The Journal of a Backwards Professor

[Rosseforp]

Piccolo-Nacet-1
Sunday, May 19, 2019

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Description:One week's worth of growth tonight. The Boss and What the Puck Orange with RO Water. Just wet the tips of the Boss in water for 30 seconds, shook 3 times, 100-100 twirls on the soap then 1 minute in the bowl, then add water slowly. Took my time, about 10 minutes for a Awesome lather. Took another 5 lathering my face for a 1 pass shave, WTG. No irritation. DFS

 

[Rosseforp]

53 Tech_GSB(5)
Wednesday, May 22, 2019

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Description:Williams, the Boss. I wanted to give Williams another try with bottled water. It started out only OK, got more full of air the more water I added. So basically the lather sucked. Even though the lather sucked, the 53 came through with more comfort than the ET with great lather. Same blade........Will use the 53 and GSB(6) tomorrow with WTP and the Boss. Face is like glass with 2 pass. Slight irritation right after the shave, went away. WH stung. Between SAS-DFS.

 

[Rosseforp]

53 Tech-Feather(1)
Monday, May 27, 2019

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Description:The Omega S, WTP Orange. Gonna try the handle Anna has dubbed AJ, 16mm x 89mm x 39 grams. The handle is huge, the size made finding the angle a little tricky. Overall not bad, ATG neck still left stubble. Maybe try Brutus tomorrow........ SAS

 

[Rosseforp]

53 Tech-Feather(3)
Wednesday, May 29, 2019

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Description:Got the Omega 49 Boar today and put it to work with WTP Orange. Great lather, gave the brush a good 3 minute soak and shook it 6-7 times, that is all. The 53 proved why it is my favorite, the shave was about equal to the Prewar, but took half the time, and very comfortable. DFS

 

[Rosseforp]

Prewar Tech/53handle-Feather(4)
Thursday, May 30, 2019

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Description:The Bruce and WTP Orange. Only added water from soap cup. Great Lather! The Bruce really did a nice job, very comfortable and light. The 53 Tech Handle really did make the balance super close, the shave was very nice. Face WTG-XTG. Neck N-S-ATG. Really easy on the neck, but just misses the overall feel of the 53 Tech. WH felt a little tingle, other than that, no irritation. DFS

 

[Rosseforp]

Prewar/53 Tech-Feather(5)
Friday, May 31, 2019

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Description:Today was the run-off, so why not make it difficult. The 49 and Williams........ am learning to let the Williams soak overnight. Got a fast drying lather, but when I rinsed it felt really slick. First pass WTG and N-S with the Prewar. Tugged and dragged and got a weeper. Rinsed, dryed, re-lathered and put the Feather in my 53 Tech and finished the shave. Night and Day. Hands down winner-53 Tech-no question. CCS

 

[Rosseforp]

RR SLOC-BIC(1)
Sunday, June 2, 2019

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Description:Tired and late, wasn't gonna shave, just try the WMS and the Bruce. Got lather, but kept drying out. Used the Brutus Aluminum Handle 32 grams. Handle is too large, but weird, I could hear and feel the whiskers vibrate and ring the handle like a bell. The MWS wasn't working so I rinsed and whipped up a quick WTP Orange and finished the shave. The Brutus doesn't agree with this razor. Still a DFS.

 

[Rosseforp]

RR SLOC-BIC(2)
Monday, June 3, 2019

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Description:Used the Omega 49 and TFS. Will take some work. Lather kept drying, did not feel all that slick. Will use the Boss and WTP tomorrow. The 30gram Ti handle felt ok. Ok, this razor gives an enormous amount of feed back and is loud. I feel it more in the handle than my face. I can feel the blade cutting, but there is little blade feel. ATG is solid. I think maybe the 43gram SS handle tomorrow. The shave was OK, but I seem to feel the combs more than the blade. Efficient, yes. I don't have irritation, but the shave was not quite there.

 

[Rosseforp]

RR SLOC-Feather(2)
Saturday, June 8, 2019

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Description:The Omega 10066 and TFS. Used water sparingly to start with and got a Glorious Lather. The new brush is still scrithchy, but feels real nice when pressed and splayed out. The lather felt so nice I put the Feather in the SLOC and got a pretty nice 1 pass shave. The lather could have use a tad more water. The SLOC definitely needs the extra weight of the 46 gram drilled out Barber Pole handle. Best shave with the SLOC so far. Will use the 50 gram DE1 handle next. SAS

 

[Rosseforp]

RR SLOC-Nacet(2)
Wednesday, June 12, 2019

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Description:Used the Williams/Cremo and Omega 10290, kept the water ratio low, got a very nice creamy usable lather. Dried a little, just needed to wet the razor and got a nice shave. Not Mike's Lime nice, but nice. 1 pass, neck clean as a whistle, not irritation. DFS

 

[Rosseforp]

Piccolo-Nacet(3)
Friday, June 14, 2019

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Description:Tried Arko with the 10066, wet face, rubbed Arko on face, not so much, dipped brush got a little better. Put more Arko on my face, kept adding water. Kinda like really smelly Williams. A PITA, not really comfortable. Got it done shave, glad I used the Piccolo.

 

[Rosseforp]

Chieftain-BIC(4)
Thursday, June 20, 2019

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Description:The 10290 and WTP Orange. Pretty damn good lather! Man this brush has backbone! OK, it has been a while since I last used this razor(4 1/2 months). The BIC has tamed it, never felt like it wanted to bite. Not too bad on the neck, but this razor lacks efficiency in spades. It didn't even touch the "Spot". 2 pass face kinda 2 pass neck. Maybe SAS

 

[Rosseforp]

GC 68-Nacet(7)
Monday, June 24, 2019

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Description:Bruce and WTP Orange. Great lather. This is my new Game Changer 68's first drive, and I figured to use the blade that gave me a good shave yesterday! One look with the blade it sure looks aggressive, but the plastic plate test looks otherwise. I used the 45 gram Ti-500 handle. First impression under my nose, nice and smooth, could feel it cutting my chin hairs without dragging. My neck is sore from the ATG/NSC, but the GC did not irritate. After the 2 pass on my face I got careless and nicked my chin. It almost feels light with the Ti-500 handle...... Pretty Darn Nice first Shave, I can shave with this every day.

 

[Rosseforp]

GC 68-Feather(2)
Wednesday, June 26, 2019

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Description:The 10066 and TFS. Used the fancy bowl. Great lather. I used the 30 gram Ti handle, the balance felt nice. Took my time, kept the lather hydrated. The razor will scrape all the lather away if not careful. I was able to shave right up to my mole and go over it. 2 pass face and neck. The 2nd pass didn't have much to clean up on my face, did another WTG on my neck, most of the time I could not feel the blade. No irritation. DFS

 

[Rosseforp]

GC68-GSB(4)
Tuesday, July 2

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Description:Bruce and WTP Orange. Great Lather! Used the bronze 39 gram handle, the balance felt perfect! 2 pass WTG,XTG face, 2 pass WTG neck. OK, everything came together for this shave. Best shave with the GC68 so far. DFS

 

[Rosseforp]

Straight#4
Monday, July 8

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Description:The 10290 and WTP, great lather. Less tugging than before, spent some time on the Raven must have helped. Slightly re-opened the cut, didn't need even alum to stop it. Got a lot of my neck before I chickened out! No touch-ups at all, the Piccolo was ready....... SAS.

 

[Rosseforp]

Piccolo-GillettePlatinum(6)
Thursday, August 22

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Description:The 49 and August Arko. Took a bit to get it started, then, Damn! Nice! Well, lather is half the fun, the rest is history. 1 pass DFS

 

[Rosseforp]

Zertone #21
Wednesday, August 14

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Description:The 29 and Wilko/Cremo. Need to really soak the brush more. The replacement Zertone came today, in much better shape than the first one. With a strop it cut hair. I spent some time on the Norton then crox and diamond. Passed the HHT, barely. And shaved that way also. Very noisy. For all the trouble, should have been a BBS, but not quite. Definite DFS. WH and AV stung a bit. Didn't use the SLOC.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Hi buddy,

I've just skim read (to be honest) though your opening entries. You seem to be doing a heck of a lot of swapping and changing, and getting rather mixed results. You're also (if I'm reading this right) not a daily shaver, so you're not necessarily getting frequent reinforcement of technique.

This is not a criticism. Far from it. The journey is yours to enjoy how you wish. I just wonder if picking one set up, and sticking with it for a few shaves, might help you discover your own consistencies, which may or may not help you differentiate your own variables, from that of the kit.

 

[Rosseforp]

Hi buddy,

I've just skim read (to be honest) though your opening entries. You seem to be doing a heck of a lot of swapping and changing, and getting rather mixed results. You're also (if I'm reading this right) not a daily shaver, so you're not necessarily getting frequent reinforcement of technique.

This is not a criticism. Far from it. The journey is yours to enjoy how you wish. I just wonder if picking one set up, and sticking with it for a few shaves, might help you discover your own consistencies, which may or may not help you differentiate your own variables, from that of the kit.

Hi @AimlessWanderer ,

First off thank you for taking the time to skim through some of my ramblings. I am actually a daily shaver, although I can usually skip a few days before the wife starts to complain.

You are correct in noting that it appears I change my set-up quite frequently, I do. The entry's that I have been posting however are just a sampling from notes that I have been keeping since I began my wet shaving journey. A lot of these postings are razors that I haven't used in months. Once I stumbled across an NSC, I was sold on open comb razors, with my Piccolo SE being my favorite OC.

One of my other passions is NHRA 1/4 mile Drag Racing. I own a race car and learned early on with that hobby to keep notes, as I made a lot of changes to the vehicle to make it competitive. That type of racing requires exacting consistency if you actually want to win races. And I have won a few. After 20 years of getting my butt kicked, I learned how to jump into other people's race cars and win races with them also.

I am applying those same techniques in my journey to have the most comfortable shaves along with a little excitement along the way. Of course, no one likes to have a raw face from crummy blades, poorly engineered razors, or even bad lathering technique.
Making mistakes along the way is all part of the process, as are those days after a really fantastic shave. Sometimes my best shaves have come completely unexpectedly.

I do have a rotation of 4 DE's out of the 20 I have, but I decided this month as part of my journey to revisit some of the razors that didn't give me the results I was looking for as I was forming muscle memory. Just last night I used my English Tech that I had only used a few times with mixed results, and got a fantastic BBS.

My technique has recently improved to where I can usually pick up any of my razors and find the angle it needs with a few strokes. And blades that gave me 2 shaves are now giving me 20 shaves.......

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the help of all of you here at B&B!

prof