This week's blade: Personna Super, blue wrapper. Sharp, durable, and, due to the coating, smooth. Also USA made and environmentally-friendly minimal packaging. |
As I did last week, all shaves this week were with my minimalist beard preparation. That is, pre-shave prep was limited to splashes of cool water on my beard, cool water brush soak, Arko shave stick (mostly), and a cool-tap-water shave.
With my favorite razors and handles, I continue to believe that razor weight is relatively unimportant. The 15C open-comb razor is excellent for trimming the hair line above the back of neck and the back of the neck itself between haircuts; the 15C's unlimited capacity is superb for this task. The USA-made Personna Super (blue) blade is a consistent performer: sharp for cutting tough beards -- even with a mild razor -- and nicely coated for lower irritation. The Arko shave stick continues to impress, and the Ivory-soap smell (that I like but some don't) is milder with time. The Palmolive shave stick can provide the same result, but requires a heavier initial application of soap. This makes the Arko a much better value in terms of cost per shave.
Sunday:
Frankenrazor II: Merkur 33C head mated with the Maggard MR3B "big-boy" handle. The handle alone weighs 63 grams. |
Monday:
This day's shave was with the Personna blade, second use, in the Merkur 15C (open comb) head, with the "big-boy" heavy-weight handle. Used the standard, three-pass shave (WG, CG, AG), but the third pass was fussy, with lots of buffing. All the fussing irritated my skin a bit, so post shave, I used the alum block and some after-shave gel. Shave was very close but just not quite completely baby smooth.
Tuesday:
Stock Merkur 15C, same Astra [CORRECTION: Personna] blade, Arko soap, and three passes. Today was a no-fuss shave, with no buffing. A good-looking shave, but not as close as yesterday; feels smooth with grain and cross grain. Used a touch on styptic on a couple of weepers that I keep re-opening due to carelessness. Then a splash of witch hazel followed by Nivea brand balm for sensitive skin. Had an idea worth sharing about shaving patterns with an open-comb razor being different than with a straight bar, about which I'll write an article soon.
The small blade reveal on the 15C, most importantly combined with the limited blade exposure makes this razor very face friendly, while the open comb offers almost unlimited capacity. |
Used Frankenrazor II (the 33C head on the MR3B "big-boy" handle), the same Personna blade as the other shaves this week, but used Palmolive shave stick today instead of Arko. To my wet beard, I apply the Palmolive more heavily than the Arko to get the same results. The shave prep was minimalist, and after a two-and-a-half pass shave (WG, AG, buffing CG -- no, that's not a typo: I shaved against grain for the second pass and finished buffing cross grain) using mostly oblique strokes, got my typical very close result. Used a touch of styptic on a couple of weepers, but initially no other after-shave products. About an hour after the shave, applied face moisturizer with sunscreen. A pleasure to run my hand over my face this morning.
Friday:
The 15C with the factory handle. |
Saturday:
The Merkur 15C head paired with the "big-boy" MR3B handle finished the week's shaves using the week's Personna blade as well. Instead of Arko soap, I used my newest prototype shave soap, SS#10B, which was a bit of a disappointment; didn't have the expected qualities. A three-pass shave with lots of J-hooking strokes in the second and third pass. Irritation and weepers this morning, so I used the alum block and some after-shave balm. Close shave spoiled by irritation, but don't know whether the irritation is from the shave soap or the week-old blade having fully lost its coating; I will explore this issue next week. Discovered a new use for the open-comb razor, which is trimming the back of the neck and hairline between haircuts.
Happy shaving!
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