Williams Week Sep. 19-25, 2011

Friday - the best lather I've ever seen come out of my Williams was this morning. My brush du jour was my Vulfix 406, the Burlington. Amazing lather; nice and thick, no disappearing act. Great shave. Now, if I can figure out what I did and get that every time, and get over that smell...

 

Yup... Friday was some pretty good Williams lather

 

Williams Friday. A perfectly good shave to end Williams Week, for me. Will take a day off tomorrow, unless SWMBO decrees that we will go out somewhere, in which case it will be one last Williams Hurrah, for now, since I never "rock the scruff" (I hate that phrase!) in public.

Williams is always in my rotation.

My biggest problem will be the decision of which of my other soaps or creams to use on Sunday morning. They are all giving me subtle vibes that they are feeling neglected. Such demanding children they are, always whining for attention!!

 

Its blade change day, maybe I will go with a 7 O'clock and the 91R... my face can't get any worse lol.

 

Gillette Old Type Bull Mastiff
Voskhod (1)
Simpson Chubby 2 Best
Williams
Alum
Superior 70 Bay Rum (Boosted)

 

Williams Week: Friday

Oh Canada!

• Canadian Fat Handled Tech 1932
• vintage Canadian Williams
• vintage Simms boar, made in (you guessed it!) Canada
• Generic blade (says Made in USA)
• boosted Masters Bay Rum

What an enjoyable shave this morning. The Simms and the Williams must have known they were kinsman because my lather today was incredible. Slick, cushioning, long lasting. The 1932 delivered a nice comfy shave but it is a bit too mild for me. I may hold onto it just because it is a bit different but I doubt I'll use it a lot....maybe my son will like it? I got a DFS and don't have nearly the BBS coverage today that I usually get, but man was it enjoyable with the theme and the excellent lather and all. Shave alone was a 3/5 but all things considered, its a 4/5 blade shave today.

 

Friday morning,

Gillette NEW Short Comb,
Israeli Personna Crystal Blade,
Simpson Duke 3 Best Badger Brush,
Williams Mug Soap w/ hot water lather,
finish w/ cold water rinse. DFS!

 

Wiliams Week-day 5

Modern Williams
Kingsley brush
Valet Autostrop
Feather blade
Vintage Old Spice AS

Great results this morning with the VAS/Feather combo.

 

I'm a huge fan of both the smooth and knurled handle 1914 ER's. I have a couple of each style.

 

First shave that didn't rape my face, I found the Williams lather-fu, 1 minute of loading, dip the tips in water at the 30 second mark and repeat for each and every pass.

• Razor: Parker 91R
• Blade: Yellow 7 O'clock
• Brush: Omega Banded Boar
• Soap: Williams
• Aftershave: Aqua Velva

 

DISCLAIMER: This is long. Feel free to browse. Or skip entirely.

OK!...it's been a long week people, and as far as shaving goes, both very eventful and uneventful. The reason is that I've been away from home all week and although I initially brought a shave kit, I had to return for a day and wound up leaving it home when I left again due to lack of space in me pack. So starting monday I was bereft of shaving equipment, save one straight razor I had with me in the hopes that I'd find a place in NYC to hone it. Synopsis of the last few days:

Tuesday was my one day home and my first Williams Week shave, as I plumb forgot to bring the Williams over the weekend and couldn't find a puck at local druggeries. Shave kit does not come back out with me. Dropped off straight razor at New York Shaving Co. for honing. Am told it won't be done until the weekend. No shave.
Wednesday - New York Shaving Co. calls, my razor is done. huh. Now I wasn't about to let the first night I had a shave ready straight in my hand go by without at least trying it. So shave that night is as follows:

"The Cranford" 5/8
Reamir & Co "Lather Shave Cream" (which I picked up on sale at the Duane Reade down the block)
Brut AS Balm (also from aforementioned DR)

That's it. No strop, no brush. The shave cream that claimed you could apply it with "hand or brush" produced absolutely no lather whatsoever by hand. What I then proceeded to do was painfully sccrraaapppe *most* of a 36 hour beard of my face (ok, *some* of a 36 hour beard) in oh...about 3 or 4 passes. Left my whole face red and pulsing for the remainder of the night. Lesson learned.

Thursday - No shave. Thank god.

Friday, finally home. Let's see if this razor can shave face:



"The Cranford" 5/8
Illinois 827 Strop
Omega Boar
AOS Lavender Preshave Oil
Williams Mug Soap
Brut AS Balm

Stropped the razor probably about 150-200 times across the 827 before dunking the Williams and Omega into hot water and getting in the shower. The actual shave had different grades of epiphany. First pass: Wow maybe it wasn't my kit on wednesday, this razor still feels really rough - maybe it wasn't honed well. Second pass: ok maybe straight razors aren't very suited for when you have more than one day's worth of growth, this is much smoother. Third pass: still though, I feel like it should be taking off more hair will less effort...maybe it isn't that sharp after all. Probably shouldn't take 3 WTG passes to get down to the skin. Pass 4: Finally ATG, and finally DFS. Fifth and final pass was a XTG on the cheeks (just because I didn't want to stop shaving) and a cleanup on the neck. Then came actual cleanup, which ironically was performed by the personna shavette. No nicks or cuts. As far as the Williams went it actually gave me a pretty slick and stable lather that I didn't have to keep lathering on during the pass. I did have to load the brush every pass though, and did a combination of bowl and face lathering. I wouldn't necessarily say that I got better results over using the silvertip. Overall rating, bearing in mind that it is my first real straight shave, I'd go with 4/5.

Sorry about the long windage, tomorrow normal shaving programming resumes as scheduled.

 

I'm not in any hurry, if I stumble over a '14 witha knurled handle for a good price I'll pick it up. I like the '25 Touring cased set I have more than I like shaving with it. It's a decent shave, but not as good as my SE standard that others get measured against, the OCMM. That goes for my VAS razors as well. They just don't measure up to the OCMM IMO.

 

Saturday morning,

Gillette NEW Short Comb,
Israeli Personna Crystal Blade (2)
Simpson Duke 3 Best Badger Brush,
Williams Mug Soap w/ hot water lather,
finish w/ cold water rinse. DFS!

 

Skipped the Williams this morning, and lathered up with TSD SOTQ B3 - Cantaloupe.
Saturdays are for my str8s, and I had to be guaranteed a good lather. Williams makes no promises. TSD never fails me.
I'll finish out Williams Week tomorrow with Williams, to be sure. And I'll keep this puck in my rotation. Just not sure if I'll buy another when this one's gone.

 

Williams Week-day 6

Vintage mentholated Williams
Vintage Erskine badger brush soap
Valet Autostrop
Feather blade-day 2
Barbasol Pacific Rush after shave

I went with the mentholated Williams followed by the Pacific Rush for a real menthol blast!

 

It's hard to beat the OCMM for pure, flat out efficiency.

 

Williams Week: Saturday

• Gillette Rocket
• Gillette 7 O'Clock green (Super Stainless) (day 1)
• Vintage Williams with some menthol sprinkles
• 24 mm super reknot
• nearly too boosted M&L FL H2O

Not a bad shave with the Rocket. I want to finish this blade off before I judge completely. It ain't so mild that it can't be considered aggressive, if that makes sense. Some how, I missed a nice little strip on my ATG pass leaving me with an invisible but completely feelable path of unmown hair. Not a bad shave but far from blissful. 3/5 blades. Oh yeah, the vtg Williams performed very well as usual

 

Williams Saturday. See all previous entries for this past week.
It's been a good week of smooth, effortless utility shaves.
But... what to use tomorrow?? So many other neglected soaps and creams all vying for my love and attention.

 

Williams. Tomorrow, the 25th, is still included with the Williams Week.

 

Saturday:

Cranford 5/8
TGN Silvertip Badger
Williams Mug Soap
Brut AS Balm

I think I'm going to have to skip Williams Sunday - it just doesn't provide enough protection given my novice skill with the straight razor. I managed another decently close shave with no blood but my face with fairly red and broken out, and even the alcohol free Brut AS Balm stings like a mother. The lather whipped up easily enough again though, I find no real difference in using the boar or the badger, save that in comparison the badger is massive and takes up half my face. Makes it more difficult to really dig in and get a good face lather. Forewent the cleanup, even though there are a couple spots that could use. I'm hoping a more protective cream will make for a smoother shave tomorrow. Williams Out.