Damn Comfortable Shave

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Jim, I'm glad you drink a lot of water. I'm a big proponent of that. I for one have oily skin, so a lot of what you write is a bit foreign to me. When I first started DE shaving I tried to do three passes on my neck, and the result was further irritation.

When I was younger me and some friends were cruising down old Route 66 in New Mexico near Gallop. We were trying to vibe the coolest place to go "chase the Easter Bunny". We found this field and climbed the barbed wire fence and ran around there for a couple of hours. When we climbed back over the fence to leave, I pointed out a sign to my friends which read, "Danger Do Not Enter Uranium Trailings. We got back in the car and turned on the radio and Jimmy Page and the Firm song Radioactive came on. Right then a large goiter grew on my neck. I eventually lanced it myself and it wasn't pretty.

My hair grows differently there now on the scar area, and with a cartridge it would easily cause a huge bump from ingrowns. I can still get it from a DE if I'm not careful. The thing is I went to a one pass on my neck, and I'm increasingly able to know where I can get away with more. The main thing is that I've figured out how to shave the neck area into a DFS with no irritation. The rest of my face I get BBS easily. I've looked in the mirror and I can see no beard stubble reflecting in the light. Only I know and I'm comfortable, and my neck looks better than ever.

The one thing about going years ago and remembering the Barber shop shave is that you are older now. The hair on your face is now like growing gristle through your pours I would imagine. Not the softer oily hair of youth, so the memory and the reality are perhaps now two different things.

Anyway that was my first radioactive experience. I've had another and been struck by lightening. Those are two different long stories. They haven't affected my shaving routine, so I will skip them. Remember I'm pulling for you!

Oh, my, Rave. What an interesting and terrible story. I'm glad you didn't suffer worse consequences.
Maybe, Fatip will fix everything. I hear they are magically capable. Oh, I forgot, I hear that from you.

Fortunately, you not the only Fatip fan, but I doubt they fix radiation, goiters, and scar tissue.

Somehow what you wrote is comforting to me. Right now I'm looking at my recent itching with puzzlement and gratitude. Gratitude it's gone. There is none at all today. Gratitude it may have taught me to do fewer passes for right now anyway. I'm puzzled about the why of it all, but I'm fine with puzzles.

I appreciate your help and concern.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Raven Koenes]

Oh, my, Rave. What an interesting and terrible story. I'm glad you didn't suffer worse consequences.
Maybe, Fatip will fix everything. I hear they are magically capable. Oh, I forgot, I hear that from you.

Fortunately, you not the only Fatip fan, but I doubt they fix radiation, goiters, and scar tissue.

Somehow what you wrote is comforting to me. Right now I'm looking at my recent itching with puzzlement and gratitude. Gratitude it's gone. There is none at all today. Gratitude it may have taught me to do fewer passes for right now anyway. I'm puzzled about the why of it all, but I'm fine with puzzles.

I appreciate your help and concern.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Thank you my friend for the kind words. Fatips, miracles that they are, can cure a lot but not everything...especially being a knucklehead at heart which also resulted in the other two "incidences".

 

[Uncas]

Thank you my friend for the kind words. Fatips, miracles that they are, can cure a lot but not everything...especially being a knucklehead at heart which also resulted in the other two "incidences".

The battle scars of youth, only the survivors get to show and tell. I'm glad your among the survivors.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Tonight while watching football, I've been working on my MMOC. Just Flitz wasn't getting it so I turned to the sandpaper. The razor isn't finished yet, but it is really looking good. Pictures will have to wait until I'm further along in the process, but I'm very pleased.



A bowl game I don't care about all that much is a great opportunity, too, for rubbing soaked boar brushes on a towel, continuing my extended break in process of three razors I can't use until after the Fixed Four. Until they're pretty broken in I don't want to use them anyway.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Uncas]

The brushes look like they're blooming nicely.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The brushes look like they're blooming nicely.

Thanks.

More and more split ends. They're looking pretty good, and feeling better rubbed on the inside of my elbow (a great testing ground).

 

[Esox]

The brushes look like they're blooming nicely.

This is what I'm waiting to see of the marble handled Stirling.

I'll try and remain patient lol.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

This is what I'm waiting to see of the marble handled Stirling.

I'll try and remain patient lol.

It should do as well as my other two Stirling boars, I think, and be very much the same. Why not. Stirling seems to use amazingly good badger for the price point. Maybe for any price point. I really wonder what you're getting with some of these super expensive knots and brushes. Yes, some of the handles are great, and I love them, but are the brushes really any better as brushes than my Stirlings? I'm not convinced you get what you pay for beyond the price of the Stirlings.

Not saying I wouldn't mind a dozen or so Paladin brushes. Pretty.



The Stirling boar for $10 is not visually the exact same bristles as the premium Semogue SOC boar, but it is amazingly close. So close that I suspect I may end up liking it more than the SOC.

The little brushes are Omega's Mighty Midget and Mixed Midget.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Raven Koenes]

The battle scars of youth, only the survivors get to show and tell. I'm glad your among the survivors.

Likewise my friend.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The December to Remember Fixed Four continues.

Spoiler: So, where's the report?

See tomorrow. No shave today.

When I used to shave with cartridges I skipped days, usually Saturday, sometimes Sunday. Pretty much anytime I could not shave I didn't shave. Not that I disliked shaving, but it was a chore as much as a pleasure, at least. Maybe days off were good for me.

Since beginning with these DE and SE razors, I've shaved every day.

My skin right now is fine. No pain. No itching. But, today is a day I can get away with not shaving if I want.

The advantages to me of skipping a day would be twofold.

1. It gives me a chance to see how my beard grows and might help with beard mapping.
2. It gives my skin a day off so little problems can maybe heal.
3. My brush gets a day off to become bone dry again in case it isn't.

Okay, that's three things, not two, but one of them is an advantage to my brush, not to me.

The Colonial General razor is tough, and it doesn't want a day off, but I, as the Commander in Chief, have overruled General Washington. Yeah, I was a history major so I know that doesn't make historical sense. Tough.

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

 

[Esox]

It should do as well as my other two Stirling boars, I think, and be very much the same.

I'm hoping it blooms like those two. If it does, I'm in...well after I pay a $220 speeding ticket! LOL

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I'm hoping it blooms like those two. If it does, I'm in...well after I pay a $220 speeding ticket! LOL

It's become a Christmas present, so I don't know what you're talking about. My daughter will surprise me with it.

The good thing is her mother can't get on me for something I was given as a Christmas gift.

Spoiler: don't tell mom

I bought the brush!

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Esox]

The good thing is her mother can't get on me for something I was given as a Christmas gift.

Oh... you're good lol.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

My wife told me a local store has a display of shaving gear. The store is in a nice, upscale mall with curbside parking, pretty near our house, so I visited. It's a fancy store which sells houseplants, and fancy soaps, and gift items, and some china. All high end and high priced.

Anyway, they have some shaving stuff. Mostly Proraso soaps, splashes, balms. A couple of Rockwell razors, the 2c and a travel kit with a razor. Rockwell blades. A few other things. A very nice display or two, and high prices.

I want to buy something, and I will, just to be supportive of their effort. Their Proraso aftershave is $22. Amazon with shipping is about $14. Seems a bit steep, but I want them to carry more stuff.

Maybe next time I'm in there someone in a responsible position will come over to talk. We can talk about Fatip razors maybe.

I'm sure Amazon is a problem for local vendors of all sorts, but it is what it is.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Esox]

I wish I had a local store that carried shaving gear. Small shops like those need the support. Their overhead is very high.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Been working on my vintage MMOC. The before pictures are here.

A little spot on the inside needed a good bit of 2000 sandpapering. I used my brass brush on most of the handle + Q tips + pipe cleaners + Flitz + microfiber cloth + a whole lot of elbow grease.



The razor is not finished, but it is looking very good.

I have not decided what my objective is for the outcome of this clean up project. There are still some barely visible scratches on the top of the cap, but mostly, to the naked eye it looks very, very nice. There are still tiny bits of tarnish on the handle, but that's looking at it extremely closely. Unless you examine it very carefully, the razor looks close to brand new.




Tonight I put a blade in it. Just to see if everything was shipshape. Obviously, the razor hasn't been shaved with, so you never know, but these old GEM razors hold the razor at five different points. The front blade stops are perfect I think, and the mechanism is tight.

I plan to shave with it someday. No time soon. I'm not at all sure it will be the first GEM razor which I use, but I'm not sure it won't be either.

Maybe I'll make it look even closer to new. Maybe I'll stop where it is.

My objective was to have a good shaver grade MMOC. It is certainly that now. So far, the project has been a lot of fun.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Uncas]

WOW!! Gorgeous razor Jim.

 

[Cal]

Been working on my vintage MMOC.

Very nice work Jim.

I think it would be good to get our good friend @rabidus' opinion.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I'm going to post all the pictures I took here, because I keep messing up the above post's pictures.




These are photos of the vintage MMOC which I'm cleaning up. See post #1676 above for my discussion.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Very nice work Jim.

I think it would be good to get our good friend @rabidus' opinion.

That it would.

Thanks, Cal.

Happy shaves,

Jim