I was using a Personna Super blade, the sharp, PTFE-coated blade, the so-called lab-blue blade. I have recently concluded that this blade is actually just a touch too sharp to be ideal for my beard and under-lying skin. Yet I've got a large inventory and might as well learn to optimize its shaves.
So this intention led me back to my closeted razor inventory -- the razors that I don't use often enough to keep at hand in the bathroom. My mild-shaving Weishi 9306-F had been relegated there in my belief that it was just too mild to give the closeness of shave to which I aspire.
However, the afore-mentioned rough shave had opened a few weepers that, for one reason or another, I kept re-opening. So as I continued to shave with the lab-blue blade (which is my previously-proclaimed policy of shaving with one brand and model of blade until I completely understand it's performance in all my razors), I rotated through milder-shaving razors and razor settings, but most often a lapse in my concentration would cause me to aggravate those previous wounds. Then I remembered my Weishi.
The Weishi 9306-F razor is a one-piece design, fashioned in the tradition of the old Gillette Super Speed razors. It is hefty at about 57 grams, and appears to be well made. When one gets beyond the insular preconceptions about all Chinese razors being low quality (which obviously isn't true), the knock on this razor is its exceptionally mild shaving character.
It is mild. Yet that is a two-edged sword, so to speak. On one hand, it takes some focus to get an exceptionally-close shave, but on the other hand, it is a face-friendly design.
The bottom line is that my shave with the 9306-F, paired with the Personna Super blade, was both pretty darned close and comfortable. To achieve this, I did vary my usual process.
On most days, I do a regional-shave process. That is, I only lather with the brush a single time, and then shave my beard in discreet sub regions, shaving each sub region to completion before moving on to the next region. As I shave each sub region, I will add water as necessary with my free (non-razor) hand, which I think is the most important aspect of this process: having sufficient moisture. Also with this regional approach, I don't rinse the razor until the shave is done. Instead I will swipe used lather from the underside of the razor and re-apply it as necessary to the sub region being shaved.
With the Weishi 9306-F, I used this same process, but then added to it. After the completion of the regional shave, I rinsed with water, re-lathered using residual lather in the brush, and did an additional against-grain final pass.
As I wrote earlier, the result was as close as I normally achieve, but with less risk and minimal irritation and re-opening of previous wounds.
I actually enjoyed this shave so much, that my 9306-F has been given a new home in the bathroom because I've recognized its value when I'm using a blade that, with other razors, might be too harsh for my skin.
So if you're like me in that you may have some blades that are too harsh or likely to wound despite your best effort, you might give the Weishi 9306-F a try. It comes in regular and long-handled versions. The first three links below are the standard design. The last link is the long-handled version.
Happy shaving!
Sharp blades in mild razors works very well for me. My whiskers go from course on the chin to light and super sensitive on the neck. I've been using the Weishi for almost three months and have found that a sharp blade in a mild razor works exceptionally well for me.
ReplyDeleteI recently purchased a Maggard MR1 razor which, in my opinion, is a little more aggressive than an Edwin Jagger. It is a well built razor, but my skin could not take the aggressiveness and suffered from weepers and very bad razor burn for several days. It took the Weishi with a Voskhod and several passable shaves with my VDH/Cremo Cream mixture to get over it. I'll have to rethink the Maggard razor before I use it again.
For me, the Weishi or the Merkur 33c with a Personna Red or Gillette Silver Blue with a very slick soap or cream works the best.
The Weishi is an odd bird, with the low exposure of a typical anchor style razor, and the precise handling of a Tech. It is kind of perfect that way, extra safe -- IF you have learned to sense the stratum corneum. I think the blade choice is going to come down to the soap. If the skin isn't holding any tension, because you blasted it with moisturizer, it will take a sharper blade to cut close.
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly how I've played it, too, most of the time that I've owned it.
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