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Razor: Parker SR1 with Personna Med Lab Brush: daVinci 293 Soap: Tabac A/S: Captain's Choice Bay Rum # of passes: 2.5 (WTG/XTG/ATG on neck) Method of lather: face Quality of lather: slick Result: DFS/BBS Irritation: 4/10 I was inspired by Shave_Rat to acquire a shavette. Now I'm blown away by his efforts to shave twice a day with one. Today was my first shavette shave. For starters, the Parker SR1 is kind of a piece of crap. The "blade" isn't centered on the scales, the monkey tail is more of a fin and catches on the scales, and in general tolerances seem to have been measured in inches. For $20 I expected a bit more, but it does the job. First pass was interesting. On the right side of my face (N-S, using right hand), I felt like I wasn't cutting much hair, and the lather confirmed this (side question: If you are a "wiper" with your straight, do you wipe or rinse your shavette? I wiped, but felt like rinsing might have been a better idea, as there seems to be some build-up of lather at the base of the blade holder). When I switched to the left side (N-S, using left hand), I got a nice close shave with plenty of stubble in the lather. The XTG pass (in which I use the right hand on the left side and the left hand on the right) more or less equalized the shaves. I had noticed a milder version of this from time to time with the regular straights, so I wonder if this is an artifact of adjusting to the new geometry, which will go away, or if this is just a build issue and the shavette is asymmetrical. Perhaps the next shave or two will tell. In general I found myself doing more work (more strokes, more relathering) with the shavette than with my wedges, but the real difference was at the chin and neck. Whereas I usually have something between CCS and DFS on my neck by the end of the XTG pass with a straight, I was barely at SAS with the shavette -- the "soul patch" under my chin that I wore for the first few weeks of shaving was back, and my neck still felt stubbly. I knew I wasn't going to be able to tolerate that, so I flipped the blade around and went ATG on my neck. I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the ATG went. It wasn't a perfect pass, but it gave me BBS on most of my neck. The alum had a field day, and I attribute that to the additional strokes I took with the shavette. Interestingly, the ATG strokes do not seem to have produced more irritation than the other strokes. I'm curious as to how ATG would go with a real straight. Since straights provide a smoother shave WTG and XTG, it stands to reason the same should be true ATG. On the other hand, I can't help but feel that the sharper DE blade plays a role here and that ATG with the straight may be more challenging. Well, only one way to find out... I'm inclined to continue on with the shavette for a few days, especially since I'm traveling on Monday and can bring the shavette instead of a DE. |
Razor: Parker SR1 with Polsilver SI (1) Brush: daVinci 293 Soap: Seagrapes Studio Lemongrass & Lavender "reject" sample A/S: Captain's Choice Lime # of passes: 3 (WTG/XTG/ATG) Method of lather: face Quality of lather: slick, cushiony perfection Result: BBS Irritation: 3/10 Better. The Polsilver SI is maybe my favorite DE blade, and I think I've dialed in the technique on this thing a bit more (still had a crazy differential between right and left on the WTG pass), but the big surprise today was the soap! I won a small sample of the Seagrapes soap in a PIF. Apparently, this batch of the soap had way too much lemongrass in it, so they didn't sell it. That was a good move, as the stuff smells exactly like Froot Loops. Not necessarily a bad smell, but not what I want my face to smell like. I was a bit nervous about the soap at first. It came grated in a zip-loc, and I pressed it into the bottom of a small tin. Usually, when I load my brush I get to a point where the soap gets thicker and starts to resist the brush a bit, and that's about when I stop loading. That never happened here, so I just kept swirling and swirling. It seemed like I was just pushing some wet protolather around the top of the soap. Finally I gave up and brought the brush to my face. Bing, bam, boom--instant slickness. With no effort at all, my face was coated in slick lather that stayed "fresh" throughout each pass. There was plenty of soap for three passes and some touch-up. On the assumption that the stuff they sell smells better, I'm definitely going to pick up a tin or two of Seagrapes Studio soap. Shaving with the Parker reminds me of shaving with a DE--spending too much time chasing BBS, ending up with a face that feels smooth but slightly punished. For some reason with straights I don't have the same compulsion to obliterate every single hair, I prefer the way my face feels after (even when there is a bit more growth), and I love the experience of shaving with that particular tool. I'm getting really, really close to getting rid of all my DEs so I can try more straights. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat a bowl of sugary cereal. |
I have a Fromm hair shaper, like a Weck, I got PIF'ed to me by Otto76 I was going to put up a PIF thread once I got done with crazy birthday party travel, but I could send it off to you with 4 blades if you want to give it a try. Only caveat is if you hate it since it was a PIF to me send it back to me or PIF it onward to someone else. I found the shave smooth enough from the blades, but the shank and tang were too short for my sausage fingers. You might like it, let me know if you want me to send it on.
I completely understand. I'm going to put the PIF up this week, if you want to enter feel free, I just thought I would offer to the straight razor regulars first. Now to see if I can lure in a straight razor newbie.Thanks, I think I'm probably all set for shavettes, though. I'm eager to get back to the real thing.
That's not a bad custom title...I like metaphysics with my cereal.
I've had my share of those kinds of days. All you can do is regroup, sand the strop, practice with the croap, and move forward.