Journey of the 1767 blade newbie.

[Flanders]

This is my worry when it comes to purchasing used soap.
The guy I got these from said he loaded from the jar on Beaudelaire, Oceana, & Seville. Do these look like they could be problematic to you? Seems like it's just the Beaudelaire by my eye. Thankfully he only charged $5 per.

They all look pretty decent to me, I will go dig up a picture out of my album so you know what to look for. If I were you, with used soap, I would scrape the entire top off and create a new flat surface a 1/4" below the lowest used point. I know that's a lot of lost soap so I won't blame you if decide not to.

I can't find the picture anywhere, I am sure somebody has one though. You will be fine as long as you let them air out sufficiently.

 

[CuppaJoe__]

I may just scrub with a cloth to remove the top layer.

 

[tehnothing]

They all look pretty decent to me, I will go dig up a picture out of my album so you know what to look for. If I were you, with used soap, I would scrape the entire top off and create a new flat surface a 1/4" below the lowest used point. I know that's a lot of lost soap so I won't blame you if decide not to.

I can't find the picture anywhere, I am sure somebody has one though. You will be fine as long as you let them air out sufficiently.

THIS ^^^^
I have some Barrister and Mann that are a lot older than these appear to be that I won't shave with because they smell off. If it still smells good you are golden.

 

[CuppaJoe__]

08/25/2024 SOTD
Evening Shave

Prep:
> Shower & Charcoal Face Wash
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco Titan [#2] (5 / +2 Passes)
Soap:
> Barrister & Mann: Oceana
Aftershave:
> My own formulation of Witch Hazel, Aloe, & Water
Pass type:
> WTG all around | XTG on chin | XTG on neck below chin

TLDR: Nice shave, less than BBS but not by a lot.
Some weepers that closed up quick.
No irritation.
DFS

This soap smells much better than the Beaudelaire, and lathers well.
I had some weepers that showed up after wiping off the soap, but they did not hang around.

Overall, a nice shave without any irritation or tugging.
Could have stopped at a single pass, the blade is still very sharp.

DFS due to weepers.

 

[CuppaJoe__]

08/26/2024 SOTD
Evening Shave

Prep:
> Cold water & hand scrub
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco Titan [#2] (7 / +2 Passes)
Soap:
> Barbasol: Aloe
Aftershave:
> Baylis & Harding: Citrus Lime Mint
Pass type:
> WTG all around | XTG on chin

Good ol Barbasol.. Overall a nice shave. No irritation or tugging. Minimal stubble feel. One weeper. Blade is still very efficient.
DFS+

 

[CuppaJoe__]

08/27/2024 SOTD
Evening Shave

Prep:
> Shower & Charcoal Face Wash
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco Titan [#2] (9 / +2 Passes)
Soap:
> Catie's Bubbles- Mile High Menthol
Aftershave:
> My own formulation of Witch Hazel, Aloe, & Water
Pass type:
> WTG all around | XTG on chin

A very close shave tonight. My neck on the right side is almost BBS. Nicked my chin a bit on the first pass, I think this blade is just a little bitey. It could also just be the daily shaves making my skin a bit sensitive.

I'll be staying at a hotel thursday night (going to a concert), so I'll toss this blade tomorrow. I get to use the travel case for my Henson the first time, & I'm still deciding on which blade to bring. I have a lot of choices.

Overall the Dorco Titan is a nice blade in my opinion. It seems to be very consistent and doesn't cause any irritation for me. Albeit it can be bitey, even despite it being in the Henson ++.

DFS++

Note: I'm going to come up with a different rating scale soon. I'm not sure I'm really conveying my experience all that well with the suggested scale on the wiki.

 

[thombrogan]

Hoping your concert is a blast

 

[Eric_75]

Hoping your concert is a blast

@CuppaJoe__ Yes, have a great time!

 

[CuppaJoe__]

08/28/2024 SOTD
Evening Shave

Prep:
> Pears- Mint Bar Soap
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco Titan [#2] (11 / +2.5 Passes) Total= 13.5 Passes for 6 complete shaves. Toss
Soap:
> Barrister & Mann- Fougère Angelique
Aftershave:
> My own formulation of Witch Hazel, Aloe, & Water
Post Shave: Aloe Gel
Pass type:
> WTG all around, XTG on chin | WTG pass on neck (.5)

Not a great feeling shave tonight. Had lots of irritation today, & one nick below the ear. I'm not sure it's the fault of the blade, or my skin being sensitive, but it's probably a combination of both. Luckily I'm throwing it out tonight.

It was a close shave & efficient shave, still not BBS but that's not really something I want.

This soap is really awesome. I love the smell, & it lathers very well. If I was one of those weirdos that does 5 passes it would have been enough lather despite the small amount used.
I'll have to see if it's still available, I think this is a older version of the one on Maggard Razors.
Absolutely will buy this soap new.

Overall, a not great shave from the irritation. At least the soap is a hit!

Acceptable+
(I'm looking forward to unveiling my new rating scale.)

Tomorrow will be the Henson ++ with the Dorco HQ Platinum blades manuf. in Vietnam. The part# is still ST300 but the packaging seems to have a few variants online.

Thank you @Eric_75 & @thombrogan for the best wishes! We're going to see Blue October, Switchfoot, & Matt Nathanson.
I'm excited for Blue Oct. & Switchfoot. My GF is especially excited for Blue Oct. We both aren't really sure about Matt Nathanson though. Never heard of him aside from this concert.

 

[Eric_75]

Thank you @Eric_75 & @thombrogan for the best wishes! We're going to see Blue October, Switchfoot, & Matt Nathanson.
I'm excited for Blue Oct. & Switchfoot. My GF is especially excited for Blue Oct. We both aren't really sure about Matt Nathanson though. Never heard of him aside from this concert.

At some point listen to a little Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Hank Mobley and John Coltrane. Not that I'm trying to be an enabler here.

 

[Osyri]

Welcome to the Journals and B&B!

You are the Nephew 2.0 that B&B needs and wants! Something I have failed at.

I will now pass on the torch of youngest DE Shaver of the Journal Section to you! May the force be with you!

 

[CuppaJoe__]

Welcome to the Journals and B&B!

You are the Nephew 2.0 that B&B needs and wants! Something I have failed at.

I will now pass on the torch of youngest DE Shaver of the Journal Section to you! May the force be with you!

Am I the youngest? Lol

 

[thombrogan]

Only if Corey did his math right. He’s a globe trotter, so I’m guessing he did and you are.

 

[CuppaJoe__]

New Rating Scale (Open to input or ideas)​

1. Process Comfort​

1: Extremely uncomfortable—significant irritation, frequent nicks, and cuts.
2: Mostly uncomfortable—some irritation and occasional nicks or cuts.
3: Neutral—moderate comfort with minor irritation or occasional discomfort.
4: Comfortable—generally smooth with minimal irritation or discomfort.
5: Extremely comfortable—smooth and pleasant, no irritation or discomfort.

2. Blade Comfort​

1: Very painful—blades are dull or harsh, causing significant pain or tugging.
2: Uncomfortable—blades are somewhat dull or rough, leading to noticeable discomfort.
3: Neutral—blades are adequately sharp with some mild discomfort.
4: Comfortable—blades are sharp and smooth, causing minimal discomfort.
5: Extremely comfortable—blades are very sharp and gentle, providing a smooth, pain-free shave.

3. Efficiency​

1: Very Inefficient—requires multiple passes or excessive effort to achieve a basic shave. Lots of cleanup.
2: Inefficient—requires several passes and some effort to achieve an acceptable shave. Moderate cleanup.
3: Adequate—achieves a decent shave with a few passes and moderate effort. Minimal cleanup.
4: Efficient—provides a good shave in two passes with minimal effort. No or minimal cleanup required.
5: Extremely Efficient—delivers a smooth, close shave in a single pass with very little effort. No cleanup required

4. End Result​

1: Poor—uneven shave with visible stubble and irritation.
2: Fair—patchy shave with some missed areas and minor irritation.
3: Good—mostly smooth with a few minor missed spots or slight irritation.
4: Very good—smooth shave with minimal to no missed areas or irritation. Minimal stubble feeling ATG—Ideal. (DFS++)
5: Excellent—perfectly smooth and even shave with no irritation or missed areas. No stubble feeling ATG. (BBS)

I had a bit of brain racking to do to put this together myself, so I ended up using chat-gpt and tweaked it to make sense.
I am open to ideas for input for this. I feel it's much better than just "Acceptable" and "DFS", but I'm sure it could use some work. There will probable be some changes made over time.

 

[CuppaJoe__]

08/30/2024 SOTD
Morning Shave

Prep:
> Shower
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco HQ Plat. ST300 [#1] (0 / +1 Pass) New Blade
Soap:
> Barbasol: Aloe
Aftershave:
> Baylis & Harding: Citrus Lime Mint
Pass type:
> WTG all around

A good efficient shave but the blade did tug. No irritation.

Process Comfort: 3
Blade Comfort: 2
Efficiency: 5
End Result: 4

-----------------------------------------------------------------

08/31/2024 SOTD
Afternoon Shave

Prep:
> Shower & Charcoal Face Wash
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco HQ Plat. ST300 [#1] (1 / +2 Passes)
Soap:
> Master Soap Creations: Peppermint Lime
Aftershave:
> My own formulation of Witch Hazel, Aloe, & Water
Pass type:
> WTG all around | XTG on chin

Better shave, less tugging. No irritation. Efficient.

Process Comfort: 4
Blade Comfort: 3
Efficiency: 4
End Result: 4

-----------------------------------------------------------------

09/01/2024 SOTD
Evening Shave

Prep:
> Shower & Charcoal Face Wash
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco HQ Plat. ST300 [#1] (3 / +2 Passes)
Soap:
> GIBS: Clear Shave Gel
Aftershave:
> My own formulation of Witch Hazel, Aloe, & Water
Pass type:
> WTG all around | XTG on chin

Much more comfortable shave, no irritation. Efficient. Ideal stubble length.

Process Comfort: 5
Blade Comfort: 4
Efficiency: 4
End Result: 4

-----------------------------------------------------------------

09/02/2024 SOTD
Evening Shave

Prep:
> Shower & Charcoal Face Wash
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco HQ Plat. ST300 [#1] (5 / +1 Pass)
Soap:
> GIBS: Clear Shave Gel
Aftershave:
> My own formulation of Witch Hazel, Aloe, & Water
Pass type:
> WTG all around | XTG on chin

Nice comfortable, efficient shave. Ideal stubble length, smooth feeling WTG.

Process Comfort: 5
Blade Comfort: 4
Efficiency: 5
End Result: 4


I was putting together the rating scale, and was also enjoying my vacation time so I ended up combining the previous days into one post.

 

[Flanders]

New Rating Scale (Open to input or ideas)​

1. Process Comfort​

1: Extremely uncomfortable—significant irritation, frequent nicks, and cuts.
2: Mostly uncomfortable—some irritation and occasional nicks or cuts.
3: Neutral—moderate comfort with minor irritation or occasional discomfort.
4: Comfortable—generally smooth with minimal irritation or discomfort.
5: Extremely comfortable—smooth and pleasant, no irritation or discomfort.

2. Blade Comfort​

1: Very painful—blades are dull or harsh, causing significant pain or tugging.
2: Uncomfortable—blades are somewhat dull or rough, leading to noticeable discomfort.
3: Neutral—blades are adequately sharp with some mild discomfort.
4: Comfortable—blades are sharp and smooth, causing minimal discomfort.
5: Extremely comfortable—blades are very sharp and gentle, providing a smooth, pain-free shave.

3. Efficiency​

1: Very Inefficient—requires multiple passes or excessive effort to achieve a basic shave. Lots of cleanup.
2: Inefficient—requires several passes and some effort to achieve an acceptable shave. Moderate cleanup.
3: Adequate—achieves a decent shave with a few passes and moderate effort. Minimal cleanup.
4: Efficient—provides a good shave in two passes with minimal effort. No or minimal cleanup required.
5: Extremely Efficient—delivers a smooth, close shave in a single pass with very little effort. No cleanup required

4. End Result​

1: Poor—uneven shave with visible stubble and irritation.
2: Fair—patchy shave with some missed areas and minor irritation.
3: Good—mostly smooth with a few minor missed spots or slight irritation.
4: Very good—smooth shave with minimal to no missed areas or irritation. Minimal stubble feeling ATG—Ideal. (DFS++)
5: Excellent—perfectly smooth and even shave with no irritation or missed areas. No stubble feeling ATG. (BBS)

I had a bit of brain racking to do to put this together myself, so I ended up using chat-gpt and tweaked it to make sense.
I am open to ideas for input for this. I feel it's much better than just "Acceptable" and "DFS", but I'm sure it could use some work. There will probable be some changes made over time.

This is good, I hope you are planning to make it a composite score(20 maximum). I have some thoughts below:

Process comfort is an interesting one and I am glad you included that, it's important to recognise that sometimes it's not the hardware or software at fault and to have a way of indicating that. Sometimes shaving is uncomfortable due to accumulation and sometimes periodic skin issues.

Blade comfort I have some criticism of. Sharpness and smoothness get mis-labeled by shavers, it's been proven that we can't accurately detect how sharp a blade is. Now tugging is another story and that might be a better proxy than sharpness, along with smoothness. You might say, for instance, that a comfortable blade is either: adequately sharp and smooth or has some slight resistance, but is very smooth. A neutral blade might be described like: the blade doesn't feel like it has a very sophisticated coating, but it's adequately smooth not to cause discomfort or the blade has some actual tugging, but has enough coating not to cause discomfort. This strikes me as more neutral than including mild discomfort, but provides two possibilities that I have encountered. Efficiency strikes as a better way to discuss perceived sharpness.

There are plenty of neutral comfort, efficient blades out there. Most extremely efficient blades are more in the comfortable category, but might be neutral in the process comfort category whereas the former would be in the comfortable category.

As a real world example of using your ranking, my shave last night would rate 15+/20:

The process was comfortable, but the blade had lost some comfort over the previous shave and produced some weepers. The efficiency was increased, but not enough to move it up a category so I gave it a plus(maybe a half point instead). The end result was very good, again a half point up on the first shave. So maybe this should be a 16/20? The first shave would have been a 17/20. The third shave would probably regain its process comfort, but lose its two half points. It might also earn a couple of half point minuses so it would land at either 15 or 16 which seems right.

Edit: I just read your SOTD post and I like how the efficiency dropped one point and levelled off, that seems realistic. I especially like seeing how your process comfort increases each shave, that shows that you are doing something right.

 

[CuppaJoe__]

This is good, I hope you are planning to make it a composite score(20 maximum). I have some thoughts below...

I much appreciate your input. I was having a hard time putting the scale together myself, even after looking at what other users have made. So, commence cheating with ChatGPT lol.. but I think it's good compared to the very dull scales I made in my notes.

I do agree with the blade comfort. With my limited experience thusfar, I do perceive a "sharpness" or "capability" so to speak but I haven't really had a blade that was unable to cut aside from the Treet BB.

I was torn between efficiency and blade comfort because I was viewing them as two separate experiences. How effectively is the blade cutting? Is there any need for buffing to get stray wiskers down? Etc.
If I remove blade comfort and combine it with efficiency, I'm unsure what to replace it with. I do like the x/20 score you mentioned.

I know the scale needs more work, but for some reason it feels like going back to school and trying to summarize an essay. My brain kind of shuts off when I get to thinking about it.

 

[Flanders]

I was torn between efficiency and blade comfort because I was viewing them as two separate experiences. How effectively is the blade cutting? Is there any need for buffing to get stray wiskers down? Etc.
If I remove blade comfort and combine it with efficiency, I'm unsure what to replace it with. I do like the x/20 score you mentioned.

I don't think I suggested combining efficiency and comfort, but I may have combined them in a sentence. I probably should have explained that taking all of the ratings for your shave and converting them into a description of the shave that anyone can understand can be useful and I was giving an example of doing that. Sometimes people are very much against anything technical and they need a simple description, your rating system allows you to look at those numbers and make up one.

Efficiency can be how quickly you can remove all the stubble, that's a fine definition. We had a very long discussion about efficiency vs effectiveness and ultimately it's up to you to decide what word you like. Blade comfort really is a separate thing and some blades don't feel comfortable, but don't end up causing any irritation so it's good to separate those two.

I think you have a perfectly good outline of what you want to accomplish with your rating system and I am only making suggestions to help you fill in the details a bit more. Cheers!

 

[CuppaJoe__]

09/04/2024 SOTD
Evening Shave

Prep:
> Shower & Charcoal Face Wash
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco HQ Plat. ST300 [#1] (6 / +2 Passes)
Soap:
> Barrister & Mann: Vespers
Aftershave:
> My own formulation of Witch Hazel, Aloe, & Water
Pass type:
> WTG all around | XTG on chin

A very nice shave, no post irritation.
A small amount of tugging from the blade during the first pass.
I've started to notice that some blades do tug at the left and right of my chin, especially after 2 days of growth.
I like the smell and quality of this soap.

Process Comfort: 5
Blade Comfort: 4
Efficiency: 4
End Result: 4

 

[CuppaJoe__]

09/07/2024 SOTD
Morning Shave

Prep:
> Shower & Charcoal Face Wash
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Dorco HQ Plat. ST300 [#1] (8 / +2 Passes) Total 10 passes for 6 shaves. (Toss)
Soap:
> Catie's Bubbles: Mile High Menthol
Aftershave:
> My own formulation of Witch Hazel, Aloe, & Water
Pass type:
> WTG all around | XTG on chin

A very nice shave, no post irritation.
A small amount of tugging from the blade.
I tossed the blade this morning, when I was wiping it dry it fell into the sink and I did not want to take the chance that it chipped the blade.

Process Comfort: 5
Blade Comfort: 4
Efficiency: 4
End Result: 4

-----------------------------------------------------------------

09/08/2024 SOTD
Afternoon Shave

Prep:
> Shower & Charcoal Face Wash
Razor:
> Henson ++
Blade:
> Treet: Carbon Steel (BB) [#2] (0 / +2 Passes) New Blade
Soap:
> Barbasol: Aloe
Aftershave:
> Baylis & Harding: Citrus Lime Mint
Pass type:
> WTG all around | XTG on chin

This was a better shave than the first experience with this blade. Hopefully it lasts.
The second shave with the first blade I tried before starting this journal was terrible, I had to switch to a new one after a single stroke.

Process Comfort: 5
Blade Comfort: 5
Efficiency: 4
End Result: 4