Excalibur Club - Blade Longevity DE, SE and Injector

[Ad Astra]

Mmm, no. Six turns of the die and gone with the blade. But I did use Avon's Excalibur aftershave yesterday and it was great!

Being vintage/decades old, it had a full measure of real oakmoss. Great stuff.


AA

 

[thombrogan]

No to what, @Ad Astra ? Using blade longevity as a proxy for technique improvement or no to something else in the past 3,840 writings preceding yours?

 

[Ad Astra]

No to what, @Ad Astra ? Using blade longevity as a proxy for technique improvement or no to something else in the past 3,840 writings preceding yours?

Power to the hyper-milers!

I just have bad luck personally, when I try to stretch a blade.

But for a matching aftershave - try the Avon Excalibur!


AA

 

[thombrogan]

Great minds in unison on the aftershave:

First of all, I wanted to say that in honor of this club, today I used (what I am calling)

the Un-Official aftershave of the Excalibur Club:
Avon Excalibur!


(Not my Pic. This bottle is the cologne decanter, but was too cool to not share.)​

Back then, I was over at the other place arguing S30V was the devil. It still is, but that doesn’t matter to me as much anymore.

 

[Ad Astra]

Here you go - This IS my pic and bottle!

You can see the "Stone" cutout in the bottom of the bottle. The sword is painted on the back.

Cologne it may be, but so mild I use as an aftershave. I do value that it has old-school oakmoss in it, giving it that characteristic Avon "cigarette ash" note.

Cheers! or Tallyho, or whatever you extreme blade-users say here!

AA

 

[thombrogan]

That looks outstanding! My last Avon product was shampoo in a triceratops-shaped bottle.

 

[Ad Astra]

That looks outstanding! My last Avon product was shampoo in a triceratops-shaped bottle.

Yes, people collect the kitschy bottles, but I value the stuff. Avon aftershave from decades ago is still good, if kept in a dark/cool place.


AA

 

[thombrogan]

I didn’t collect it. It was how my folks got me to take my weekly bath (whether I needed it or not). After the cologne-like scented shampoo was gone, I think it fought some Star Wars characters for a day before my folks threw it away.

I have a few scented aftershaves, but I shave right before bed, so they don’t get used. Also have Southern Witchcrafts Samhain EdT, but it’s a rare treat or else a cloud of sandalwood caramel will envelop my home.

 

[ChriWilson]

That looks outstanding! My last Avon product was shampoo in a triceratops-shaped bottle.

Pretty certain I had a matching Pendant / Chain from Avon

 

[thombrogan]

Wear the chain while you shave and see if the fifth the run on your Crystal blade exceeds the first four in comfort

 

[ChriWilson]

Wear the chain while you shave and see if the fifth the run on your Crystal blade exceeds the first four in comfort

5+ may well be where it’s at.
Definitely surprised at how smooth my last shave was against 2+ days of growth.

Full disclosure - I am still only 3months into my Padawan stage of DE shaving. Up until the current FFFMM, I had not exceeded 3 shaves with any blade due to trialing a variety of sharps within my daily razor.

I cannot say whether I yet have the appetite to use a blade until failure. I guess the information and experiences shared within may help me at that decision point.

Of course, it is exciting to try new and different blades; though I can also appreciate and value the excitement around exhausting a blade’s endurance.

 

[thombrogan]

@ChriWilson - I’ve only been wet shaving since Jan 10 2020 and switch up variables all the time to bad result, so I’ll probably be learning from your posts in a month or two.

In the meantime, the Excalibur Club is about replacing existing mental games we play on ourselves with newer mental games which may serve us better.

A starting mental game might be “How long can I use this blade until it stops giving comfortable shaves?” and the next mental game could be “how light can I pass this blade over my stubble?” or “can I hold the razor so it’s angle gives me the same shave with less effort?”

In a similar light, after the fact referencing can change from “I went four shaves before this first blade was too dull and got to six shaves on the next blade” to “my skill at shaving without killing the edges increased 50%”

Like all mental games, it can easily be misused to justify all sorts of craziness (you shall know us by the soaps, creams, razors, blades, etcetera that would last decades past any known human’s lifespan).

 

[ChriWilson]

@ChriWilson - I’ve only been wet shaving since Jan 10 2020 and switch up variables all the time to bad result, so I’ll probably be learning from your posts in a month or two.

In the meantime, the Excalibur Club is about replacing existing mental games we play on ourselves with newer mental games which may serve us better.

A starting mental game might be “How long can I use this blade until it stops giving comfortable shaves?” and the next mental game could be “how light can I pass this blade over my stubble?” or “can I hold the razor so it’s angle gives me the same shave with less effort?”

In a similar light, after the fact referencing can change from “I went four shaves before this first blade was too dull and got to six shaves on the next blade” to “my skill at shaving without killing the edges increased 50%”

Like all mental games, it can easily be misused to justify all sorts of craziness (you shall know us by the soaps, creams, razors, blades, etcetera that would last decades past any known human’s lifespan).

Thank you sir, brilliant post.
I cannot wait to apply dedicated reading to these pages

 

[thombrogan]

Thank you for your kind words.

If you dig deep enough, you’ll find there’s no single best approach to a comfortable shave.

 

[Cal]

If you dig deep enough, you’ll find there’s no single best approach to a comfortable shave.

Bearing in mind that one person's "comfortable" can easily be another person's "hell."

 

[thombrogan]

Bearing in mind that one person's "comfortable" can easily be another person's "hell."

Very true. The only universal is that something sharp needs to rupture the hairs.

 

[psfred]

Still shaving away, still only using three or four or five blades a year. Less if I could stay away from trying blades of dubious origin, I suppose. The Sharp Star I'm currently using on Tuesdays is getting really bad early, for instance, pulls worse than a Derby.

And I wish I could train myself to use only light pressure, I do everything too forcefully I think.

It as been a year, Mom passed away in Dec. 2020, I got sick, I'm in charge of her estate and found some paper Treasury notes it is taking forever to get cashed, and my sister is going nuts because I got the house....

Typical year these days, cannot wait to retire, and will as soon as I get enough money coming in.

 

[thombrogan]

I’m very sorry for your loss and the aftermath involved, @psfred Dealing with an estate is brutal.

I’m still combing the archives and stealing techniques you’ve mentioned for shaving and lathering glycerin soaps.

 

[GaryTha]

@ChriWilson - I’ve only been wet shaving since Jan 10 2020 and switch up variables all the time to bad result, so I’ll probably be learning from your posts in a month or two.

In the meantime, the Excalibur Club is about replacing existing mental games we play on ourselves with newer mental games which may serve us better.

A starting mental game might be “How long can I use this blade until it stops giving comfortable shaves?” and the next mental game could be “how light can I pass this blade over my stubble?” or “can I hold the razor so it’s angle gives me the same shave with less effort?”

In a similar light, after the fact referencing can change from “I went four shaves before this first blade was too dull and got to six shaves on the next blade” to “my skill at shaving without killing the edges increased 50%”

Like all mental games, it can easily be misused to justify all sorts of craziness (you shall know us by the soaps, creams, razors, blades, etcetera that would last decades past any known human’s lifespan).

The mental game I'm in now is I change the blade when it stops working just like I do with light bulbs. In other words, I just expect the blades to last a long time, and they rise to the occasion.

 

[GaryTha]

Astra SP (25)