I've been away working a new office job, which has eaten up my time and motivation for doing daily Grandad posts.
Yet I have been enjoying my daily shaves. Last week was the made-in-India Gillette 7 O'clock blade, which I found to be more than adequate, but with a tendency to nip a bit.
I have been shaving with my Lord L.6 razor head with increasing regularity. It is not quite as mild as my Merkur Classic, but I get a closer shave, which I like a lot. With the L.6, I just have to be more careful so it doesn't open weepers or nick on the second and third passes.
This week's blade was the SuperMax Titanium, and today I got the final shave of the week using the Rimei RM2003 razor. This is a blade of which I have a large inventory, and though not the smoothest of my blade cache, it isn't a bad blade, and I got some very good shaves in the second half of the week.
Tomorrow I'm using one of the sample Merkur blades that came with one of my Merkur razors. I avoided using these blades for the longest time because they're kind of pricy to purchase, I have other blades that I think are just fine, and so I thought, what's the point? I believe I've used one of the Merkur blades previously, but off the top of my head I don't remember how I felt about it. I may have written a review on it, but I don't want to take the time to look just now.
I've developed a routine razor rotation lately. Typically on Sunday and Monday, with the first two shaves of the week on the blade, I'll use the Merkur Classic. Tuesday through Thursday are often shaves using the L.6 razor head with the Merkur Classic handle. Then the last couple of shaves of the week are with the RM2003 razor head again with the Merkur Classic handle. This routine allows me to store just the various razor heads in my bathroom cabinet and use the single handle for all.
I have also many times mentioned that I keep the Merkur 15C open-comb razor and handle in the cabinet for use when the back of my head and neck starts to look too raggedy, and I'll shave the hairline and neck using bath soap and water as a shave lubricant.
By the way, if you were one of those who ordered a sample of my shave soap, please email me your comments if possible. I'm trying to decide whether there's sufficient interest for me to offer a three- or four-ounce puck for purchase. If you might like one of the remaining samples, there are just a few still available, and info on that can be found here.
A local antique emporium has a couple of single-edge razors for sale -- a Gem and an Ever-Ready. I was tempted to try the brass Ever-Ready (the Gem looked to have a bent guard comb), but took a pass for now because the blades are available in only limited variety, are more expensive than DE blades, and the razor is probably too aggressive to be right for my face. But it was quite a temptation; RAD is still an issue against which I continue to struggle. For now, another bullet dodged.
That's it for now. Happy shaving!
Oh, I know, I'm staving off that RAD myself. Perhaps more leaning toward the modern SEs, which make $2.99/10 supermarket SE blades look like a bargain. I did it by filing a flat bevel into the top cap of an inexpensive Super Speed clone and removing most of its safety bar, leaving the blade corners protected. This simulates the SE geometry somewhat, albeit without satisfying any curiosity about the blades themselves.
ReplyDeleteI found that modification relatively unforgiving at moderate angles of pitch, compared to snapping the guard off a Rimei. The curved DE top cap does more to differentiate the angles at which the blade opposes skin and hair. I infer that SE blades, like straight razors, aren't anywhere near as sharp. I enjoy a nice tug-and-cut once in awhile, but I think as a regular reader, I think I can deduce pretty well that you don't.