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| Today's opening act: the fearsome Merkur 37C slant- bar razor. |
Despite the capability of the 37C, today's shave wasn't much different than previous days: comfortable, close, no wounds. It was, perhaps, a little less close on my lower neck, where I was probably extra careful on the first pass.
In sum, however, I think I've found the optimal formula for a great shave on my mug, which is the following:
- A moderate (not mild, but certainly not uber aggressive) razor for the first pass
- First pass made primarily with grain (vertical strokes keep things simple but still largely with grain)
- A very mild razor -- the Weishi 9306-F being my best option -- as a finishing razor for the second pas
- Second pass primarily against grain: strokes still largely vertical, but in the opposite direction from the first pass
- Touch-up strokes with the finishing razor as necessary after the second pass
After the shave, I now routinely include stropping my dry blade on my lightly-oiled palm as part of my blade care. I believe this definitely aids in significantly increasing blade longevity as well as likely increasing blade comfort over the life of the blade.
Today was my 18th shave with the Personna red-label blade, and there's still no apparent impending end in view. This blade longevity harkens back to the claims made by Gillette with their original razor-and-blade offering, which suggested exceptional functional longevity of their blades.
Happy shaving! (Mine certainly was.)
Now you're starting to make sense to me. There are too many geometric variables for me to affirm the moderate-then-mild formula, but when you put it this way... the slant is a beard-reduction machine, by all accounts, and the Weishi is the maintanance champ.
ReplyDeleteThere is another approach, though, exemplified by the half-sider DEvette, i.e., a Tech or Yuma with all or most of one of its safety bars removed. You can do the reduction quickly with the guarded side, then use your best strokes with the exposed edge. You just need more exposure to get really close at the low angle than most razors offer.
My mind's eye takes a pilot seat in the gap of the razor, looking out the window to see if the runway to the base of the hair is free of obstruction. Could be a hair from another runway, could be the last pass didn't finish enough. Those hair tops need to be eliminated, ideally in one pass.
I forgot to put the shims back in my Rimei yesterday, and couldn't figure out why the blade, which seemed sharp, was missing hairs under my jaw and around my mouth. What I ended up with was still a good shave, but it took three-and-a-half passes, which I think fairly represents the mistaken, commonly accepted version of your "standard." Shall we call that, "nouveau traditional"?