First shave with a Progress

[Chester]

I picked up a hoffritz-branded progress last week, and (as I'm pretty comfy with my slim) it didn't seem like I had any reason to try it right away. It was a little gunked up, so I gave it a cleaning last weekend.

I was cutting down a bunch of trees and errant bushes last weekend, too, and I got a couple scratches on my face that needed time to heal, so I held off of shaving this week, until this morning.

And so, I figured, what the heck, let's try this progress and see how it goes. It's adjustable, and mine doesn't adjust any lower than "2", so I left it there. I whipped up my usual bowl of T&H 1805, put in an Iridium Super and off we went.

It was a pretty pleasurable shave. The angle is a little different, compared with the slim, and the handle is shorter, so my hands felt a bit more awkward than usual. Overall, a great result. It's very maneuverable and my worry about the smooth handle being slippery proved to be a non-issue.

The only knock I have against the progress is that the adjustment bottoms out at 2. I've done some first-pass searching on this forum for how to re-set that adjustment, but didn't find anything substantive. I'll keep knocking around for tips, though.

It's just one shave, but I'm kind of looking forward to exercising the tool a little more over the next couple weeks.
-- Chet

 

[MilkyLee]

I don't know if this applies to an older progress, but on the new ones you have to line up the triangle on the base of the head with the vertical line on the removable part of the head. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[Chester]

That's the way mine was. I reversed the cap (so that the notch and the arrow are on opposite sides) and everything lines up. Turns out that mantic has a video where he demonstrates a turning of the handle to make things line up, but I have not tried it. Not sure if it makes a difference at this point. Thanks for the tip! Got me on the right track.
-- Chet

 

[Drubbing]

It has to work. The notch is there to make sure you put the head on the right way round, or you get the very alignment problem you mentioned.

Some progresses (mine included) still don't fully 'zero' after that, and with some it's possible to twist the shaft to align it. Others you can't, mines one of those.

See mantics progress annoyance vid for the movie.

 

[ackvil]

If you want your Progress to be 100% accurate send it to Eric to become a Mergress. Then you will find the BEST razor I have ever shaved with.

 

[Chester]

If you want your Progress to be 100% accurate send it to Eric to become a Mergress. Then you will find the BEST razor I have ever shaved with.

eh, maybe if I decide to buy a new one, I might do that. The underside of the cap is showing some plating loss (typical, I guess), so I'd probably not want to use this old thing for such a modification. Better to "go new", methinks.

Anyhow, I thought he's stopped doing one-offs, though. (can't remember where I heard that). I'll drop him a PM and see what the deal is. Anyhow, I'm on the mergress mailing list , but every time i see that they're available online, they sell out in less than an hour. It's tough to be that prompt!

Poorly-aligned though it may be, it shaves very well. I just wish it was about an inch or so longer, but that's not a requirement.
-- Chet

 

[imabel2]

Eric currently has my progress and is converting it to a mergress. To the best of my knowledge is still doing conversions, but Lee's Safety Razors are handling sales of the new converted Mergress razors. If you are looking for a good used mergress try the Want to Buy forum.
Mike