Items by Sputnik

The razor came via mysteryrazor.com. (Thank you, Jay!) I have heard a lot about great shaving qualities and easy honing properties of the Golden Dollar blades. Well, the razor did not disappointed. Yes, it needed to be honed, but 30 laps on Chinese 12K was all it took to get the balde to the shave-ready condition. The blade itself is heavy, as any 7/8 should be, and the shaving is smooth. I managed to get to BBS with just WTG and XTG passes. The scales are cheap, plastic red wood...

In my quest for a decent scuttle, any pottery-based contraption was not an option: For some reason, all my previous pottery-based shaving mugs and bowls were smashed to pieces. Hence, decided to get an old Victorian scutter made by Vulfix. [Thought: They make decent brushes, so they must know a thing or two about shaving.] The product is marvelous. I pour boiling water in it and let it sit while I am whipping lather in a separate bowl. Then I just put my brush, full of leather, on top...

Let me start by thanking people at BestGroomingTools.com for their help! They seem to have all prerequisites for a successful on-line business: - Nice selection of high-quality products - Top-notch customer service - Easy-to-navigate web site I would definitely recommend them! Now, as for the razor, there are several interesting things: - The head is identical to Merkur-12C, the open-comb barber pole design, which I have reviewed previously. It is definitely made at the same...

I am not 100% sure why exactly this razor produces very close shaves. I have used both Merkur 38C and Merkur 39C Slant, and 12C beats them down no questions asked. Although the blade gap on 12C is very shallow, my theory is that the open-comb design allows the blade come in a very close contact with the skin. In other words, there is no guard between the skin and the open-comb teeth: The blade is open. It is really aggressive and you must have a stady hand and solid technique before using...