Phoenixkh: An Old Man's Continuum....

[Mr. Shavington]

I'm not even sure anymore if it's a valid concept! It was an older discussion that I just remembered. The idea being that some very steep shaving razors don't make the smoothest transition while making a stroke from steep to shallow. Rather, you need to lift and place it cap first. I do know that on the flip side some shallower razors will rough up your skin pretty good if you let the angle get too steep, the Supply injectors being number one. I suspect this all has to do with the angle the blade is held at, I doubt an R41 would manage the transition smoothly.

Reminds me of a guy on YouTube, Shave326 who for a while was pushing this idea of “stroke range”, which was about how some razors work best using short strokes while with others you could do longer strokes. It was like ‘fetch’, it never caught on.

He’s gone from YouTube now, by the way. I thought he was one of the better ones but he has taken down all his shaving videos. There’s probably an interesting and sad story behind that, but we’ll never know.

 

[Guido75]

I've started paying attention to the decibel levels as well. The Athena and the Elite were where I first noticed it. I mean, I've obviously heard the sound of whiskers being cut but those two brought it the front of my mind when I shave now. I'll give the Overlander one or two more shaves using that as a guide before I decide if I'm going to keep it or not.

Wait till you have tried the Razorine Flatboy - that will pop your decibel feedback levels!

Guido

 

[Guido75]

I think I tend to go with Jim in terms of razor options (liking the philosophical discussion / musing that is going on here by the way!!). I am just glad that razor manufacturers bring out one option designs without putting the onus on me in finding out which one might work best. For example I like the Karve CB design very much, but I have no idea which plate I would need to at least match the shaves I am now getting.

And that said, I think earlier in this journal we discussed the topic of different razor categories (Unicorn, Goldilocks, etcetera). I am getting such stellar shaves from my current collection that I am having a harder time deciding which razor to use when in my rotation. For me personally that messes up my state in that if I were to introduce another razor I would actually make shaving less fun because I have too much to choose from (purely for me, YMMV).

Still I enjoy it very much when I read Mr Shavington’s Athena experiences or Jim’s with wonderful photography to boot. And the little me wants them all. Big me wins at the moment with rationale - it may change, I feel more at ease not buying the new kid on the block. But ask me again after next year’s Black Friday!

Guido

 

[Phoenixkh]

Guido, if anything, at the moment, I have too many razors. Mainly because the ones that have risen to the top at this point are so enjoyable to use. It's a nice problem to have, I guess, but I almost have to force myself to try the new ones yet untried..

It's almost enough to make me shave every day.... but ummmm that isn't likely to happen. I want to get two more shaves in with the Green Cult 2.0 before I return to the Lupo trials.... but I think one of the Lupos might get become a regular too. That does make it more work than play so I get exactly what you are saying.

 

[Guido75]

Luckily for me I am a daily shaver, otherwise my individual razors would see a one a month rotation schedule. I think I could do a 3x rotation most months - and still have anxiety about not using the top end pieces (well, piece to be honest) less than I want to. I am considering doing dual shaves every day to compensate.

But as you said that is beginning to look like work!

Guido

 

[Mr. Shavington]

Have any of you ever been accepted into unending servitude by a cat? If you have you will know all about the self-defeating paradox of having ‘better things’. If you feed a cat once with better cat food then you have to buy the better cat food forever after. Once it has tasted the good stuff the cat will go on hunger strike and be fully prepared to die on principle, rather than eat regular cat food ever again. Eventually, through this process of ever increasing expectations, all cats eat only the most expensive wagyu beef and they will never thank you for it because wagyu beef has become a basic entitlement for them. A cat can make you feel terrible, just with the look of betrayal in its eyes, should you ever be heartless enough to offer it unexceptional fillet mignon. They simply forget that they used to be overjoyed with the cheapest tinned cat food.

We are all like this, though. Cats are just more brazen and ruthless about it. Even bacteria have been shown to constantly move around, always searching for better conditions than they currently experience, no matter how beneficial their current conditions are. This drive that all life has to find something better is the force behind our slow but inevitable evolution. We call it ‘happiness’ (which is a release of chemicals into our brains that makes us feel rewarded when we experience something better), and it is why happiness can only ever be a temporary state. It is why the most successful people commonly die young, drug-addled, in misery, because, like Michael Jackson or Elvis or Tiger Woods, they had everything too early in life and there was only decline and disappointment in their futures, relatively speaking.

It’s the same with shaving. Your best ever shave becomes the benchmark that defines future shaving delight or disappointment. When you find a better razor you merely reset your expectations. Hence the drudgery that Kim is now experiencing when testing razors that may not make his top list. I think the best we can do is, unlike the cats, remember the truly bad shaves for as long as we can, so that when we experience a merely good shave we can mitigate our disappointment by consoling ourselves that it could be (and has been) much worse.

Happy Christmas to you all!

 

[Phoenixkh]

As they say.. dogs have masters, cats have staff. Our Siberian cat runs our household, that's for sure. We made the mistake of buying Greenie cat treats for him.... now, whenever we make a trip into the kitchen, he roams in there, jumps up on the kitchen countertop, awaiting his treat.

He eats better than we do... he get salmon for his every day food....

I do feel fortunate to have 5 razors now that are different enough so every shave is unique.... truth be told, I could keep my ESC Claymore Evolution along with those 5 and sell all the others and I'd probably be better off. I do feel I should at least dial them all in over a few shaves each to see if any of them measure up.... then I pause and think: Why?

But that's probably what I will do. Most of them are not that costly. I do have a bit of money tied up in three of the Vintage Gillette British razors as they have their storage boxes and were replated. But it all adds up. I think I'll do the math while I'm thinking about it.

OK... that is sort of shocking.. if I took a 25% hit on the resale and shipping costs, I'd end up clearing around $800 minus the PayPal fees... I don't know if a 25% cost savings would be enough for people to buy a second hand razor.. even if they have never been used or have been used just a couple times.

That would be enough to cover the costs of a Rocnel Sailor if I bought one of the standard models based on 2022 pricing.

Selah: pause and think about that.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

As they say.. dogs have masters, cats have staff. Our Siberian cat runs our household, that's for sure. We made the mistake of buying Greenie cat treats for him.... now, whenever we make a trip into the kitchen, he roams in there, jumps up on the kitchen countertop, awaiting his treat.

He eats better than we do... he get salmon for his every day food....

I do feel fortunate to have 5 razors now that are different enough so every shave is unique.... truth be told, I could keep my ESC Claymore Evolution along with those 5 and sell all the others and I'd probably be better off. I do feel I should at least dial them all in over a few shaves each to see if any of them measure up.... then I pause and think: Why?

But that's probably what I will do. Most of them are not that costly. I do have a bit of money tied up in three of the Vintage Gillette British razors as they have their storage boxes and were replated. But it all adds up. I think I'll do the math while I'm thinking about it.

OK... that is sort of shocking.. if I took a 25% hit on the resale and shipping costs, I'd end up clearing around $800 minus the PayPal fees... I don't know if a 25% cost savings would be enough for people to buy a second hand razor.. even if they have never been used or have been used just a couple times.

That would be enough to cover the costs of a Rocnel Sailor if I bought one of the standard models based on 2022 pricing.

Selah: pause and think about that.

I don’t think the cat would be pleased if you spent it’s salmon money on a Rocnel Sailor.

 

[Eric_75]

Merry Christmas, Kim. Thanks for your friendship, sir!

 

[Phoenixkh]

Merry Christmas to you too, Eric... and to your girlfriend, too. I value your friendship as well.

 

[Eric_75]

Merry Christmas to you too, Eric... and to your girlfriend, too. I value your friendship as well.

Diana says thank you and you need to try her holiday cherry cream cheese bars sometime. Guaranteed to make you gain 3-4 pounds.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Diana says thank you and you need to try her holiday cherry cream cheese bars sometime. Guaranteed to make you gain 3-4 pounds.

Hi, Diana.. nice to meet you.. and I'd love one of your cherry cream cheese bars... You'd love my wife's cheese cake cupcakes... with a cream cheese frosting...

 

[Phoenixkh]

Today's confirmation shave with the GC 2.0

The only change was to the Zenith B33 Boar brush with the 506 Copper handle. What a joy this brush is to use and it isn't even fully broken-in yet.

Second use of the Wizamet Super Iridium. It held up well. I couldn't feel any degradation of the shave.

The GC 2.0 seems to be exactly what I thought it was.... a very nice shave, smooth yet efficient. i don't think I exaggerated at all about the balance. It feels like a fine tool in my hand. I realize, after just two shaves, nothing is definitive but that didn't stop me from placing it in my top 5 razors, each of which provide me with a comfortable, relaxing, interesting and long lasting shave.

 

[Phoenixkh]

Every once in a while, I find something so good it deserves a backup. Yesterday, I ordered another Green Cult 2.0 from Your Shaving. It's already been shipped... so three weeks or so. I only ordered the standard Level 2 base plate. As I've mentioned, I do have the Level 3 plate but I'm not in a rush to try it out....... the level 2 is sufficient to give me an excellent shave.

In that same vein, I asked Theo to put me on his waiting list for the Athena. It's such a unique and wonderful razor, I would like a second one.... when I am no longer on the planet, our two sons won't have to fight over an Athena... they'll each get one.

I think both these razors are worth more than their current prices and I suspect, we'll see significant price increases in the coming years as they gain popularity. This is just one man's opinion, of course. Add to that, you might hate one or both of these razors. Shaving is so subjective, but I have found, a few of us have similar beards and enjoy the feel some razors provide.

 

[Eric_75]

I asked Theo to put me on his waiting list for the Athena. It's such a unique and wonderful razor, I would like a second one....

 

[LRod]

Yesterday, I ordered another Green Cult 2.0 from Your Shaving. It's already been shipped...

I ordered my black 1.1 a couple days ago from YourShaving and it got shipped today too.
The race is on Kim

 

[Phoenixkh]

Nothing to report on the race between Larry and my orders from Your Shaving.

After a lot of hemming and hawing, I've decided to follow Larry's de-acquisition model. After New Year's I'm going to be posting quite a few of my razors on BST. I'm not a collector and I only want to keep razors I'll use on a regular basis. At the moment, and this could change and most probably will, the plan is to sell off my British Vintage Gillettes (two Flat Bottom Techs #77, a NEW Raised Flat Bottom #44, a Rocket HD500), the Blackland Era with the Level 4 SB and OC; Level 5 OC, the R41 along with a RR SLOC head, my extra ESC Claymore Evolution.. that might be it, though I might include two complete RR Lupos and include a pair of base plates with each. I want to try the Merkur 37C HD and the Pearl Flexi and then decide what to do with them.

I'm going to have to decide what I'm taking with me for our 6 weeks in Bali coming up in April/May. I took my Claymore Evo the last time and that worked well.

That will leave me with my top 5: Blutt BR-1 .86 and 1.20, ATT X1 AC Slant, Lambda Athena, Green Cult 2.0 and the Rocnel Elite. I'll still have a few others: the Merkur Progress, Pearl Flexi, Merkur 37C HD, PAA Filament OC Slant, and the Gillette Super Speed birth year 1953 Y2 @luvmysuper PIF'd me a few months ago and of course, I'll keep my two ESC Claymore Evolutions: matte and polished.

 

[Guido75]

I thought the EFBTs were for sons 1 and 2 so they wouldn’t have to fight?

You are definitely bringing some mighty fine razors to BST Kim! And as advance notice to others: these have been replated by BRG!! Exquisite razors therefore!

Guido

 

[Phoenixkh]

I thought the EFBTs were for sons 1 and 2 so they wouldn’t have to fight?

You are definitely bringing some mighty fine razors to BST Kim! And as advance notice to others: these have been replated by BRG!! Exquisite razors therefore!

Guido

Yeah... but now, they'll each have a Lambda Athena...so they'll be good. All three of the Vintage Gillette razors with cases are quite lovely.. since, as you noted, all three were replated by Black Roads Gold... the #444 NEW Raised Bottom is silver plated, the other two mirror nickel. For me, the handles are the problem. Even the fat handles feel unnatural to me. I know I could get Doug to make me a couple but would I end up preferring the shaves to what I'm getting now from my top 5? I think I'd find myself reaching for one of them instead. That's why I decided to thin the herd a bit and only keep what I'll want to use on a regular basis.

 

[LRod]

Nothing to report on the race between Larry and my orders from Your Shaving.

My black GC 1.1 already made it through customs in NY and shows enroute in the USPS system. Should be here in a couple days!
I figured that after Christmas everything would speed up.

I think that's a good plan Kim!
You've tried a bunch and keep what you like!
And you shouldn't have any issues selling the ones you mentioned.
As you said, if the plan isn't to collect, I see no need to keep so much stuff that probably won't ever get used. Me for example, razors aren't my only interest. That means that if I were to keep everything, my house would end up looking like a warehouse, Lol!!