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A journal of a Cajun's life wet shaving

cajunrph

cajunrph

mcee_sharp said:
@cajunrph are you still using straights as well?
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I have set them aside for the moment, the edges have become long in the tooth. I need to sit down and hone, I have all the tools and plenty of practice razors. It's the motivation at the moment I am lacking. Reading @Darth Scandalous journal today and his honing adventure reminded me I need to sit down with the razors and stones and see what I can come up with. I feel if I overcome the honing hurdle, I'll be back on the straights in no time.
 
mcee_sharp

mcee_sharp

MCEAPWINMOLQOVTIAAWHAMARTHAEHOAIDIAMRHDAE
cajunrph said:
I have set them aside for the moment, the edges have become long in the tooth. I need to sit down and hone, I have all the tools and plenty of practice razors. It's the motivation at the moment I am lacking. Reading @Darth Scandalous journal today and his honing adventure reminded me I need to sit down with the razors and stones and see what I can come up with. I feel if I overcome the honing hurdle, I'll be back on the straights in no time.
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That's what I'm most fearful of as well; debating if I have the time to dedicate to that. I'm also not sure if I want to adopt what is really an additional rabbit hole of razors :D

Haven't purchased one yet, but have enjoyed one from the Canuck pass-around box.
 
cajunrph

cajunrph

mcee_sharp said:
That's what I'm most fearful of as well; debating if I have the time to dedicate to that. I'm also not sure if I want to adopt what is really an additional rabbit hole of razors :D

Haven't purchased one yet, but have enjoyed one from the Canuck pass-around box.
Click to expand...
I could have gone the route of a diamond pasted strop, and I'd likely still be shaving with the straight. It has been said a diamond pasted strop can maintain a shave ready edge indefinably, at least longer than what I was able to get with my set-up. It would have given me more time to learn how to hone. My Chrome Ox pasted strop did the job for a while. But I felt the call of the DE razors and jumped back to this side, for now.
 
cajunrph

cajunrph

It’s time for another………..Mailllllllll Calllllllllll

Today I’d like to present to you a lovely 1955 Gillette Rocket HD. All the way from Spain. We shall see how it shaves tomorrow.

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Guido75

Guido75

Nice find on the Rocket HD! And yours has a patent number on the baseplate which according to my information would make it a HD 500. Very similar to the Aristocrat Jr (I believe they share the same head on a different handle).

They shave wonderfully smooth and comfortable yet are very effective if combined with the right blade - I have also had very mild shaves with it.

Enjoy!!

Guido
 
cajunrph

cajunrph

300+ Shaves in 2024 95 of 300+
Vintage April 2024 10/30
Shave Date 4/11/2024
DE: 1955 Gillette Rocket HD 500
Blade: GSB (4)
Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Pre-Shave soap
Soap: Noble Otter Rawr
Brush: Yaqi Cavern Lake 24mm
Post-shave: Alum Block, Thayer's Witch Hazel, Momma Bear's Winter Post-Shave Balm, Noble Otter Rawr A/S.
Rating: 29/30 10 for Comfort, 10 for cuts and weepers(0), 9 for smoothness, neck stubble, BBS on the face, and DFS+++ neck.

Notes:

Just about a duplicate of yesterday’s shave. The new to me Vintage Gillette Rocket HD 500 made in England razor paired great with the GSB on its 4th shave. Despite being the 4th shave on the blade, the shave was just as smooth as shave number one. I need to get some more of these PPI GSBs before they are gone. The Rocket did a fine job on the sea lion fur patch on the right jawline, almost obliterating the fur completely. Once again the sea lions are off the dock in the water being splashed in the face by the joyful dolphins swimming around them. All is grand in the land. Rawr is a fine scent as well, outdoorsy type scent. Drowsy spousal approved as well.

That’s all for today. Busy at work putting out fires. I wish all a blessed Thursday, and may all your shaves be the best.

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cajunrph

cajunrph

300+ Shaves in 2024 96 of 300+
Vintage April 2024 11/30
Shave Date 4/12/2024
DE: 1948 Gillette Super Speed
Blade: GSB (5)
Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Pre-Shave soap
Soap: PAA Black Shroud
Brush: Yaqi Caramel 26mm two band badger
Post-shave: Alum Block, Thayer's Witch Hazel, Momma Bear's Winter Post-Shave Balm, PAA Black Shroud A/S.
Rating: 29/30 10 for Comfort, 10 for cuts and weepers(1), 9 for smoothness, neck stubble, BBS on the face, and DFS+++ neck.

Notes:

The fifth and final shave of the GSB was just as fantastic as the other 4, paired with the Super Speed the GSB did a superb job of whacking down whisker and sea lion fur, getting the problem patch on the right jawline as well as any other day. The shave was as smooth and comfortable as any of the previous 4 shaves with the GSB, only one nick on the neck that closed as quickly as I noticed it. The Woodhue-inspired scent of Black Shroud received the fully awake bride's approval this morning as well. A fantastic shave to end the week with.

Yesterday was a challenging day, with many fires on many fronts I had to put out. I had to reach out to customer support for our dispensing software more times yesterday than I have all month so far. The cherry on top was dealing with abysmal customer service at the local Enterprise car rental office which started two days ago and we still aren't done with it. A little back story, My son bought his first car in March, he and my daughter did the legwork of finding the car and I co-signed for my son and he has no credit. He is going to pay for the car and the insurance, my boy is growing up. On Easter Sunday, my daughter and he were headed out to some store to shop, and she noticed that the car had been hit. It was hardly noticeable, but you could see someone backed into his car, sorta looked like a trailer ball backed into it and broke the grill and dented the bumper. A hit and run accident. As he works at a popular restaurant in town, it may have happened there, but who knows? He was bummed and I was bummed for him, but we got the claim done, and he dropped off the car on Wednesday to the body shop to get it looked at and fixed. Enterprise contacted me on April 1st to let me know a claim had come through and inquired about when we'd need a car. I told her the car was drivable and we'd not need a car till the 10th, to which the rep said good, they'd have plenty of time to find him a car. They said that they’d come get my son from the body shop when he dropped the car off. Come the 10th and Cam, my son drives the car to the body shop to drop it off, calls me and says Enterprise said they don't have a car. What, 10 days and they don't have a car?? I call Enterprise and the lady told me that although they had the 10th for the pickup date, they didn't have a time in the computer to pick him up. What? I told them 10:30am was the drop-off time 10 freaking days ago. Then she said they did not have a car at that time but he was first up. Fine, I told the rep that I'd call my wife to get him from the body shop and the rep assured me I'd hear back from them that day. The day comes and goes and nothing is heard from Enterprise. Ok, let's take it up in the morning, Cam sleeps in so it doesn't matter anyway. On the 11th, yesterday, I tried repeatedly in the morning to call Enterprise, either the phone rang off the hook or the automated system picked up and I was on eternal hold. Cool, I called my wife and asked her to take care of it as I had plenty of other fires going on at work to put out. My wife finally got in touch with someone there, and she was told they don't have a car. My wife informed them that by their contract with USAA they had 24 hours to provide a car for the claims, and she was cut off before she could say anything else, the employee she was talking to was the branch manager, and the branch manager said, "Look I said he was first up, but if you want to push it we can take him off the list entirely." What the Farque?? Is that how you talk to a customer when you farqued up?? Things did not go well from there, my wife repeated the requirement to have a car in 24 hours, and attempted to let her know it had been 11 days and still not a car. The woman kept on cutting her off and not letting her talk, ya don't do that to my wife, ohhh to be a fly on the wall. Lynn, my wife, ended up calling and getting in touch with the Area manager of Enterprise and kicked it up the line with USAA. The adjuster got involved and the liaison between USAA and Enterprise as well. Today we hear nothing from anyone, 12 days after Enterprise was informed. So I called the local Enterprise store with the branch manager who needed some customer service classes, and I asked about an insurance reservation. I give her the confirmation number, she asks for a name. John Hall, then she asked who was coming to get the car, I said my son. She asked alone, I said no, how is he supposed to get there by himself, he doesn't have a car. She asked if I was going to bring him, I said no my wife was. Then she said that he wouldn't get a car because My wife was rude yesterday. My wife didn't escalate her aggression with the branch manager till she threatened to drop Cameron from the list if Lynn didn't like what she was told. When I tried to explain to her that Enterprise had 10 days to find a car, she interrupted me with a series of no, no, no. I said let me speak, she refused to listen to me and basically said he wasn't getting a car from them, to use someone else. I was shocked, I asked my techs and other workers if I sounded rude, and they said no. I have sent in a complaint to Enterprise corporate on her. The real problem is I’m taking my wife to her daughter’s house this evening and Cam will be without a vehicle. Two motorcycles at the house, but no cars. He never wanted me to teach him how to ride. Push comes to shove he’ll have to just stay home. He’s off the weekend from work and I’ll have the Honda back by tomorrow evening. But we should have to be doing any of this if Enterprise did what they were supposed to do. And not **** an attitude with the customer. 2:30pm and we’ve heard nothing. Like others have seen lately, customer service lately is on the grave decline.

That’s all for today. Have a blessed rest of the Friday, and may all your shaves be the best.

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cajunrph

cajunrph

Darth Scandalous said:
Damn, John. That's bad even by Enterprise standards. Hopefully USAA will hold their feet to the fire, but sadly USAA isn't as great as they used to be either.
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It's about to be a moot point, as my wife will be in Alabama for two weeks and her car will be sitting in the driveway unused. Cam could easily use her car, any other weekend wouldn't matter. USAA is oddly quiet today on this. I am not going to burn any energy on this anymore, I have lodged my complaints. I have other things to spend my energy on.
 
cajunrph

cajunrph

Oddly enough, with all the chit going on yesterday and today, I am not as angry or furious as I would have been in my younger years, I am more saddened at the poor customer service that is being provided, and this woman thinks it is perfectly fine to threaten a customer if she was called out for not doing her job. My son, who is innocent here, got screwed when someone backed into his car and left, and now is screwed again to not have a car. I called the body shop on the off chance that his car wasn't dismantled, as it was drivable, to see if we could get the car back for the weekend, but they already had it taken apart, awaiting parts to repair. May be the lesson is that life isn't always grand, sometimes you get knocked down, even when you did not do anything wrong. It's our response to being knocked down that matters. Rise above the muck and make it work.
 
huck1680

huck1680

Wow! I used to work at Enterprise as a driver and got to see first hand what goes on. Our place was pretty good, the reps tried their hardest to take care of people and if they were as polite as you guys, they'd work even harder. I have no idea what your branch's problem is unless they're the only game around. It reminds me of an old joke..."Had to get to (wherever) in the worst way...I rented from Enterprise".
 
cajunrph

cajunrph

Thanks fellas, we shall overcome this, light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be back home tomorrow by 5pm, Cam will have use of a car then and we won't need a rental. But we are paying for a service via premiums that isn't being provided for us. USAA is being of little help.
 
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