Gillette Adjustable adventure!

I loaded up my Gillette Adjustable with a new Derby blade and decided to give a new cream a try - I lathered up with some Saint Charles Shave bay rum flavor cream, and went to town.

First a word about SCS- they are a small shop, run by a wonderful lady named Sue who has been very active at the B+B forums AND makes some incredible creams. There have been some mixups with my latest order, and Sue made it very, absolutely and completely right in my book. Huge thumbs-up their way. I ordered a couple of creams that should be here soon in addition to the bay rum - one called smoke and beads (it's apparently hippie-ish, with heavy patchouli and such) and one called Arabica (made from coffee!).

The bay rum cream lathered up strangely - at first I didn't have enough water, and then I added a touch more and I suddenly was overflowing the cup with lather (which never happens - we're talking a monster latte' cup!). The problem was the the lather was now too thin. I said "screw it" and went for it anyway. Despite the integrity of the cream being compromised, it still gave a nice shave and lubricated fine. I think there was room for improvement, so I'll be trying it a few more times to figure out the deal.

The adjustable:
Well... I set it to 4 for my first pass, and it worked out just fine. I dialed down to 3 for the second, thinking it would be wise to go with a lighter setting for each pass (avoiding irritation) but it didn't really cut hair... so back up to 4 for the atg and touchups, and it worked out okay.

Was it as good as my 1954 superspeed? Nope. The handle gets very slick quite easily, and despite being in spectacular shape, the razor felt kinda... cheap. THAT SAID, I'll certainly try it again sooner or later. I'd put it on par with the Schick Krona for now, which is certainly a decent razor but NOT my favorite ever.

Proraso f'ing rocks.

Adding another blog to the links today, dynasty of lao - written by one of the members @ badger and blade named Nancy Boy (no doubt after the wonderful selection of products by Nancy Boy).

Razor aggressiveness

Badger and Blade has a wiki listing many of the various razors available and the aggressiveness of each.

I find it informative that my SS is about equivalent to a slim adjustable set at "3", so... when I try the adjustable (on my next shave hopefully), I'll be running it at 3 to be safe... but then I'll be dialing it up. :)

Art of Shaving SANDALWOOD

holy mother of god this stuff is incredible. I got a tub in the mail yesterday and used it this morning with a feather/ss. talk about a smooth experience. best I've ever used by far - somehow better than the samples I had (not sure why, whatever).

Also got the derby blades in the mail today... good price from a b+b forum member - 95 for 15.00 shipped. Of course, I just discovered that Feathers work better for me, but whatever. :) derbys are good enough for now - smooth and sharp, very forgiving. I'll probably do some more experimenting with other razors now too. I still have to try my slim adjustable and master the gem micromatic. (that thing scares the daylights out of me)

Shaving with a straight razor.

Yeah, I'm beginning to consider getting a straight razor. This hobby is goddamned ludicrous.

Kai blades

Meh.

Yeah, that's about it. Meh. It worked okay, I'm not irritated - but Kai blades aren't as sharp as Derby blades and certainly nowhere near Feathers. I'm disappointed, since they're Japanese made (just like Feather). Also, they are very pretty. Pulling them out of their wrapper reveals a completely blank blade. No printing, just a very nice and shiny blade perfectly polished on the edges and slightly matte over the rest.

Got my Art of Shaving sandalwood cream in the mail today - w00t. Easily the most luxurious product I've ever used. Can't wait until tomorrow's shave.

Geeky, eh?

Feather day 2

The feather is still working pretty well for me, though I managed to get a couple of nicks - I never bleed w/ the derby, so maybe the feather's too much blade for me. :)

I spent some time looking at straight razors last night- wow. Some very beautiful pieces of equipment!! and sooooo tempting (but NOT GONNA DO IT).

Feather attempt, the second.

SO... in my earlier attempt to use a Feather, about 3 weeks ago, it tried to kill me.
Here's the post at badger and blade from that day -

Well, I tried it twice. I gave it my best effort. No pressure. Great prep.

The feather tried to kill me. It is not made of steel - it's pure, concentrated evil in a small form. It giggled at me as it sliced and diced. Two passes of utter hell.

Today, I tried again in my Superspeed. I used good prep (shower, proraso pre, proraso cream) and a new Feather blade. 2 passes (wtg, atg) as normal, and some touchup - and this time, I have a smooth face with no irritation. I had a WONDERFUL shave.

The kicker here is that I just ordered 95 derby blades. :) WTF. Of course I find something I like more immediately after spending money. Sonofa....

July 3rd shave

Proraso pre/post
Musgo Real
Derby blade / SS

Impressions of Musgo Real: Meh. That's it. Just... meh. Scent was okay, lubricity was okay, feel was okay. Face was a bit more irritated than normal, so I don't think Musgo's gonna be my go-to. That said, it lathered beautifully and with minimal effort. Good beginner cream I think.

On their way:
Art of Shaving Sandalwood
QED Bay Rum cream

First Post!

So... this is yet another shave blog.

Yep, a shave blog.
Seriously.

This blog is about... shaving.

See, I have to shave EVERY DAY. I never really liked it, either. I'd spend my thousands of dollars on Mach3 cartridges like a good boy and buy the latest gels and whatnever and then proceed to tear the ever-loving crap out of myself every morning. Ingrown hairs, cuts, irritation - I figured those were a part of the deal, and I bought more and more gels and creams and whatnot thinking that the best options were all available at Kroger's in the "men's" section.

Turns out I was wrong, and that my money was feeding into a scam.

I moved into DE shaving / wetshaving, and went from someone that dreaded the shave to someone who actually looks forward to it in the mornings.

Right now, my go-to shave consists of the following:

Gillette SuperSpeed (undated, probably a lot older than me)
Derby blade
Proraso pre-shave
Proraso cream
Crabtree+Evelyn brush
Proraso aftershave balm

Variations I've tried:
Feather blades (blood. everywhere. uber-sharp, awesome blades, but not for me yet)
Gem Micromatic razor (tool of evil. it laughed as it sliced me. captain howdy tried taking control of my soul.)
Crystal blades (meh. not as close of a shave as Derby, but whatever)
Merkur blades (like shaving with sandpaper)
Gillette Platinum blades (meh. acceptable.)
Gillette Tech razor (nice, less aggro than the superspeed and very forgiving, but hard to get clean shaves)
Schick Krona razor (same as the Tech)
Merkur 38c razor (heavy, nice construction, just not for me. I prefer lighter.)

I'll go into more detail as the blog progresses perhaps... and if I don't, well... bummer.