This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
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Nov 9, 2024 - Travel Shave Day 1
Autumn Glory is a good one, did you buy a full tub?
I agree 💯
I did, and the matching aftershave.
Nice. I don't feel like I can justify another full set from Stirling right now, but this is toward the top of my list for sure.
November 9, 2024
Brush: Wald Stratos Haunter 29mm A1
Blade Holder: Rex Supply Co. Envoy
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (4)
Lather: Zingari Man - The Nomad - Soap
Aftershave: Zingari Man - The Nomad - Aftershave
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
The Bay Rum scent of The Nomad was a great way to start my morning. I like Bay Rum scents. The touch of lime in this one is a great addition.
Saturday, November 9, 2024
The stank of Blue Mediterranean does not pair well with the dark, but decidedly unstanky Watchman. And very nice shave with the Star, always a win.
Have a good evening!
Santa Claus vibes in casa djundjila this Saturday morning with ~~ginger bread and mandarine oranges~~ Seaforth! Spiced. So nice.
The ginormeous soft pillow that is the Moar Badger is wonderful to use. Warm, soft, a splay that covers half my face, what's not to love? Der Schick ist auch sehr schick.
Saturday, November 09, 2024: FLS Sample Saturday
A couple weepers on my jawline this morning. I think I flew a bit too close to the sun.
Bonafide is a pleasant scent, but not quite as strong as I tend to prefer. At this point in my journey, I want my soap to punch me in the damn face with fragrance. This, though very nice, was not that.
I enjoyed the combo of Skin Bracer and Fougère Angelique. It's a pity Mennen won't be making Skin Bracer anymore, I quite like it for a cheap aftershave.
Off to do all of the laundry. Have a great Saturday y'all.
November 9, 2024
I'm using the same soap while traveling, which lends itself to little mini experiments.
Today was "would it work to load a bit of soap for each pass instead of doing one big load"?
The answer is yes. I'm of the opinion that's how people did it in the old days, and that's based solely on my experience using modern Williams Mug Soap... Hardly a good reason to come to this conclusion, but Williams works well with this technique.
That's my technique with boars. I load a little for every pass.
Part of the reason I tried it was for speed. It seemed to go faster than dialing in a proper load.
This makes a lot of sense, I'm going to try it out tonight.
09.11.2024 - Face Shave test
Just a two pass face shave around the 'stache and patch. Rather rough shave, a good amount of weepers and some red areas on the neck. Guess that blade's over its limits.
Was kinda refreshing to shave my face again after such a long time, but it shows that I am not used to this anymore. My face also seems to prefer mild and smooth razors, which the Hawk V2 is definitely not. Blu Tobacco was not to blame, it's a very good hard soap that makes me miss menthol cigarettes.
The good thing is, in contrast to head shaving, shaving my face is not a "must do" but rather "can do" for me. Due to the moustache style and my very visible beard shadow, it actually still looks well groomed even with a few days of stubble - I only need to trim the neck and it even looks intentional. Judging by today's IKEA visit and most guys I saw there, I'm definitely not looking like a bum with stubble. But I enjoy shaving around the moustache the most, as it works even better than a zero gap trimmer for getting crisp contours - an oddly satisfying thing to me. I like to spice things up from time to time, so I'm grateful for having that variability/versatility now again.
I've been considering picking up a SE razor. Do you prefer them to DE?
I adore SE razors, but the downside to them is very little variation in blade types they offer. For example, vintage GEM razors are really great IMHO - but the only great GEM blade for actual shaving are Personna GEM PTFE blades. When it comes to AC blades, I prefer the guarded ones by KAI and Feather - but then again, those two japanese manufacturers are the only two I know of who produce AC blades at all. The Leaf Thorn I own uses half DE blades and it's a good razor, but a bit expensive for the quality of its material (zinc alloy, so don't drop it too often).
My recommendation for a beginner SE razor would be a vintage GEM Star, Flying Wing or Ever-Ready 1912. Note that GEM razors are notoriously difficult for shaving your upper lip though - as I wear a stache I won't be able to help there, but @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social should have some tips.
Thanks for the ping!
There are too many categories of SE razors to make a blanket statement IMO.
Many SE designs have blade stops which makes their design fundamentally superior to DE designs for reasons I wrote up a few years ago here
So if you have a vintage GEM or an Injector razor with blade stops, those have an absolutely consistent geometry and exposure regardless of the blade you use. This doesn't mean that you'll like the geometry, but if you do, it'll be super consistent.
Modern GEM designs are all trash IMO. They follow DE designs and misuse them with the wonderful GEM blade meant to be pressed against blade stops. The problem is not that they are produced shoddily (The ones I've tried are very well made) but the blade exposure depends on the manufacturing tolerances of the blade when it doesn't need to.
With AC razors, if you scour the forums, you'll find people recommending to avoid certain brands of blades for certain razors because "they don't fit well" like you can't get them in because the little holes don't have just quite the right size. To me that is an obvious red flag for their design. They could be designed like Injectors where the clamp presses the blade against the blade stop and they'd be great.
All that being said, manufacturing tolerances for AC and GEM blades seem quite good, so in practice even those lazy designs can shave well, even if the former mechanical engineering lecturer in me would have failed them in a design exam.
Vintage GEM razors and Injectors are a fantastic and very affordable entry point into the SE rabbit hole. I'd be happy to give recommendations, and I can also lend you some of the highlights.
Maybe start with the Clog-Pruf, because @merikus@sub.wetshaving.social's wisdom:
@snooting@sub.wetshaving.social , I definitely second the recommendation of a vintage Schick injector razor - they are the most similar to a cartridge razor and you should be able to find them in pretty good condition on the used market. Schick injector blades should be available at Maggards or eBay. Just a heads up, their chrome plating is very prone to flaking if you use aggressive cleaners - mine now look vintage AF™
I think I like the idea of starting with a Clog Pruf, but I'll keep my eyes open for a deal on either.
Have fun diving into vintage razor hunting and get both. That's the spirit 😉
This is super helpful, thank you.
November 9, 2024
Brush: Wald Nimbus Chryselephantine 29mm A1 Fan
Blade Holder: Edwin Jagger 3One6 Grooved Blue
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (5)
Lather: Zingari Man - The Master - Soap
Aftershave: Zingari Man - The Master - Aftershave
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
Great scent by Shawn Maher. This made for an enjoyable second luxury shave. These Recovery Splashes are perfect for BBS November.
I hadn't shaved for maybe 2 or 3 weeks. The scruff under my chin was actually starting to irritate me to the point I was having a hard time falling asleep. So I put a fresh blade in the Game Changer and in two passes feel like a new man. This is my first shave using something other than my Stainless Blackland Blackbird in a hell of a long time. The GC really does punch well above it's weight.
I bought a Game Changer on r/shave_bazaar last week and will hopefully have it in hand sometime this week.
I got the .68 and .76 plates, really looking forward to giving it a spin!
I blind purchased mine at SMS's suggestion, and don't regret it at all. I borrowed a Blackland Blackbird after AA 2023 and knew I had to have one. I've shaved with virtually nothing else since. The GC is different, and I'm glad I used it again.
The Blackbird also looks like a great razor. Maybe one day.
The scruff under my chin was actually starting to irritate me to the point I was having a hard time falling asleep.
I remember that feeling from when Djunior was two weeks old and I hadn't shaved in that long
Also Almond Leather ++;
I recently saw Cheshire be called a variant of Seville or something to that effect. I was a bit taken aback reading it, but now I can't unsmell the similarities.
Saturday, November 09, 2024: SLS - Sample Saturday
I can't tell if it's this brush or the SW base, but I definitely felt some burn while lathering this evening.
I hope it's not the base. I really love many of SW's scents.