TL; DR version. Using a Stirling ST off and on for awhile made me experiment with my Toggle last night, and lt was an eye-opener.
Long version
I have always liked mild razors and never liked a lot of blade feel. I always thought guys who touted 'aggressive' razors were just being overly macho. I got rid of my Blackbird because it had more blade feel than I prefer even though I never had a bad shave with it.
At some point I became interested to see if I could handle an aggressive DE, so I ordered a Yaqi Knight Helmet from Aliexpress and gave it a try. It was all blade all the time, but the I managed to get some pretty good shaves with it before I sold it.
When Rod at Stirling put up the razors that had been farmed out to China, I decided to give the ST a try. Again, at first it just felt like all blade and i didn't like it much. Because it was so beautiful, I kept trying. After a while, I got the hang of it and started to appreciate it a lot more.
Well, yesterday evening I decided to use my Toggle again, since I hadn't used it in a while. My Toggle is a lot more blade forward than my Fatboy. I usually use it set at 4. But last night, since I had learned to successfully navigate shaves with both the Knight Helmet and the Stirling ST, I thought 'why not open it all the way up?'
So I loaded it with an Astra blade and opened it to 9. OMG! I mean, wow! What a great shave! It felt as efficient as the Stirling but much more comfortable. Honestly the blade feel didn't seem that much different from when I had it set to four, but the efficiency was amazing. And it actually felt pretty smooth. I can't believe I never tried this before.
Anyway, it was only one shave, so maybe I will change my mind, but it seemed like everything I like about the Stirling ST but the without the harsh feeling I sometimes get from the Stirling.
Interesting that after 13 years of traditional wetshaving it is still possible to have such a Eureka moment.
Long version
I have always liked mild razors and never liked a lot of blade feel. I always thought guys who touted 'aggressive' razors were just being overly macho. I got rid of my Blackbird because it had more blade feel than I prefer even though I never had a bad shave with it.
At some point I became interested to see if I could handle an aggressive DE, so I ordered a Yaqi Knight Helmet from Aliexpress and gave it a try. It was all blade all the time, but the I managed to get some pretty good shaves with it before I sold it.
When Rod at Stirling put up the razors that had been farmed out to China, I decided to give the ST a try. Again, at first it just felt like all blade and i didn't like it much. Because it was so beautiful, I kept trying. After a while, I got the hang of it and started to appreciate it a lot more.
Well, yesterday evening I decided to use my Toggle again, since I hadn't used it in a while. My Toggle is a lot more blade forward than my Fatboy. I usually use it set at 4. But last night, since I had learned to successfully navigate shaves with both the Knight Helmet and the Stirling ST, I thought 'why not open it all the way up?'
So I loaded it with an Astra blade and opened it to 9. OMG! I mean, wow! What a great shave! It felt as efficient as the Stirling but much more comfortable. Honestly the blade feel didn't seem that much different from when I had it set to four, but the efficiency was amazing. And it actually felt pretty smooth. I can't believe I never tried this before.
Anyway, it was only one shave, so maybe I will change my mind, but it seemed like everything I like about the Stirling ST but the without the harsh feeling I sometimes get from the Stirling.
Interesting that after 13 years of traditional wetshaving it is still possible to have such a Eureka moment.
