Tuesday shave:Monday shave:
- Preshave: Proraso White
- Soap: Proraso White
- Brush: Zenith Boar B30
- Razor: Merkur 23C on an iKon bulldog handle
- Blade: New Feather with one bottom shim
- After: Nivea sensitive skin balm
I decided to revisit my first safety razor to see if I my technique has gotten any better over time. I originally started shaving with a DE in order to get a closer shave than my electric but didn't want to pay for cartridges. I didn't stay long with the 23C as I could not get as close a shave as I had been getting with the electric and have since moved on to other razors. But what if I have gotten better at shaving? And what if I pimped it up? So I got the 23C out of the drawer, put the head on a solid handle, loaded a new feather blade and then shimmed it for good measure. 3 days growth and off to the races.
The result was pretty good -- a nice comfortable close shave with no complaints from the alum block. I was pretty happy with the results overall; the easy parts were as close as I could hope for but the tricky bits (scarred chin and some weird patterns on my jaw line) were not quite as close as I want.
So tomorrow is back to my regular R48 with the same feather blade (or at least half of it) to see if I really am getting better results on the tricky bits with the Focus.
- Preshave: Proraso White
- Soap: Proraso White
- Brush: Zenith Boar B30
- Razor: Focus Dynamic R48
- Blade: 1/2 half of yesterday's Feather blade (2nd use)
- After: Nivea sensitive skin balm
I realize that it comes down to my technique. Ultimately I could get proficient enough with my angles to get the same result with the 23C or other traditional style DEs but I get that now with the R48. And, oddly, I get better results with the R48 when I use a German Wilkie rather than the Feather so I am anticipating things to be more definitive when I switch blades.
The R48 still does not do well with longer stubble. For that I will continue to experiment on Mondays when I have a 3+ day growth. Have been using a Feather AC SS with ProGuards and am liking that; even if i am not too skilled yet and generate a bit of the red stuff. Will probably revisit my X3 and see what tweaks can be done there. But for the daily maintenance shaves, it will still be the R48 for now. But who know what the future will bring!