I went to visit my mother over the holidays. She lives 4 hours away so I don't get over as often as I wish. I packed up my Jagger razor, my Schick Dial injector (for a pencil moustache), my best badger brush, my soap bowl and a few other items into my Dopp kit to take on the visit. Of course, being old and forgetful, I left it all sitting on the sink at her house. I won't be getting back there until the spring, so I will have to do without for a couple of months. Tonight I shaved with my old (late 1970s) Gillette TTO razor with a much too small handle, using an inexpensive synthetic brush, using an old coffee mug for my soap. The Gillette was just not aggressive enough and the brush was horrible. It was just a very uninspiring shave. It took way too many passes to get to the baby bottom feel that I demand when I shave.
One thing though, as soon as I got home and realized that I had forgotten my kit, I ordered a new Merkur open comb razor with a large beefy handle (Merkur 25C - Long Handle Double Edge Razor Open Tooth Comb) and another Jagger best badger brush. So, after promising myself that I would not fall to having way too many razors, I am not ordering again.
What I find amazing though... I shaved with that Gillette TTO all through the late 70s and 80s and never once had a complaint. It is strange how what once was OK is no longer acceptable when one uses better equipment.
One thing though, as soon as I got home and realized that I had forgotten my kit, I ordered a new Merkur open comb razor with a large beefy handle (Merkur 25C - Long Handle Double Edge Razor Open Tooth Comb) and another Jagger best badger brush. So, after promising myself that I would not fall to having way too many razors, I am not ordering again.
What I find amazing though... I shaved with that Gillette TTO all through the late 70s and 80s and never once had a complaint. It is strange how what once was OK is no longer acceptable when one uses better equipment.
