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Participation PIF - A Very Mysteree-X Shave

Mysteree X shave #5:

Another walk on the mild side, with a short story.

Went to a huge outdoor antique show, allegedly hundreds of vendors. I spent an additional $5 to go a day early. I was trying to find some vintage razors and brushes, but lately they have been getting harder to find.

Anyway, lots of walking, lots of talking, and finally I stumbled upon a lot of three Gillettes: a gold ball-end Tech (I have two, identical), New long comb (cracked handle, missing ball, I have two LC), and, a fair condition C1 Red Tip - my birth year AND quarter! Wow. Seller says "give me $10 for the lot". Well, as noted, I already have two examples of the first two, so I offered to buy the Superspeed for 5 bucks and she agreed.

Got home, gave it a bath and light polish, and while far from perfect, it is mechanically sound, and actually in pretty good shape.

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So...guess which razor I used for my Mysteree X shave #5?



That's right!...my Karve Overlander. 😄😄😄

I'll get to the Red Tip eventually, but onto this shave:

Razor: Overlander
Blade: Personna X-Series
Soap: MdC Vetyver (sample)
AS: Old Spice

I used my Tech last time and wanted to compare the Overlander on back-to-back shaves, though I didn't put in as much effort on getting BBS. The razor and blade gave me a comfortable and close DFS+ shave after three passes with touchup. Very smooth face feel WTG, very slight stubble on my neck ATG. Zero irritation. Really, what I consider my ideal everyday shave.

I tossed the blade, as is my norm with any blade after five, but it probably had some life left. Again, I could easily make this my every day blade and be happy.

Shave rating: 8.5 of 10

Thanks for playing along with my nonsense. I hate long-winded posts. 🙂
 
Sat 4 Mysteree X - One of the blades received is the Tatra
Soap The Goodfellas Smile Sea Citrus
Brush Yaqi 24mm Atlantis
Razor Yaqi DLC
Blade Tatra Platinum 1st
Aftershave TGS Sea Citrus Splash
Nice soap! Easy to lather with a refreshing aquatic scent and a creamy slick lather...
The shave with this razor paired with the blade was very good. Crisp, smooth, and efficient in 3passes for a bbs/dfs finish. The matching aftershave is just impeccable...
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Personna Mysteree blade three, Shave #8

Razor:
Wolfman WR1 (daily driver, of course!)
Brush: Simpsons 57 best
Soap: Haslinger’s schafmilch
Splash: Speick

Comment: Gave this ‘old blade’ every advantage today and it delivered another fine shave (9/10)! Not the smoothest but better than most any gent I will meet this weekend!! :thumbup1::thumbup1:
 
Anyway, lots of walking, lots of talking, and finally I stumbled upon a lot of three Gillettes: a gold ball-end Tech (I have two, identical), New long comb (cracked handle, missing ball, I have two LC), and, a fair condition C1 Red Tip - my birth year AND quarter! Wow. Seller says "give me $10 for the lot". Well, as noted, I already have two examples of the first two, so I offered to buy the Superspeed for 5 bucks and she agreed.
Awesome and congratulations!! That's quite a find and makes the Red Tip special!!
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Sat 4 Mysteree X - One of the blades received is the Tatra
Soap The Goodfellas Smile Sea Citrus
Brush Yaqi 24mm Atlantis
Razor Yaqi DLC
Blade Tatra Platinum 1st
Aftershave TGS Sea Citrus Splash
Nice soap! Easy to lather with a refreshing aquatic scent and a creamy slick lather...
The shave with this razor paired with the blade was very good. Crisp, smooth, and efficient in 3passes for a bbs/dfs finish. The matching aftershave is just impeccable...
View attachment 1466795
THAT is one Kool brush my friend!
 
Personna Mysteree blade three, Shave #9 (and no where near the end!)

Razor:
Wolfman WR1
Brush: Shavemac beagle (fan)
Soap: Fine platinum
Splash: Fine platinum

Comment: Top-notch (at least for me) kit to give this old blade every opportunity to shine! And the blade came through with another fine (9/10) shave!! :thumbup::thumbup:
 
Personna Mysteree blade three, Shave #10

Razor:
Wolfman WR1 (of course!)
Brush: Rudy Vey 2-band (as good as any brush in this den, better than most!)
Soap: La Toja stick (no muss, no fuss, just great lather)
Splash: Proraso red (for the sake of completeness)

Comment: 9/10 again, this blade is not showing any sign of slowing down!! :thumbup1::thumbup1:
 
Personna Mysteree blade three, Shave #10

Razor:
Wolfman WR1 (of course!)
Brush: Rudy Vey 2-band (as good as any brush in this den, better than most!)
Soap: La Toja stick (no muss, no fuss, just great lather)
Splash: Proraso red (for the sake of completeness)

Comment: 9/10 again, this blade is not showing any sign of slowing down!! :thumbup1::thumbup1:
I think it's great that you've got 10 great shaves from this blade. My baseline is 4 good shaves from any blade. Taking it up to 6 good shaves, and I think, that's an above average blade. But when you can take a blade up to 10 great shaves and beyond, I'm duly impressed with that blade!!

PS. I'm one of those guys that will try to get as many shaves as possible from a blade, even settling for ok shaves if there seems like there's a little life left in it. I don't know why, but I need to use a product until it's done-done.
 
I was surprised and impressed by @T Bone 's generosity yesterday when a package of 101 blades arrived at my door, including what appears to be the full array of currently produced Treet razors, carbon and otherwise, plus some fine Czech offerings:
View attachment 1465415
(Ever jealous, my cat is sitting on a tuck of Tigers.)

Next, I will set up an official, scientific-ish Treet review thread to mark my slow progress through the blades.
In an eerie coincidence, the cat examined all the tucks and also selected @T Bone 's mystery blade, the Treet Silver:
View attachment 1465417
In her enthusiasm for cat Treets, she punctured the tuck, so the clock's ticking on oxidation ... and we've selected the first blade for me to test.

Keep an eye out on the safety razor blades subforum for the great Treet challenge (or some treat pun, title to come). It will be a real delicacy! A real luxury! A real delight! A real -- OK, OK, I'm going.
To update, I went and did this. You can see my comprehensive Treet comparisons here along with more quality cat content. I'll take the occasional break (e.g. to continue my vintage Schick shaves) but I've taken the first steps on the long carbon road!
 
I think it's great that you've got 10 great shaves from this blade. My baseline is 4 good shaves from any blade. Taking it up to 6 good shaves, and I think, that's an above average blade. But when you can take a blade up to 10 great shaves and beyond, I'm duly impressed with that blade!!

PS. I'm one of those guys that will try to get as many shaves as possible from a blade, even settling for ok shaves if there seems like there's a little life left in it. I don't know why, but I need to use a product until it's done-done.
Thanks to you and @Demolition I still have a Kai in my Wunderbar from a Participation long, long ago. The blade gets an extended rest between shaves, but it just won't quit. It is hogging the razor and keeping me out of additional Participation.
 
Thanks to you and @Demolition I still have a Kai in my Wunderbar from a Participation long, long ago. The blade gets an extended rest between shaves, but it just won't quit. It is hogging the razor and keeping me out of additional Participation.
:ouch1: @Demolition is amazing at consistently getting a lot...A LOT...of shaves from the same blade!! I'm in the minor leagues, comparatively speaking!!
 
Wed 8 Mysteree-X Blade#1 Shave#23 and still no end in sight...still giving a good shave!
Soap Stirling Glacial Peach
Brush BOTI 26mm Fan Silvertip
Razor Yaqi DOC Rosegold
Blade Personna X Series 23rd
Aftershaves Stirling Witchhazel Orange Chill + A&E Peach & Cognac Splash + Frost Drops
Very nice lather from the soap for this hot day. Cooling, thickly creamy slick with a light refreshing scent...
A satisfying shave with the razor paired with this well-used and seemingly could go on forever blade...wow! 3passes without any issues for a dfs++ finish. The aftershaves were just terrific to start the day...
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Personna X-Series, Blade #2, Edge #2, Shave #6

Razor: Twig
Blade: Personna X-Series (6)
Brush: Stirling 24mm synthetic
Pre-shave: Proraso white
Soap: Stirling Hipster
Aftershave: Clubman Citrus Musk

Counting both edges, but used as a single edge, I got 12 shaves from this blade. Having used the Schick Old Friend for a couple of weeks and it still giving a nice shave (now watch tomorrow’s shave with it will be a blood bath :blushing: ) I decided this was the last shave for this blade.

Thanks again for this opportunity @Grundi and @mikey
 
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Thu 8 Mysteree-X Blade#1 Shave#24...Yup, the blade is still able to give a bbs result, meaning it's still far from done!
Soap RazoRock XXX
Brush Yaqi 26mm Rainbow
Razor Gillette Red Tip A3
Blade Personna X Series 24th Use
Aftershaves + Stirling Witchhazel MitA + RazoRock XXX Splash
Good soap! Pleasant scent, easily & beautifully lathered into a cone of rich creamy slickness by the excellent brush!
Today's razor paired with this well-used blade + a shim gives an even better shave than yesterday's. The blade is still going strong....amazing!! 3passes for a bbs finish. The matching aftershave with some frost drops was great!!
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Mystery X #11
Gillette senator
Proraso green + Pacific Caffeine cream
RR 2 band barrel brush
AS Speick
AB Speick
Head shave, 2+ pass
This blade I think has been constant.....feels the same, it isn't the sharpest nor the smoothest, but it does the job well and keeps going.....
A bit of irritation (maybe the razor combo) but a great shave....

OK , next will be either a new to me Milord (1st gen) or else Merkur 45.
 
Personna Mysteree blade three, Shave #14

Razor:
Wolfman WR1
Brush: Graydog palm wood 2-band
Soap: La Toja
Splash: La Toja

Comment: Time to call this challenge after a very fine run!

Overall, for me the most comparable Personna blades are the Crystal and Lab Blues, which is very fine company indeed!

Really enjoyed this fine challenge!! :a29::a29:
 
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