Jay21's Journey Journal

[thombrogan]

Congratulations on finding a razor that meshes with your wants, needs, and budget!

When your SLOC arrives, will you please combine its baseplate with your R41’s cap and let me know how close that is to the 15C?

 

[Jay21]

Congratulations on finding a razor that meshes with your wants, needs, and budget!

When your SLOC arrives, will you please combine its baseplate with your R41’s cap and let me know how close that is to the 15C?

Sure thing. It should ship out tomorrow or Tuesday, I’m predicting.

 

[Jay21]

I loaded a fresh Gillette Platinum into the Merkur 15c and had a DFS. I couldn’t tell any difference between the Gillette Platinum and the Dorco Titan, which may either show my lack of technique or how underrated the Titan is. Close enough. Very comfortable. Not the slightest hint of any sting from the Skin Bracer after two passes and a few touchups.

I love this razor. If anyone is more interested in comfort over closeness, wants an easy and enjoyable shave, and stopped chasing BBS, this razor is definitely worth a try. You could buy the RR Old Type head for about $8, which is said to be a pretty close copy, maybe a hint more aggressive.

I’ve held out long enough and I finally snapped a pic of my setup. Not pictured: Gillette Platinum. I’m still new at this!!!

 

[Jay21]

In case you missed it, I’m having a PIF. Spread the word, I’d like to get plenty of entries.

GIVEAWAY! - A Heartfelt Thank You PIF: Pearl Blaze (Slightly Used)

I have a long-winded post that describes my PIF. If you can make it all the way through this post, you'll understand why I want to do this. The PIF is a Pearl Blaze that has been used only a few times. It was purchased new from Maggard Razors in March, 2023. Why am I doing this? I've stated...

www.badgerandblade.com

I had another marvelous shave with the Merkur 15c this morning. I performed three full passes (WTG, XTG, ATG). It gave me a damn finer shave, but not BBS. It gave me just the smallest, and I mean slighest, sting from the Skin Bracer. It was enough to let me know I dragged steel over my face, but not enough to prevent future stupidity. However, the uptick in finer in the damnness wasn’t enough where I feel the need to. Two passes were plenty good. I’ll probably stick with this until I once again feel the need to be stupid.

The Gillette Platinum held up just fine during its second voyage. We’ll see if it can keep it up tomorrow.

 

[Jay21]

@thombrogan My SLOC shipped out today. It turns out yesterday was a national holiday in Canada, which delayed the shipping. Once it arrives and I test drive it as it normally should be, I can hotrod the r41 for ya.

 

[thombrogan]

Just when you’re hopping up and down for new shiny… BOOM! …Victoria Day

 

[Jay21]

I had another two-pass with touchups DFS with the Merkur 15c this morning, but the Gillette Platinum was pretty rough. It was sharp enough on its third use, but I’m assuming whatever coatings were on the blade are now completely worn off, making the metal a bit rougher. I had more sting today from the Skin Bracer than yesterday. I have enough replicated data now that on my face the Platinum is only good for two shaves. I could push it out to a third during the shavepocalypse.

 

[thombrogan]

In the shavepocalypse, we’ll all be growing beards and letting them matte into dreads so we can crawl on all fours and better scavenge the delicacies previously derided as vermin.

 

[Jay21]

In the shavepocalypse, we’ll all be growing beards and letting them matte into dreads so we can crawl on all fours and better scavenge the delicacies previously derided as vermin.

If we’re letting our beards go, it’s a good thing mine grows E-W under my chin because given long enough, it’ll grow into a nice comb over for my bald spot. I’m assuming hats and sunscreen will also be scarce.

 

[thombrogan]

You’re already prepared without mauling yourself with a dulling DE blade. Cheers!

Never thought of the hatpocalypse. Figured sunscreen would be covered by repeatedly rolling in mud and filth like decadent piglets

 

[Jay21]

I've been reflecting on my shaving preferences a bit. Work has slowed down for the time being, so my mind tends to wander, and I also have a propensity to dwell on things. You could say it borders on obsession, LOL.

I'm usually very quick to pick up new skills. I am dedicated to practicing and I feel that I have above average coordination. I typically learn quickly from my mistakes and develop accuracy and precision with many tasks I set out to do. I feel I take well to teaching and coaching and have an open mind when being instructed. For example, I don't have much athleticism in my bones, but through hard work I managed to letter in two sports in high school. When I got into the shooting sports, I could Mickey Mouse three pellets from an air rifle at 10 yards with open sights. This isn't a brag at all, but it's to give some perspective on how frustrating my early DE shaves were for me.

When I picked up DE shaving again, it was a struggle. It was an almost embarrassing struggle. I was very faithful in all of the great advice I was given about angles, pressure, lathers, prep, etc., but shaves weren't very close and always left my skin irritated.

I can honestly say now that, although the operator is always at fault, I think I was trying to use the wrong tool for job. Based on how my beard grows on my neck and throat, which is pretty much parallel and flat to the skin, that my struggles were partially related to closed comb razors. I could never whack the hair down far enough, requiring multiple passes, including ATG, which my face doesn't really like. I tried scalloped and smooth bars, wide and small gaps, mild and aggressive razors, and it was always pretty much the same thing: inefficient whisker removal with irritation. The Rockwell 6c with the R6 plate left just as much stubble behind on my neck than the r/EJ 89. The only difference was the Rockwell made my skin look like a lobster when done, but I was less likely to look like a seafood dinner with the r/EJ 89.

I was pushing the boulder up hill the whole time in the form of closed comb razors. As soon I was made an honest and concerted effort to use open comb razors (other than the r41 experiments, which is a unique beast in its own right, but that always gave me polished shaves, just with lots of irritation if I wasn't careful), the lightbulb went on. Things clicked. I was getting fantastic shaves with no irritation. I have some extremely minor irritation today, but I think that's because the blade wore out and was a bit rough. Even though I took some irritation today, it pales in comparison to the amount of sting I took on a good day with the r/EJ 89.

I guess you could say that I'm an open comb guy now. That's where this adventure has led me.

I'll probably keep most of my closed comb razors because I sincerely hate selling things, whether in person or on the internet. So many buyers are rude, complain, and make the transaction more effort than it's worth for a few bucks. I may give some away to friends or family, and maybe I could PIF some in the future like I'm currently doing with the Pearl Blaze. Maybe I'll try to shave with some of them every now and then to see how my technique has changed and developed over time.

I have a few open comb razors currently: Muhle r41, Fatip Grande, and the Merkur 15c. I have a zamac SLOC inbound from Canada. I also have RAD, so that's not going to end well. I was foolish enough to place an order for a stainless steel CNC machined Mellon head from Yaqi because why not? This is a fun journey and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

So far the Merkur 15c is the best razor I've ever used and it's probably my favorite. I imagine it will see the bulk of the action depending on how both SLOCs shave me. I don't have a lot of confidence in the Merkur lasting decades due to its zamac construction, and thin at that, so I imagine I'll pick up a backup at some point because you never know if/when Merkur decides to stop making it.

That's about it for now.

 

[thombrogan]

Yaqi now has a stainless steel Mellon razor that is very similar to the SLOC (which I believe is the same as the chrome Yaqi Mellon zamack only sold to RazoRock instead of Yaqi…). But I first heard about the stainless Yaqi Mellon from @Ron R , so that means it’s still Canadian, right?

 

[Jay21]

Yaqi now has a stainless steel Mellon razor that is very similar to the SLOC (which I believe is the same as the chrome Yaqi Mellon zamack only sold to RazoRock instead of Yaqi…). But I first heard about the stainless Yaqi Mellon from @Ron R , so that means it’s still Canadian, right?

That's exactly the one I ordered from Aliexpress. It's said to be a tad more aggressive than the regular SLOC, so for science I was compelled to buy it and try it.

As it seems, Yaqi makes a lot of OEM razor parts and brushes sold under house brand names.

 

[thombrogan]

I thought you bought a zamack bub because you were calling it a SLOC

for science

I see…

 

[Ron R]

Yaqi now has a stainless steel Mellon razor that is very similar to the SLOC (which I believe is the same as the chrome Yaqi Mellon zamack only sold to RazoRock instead of Yaqi…). But I first heard about the stainless Yaqi Mellon from @Ron R , so that means it’s still Canadian, right?

Razorock or I.B has some kind of agreement with Yaqi for the SLOC V1 I'm sure of it, Razorock also made their variant as SLOC V2 model on their own but they made it out of Aluminum and it did not last long(sales where not hot?). They have the know how to make a V3 SLOC if they wanted to but I'm thinking will focus on something else is my thought. I have the RR SLOC V1 and it is a better deal than Yaqi offers because they throw in a stainless steel handle making it vary affordable for some one wanting to have a nice excellent mild razor .

 

[Jay21]

I thought you bought a zamack bub because you were calling it a SLOC



I see…

I ordered the zamac SLOC from IB and then the Yaqi stainless mellon head from Aliexpress.

 

[thombrogan]

I got a Yaqi Mellon in 2020 for $4.99usd shipped, but IB/RazoRock would win today. Thank you for breaking down the generations of models, Ron.

Didn’t realized you ordered two double open comb razors, Jay

 

[Jay21]

Didn’t realized you ordered two double open comb razors, Jay

The Mrs. didn’t know, either, until after I did it.

 

[thombrogan]

Uh oh

 

[Jay21]

Uh oh

Oddly enough, she is an enabler. I won the lottery with that one.