Nothing New but the Blades

Phbbbbbbbb! Another forum bites it: "Classic Shaving" was conspicuously absent from my G+ "communities" this morning. I can see my recent posts are still there. Maybe I didn't get banned... this time. I fear Google may be going the way of Yahoo, with their recent update. I would offer this simple distinction to web developers. Data mining: useful to client. Search function: useful to user. So to streamline, get rid of "suggestions." Almighty thought controllers, or one advertisement insertion away from obsolescence: to which reality will you subscribe?

The last senile wart on my temple is gone, after a long period of shrinking circumferentially. One on my arm went that way, too. One on my cheek and one on my arm are resisting, by remaining low and fleshy. At least those are invisible. I usually just use shaving oil now, instead of the supplement from the fridge, and I'm not very consistent about it.

I don't usually shop at CVS, because things are pretty expensive there, but it's a treat to get away from the bustling crowd sometimes. I had a 20% coupon from my flu shot, so I threw some SE blades in my bag. Yeah, the good ones, from American Safety Razor Co., are nothing like the crap Hannaford's was selling. What I failed to gather from schematics at Ted Pella is that the 3-facet edges are twice as deep, from the apex. So it's basically ground thin before the two facets that actually cut hair are created. The structural integrity relative to DE just comes from sort of an "A" frame support, not absolute thickness.

With these blades, I can now enjoy the GEM Micro-matic properly. It shaves completely silently when I start (because I'm doing it right, at a low angle). Only ATG does the bias make things a little dicey. No miraculous BBS here, but my face does seem to like it. The alum didn't sting. We'll just have to see how much NMF I have left tomorrow, and I thnk the stubble is rather pointed. I did not use my new method with the GEM.

I tried recreating the "Perfect Shave" yesterday, with a sharp blade and no bentonite, either as an additive, post- or preshave. Great shave,  but I didn't get great closeness, especially under the ipsilateral jawline near the chin. The GEM did that area clean today. But I can feel it's slightly sore, too. Given a choice, I'd rather have the stubble.

These recent shaves make me appreciate stories of barbers who achieve very close shaves, despite changing the blade for each customer. I guess I know why they go with the Derby.