Ok, folks, here is the shave-off you didn't necessarily need, but I did, so I'm doing it anyway. It is between two of my favorite current DEs. Unfortunately, only one of them is still in production.
The contenders are the following: in this corner, my 0.58 stainless steel Lupo; in the other corner, one of the six configurations that were available with the Occam's DE when it was made. It came with three baseplate and two caps. I don't know which were supposed to be more aggressive, etc, but it turns out that the baseplate with the wide lather holes coupled with the smooth top cap is my favorite (yes, the razor also came with a top cap that had a ridge like a Rhodesian ridgeback, said to be to help beginners find and maintain a proper angle).
I like to make my shave-offs as fair as possible. I don't have two identical handles so I picked two that have approximately the same weight. For tonight's shave I got two fresh Polsilvers from the same pack. I loaded up the razors, lathered up some Stone Cottage Soapworks cream, and set to work. For this first shave, I used the Lupo on the left side of my face and the Occam's for the right. This will be reversed for the second shave, and then the handles will be swapped for the last two shaves.
I made a nice lather and got started. Right off the bat the Lupo had a fair amount of blade feel. The Occam's felt smoother. After the first pass, I felt around to see if either side had an advantage and it was fairly even. If anything, it was perhaps slightly closer on the Occam's side.
I lathered up again and did an XTG pass. On this pass, curiously, the difference in blade feel was nil. Both sides were smooth, and feeling the face after two passes showed reduction was equivalent.
I then lathered up for a third pass/clean-up. This went well everywhere. During the rinse I felt one tiny spot of irritation on the Lupo side. Stubble reduction was identical; DFS bilaterally.
I applied an alcohol splash to see if there was any sting. There was only the tiniest amount, and it was equivalent.
The shave looked and felt good. There were no cuts or red spots or weepers. The Lupo is more like a sports car, but I didn't feel that it was any particular advantage during the shave.
Overall, the first shave is close to a tie, but I give the slight advantage to the Occam's because the first pass felt a bit smoother during the shave.
Next round in a couple of days. Here are a couple of pics of the contenders:
The contenders are the following: in this corner, my 0.58 stainless steel Lupo; in the other corner, one of the six configurations that were available with the Occam's DE when it was made. It came with three baseplate and two caps. I don't know which were supposed to be more aggressive, etc, but it turns out that the baseplate with the wide lather holes coupled with the smooth top cap is my favorite (yes, the razor also came with a top cap that had a ridge like a Rhodesian ridgeback, said to be to help beginners find and maintain a proper angle).
I like to make my shave-offs as fair as possible. I don't have two identical handles so I picked two that have approximately the same weight. For tonight's shave I got two fresh Polsilvers from the same pack. I loaded up the razors, lathered up some Stone Cottage Soapworks cream, and set to work. For this first shave, I used the Lupo on the left side of my face and the Occam's for the right. This will be reversed for the second shave, and then the handles will be swapped for the last two shaves.
I made a nice lather and got started. Right off the bat the Lupo had a fair amount of blade feel. The Occam's felt smoother. After the first pass, I felt around to see if either side had an advantage and it was fairly even. If anything, it was perhaps slightly closer on the Occam's side.
I lathered up again and did an XTG pass. On this pass, curiously, the difference in blade feel was nil. Both sides were smooth, and feeling the face after two passes showed reduction was equivalent.
I then lathered up for a third pass/clean-up. This went well everywhere. During the rinse I felt one tiny spot of irritation on the Lupo side. Stubble reduction was identical; DFS bilaterally.
I applied an alcohol splash to see if there was any sting. There was only the tiniest amount, and it was equivalent.
The shave looked and felt good. There were no cuts or red spots or weepers. The Lupo is more like a sports car, but I didn't feel that it was any particular advantage during the shave.
Overall, the first shave is close to a tie, but I give the slight advantage to the Occam's because the first pass felt a bit smoother during the shave.
Next round in a couple of days. Here are a couple of pics of the contenders: