GIVEAWAY! Participation PIF - A Tale Of Two Bridges

[TheBigL]

So first shave with the English London Bridge today. I did my "kinda usual" prep. Hot face wash with Arko soap. Bowl lathered Palmolive. Still with the Super Speed.

The vintage LB is miles ahead of the Chinese. While I did swap the Chinese LB into different razors, it never felt as sharp and smooth as the vintage on the first shave.

 

[BigAlVista]

Today's shave of the day:

Pre-Shave	BigAlVista's Shave Butter, PAA cube and Grooming Dept. Mojito Preshave
Soap/Cream	AofS Bergamot and Nerouli
Brush	Sawdust Creation 2-band
Scuttle	Pereira
Razor	Blackbird Lite
Blade	London Bidge - CN (2)
1st Pass Eval	8.7
2nd Pass Eval	9.1
3rd / Buffing Pass Eval	9.2
Razer, Blade and Cream Observations	The AofS shave cream really works well. The Blackbird Lite is a great razor for that blade.
Post Shave	Thayers, AofS Bourbon balm
Cologne/Fragrance	Channel Allure
Overall Efficiency	Reasonably efficient. 2.5 passes. Not as sharp as yesterday's shave
End of Shave Irritation	Negligible.
Nicks	0
Weepers	0
Overall Shave Rating	9.2: BBS-
Comments	2nd shave on this Chinese made London Bridge blade. Not as close a shave as yesterday's

 

[bartje-p]

Wilkinson Sword New Chromium, blade #1, shave #3
Lovely smooth and fast shave today with this combination. Still going strong on shave #3 for this blade.

sotd 23-3

Tatara - Masamune SB
Wilkinson Sword - New Chromium Edge vintage (3)
Frank Shaving - Pur-tech
Martin de Candre - Nature
Williams Expert - Aqua Velval
Balea - Men Sensitive ASB

 

[BigJ]

UK London Bridge Blade One, Shave #7

Razor: Wolfman WR1
Brush: Simpsons 57 best
Soap: Fine platinum
Splash: Fine platinum

Comment: Comfortable 9/10 today with enough ‘tugging‘ to show its time to change blades after a FINE run!!

 

[lancre]

Blade: London Bridge (CH)

Razor: UK Rocket
Mug: Green Rubber Marvy
Soap: Vintage Williams (AKA "Old Willie")
Brush: Rubberset 400 #3 Boar
Post-shave: Thayers Toner WH, Nivea Men Sensitive PSB

My cheeks were BBS after one pass. One upward XTG pass and one right-to-left ATG pass got my neck to DFS. After that, a little buffing smoothed things out a little, but not enough to achieve a BBS.

Final result: DFS+ with no drama.

 

[fast shaver]

Wilkinson Light Brigade Blade #1 Shave #7
Tools: Wolfman Razor, PdP #63 soap, & Pissoft brush.
Another DFS two pass shave plus extra touchup.
The blade is slowing down more but it should be good for one more shave.

 

[T Bone]

Lambda Athena
Vintage English Light Brigade Wilkie (2)
Wald A1 Nimbus
La Toja stick
Southern Witchcrafts Carmilla splash

Similar setup to yesterday. The Athena is borrowed and I'm returning it on Monday, so this was my last chance to shave with it. I took my time and used an ultra-light touch today, but still a plethora of weepers appeared over my upper lip. And a couple on my chin. And even a couple on my neck. And I can feel some skin tightness too. Luckily, I wasn't planning to shave tomorrow anyway.

I'm not sure if this was the blade, the razor (first 2 weeks with Athena were brilliant; the past week and a half have been disappointing), or the fact that I just shaved maybe 30 hours ago, which is on the low side for me. I don't think it was the blade, since the Light Brigade felt plenty sharp. I'll load it into a more familiar razor on Monday.

 

[ajkel64]

​

Participation PIF: A Tale Of Two Bridges.​

Week two and shave number 7 on the English London Bridge Super Stainless blade. This blade is done. A little tuggy today and a fair bit of sting when I applied my Alum Block. I did finish up with a couple of red marks on my face which slowly disappeared during the morning. The shave was okay again even though the blade was a little on the tuggy side. So far the Chinese London Bridge Super Stainless pips the English London Bridge Super Stainless. I do still have two of each blade to use so we will see how that goes.

 

[mikhou]

English London Bridge Super Stainless #1, shave #2

Razor: Henson AL13+
Blade: English London Bridge Super Stainless (2) (white label)
Cream: Proraso Green
Brush: No-name badger off of Amazon
Aftershave: Aqua Velva Ice Blue followed by Nivea Sensitive balm

Excellent shave today. Yes, the English London Bridge performed very well on the second shave (better than the first) and I am reminded of what a great cream that Proraso Green is. I have been using some other creams/soaps in an effort to 3017 some things, and I havne't picked up my Proraso Green tube in awhile. But today was a good reminder why I will always have a tube of it in my rotation.

 

[bartje-p]

Wilkinson Sword New Chromium, blade #1, shave #4

sotd 24-3

Mühle - Rocca R96
Wilkinson Sword - New Chromium Edge vintage (4)
Simpson - Trafalgar T3
Stirling - Sheep
Tabac - Original AS
Balea - Men Sensitive ASB

 

[BigAlVista]

Today's shave of the day:

Pre-Shave	BigAlVista's Shave Butter, PAA cube and Grooming Dept. Mojito Preshave
Soap/Cream	AofS Bergamot and Nerouli
Brush	Barbermatic with 28mm Boti synthetic knot
Scuttle	Pereira
Razor	Blackbird Lite
Blade	London Bidge - CN (3)
1st Pass Eval	8.9
2nd Pass Eval	9.0
3rd / Buffing Pass Eval	9.4
Razer, Blade and Cream Observations	The TiBird Lite may displace my Henson ++ for my "it will work well with anything" razor. It's hard to get a bad shave with it.
Post Shave	Thayers, AofS Bourbon balm
Cologne/Fragrance	SV 70th
Overall Efficiency	Reasonably efficient. 2.5 passes. Similar to yesterday's shave.
End of Shave Irritation	A bit, as I was definitely chasing marble today
Nicks	0
Weepers	0
Overall Shave Rating	9.4: BBS
Comments	3rd (final) shave on this 2nd Chinese made London Bridge blade. Good shave. A bit of tug at the end. Despite an iffy showing with the first blade, this one provided three excellent shaves. Farewell, Shanghai.

 

[spacemonkey42]

Are there modern blades similar to these UK blades? Their characteristics are different than the blades I usually use (Nacet, Perma-Sharp, Astra SS, Gillette Wilkinson Sword).

 

[BigAlVista]

I haven't done a side by side yet, but you might try a tuck of the German Personnas. I found the shave in my Blackbird Lite very similar to it.

 

[spacemonkey42]

I don't get along with German Personnas at all, these seem completely different to me. My experience with the German Personnas confuse me, they feel somehow blunt/dull to me

 

[BigJ]

Chinese London Bridge Blade One, Shave #1

Razor: Wolfman WR1
Brush: Graydog palm wood 2-band
Soap: MWF ‘tallow’
Splash: Suovaceto br

Comment: Blade was a tad ‘rough’ out of the wrapper, but it settled down to deliver a 9.5/10 shave!!

Let’s see how it does tomorrow.

 

[fast shaver]

Wilkinson Light Brigade Blade #1 Shave #8
Got a fair two pass shave today
The blade has slowed down even more so in the Bin it goes.
Next shave will be with the London Bridge China blade.

 

[BigAlVista]

I don't get along with German Personnas at all, these seem completely different to me. My experience with the German Personnas confuse me, they feel somehow blunt/dull to me

I'll have to do that side by side.

 

[EM313]

Are there modern blades similar to these UK blades? Their characteristics are different than the blades I usually use (Nacet, Perma-Sharp, Astra SS, Gillette Wilkinson Sword).

I've used a number of modern blades (Nacet, Perma-Sharp, Personna Lab Blues, GSB, etal.). Many of these blades provide comparable results for 3 or 4 shaves, but they don't have the longevity of the vintage Wilkinsons. IME the only blades that combine a quality shave with a long life are other razor blades from the same era. Case in point; after completing round 1 with two bridges and an LB, I took a 5 day hiatus with a Personna 74. From start to finsh the 74 provided super smooth, irritation free shaves. Since the blade still has legs, I'll go back to it when I finish round 2 with the bridges. Keep in mind that my experience is jut that, my experience. Razor blades and how well they work seems to be a very personal thing. Your face might find that one of the modern blades is an equal to a vintage Wilkinson. If so, let the rest of us know.

 

[spacemonkey42]

Good point on the longevity, @EM313. Thanks for adding that. I don't care about longevity for a blade that is 10 cents, just wondering if there is one that feels like the Light Brigade for 3-4 shaves.

 

[lancre]

Blade: London Bridge (CH)

Razor: Post War BET
Mug: Green Rubber Marvy
Soap: Vintage Williams (AKA "Old Willie")
Brush: RV 2019 Manchurian
Post-shave: Thayers Toner WH, Stirling Barbershop PSB

As usual, my cheeks were BBS after one pass. The neck takes more work. Two full passes plus a little buffing brought me to a BBS-.

Final result: BBS- with no drama. The gap between the vintage UK blades and the modern Chinese blade seems to be growing.

I don't care about longevity for a blade that is 10 cents, just wondering if there is one that feels like the Light Brigade for 3-4 shaves.

I don't obsess about blade longevity either, but a blade that shaves great and is long lasting gets extra credit from me.