe. We had a nice time.

 

Back to the ATT Windsor for this week. So smooth and effective for my beard. 2 easy passes and zero feedback from the alum.

Prep: Shower
Lather: Bigelow
Brush: Synthetic
Razor: Above The Tie Windsor
Blade: Personna (1)
Post: Alum block and TSD Lime


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thank you John

 

Excellent looking shave Troy.