Damn Comfortable Shave

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

It wasn't easy.

I used my machinist's vise!

doug

To hold both the razor and the camera?

I've rarely seen photos showing blade exposure done so well. (Maybe never for an extended series of photos.)

On the other hand, I can imagine taking several photos of one adjustable being considerably easier than taking a series of photos of different razors.

(All I'm doing is imagining. I've not done any good photos of this sort except by accident or good luck.)

In in case, great job of it, and thanks.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Monday's shave was pretty terrific.

The best part was this. On the very last step I used the razor on setting #1. Using that setting, and using the razor very lightly, I went over the areas of my face which have been a problem. (This is right below the right side of my mouth, right below the pink part of my lips; and down from there.)

In the past, including on Saturday, any work right below my mouth in that area has resulted in an inflammatory response with at least some swelling, some discomfort, some obviously bad signs.

Today none of that has happened so far. It's been about two hours since I shaved. I detect with my fingers and eyes exactly nothing but normal skin there now.

I'm very very pleased to report this.

Today I used settings 2.5, 5, and 1, just like I've been doing. I used a brand new Wizamet SI blade. My preshave was last night's application of shea butter and both the Cube and the Tube this morning.





Really good balm.

Really nice bay rum.

What's not to like?

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Tuesday's shave was much the same as Monday's.

I used the exact same preshave, kit, settings, and technique. Well, except the blade was flipped today so not new. Running late I was with no time to take a new photo.

The results were about the same. Excellent.

The Holy Trinity.

Check out the mermaid.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Wednesday's shave was very good indeed.





Two thumbnails of my kit.

One is showing the dots. The alignment is what I think of as ~2.5. It might be closer to 3 than 2.5. The point is I know how to reproduce the setting because of the dots as well as the numbers. Clever design. Perhaps inadvertently clever?

The other photos shows the (sliding) baseplates at this setting. Very clever design.

Other than that, today's shave was much the same as yesterday's. Flipped blade. Same routine. This Muramasa is a terrific razor for me.

What a great Manchurian this Zenith is. I like it more and more over time.






More thumbnails of today's kit.

I need the frames back (and working properly).

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Shave mail...

This is an adjustable about which I've read some good reviews. I think it's a Gibbs clone.

It's The Final Cut by Yaqi. Ordered from AliExpress about a week ago. The shipping information I was given said the package would arrive in the middle of March, but it arrived yesterday or early this morning. Quite inexpensive.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Thursday's shave.

Nothing new to report except that I forgot to apply shea butter last night before bed which means I can report that today's data suggests that part of the preshave is important to the ultimate success of the shave including how smoothly and closely my soul patch is after shaving.

I find that interesting and important (to me).

This brush is very much unobtanium. It is one of my best buys. Certainly it's a favorite three band. Not that I have many. The three bands I have are all brushes I like, but this is the favorite. Very soft. Also very scrubby in a 100% devoid of scritch way. Plenty of backbone. Bigger would be better of course.

Let's see how the frames work today.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Cal]

Bigger would be better of course.

Typical Yank.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Typical Yank.

Hey, I'm not Texan.

 

[thombrogan]

Don’t forget your bedtime shea butter

 

[tehnothing]

Don’t forget your bedtime shea butter

After reading about it in you guys journal I ordered a tub of refined Shea butter. I saw no reason to pay $19 plus shipping for Shea butter from Saponificio Varesino. I ordered some lavender essential oil to add to it.

 

[Neilzebub]

In Texas, the men say, "Remember the Alamo". And the women say, "Remember the alimony".

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

After reading about it in you guys journal I ordered a tub of refined Shea butter. I saw no reason to pay $19 plus shipping for Shea butter from Saponificio Varesino. I ordered some lavender essential oil to add to it.

Mine was purchased at Walmart. It was very inexpensive. I'm thinking like $5 or something like that.

I'll buy the same brand again if they have it next time I need some, but the jar lasts a long time.

Don’t forget your bedtime shea butter

Thank you so much for reminding me.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[tehnothing]

Mine was maybe $11 bucks for a jar about that size on Amazon.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

It went well, but my Friday shave was still a screw up.

This is how you know the Taiga is properly assembled. See the three dots all lined up cap to baseplate.

In my SOTD photo it's obvious what I did wrong.

Nevertheless it worked well. My settings were 2, 4, and 1. In that order.

When I'd previously used this new HLS Taiga I was still having skin issues. Apparently getting rid of the ingrown hair has actually solved the skin problems. I felt confident in that position today and wanted to give the Taiga another spin, but, of course, was a bit lost, guessing, and fumbling about when it came to deciding upon which settings to try out today.

I will experiment more with the settings, but the razor was very smooth on the settings used today, and there was nothing I'd call objectionable blade feel even on setting #4. (Which I used S-N on my neck and N-S on my soul patch and upper lip.)

Basically I did my usual shave. (Usual shave with the Muramasa.) I have no complaints and enjoyed the razor's smoothness and everything else about it.

These modern adjustables are as good as they're said to be, at least the Muramasa and the Taiga are so far in my still limited experience of them. Experiments in shaving science are ongoing.

Same flipped blade. Preshave was shea butter last night and Cube/Tube today.

Very much enjoyed the Zenith three band silvertip brush. It might be a tad more scrubby and a tad less soft than the Semogue LE used yesterday. Both are bee's knees brushes.

Post shave products were much the same as yesterday, but I used the Beach as a splash today.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Saturday. Continuing the experiment with the HLS Taiga.

The Maseto 30 mm (nominal size; actually it's larger) silvertip badger is a quite good three band. Adequate scrub. Perhaps not as soft as it used to be which is really weird, but still plenty soft. I like it a lot. It was a very good brush purchase for me. I think it's my largest knot.

Following yesterday's shave, my second with the Taiga, I noticed the shave was probably not as close and long lasting as my best shaves (most recent shaves) with the Muramasa.

Because of that, I cranked up the adjustment knob a little bit. Today I used settings #3.5, 6, and 1.

Even on setting #6 - which is the highest setting without going into overclocked territory - the razor is very smooth with just about no blade feel going S-N on my neck and N-S on my upper lip and in various directions on my soul patch.

My suspicion is this razor has real potential!

Flipped blade.

Skin is good. Good shave.

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

 

[drb1956]

Yesterday, got a DCS, from a Parker 91R, paired with a new Wilkinson Sword(G). Smooth, 2 pass shave, using Gillette Pure shave cream. Get the water right in your brush, this cream is really slick. I let it sit on my face for a minute before putting the blade to my face. Really nice, comfortable shave! 2nd pass XTG really cleans up, especially for me along my jaw bone. This IS my "Daily Driver" setup! I could look for years for the "perfect" shave, but what I have now is pretty damn good, considering I shave 6 days a week...

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Yesterday, got a DCS, from a Parker 91R, paired with a new Wilkinson Sword(G). Smooth, 2 pass shave, using Gillette Pure shave cream. Get the water right in your brush, this cream is really slick. I let it sit on my face for a minute before putting the blade to my face. Really nice, comfortable shave! 2nd pass XTG really cleans up, especially for me along my jaw bone. This IS my "Daily Driver" setup! I could look for years for the "perfect" shave, but what I have now is pretty damn good, considering I shave 6 days a week...

I'd say stick with it.

Congratulations are in order, too.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[drb1956]

I'd say stick with it.

Congratulations are in order, too.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Thank you very much!! I have only had this razor since November. It came as a gift, from a recommendation by Mark at Q Brothers in Chicago(Smallflower). The gentleman is very knowledgeable in the products that he sells. I was in the store with my wife, buying blades asking him what would be my next step after using VDH for a number of years, and not spending north of $40 for a razor. He put the Parker on the counter, and said this is what I needed. Did not pull the trigger at that time, as I was buying Feather blades, and wanted to see how they performed in my VDH razor. My birthday was coming shortly, and the wife went back to Q Brothers, talked to Mark about the razor, and he remembered her being with me, and sold her the razor, along with the stand. What a great gift!! Put in a Gillette Platinum on the first shave, and it was great. Couple of strokes, and I got my technique down really quickly, and it could not have been better! Later on tried a German Wilkie, and it was the best! Now my daily driver combo gives me great shaves everyday! I have only "cut" myself once with this razor, and that was on me for going to fast, in a hurry. Using up a few leftover blades from my trials with the VDH, but go back to the Wilkies every other week. I do have a tuck of Vokshods if anyone is interested, as I have to "cork" them in this razor. I enjoy all things DE, just not a collector. This razor made my search easy. I don't see much talk about Parkers on the site, other than slants, but maybe its not a popular razor. Reviewers say its an aggressive razor, not for beginners. Was not a beginner when I got it, thats why I probably settled in so quickly with the Parker. I enjoy B&B, and I look in everyday...

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Thank you very much!! I have only had this razor since November. It came as a gift, from a recommendation by Mark at Q Brothers in Chicago(Smallflower). The gentleman is very knowledgeable in the products that he sells. I was in the store with my wife, buying blades asking him what would be my next step after using VDH for a number of years, and not spending north of $40 for a razor. He put the Parker on the counter, and said this is what I needed. Did not pull the trigger at that time, as I was buying Feather blades, and wanted to see how they performed in my VDH razor. My birthday was coming shortly, and the wife went back to Q Brothers, talked to Mark about the razor, and he remembered her being with me, and sold her the razor, along with the stand. What a great gift!! Put in a Gillette Platinum on the first shave, and it was great. Couple of strokes, and I got my technique down really quickly, and it could not have been better! Later on tried a German Wilkie, and it was the best! Now my daily driver combo gives me great shaves everyday! I have only "cut" myself once with this razor, and that was on me for going to fast, in a hurry. Using up a few leftover blades from my trials with the VDH, but go back to the Wilkies every other week. I do have a tuck of Vokshods if anyone is interested, as I have to "cork" them in this razor. I enjoy all things DE, just not a collector. This razor made my search easy. I don't see much talk about Parkers on the site, other than slants, but maybe its not a popular razor. Reviewers say its an aggressive razor, not for beginners. Was not a beginner when I got it, thats why I probably settled in so quickly with the Parker. I enjoy B&B, and I look in everyday...

What brush are you using?

Good story.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[drb1956]

Omega. Not sure of model. It is in my ID pic. Pretty basic boar brush. Had to give it a trim, as it was really getting "wide". Thought maybe I ruined it after I trimmed it, but it works really well, and it seemed to be just slightly firmer on my face, which is ok. I had it longer than the Parker razor, and may be buying another in a year or so. Thank you for reading along. Sorry these are a little long, but I like to explain, especially when it is a favorite subject of mine. I try to "recruit" whenever the subject comes up in conversation. Folks visiting my house see my razor in the bathroom, ask me if I really shave with that "antique". I tell them it is not an antique, and it works quite well, and my face is better for it.