Beards Suck

Sorry, Santa!

I wasn't noticing any change in baseline comfort, once the itching passed. I was noticing a cheesy smell, despite lining well under my nose, regular washing and even fasting (not that I'm a sloppy eater). It wasn't bad looking, until it started getting a bit ahead of the hair on my head with respect to volume, due to scruffiness. So when my wife reminded me of a party coming up, that was it! Ripped it off with the 41c and a fairly dull Cloud blade, then shaved lightly with the Tech and a fresh Personna. I'm really determined not to overshave, expecting zero support from the skin, but I did graze bottom slightly in the trench around my chin with my first WTG pass. Nothing bleeding, nothing that won't heal well by tomorrow -- just enough to spoil the milky white.

About Fasting

Believe me: I'm no health nut. But ever since discovering the fermented tea beverage, kombucha, strange things have been happening. I do believe I pickled myself! Muscle tone and endurance improved; furthermore, I felt compelled to exercise. But then winter came, and I no longer had a good place to run... well, that, and running is f--ing brutal on someone carrying as much weight and as many years as me. I was starting to turn a corner, from "old man strength" to knotty old tree.

Then I hit upon this documentary,

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=t1b08X-GvRs

mentioning that after three days' fast (according to the Russians) one's body experiences an "acidosis crisis." Cool -- just the back-tracking I need! Even on the face of it, it makes perfect sense that not eating would be the alternative to exercise. Though kombucha is highly acidic, kind of a tea vinegar beer soda, metabolizing it leaves you alkalized. And I know firsthand, from the epithelial effects of baking soda in water, that this very well accounts for my excessive toughness.

Actually, the resonance goes all the way back to a preceding hobby, the high lime content of my local water making for excellent jelly and pickles. Excess sugar doubtless had a role in my condition -- I'm a fiend when it comes to sweets. Fasting is all about fixing that.

I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to wait three days for my muscles to relax, after I stopped eating. That was noticeable on the first day. Turns out, a lot of people just eat one meal a day for this reason, which they call "intermittent fasting." I was somewhere in between that and "water fasting," because I rewarded myself with a pint of kombucha (I'm guessing less than 50 calories) at the end of each day, but didn't eat for 5 days on end. I also allowed myself the traditional salt sustenance and appetite suppression of soup broth and coffee.

By now you should know, I'm always going to let intuition guide me over any advice, good or bad. Well, it is much more comfortable for me, to have nothing in your gut, than to be sending a large meal down the pipe, followed by a day of churning. My first day sucked the worst, by far. I was full of energy on the second day, working on glycogen stores in my liver. On the third day I learned I needed some potassium to balance as the sodium in my broth, and used it to get over some inflammation deep in the center of my head. Fourth day was merely (!) a mental challenge, as I had to take my family through the McDonald's drive-thru without partaking -- and my wife didn't eat hers for an hour, which was pure torture.

By the fifth day, I had it dicked. I've quit smoking and drinking before, after all. It was down to little pangs of temptation, the unguarded moment. But I'm not trying to quit eating altogether! Nor do I have any real problems, like the patients of the Siberian or German clinics on their 3-week program, under medical supervision. Five was plenty. Pancakes and bacon started my sixth day.

I wish I could send my wife to Germany. The medical establishment has its claws into her deep, with diabetes and cancer medicine. I say "metabolic syndrome" to our doctor regarding her and my chubby son, and get no reaction. We went to an endocrinologist for her diabetes, at my insistence. Nope, same shit: take pills, wait for the inevitable decline. We will "monitor."

Don't know why I'm telling you all this. It's one of those things you can only teach by example, and experiential learning does the rest. We used to do this in boarding school, which immunized me against modern medical ignorance. Just a couple of days, with juice. (I was skinny then.)

This time, I was just beginning to get acquainted with my appetite for salt, and from that, moving forward, I'll be benefitting from more soup and salad consumption, and morning coffee on the regular. There was more I could learn, and there's definitely more fat pad to lose from my belly, so it's something I certainly will try again, perhaps in the doldrums of February.

The Itching!

Although my Xmas beard seems to be growing fairly well directed away from the skin, rather than curling back into it, I've experienced some terrible scratching sensation this week. Stroking seemed to drive the root into nerve endings like little thorns. Or maybe it's a lever action, splitting that layer of the epidermis. Anyway, it seems that the new wave of epithelium, unaffected by shaving, has surfaced to a depth that interacts with the hair follicles.

In response, rather than dabbing a little lather on my cheeks and neck, I brought out the No. 6 brush, Pre de Provence No. 63, and gave my whole beard a good scrub. As I've previously noted, itching is the result of over-expansion of deep tissue, relative to the surface. Glycerin swells the outer crust to match. I think I'm through the worst of it, now.

Locking in my soap choices

Regardless, PdP No. 63 had to be cut out of the ceramic dish near my sink, and Fine Green Vetiver chopped to take in its place. When I tried the old knuckle maneuver, Fine just flaked apart like fudge (very, very hard fudge), so I figured I'd save my digits the pain. It pressed quite well into its new home, though; even bettter than the PdP went back into its old tin.

A home was conveniently provided for WTP Lime Burst by the manufacturer. I just pressed with thumbs near the edge to widen the puck tight to the wall of the container.

With triple-milled soap especially, it's a lot more satisfactory to have a vessel containing the water that isn't initially thick enough to be drawn into the brush, as you gently stir to dissolve soap. To do it with Williams requires a tiny cup, which may leave you rattling your brush handle. Might as well use your hand. A container filled to the rim is easily spilled, and no good for running the liquid out of the brush for further concentration. Half-filled containers are just right.

What The Puck?! I'm Getting Old

Ah, sweet olfactory relief! Anticipation was killing me. The Black Friday sale at Italian Barber allowed me to get some soaps I've been curious about, and restock the Sensitive Skin varieties I've already grown to love.

I'll be testing them on my cheeckbones and neck, because I've decided to do the opposite of Mo' Shave November, and grow a beard for Xmas. The beard's eventual removal might leave me soft and vulnerable to nicks on my chin, but I want to see if I can thicken the stratum corneum, for better texture, by letting the skin replace its cells under zero stress. Then, I will severely restrict the glycerin from soap, as outlined in the previous post. A moon face will brighten my New Year, as sure as the bald spot reorganizing on my crown. Though it feels almost as velvety as the rest of my head, and I'm not giving up, I can easily see the lack of density.

Fine Green Vetiver

I don't know anything about vetiver -- I read that it's a fragrant grass, but who knows what other fragrances are in this soap. It's an integral accord, with an odor I would describe as archetypal. I can't directly recall any personal contact with this scent, yet it is exactly what I would expect fancy soap to smell like. A decidedly soapy smell. To pair it with a visual form, this is what I would expect the shaving soap from Vermont Country Store to smell like. I don't feel like I have to seek out De Vergulde Hand anymore, either. (Do comment with comparisons, if you happen to own either.)

The lather doesn't invoke the same chemical magic as Tabac, which once again seems accidentally related to that soap's relatively controversial fragrance. But Fine is technically enhanced somehow. This stuff lathers into shaving cream, pure and simple. Man, if this had been my first soap, what a snob I would have become! You really can't see the bubbles, and there is no working up to it, either. Performance overall, I won't really know until I can pull a stroke longer than an inch. But it protected my neck well enough from a dull Cloud blade today, and was significantly gentler to my skin than Art of Shaving Sandalwood.

Which reminds me of my visit to AoS, and my impression of their Vetiver Citron cologne: "too refined for me." This soap is not. It's every bit as subdued, but it doesn't try to distinguish itself in any way. Definitely unisex. A rich man's Williams? There is no need to consider pairing with aftershave, unless you WANT to smell like soap, as this will duck out of the way, whatever you wear. I tried to dilute Eau De Quinine to where it could synergize, and still lost it. Fine Green Vetiver denies the reality of other, more exciting shaving soaps and just expects you to forsake them as false. As if it came from a time when no other shaving soaps existed, or God's own bathroom.

What the Puck?! It's Shaving Soap!

But other soaps do exist, and three very new, fresh ones were included in this order. From Fine Green Vetiver, up in God's bathroom, I came down to Earth with Razorock Lime Burst, a scent that can only be described as the best lime candy you never had.

This is just sniffing the puck, mind you. I'm actually afraid of this soap, unsure of what glycerin's position in the ingredient list, and the strong fragrance, means for my skin. "Triple milled"? A well-homogenized soap it is, but suspiciously, slightly translucent. Like candles I might not want to light. I'm really putting my faith in Italy, because it looks like Italian Barber turned around and exported something this time: everything they learned from How To Grow A Moustache. Smells like late adolescent spirit!

Lime is the one for me: my first favorite flavor as a kid, my first deodorant, my first shaving cream. The blue smells like hairspray to my nose, and not a man's -- but I do get the "barbershop." Orange is the smell of the Glade air freshener people once used to cover pot smoke in dorm bathrooms. Actually much better than that (strictly fruity, completely lacking the cinnamon), and a close contender for my trial, but after sniffing everything for like, 20 joy-filled minutes, it came down to associations.

I pushed this soap by making wet lather, wetter than the marketer meant it to be (judging by isntructions in the online product desciption, which I never had any intention of following). It performed a lot like Williams, that way; which is a good thing, to me. It's as flexible as Kiss My Face moisture shave, in this regard, but not as moisturizing; and with the strong scents, that's probably the best comparison I can make. I had a new Cloud, and my Slim set one notch too high, and nicked my neck in a previously bumped spot on my Adam's apple. I then turned it down, and got some skip on pick-ups. On the other hand, I appreciated how the low, yet undrying lather showed the cheek line of my beard.

This ought to be everyone's first hard puck. It takes a step back to the over-enthusiastic days of glycerin base, but doesn't go all the way. Coconut oil as balm, bay rum Witch Hazel splash, English Leather for dressing up: these are what I would send back through time, to my high-school dopp kit.

Hair For Xmas

Yes, I think I've finally decided to let the growing commence once again, my scalp having received the full benefit of purification through prolonged shaving. It's not easy to let that stubble back out, in the evening! I eased into it with a mostly WTG shave from "Chaoying," yesterday, so today it isn't too itchy or scratchy.

Doing the Dry

There are certain physical elements of health, which shaving has helped me know better, the main one being how moisturizing relates to inflammation. But there's so much more to it, involving the proper flow of natural moisture from within to the skin surface, through soluble fiber in the diet. For the best shave, I need:

Beans at dinner
Exfoliating soap or other treatment at bedtime
Dry (i.e., not moisturizing, only wet) shaving soap

Probably some extra steep oil and salt gradients drive that flow, also, for the really miraculous shaves, but those are not quite under my command -- yet. This week, however, I cleared up my crusty follicles most strikingly by the means listed. After gorging on an unusually successful pot-sticker with canned pintos, I woke up with incredibly soft skin.

The thing is, I have these amazingly well-scented soaps with a lot of fragrance oil and glycerin, that make shaving-porn lather, and bait me into getting "aggressive" just by prep. Not that they're objectively poorly formulated. They even feel right during the shave, in the way the edge reaches easily to the root, because my skin is effectively being chemically decomposed. But they are definitely excessive for me.  In the post-shave, or indeed the next shave, I find consistently that I have once again prevented nature from working with me.

Year-round Luxury Plan

With this in mind, I'm determined to restrict PdP No. 63 to occasional spring and fall use, like Stirling is restricted to summertime. It's too bad, because that cedar scent could probably rock all winter long. I have three of the new hard soaps from Italian Barber coming, hopefully to take the coveted "triple milled" spot in the ceramic dish on my countertop. XXX formula duro is already on the job as far as luxurious scent, but I can tell even that's pushing it for glycerin now. Special occasions, winter.

Recipe for a Crap Shave?

I shaved a good many weepers this morning, a very odd occurrence. I didn't see them, just smelled the blood. But I knew pretty soon into ATG that something was very wrong. At depth, the blade was finding resistance from something other than hair, which yet had point distribution like hair, and no sensation. Thickening of the follicle wall? Some odd developmental state of the root? I had to switch back to WTG to get it out of the buttresses.

Oh yes -- I shaved through it. No stabbing, I figured it couldn't be too bad, and kept my pitch low. (Numb fuck! But it actually did turn out okay, this time. Aftershave felt nicer than usual.) My lather was challenging me a little, my VDH/KMF croap, mixed a bit thin it seemed, and it wanted to dry out.

Then I have to think back to things I've done lately, in preceding shaves, of which this might have been the consequence. Wasn't it a cold water, PdP No. 63 shave, before this?  And I put the Nizoral on my bald spot(s) before bed. Could that have come around to my chin, though?

I think the relatively high glycerin content of the PdP (my limit), maybe irritants in the fragrance. And propylene glycol in the croap couldn't soften the plaques of dried out shit It's not easy to track things down, when you change practically everything, every day. But maybe I'll figure out something new. Since I get pretty great shaves most days, maybe asking how -- precisely -- to screw up a shave is the most efficient experimental approach.

Clean, Comfortable Head Shaves

It's been better shaving since I left my nicks to recover, got caught up in a tight schedule, and found that the subsequent shave, after skipping nearly a whole day, was the best yet. Allowing 100% efficiency on the WTG pass, longer stubble shields the skin and ensures that every follicle gets a nice tug. Hysteresis may be real -- over the time span of several minutes between passes.

To be more specific, since I'm not in this for marketing, I think it takes 36 hours for my stubble to emerge completely, so I cannot get an ideally close shave every 24 hours. I have to save up my growth for special occasions, like Thanksgiving perhaps.

Getting a good few shaves -- top and bottom -- from Shark Super Chrome in the Travel Tech with Yingjili 8306-L handle. Holding nothing back, now, it is tremendously easy to generate leverage in a variety of previously very awkward positions around the back of my head. My thumb has taken the top spot on the handle, much of the time, ironically making me feel a bit like an ape. As long as it doesn't get too skippy, control is sufficient.

Brush is Not Acrylic

And not one fine artist shaver came forward to correct my mistake... what a cultured lot you are! ;) The YouTube search returns for brush repairs included the phrase "acrylic brush," but that actually means, brush for acrylic nail polish or paint, so... fine, I'm the dumbass. Also, eyeglass frames are made of acetate -- which does share two letters with acrylic, but no money from big wheel for me. I refer you to a more current-affairs shaving blog for further speculation on the "tuxedo" type brush material:

https://dailylather.com/content/understanding-synthetic-knots

Been having some rather shitty shaves lately, but I believe all of my razors are back in rotation with respect to my head, at least. Baili BD-177 "Stella" made quick work of both shaving domains tonight with a Wilkinson Sword blade, but left a couple spots bleeding, some new kind of nick I don't get on my face. Earlier this week, some keratinous shit (solar keratosis) was erupting from both sides of my forehead, as far back as the right ear, and the razor showed no mercy. Well, I'm smooth now! I tried a 3-blade cartridge in the shower, and that went about how you'd expect. I'm really appreciating the covered blade tabs of the Baili razors, because I do like to go digging near my ears. When that tab hits, it feels like there's going to be a ruptured artery, with a painful, horrible POP! Hasn't happened yet, though.

My skin seems to have completed its toughening transition in about a month -- which is simply the turnover time for my shave-exfoliated epidermis, I suppose. I'll probably start growing hair back after Thanksgiving. The bald spots will still be there, though I do feel a nice little rough patch coming up from the southern hair jungle into the desert of my crown. I've dabbed with Nizoral now and then, when I get a shower, which they say is poor-man's Minoxidil. I also have that Dr. Miracles ointment from the Dollar Tree when I want some moisturizing. Coconut, jojoba... I play it by ear, so nothing like my usual bathroom research trials.

Black and White Knot is Heat Shapable Acrylic

I've been loosely following the introduction of Tuxedo et al. black-and-white synthetic knots, biding my time until prices come down to Earth. A makeup brush came to the Dollar General, largest retailer in my village, that matched the general description of the softer variety; indeed, it appears to be the same brush featured in one of my favorite lathering videos from YouTube.

Recently, a Virginia Sheng black-and-white brush dropped into my price range, and looked like a potential mate for my Armetale Williams cup -- fake pewter meets fake ivory. I knew it wasn't going to be authentic "Tuxedo," or as soft as the little kabuki I'd taken to represent that quality. I was surprised, though, to find it as stiff as my Pur-tech from the same vendor.

I now own classic and modern sizes of three distinct kinds of brushes, whose characteristics apparently have the power to reliably attract me: a soft synthetic type that holds water like a mop; a stiff synthetic type that acts more like a whisk, and a broomy boar type that gently scrubs. These form the cohesive heart of my collection, with just a couple (boar) outliers.

Until I noticed that my big, new black-and-white brush had a bad perm, flipped over to one side. It looked as though some chemical in my Williams enrichment scheme had permanently damaged the brush. But when I googled for other cases of brush damage, the hits returned a bunch of makeup and paint brushes being repaired by immersion in boiling water... and those brushes were acrylic. AH... yes, I had been using boiled water lately. And, as a lifelong eyeglass wearer, I've bent earpieces that way, intentionally, to make them fit better.

So I set out to "fix" my brush, on the assumption that it, too, was made of acrylic fibers. Nuked a mug of water in the microwave, and immersed my brush nearly up to the handle. Without thinking much, I did as the YouTubers did, and sort of shaped my brush manually, by running it between my thumb and index finger. Repeated a couple times, until I felt it was symmetrical enough.

As you can see in the photo, the brush now compares to my grandfather's StanHome mixed boar/badger knot, with a "flame" profile. That's his worn-out stub on the far right; I found a less used-up one at an antiques store. Not pictured: the little brush stand, not really a drying tool, so much as a shape retainer for the knot as it dries. Here, qualities of badger and boar are combined in one, stiff but non-absorbent, soft-tipped fiber type. Most notably, the extra tip density lets me dip for a precise aliquot of water to bring to my little Williams mug; where before, the brush took enough water for four shaves.

I unfortunately have to inform you that the glue bump on Vig Shaving synthetic brushes seems consistently sub-standard and very palpable. I never noticed it too much in my smaller Pur-tech, but with everything scaled up, it's right under my fingertips. I picked at this one with an acne tool to get it under control, and lost a few bristles in the process. Clearly, too, bristles that deform in very hot water could be perceived as a serious liability by many shavers. The heavy acrylic handle, while lending a quality hand feel, might tip balance the wrong way, in some setups.

But for me, this might be it -- The One Brush!

Williams -- just Williams

Blade Smoothness Revisited

Shaving my head has allowed me to see myself as a new student, going through the learning process from the beginning. First, it justified the endorsement I once gave in an Amazon review, mostly on principle, of the Merkur 41C, as a great beginner razor. Now, back to my preferred Tech, I'm getting re-acquainted with the pleasures of the smooth, less-picky blades that helped me learn to shave. 

Today, with my last Baili platinum, I chose not to approach my beard with ginger precision, quick strokes and a lot of skewing, which has lately been leaving me with less-than ideal skin texture in the jaw corners, and more stubble than I would like at bedtime. This morning, following a cue from recent head shaves, I leaned on the top cap and plowed deep, just like I used to in the good ol' Personna days. I think that's the fundamental difference between smooth and sharp: the degree of leverage versus light touch. Then, subsequent to that choice, in the balance of angle selection, is a choice between slightly more burn and some missed hair. I did have to go back and dry shave the jaw corners, gingerly, to maintain my accustomed illusion of hairlessness.

No bumps, though, because no picking or stabbing. Those missed hairs seem pre-selected, not to pull the blade down into the skin when treated that way. I think they're the poorly rooted ones. A strong aftershave of 3-in-1 Lubricating Lotion mixed with Aqua Velva Musk gives a "healthy" burn, evenly distributed and not painful. The general inflammation level is slightly less than the ideal sensation of shrinking on drydown, but still completely neutral, not a "razor burn" in any degree.

Any creeping doubt in the back of my mind, that my habitual use of sharper blades, and daily BBS, would eventually justify the "no pressure" forum clown posse, is dead. This is absolutely how shaving works. Only the amplitude of the power changes, to a greater efficiency, when you move up to a sharper blade, and a lighter touch.

Twice Daily

Shaving, that is -- though Mo' Shave November is intimately concerned with glandular health...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VehHn55raYg (song by The Wurzels)
At night I shave my head, and in the morning, my face. All that shaving in one stand was getting tedious, even for one who enjoys it. The thrill of discovery has passed. I do still hope to become more efficient.

On the other hand, this is a great opportunity to use up those blades that I find less than ideal, as the scalp isn't nearly as picky, and my head hair will kill any edge before it gets broken in, anyway. I don't mind taking a few extra strokes, just for now. I'm still not modulating the pressure correctly (erring on the light side, I think), and struggling with hand coordination, too. Slowly, the position and direction of each hand, tracking over the back of my head, are coming into alignment, as I learn to shave blind. Good skill to have in the bank, I suppose; I've always admired the blind folks on the forums.

The best news, though, is that I'm back to my new favorite razor, the Travel Tech. I toyed with using separate razors, but it's cool; I'm finding new degrees of light touch, even with smooth blades. Which do stab and raise a bump here and there, and leave an odd stub or two under my jaw. Generally, l'm just as comfortable as when I had the straight-legit BBS. The only slight disappointment, is that I am resigned to bedtime stubble, once again.

Mo' Shave November

I don't have a vintage Gillette New Improved. I do have a Rimei with a brass Razorock handle, that is similar to the later "NEW." The straight bar is just a little nicer to my skin and filtrum. That's the part under my nose. Oh, dammit -- I forgot to grow a moustache for Movember again. I blew all my donating money on non-Republican political candidates for last November, too. I guess that means I'll have to be the organized opposition to No-Shave November, then... ;-)

Shaving -- The Facts

November: Time to STF Up

Cancer Isn't Real

Guns are for Everyone

Stop Playing With Your Balls

Double Your Prostate, Double Your Fun

Participation entails trolling online bulletin boards and, of course, shaving your head. No moustache, but still pretty creepy. Isn't that true of any form of personal grooming, when turned to collective intents? Oh -- case in point: priests, which I think is the fundamental vibe my new look is tuned to. Took me awhile to pick up on reactions, but with the glasses, yep, I see it now. I'm Father McShavenhead. Friar Curly. I could have passed for Jewish before, but I'm like, extra white, now. (Jesus, am I empathizing with skinheads?) Definitely not Native American enough for my liking, at the moment.

Shaving my head has certainly been a learning experience, though. The Rimei had to be handled a little more carefully than the Merkur, but got it done almost as well. I got one nick on the top (where few will see it), and I can tell it's not quite even, though it was completely smooth initially. I guess this means I'm good enough to try the Tech again, but... do I really want to? I'll give myself the month to think about it. I still make odd errors of confusing left and right, working on the back of my head.

The Rimei face shave was a welcome step back to the familiar, at least. The skin-friendliness of the Merkur that I noted in the last post did not endure, unfortunately. Makes me think it was only good that time because of the prior, Ming Shi shave. If I shaved my head with the Rimei tomorrow, I bet it wouldn't be as good, either.

Tabac was the second reliable workhorse pulling today's shave, and I realized something. Witch Hazel is especially compatible with it, smell-wise. I think that if I worked with animals, and had more need of deodorant, Tabac would be my favorite over Williams. The "build-a-film deodorant" method reached the height of its power with Tabac as pit-wash, Witch Hazel and alum as dual astringents, and lanolin foot creme (I think) as the oil film. (It was either foot creme or hand creme, I stole from my wife some time ago in a little circular storage container for some forgotten purpose.) I guess I'm okay with lanolin, anyway.

Uncle Fester Endorses Merkur OC

Uncle Fester was a big hit at Mall-o-ween. I bought one of those LED space lights in the form of a light bulb as a prop and hope to construct some fake dynamite for the real holiday. (Sparkler for a fuse?) The Futur clone gave me a pretty efficient shave with a Wilkinson Sword blade, much more efficient than the DE89 clone with a fresh Voskhod. I smartened up and turned the razor down to 1.5 for my head.

But that wasn't nearly as comfortable as yesterday's shave. I had hardly any sting under the Skin Bracer, and that's one of the most irritating I've got, with the menthol. The Merkur open comb took a bit more time, but was not exasperating, like with the Schmidt R10. I think the pitch bias is similar, but the gapless razor doesn't let anything flex out of the effective range. My Wilkinson Sword was still beaten dull by merely fine head hair. But, of all the razors I've tested, this time around, the Gillette Brownie clone displayed the least change in attitude when it came time to shave the beard. Loosening the blade was a more effective adjustment than the Futur clone's dial.

It was BBS top and bottom, though not very deep. The stubble was cut very square and comfortable, not at all annoying come bedtime. It raises my skepticism about the New Improvements Gillette came up with after the Old Type. Isn't it worth working a little harder, and shaving a little less close, if it means that not a single new hair root will be damaged? The skin surface, essentially untouched? The Futur clone may feel more like a straight razor to me, but that could just be because I don't shave very well with a straight razor. In its results, manner of use, and historical proximity, I think the the Merkur OC better deserves the comparison.

Which is not to say, open combs are aggressive. That still sounds ridiculous. But having found something that this razor shaves very efficiently, I can see how someone with weak, straight-protruding hair would say that.

I've often written of my paternal grandfather, may he rest in peace, because my earliest learning about shaving was from that side of my family, at around age 4 (when I was not a shaver myself, but a vocal critic of shaves). I'm feeling that connection to the past again, now that I'm bald, because I look a lot like Gramps. I'm more on top of the unruly eyebrows, etc., coming to this at an unnaturally early age, but this lesson seemed to come from the other side of the mirror, dimly lit with an LED lamp because we had a storm and lost power. Like a friendly spirit, come to visit... Happy Halloween!

Welcome Comfort

A week before Halloween, the autumn skin hardening, a brief wave of uninhibited epidermal growth following the cessation of vitamin D production, passed. The weather remained balmy, by and large, under tropical air currents. I've not been restricted at all in my soap selections, mainly using the excellent Italian Barber soaps, and the moisturizing has presented no problems. I really think the phenomenon is entirely about solar radiation, and the only reasonable intervention is gentler shaving, with chemical exfoliation at night.

Now, it is the bone beneath my scalp that challenges me, as I cycle through my best razors to discover which is best suited to head shaving. The Tech certainly got the job done, but with quite a burn; will have to come back to that, after I get my strokes together into a couple efficient passes. Chaoying was excellently smooth, and still pretty close, between the Tech and the slant, but relatively prone to bite, at least with the Personna blade. I'm glad I got those O-rings, but I'm sure it would have gone better with the blade tighter than my face requires. A fully capable razor, indeed, besting even the Slim set on "7."

Which brings me to the razors I would have prejudiciously feared to use on my head: the Ming Shi 2000S and the Schmidt R10 (with heavy BD191 handle). Can I hope that the bony substrate is not capable of flexing too far into the gap of these can-openers?

All-morning shave

The R10 felt like a metal bar being dragged over my head, but didn't bite me once. Sensing that BBS was within reach, I went for it, and found it to be a test of endurance. I didn't note the time, but my legs got tired from standing in front of the mirror. Eventually, I was scouting the path of the razor with my fingertips on every stroke, and even then, the razor missed. Come to find out, down on my face, it wasn't entirely the razor's fault -- that blade was dull. I remember the Mad Scientist of Wet Shaving noting that the DE89 was rather abusive to the edge; perhaps this clone is, also. That, and I've been shaving a lot more territory lately.

I guess I can afford to give up a Voskhod to this razor, given the excellent result: I finally got down to the chrome of the dome!  Unfortunately it was flaking, as if still adapting to atmospheric exposure. They do say it takes awhile. Could have been the unusual soap choice hindering exfoliation, too: Kiss My Face, my only cream, rich with botanical ingredients. I lathered a few times, but mostly just rewet to slick as the shave slowly progressed.

Speaking of slick, I witnessed the power of boiled water again today. I had my No. 6 brush soaking in cold tapwater, then squeezed and set it in the kettle water. Immediately, an oil slick surfaced. And after the shave, I didn't feel I needed any alcohol, so did a cream rinse with some thick lanolin stuff, followed by some boiled water I had reserved. I could just feel it emulsifying instantly under my hands, probably well enough to shave on. Since I'm now in the habit of making tea daily to feed my kombucha cultures, might as well put that kettle on first thing in the morning.

Socially Acceptable?

Definitely "bald"

I mistakenly turned up the Ming Shi, and gave myself a cut below the eye. I don't know what I was thinking, trying to get aggressive WTG; but I remembered an easier way to get a less close shave, with TTO "Stella," BD177. Stubble before bedtime is now decidedly more acceptable than the skin damage I was seeing, cut aside.

Needing a haircut, I suspected the seasonal change was driving my scalp toward dandruff, by thickening that skin, too. So I figured I'd use Stella to bring a safe degree of exfoliation there, too. Head shaving is very different, I quickly discovered. It was quite a struggle just to get down to the skin, because the follicles were so dense (in most places), albeit with finer hair. Blade wanted to skip... I had to use that weird modern shaving technique, like I've done under my chin, of going ATG to avoid digging.

The Razorock Torsionshobel fixed that, making it feel like shaving, at least. But I had to call it quits before getting a nice shine, and gave my face 2xWTG to match.

Smooth

It might have just been the relative impression next to the head shave, but the Cloud I've been using seemed tired, and I picked a good ol' Personna in the hope of falling into old habits. Which is to say, smooth shaves, which yet destroy cotton pads. Once again, it seemed a bit rough shaving my face after coming down off the dome. I have to conclude, shaving one's face is just much harder than head shaving.

And I DID get down to the skin, this time, so it was DFS to match. Shaving my head may have inspired me to groom my eyebrows, nose and ear hair like never before, late that first night, but it put a moderating perspective on my summer BBS habit.

Chipping Away at the Exfoliation Problem

The first flakes of snow fell over Vermont this morning. In my bathroom, I only saw the flakes of paint/plating peel off the clip spring inside my Ming Shi 2000S razor, where it rubbed against a post. After the poor shave with the Merkur OC, I fell back to my Tech, but clumsily dropped the well-worn Ming Shi blade. Now with a Cloud blade, I still wasn't getting skin as smooth as I like, but at least I had the satisfaction of a close shave.

That Tech, with its cheap Yingjili plastic handle, sits ironically on the top shelf in my medicine cabinet with the two other long-handled razors, Ming Shi 2000S and "The Monster" R10 with BD-191 handle. I don't usually consider these other two as preferred razors, but they do appeal to me at times, and so it was today with the Futur clone. I am trying to remain mindful, not to go "aggressive" with hardening skin, yet the appeal (or, a peel) was irresistible.

I amped up that bourgeois vibe with XXX duro and BC Plissoft. None of these Father's Day acquisitions were expensive, but they really do give a luxurious shave! Just a note of appreciation to Italian Barber, once again.  And gosh, what a beautifully scented soap that is: fresh, but gentler than Fresco Verde, invigorating my crusty sinuses in floral lushness. So I can see how the mucosal status might be guiding my daily whim. It's also one of my more moisturizing soaps to the skin, again raising a red flag for skin hardening.

If I moisturize, I don't exfoliate as well; remember the foot experiment? It might be more pliable, but the leather thickens. Perhaps that woldn't be such a terrible thing for one as thin-skinned (on the face) as myself. Perhaps my fear that glycerin will ultimately reduce my natural moisture, and leave me flaking this winter, is holding me back from something great. I'm no longer a regular swimmer, having shifted to running; that should be to my advantage, this year.

The soap didn't irritate at all, today, that's for sure. I was a good boy and stopped after two passes of the razor, too. Instead of a third lather, I washed my face with an exfoliating soap. Asquith and Somerset -- man, would I like to have a shaving soap version of that! Maybe someday, I'll have the $$$ to explore British shaving soaps. I walked away without a balm, but will go back for that. It's not BBS, but it IS really smooth, because I didn't raise the skin texture, and visually, it's clean. I think I might stick with this. Or, at least the razor and the closeness; not sure I can stick with the rich soap.

In Praise of Erasmic

I've come upon a new angle from which to view my confusing collection of soaps, aftershaves and colognes, revealing some patterns. I got a distinct, lemony chill vibe earlier this week, by preshaving with Noxzema, splashing with Duru. In between, the "fresh" Fresco Verde lather picked up a cooling quality from the preshave. And today, Shave Secret pre-mentholated my Erasmic, followed by Lime Sec + 3-in-1 Lubricating lotion ("Portuguese") balm.

Before this, Erasmic was just an inscrutable "soap" smell to me, spicy and powdery; but in this context, it clicked into a more defined mental place: the less perfumed, working-class counterpart to Tabac. Lavender and Bergamot, I imagine the perfumer would say; but it wouldn't surprise me to find a big tank of English Leather at the factory, either. I sniffed the two soaps side by side, and they did seem very similar. So odd, that I never noticed before! I think I've had a bottle of English Leather in my possession since early childhood.

And then, my other soaps fell into the spice-lime or lemon-fresh categories also, with two outliers: Palmolive Classic as an alternative fresh, and The Art of Shaving Sandalwood as a pure, dry powder scent. I think it's the lavender that has always clouded my olfaction. It's such a common scent, I'm almost noseblind to it. Or maybe, too many diaper changes caused me to suppress my awareness of it. I remember when I mistook it for spice, in Canoe. I may still be mistaking it for a spice, in Shave Secret.

Erasmic is not as slick and protective as Tabac, which makes it sort of the lavender counterpart to lemony Williams. Yet, it lathers much more richly, which I think must imply more glycerin content. Preshave oil brings it back to near the same comfort, post shave. I guess it's equally well considered the spicy counterpart to Arko, then, with lather qualities falling halfway between.

I was already shifting to English Leather and Lime Sec (my recreation of English Leather Lime) for fall, and I needed a dry soap for the seasonal changes in my skin. It's easy lather makes it perfect for a good boar scrub, too. Erasmic is the soap of the season!

Gentlest Shave

The Ming Shi Diamond blade is holding up well, and I've been sticking to Baili BD-191 "Chaoying" in an attempt to avoid the autumn face hardening -- an excessive exfoliation that seems to be related to reduced sun exposure. I would say atmospheric humidity also, but it's been balmy as ever around here, this year.

Yesterday, I finally picked up the O-rings to make blade loosening adjustments hold better. I felt pretty secure loosening up Chaoying, actually. But not the gentlest razor of all, my Merkur 41C open comb. So I tried that out. With just Williams, I liked the look of my skin, but it wasn't BBS. I guess that's the good thing about a sharp blade, like the Ming Shi, that it doesn't need to be chopping against the skin to make a clean cut, despite the tough, flexible nature of my hair.

Fool that I am, I did not find this shave satisfactory. I took a few dry swipes, and lost the skin benefit, too. Nothing too terrible, but it prickled under Aqua Velva Musk, and raised what has become, I am afraid, the new norm in texture on my face. I just saw the smoothness long enough to learn the difference.

Autumn Leaves

The balmy New England "Indian summer" came to an abrupt end, this week. I'm way ahead of the game, though, this year. No need to wait for the stratum corneum to raise its horny defense. I liked the Travel Tech with YJL Sterling clone handle so much, it's practically all I shave with now. Loaded with the Ming Shi Diamond blade, super close is the default. So instead of my skin hardening, it's just been getting tender. Time to switch things up!

Parker TTO "Ruby" couldn't keep up with the Diamond, and has been demoted to giveaway status -- I've got a nephew in mind. Baili TTO "Stella" now takes the role of gentle, steep angle bias, with just enough bite to get the BBS, when the blade is loosened slightly. But I save that for the end; my skin gets the benefit of being completely untouched for two passes. Indeed, the first pass just feels like "evening out the stubble." How dramatically shaves can change, even now! Not long ago, I thought that razor had too much bite. I considered it a little... crude. Could it become my ultimate razor?

Well, between the Tech and that, it just goes to show, money isn't everything. Speaking of Chinese manufacturing and relatives, we've been scrambling to collect the family woodwinds for my fourth-grade daughters. I'm getting misdirection from my brother's family, and I was freaking out over the prospect of renting: $30/month! Yamaha seems to be the Gillette Fusion of music. Well, just as in razor manufacturing, China is showing up the crooked middlemen of the West. Shopping for new carry cases, I found a very attractive instrument with lots of bonus items for just a couple hundred dollars online, through Amazon.

http://www.kkmusicstore.com/mendini-by-cecilio-nickel-plated-body-keys-e-flat-alto-saxophone-tuner-case-mouthpiece-11-reeds-more-p-238.html

Not in hand yet, but a player can tell from vids -- pretty much exactly the same quality as my early 80's, Indiana-made rent-to-buy. When/if I get the Armstrong back (nice play on words: heavy as hell, which they also say about this new one), I can help twin #2 with her duets.

As if in service of my razor simile, I opted for nickel plated brass (to better match a clarinet, actually). But the story really is very similar. American manufacturing gave up in the seventies -- not enough profit, too much durable, quality product in circulation. Europe picked up the slack, letting our workforce get good and dead... and then China took it all over with dirt cheap labor. Now, with the benefit of computer-assisted design and manufacturing, quality is progressing once again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeIOB4R-SCI

Dollar Tree TTO

I had to wait a little longer than most, but the new Super Speed clone has arrived arrived at the local Dollar Tree! It looked like the boxes were still in the aisle when I picked up a couple of them on Sept. 13, but honestly, I hadn't checked in at all since asking about them the week prior. The cashier had sounded secretive, suggesting that they might not get the same supplies as the Southwest at all. Like I was going to hoover up the entire shipment or something... okay, well, that does sound like something I would do. But I allowed the huge styptic pencils to go out of stock without purchasing more than 1... and I'm patiently waiting for the return of 3-in-1 lubricating lotion, without complaint. Give me some credit, lady!

First impressions, the thing is definitely better built than a Nanjie, but not by a whole lot. The center bar and end caps are integrated as a single cast piece. Thinking of that as a wide "H," I discerned that it was bent toward becoming an "A," which held up the door opening mechanism a bit. I gave it a bit of a squeeze in a handly "C" clamp, which is what guys who don't have a bench vise use for such problems.

The chrome looks more like silver paint, and it is already coming off the plastic turn knob. But they ground the casting lines off the pseudo end-caps, and the knurl pattern, though obviously executed in the same rough manner as the Nanjie, is much deeper. The same roughness of finish is evident in the safety bar etchings, but inside is quite pretty smooth . It doesn't smell like wet pennies yet, with the retaining ring apparently also plated/painted in chrome.

Overall, it strikes me as an updated Nanjie. Will the chrome-painted nubs that hold the doors attached rub off, causing it to explode like my first Nanjie did? I don't think so. The doors and baseplate are a little thicker. I think all the revisions are correct, aiming to improve performance while keeping cost low. Indeed, the package claims the "holder is free." It's the ultimate razor and blades scheme! Speaking of the blades: punk jewelry fans will appreciate the complete lack of marking. They just mocked one up in illustration on the box and wrapper: "Pacific"/"Stainless Blade."

The Shave

I sure got a good feel of the edge, with a full 2mm of blade reveal from the narrow doors. This was somewhat balanced by the wider, gently-sloping type of safety bar, but the blade was pretty flat, too. Safety was pushed right to the limit on my chin, first shave on the blade. I was using the blade flex as a shock absorber, but that's something I picked up from years on the Rimei. This is not something I'd want a complete beginner using. HOWEVER: There comes a time, fairly early in everyone's shaving career, when only total blade exposure will do. To break the habit of just riding a poorly pitched blade on the safety envelope, cleanly planing the stratum corneum is preferable to splitting it a million times imperceptibly.

I, however, am not at that stage. I will add a narrow, center-support shim and get that blade to curve back to what I hope will be Rimei-like geometry.

No good options

While my second shave went smoother, I saw weepers in the midline and neck. Skin Bracer might as well have been Absorbine, Jr. -- maybe you have to feel the burn to appreciate the cooling. It doesn't seem like I will be able to pull off everyday BBS, though I haven't yet tried my perfect blade. (I actually like the Pacific SS blade just fine.) The scenario in my mind is, total noob, sensitive skin, heard DE was better. One could still:

• shave every 2-3 days (YouTube: check)
• only shave WTG (as if any beginner will ever take that good advice, but yes, I suppose this could work as a beginner DE)
• tell yourself that's just what shaving does to skin -- suck it up

And that's my real problem with the Pacific Free Handle. We could have had a true ambassador in the Dorco PL-602. The material and distribution are impressive, and many DE shavers will get a kick out of this, but I fear this will end as free advertising for disposables. The narrow doors really need a design correction.

Sterling Is No Tech

What a little follicle digger! For first impressions, I played the dumb consumer and just slapped in the provided 7 O'Clock (Black) Super Platinum. Side-by-side vs. the $1.50 Yingjili, also loaded with its provided blade, designated 2298+something in Chinese, super stainless, with a picture of a diamond. This shaved smoothly, so I'm choosing the hieroglyphic option, like I did with the Ming Shi blade, and calling it Diamond. That glided well above the skin, such that, even loosening for a direct ATG pass left dry touchups in the cheek. Not so with the Indian counterpart. CHOMP! Right to the skin on WTG, straight to the root ATG. Raised a couple of small bumps, and a healthy burn with Dollar Tree splash.

And I thought Rimei was the little biter among Tech clones! At least it prepared me. I can't imagine a beginner doing anything but a complete face peel with this setup... and I wouldn't put it past Gillette to have planned it that way, as a foil for the Guard disposable system razor in the Indian market.

Examining the razors in retrospect, one sees that the Yingjili has a wider safety bar, making all the difference. Both cheapos have less curvature in the top cap than the '66 travel Tech they seem to imitate. Overall, the quality of the Sterling is better, with no edge distortion, a thicker baseplate with sharp angles, and cleanly turned aluminum hardware on the plastic handle.

I'm not sure whether the open hole on the end, making it essentially tubular, was such a great idea. I also noticed that the Sterling screw was smaller in diameter, probably to protect the weaker nut material. Both handles will fit the vintage Tech, but the Yingjili doesn't engage the Sterling screw, whereas the Sterling handle feels like it's threaded wrong on the Yingjili screw. I'll give the nod to Yingjili's nickel-plated brass nut, poorly finished though it is. As I've previously written, that makes a good visual match for the slightly worn, vintage finish of the Tech.

I guess if you were gung-ho on aggression, and not particularly interested in Tech razors, this would be your one-and-done. A better modern representative of what Techs are all about is to be had from Baili, and that's probably what I'm going to order next, to replace the one I destroyed in my DEvette phase. That one has a blue handle, not my cup of tea, but I can always pawn that off separately. I was going to order their new, long TTO for my wife anyway.

The Rimei cutting head remains the top-quality, critic's choice in modern Tech clones, both for finish and technical capability, though providing a nice, chromed brass handle for it is up to you. However, it's likely to be a matter of personal preference. Like more recent razors with low-angle geometry, it just isn't possible to suit everyone without going adjustable.

Water Softening The Hard Way

I am beginning to receive shaving intelligence from my second obsession, brewing kombucha, in return for the acid-toner insight from shaving that fueled my interest in the tonic beverage initially. When drunk and applied topically, kombucha ameliorates all my little skin dings, by lightening pigmentation and exfoliating. I can actually feel it tightening up atrophic scars above and beyond the skin-shrinking I get from Asquith and Somerset Citrus and Ginger exfoliating soap.

Skin Food For Real?

Some Kombucha acids are not merely a "peel" in the cosmetic sense, but a connective tissue strengthener, like hyaluronic acid and glucosamine joint pills. I've experienced that effect directly in my knees, through consuming the beverage, and having taken the pills in the past. I know I've said otherwise about cosmetics, but I suspect this stuff might actually be feeding the skin when applied externally, in a way. Not really, but like the vitamin D shaving oil -- there's a biochemical pathway in the tissue already, and this one happens to be constructive of collagen.

Of course, I'm not a scientist, and I could be totally wrong. Inhibiting inflammation and promoting exfoliation are powerful enough interventions, and might be the only supports to the repair functions here. But it sure feels that way. At night, when I think of it, I've been soaking a cotton pad, putting it on my facial blems like Stridex on a zit, then taping the same pad to that hyperpigmented scar on my shin, which I gave to myself by putting pumpkin juice on a scab.

Marangoni Effect Revisited

There's a curious difference between freshly-brewed "nute" (super-sweet tea, the food of the kombucha culture) and nute reconstituted from refrigerated concentrate (as in southern style iced tea). Boiling removes gas from the liquid, and it doesn't come back right away. This happens because steam bubbles passing through the liquid receive other gasses dissolved in the liquid, and move them out, more readily than they can return through the cool surface boundary. It's about equilibrium interacting with the "colligative properties" of the liquid -- just like the Marangoni effect I suspect of mediating the irritation of my thin skin.

In kombucha, the refrigerated nute doesn't sink my pellicle ("mushroom, SCOBY") that floats on the surface of the brewing vessel, but fresh does. Surface tension stops the cellulose matrix and its contents in the first case, and lets it pass in the second. Only when CO2 has built up again, due to the fermentation action of the yeast in solution, will more fibers rise to the surface (like a Cap'n Crunch plastic submarine, propelled by tiny bubbles), and form a new mat. Sometimes the old mother will rise, too, after a couple days, if enough of its mass is populated by living organisms.

The pellicle is like the stratum corneum of a kombucha culture. There are a bunch of fools on the reddit forum telling people to throw it away at the start of every batch, because it's just dead garbage. But in a continuous brew, it creates the selective environment that allows carbonation and ethanol to remain concentrated in solution (enough to flavor it, not to get drunk), instead of evaporating. It helps keep oxygen out, so the yeast get to work sooner, and you don't have to wait three weeks. The importance obviously decreases when it sinks every time, so I guess that's where these clowns are coming from.

Like people with soft water have an easier time with lather, perhaps. I boiled some water in a pot before going to bed, and filled my sink with it in the morning to shave, after it had cooled. It was obviously still "hard" in the sense of containing lime, because I could see it clouding up the water! Traditionally, the boiling effect is explained as removing the "temporary hardness" of calcium hydrogencarbonate. (Chemistry: still my least favorite subject.) 

I think it might be less deep than that, though. I came back to the boundary effect through a brewers' post about degassing (actually, I think the brewer was a scientist -- let's not give brewers that much credit):

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3408-oil-and-water-do-mix-after-all/

To see how my de-gassed, temporarily soft (?) water would perform, I used my most critical shaving kit: Williams, PUR-tech, and Mimi (RM2001), with the same well-worn Ming Shi Diamond blade. Skin condition was poor, following an ill-advised Weishi shave with no shim, so I was looking forward to a gentle shave. And, I got it! The hair didn't turn to jelly or anything, but it did seem relatively easy to cut. Like the keratin itself was made fragile, rather than the structure of the hair being inflated with something.

Not that I waited around for it to be waterlogged: I didn't want to push Williams to dryness. But it held up better than usual. I face lathered directly, and didn't need to pre-treat the skin with a preliminary emulsion. It was a thin layer on second pass, and just some crema to rub in on third, with my small (or classically normal-sized) brush, but that's all I needed. Not only did it not dissipate, it stayed noticeably slicker than usual, with not a single skip. I did my final rinsing with hard water, because they say that's what it's good for. (Also, I forgot to set aside some clean, preboiled water in a mug.)

The reward: unbroken skin. Just a little neck tingle with dilute Aqua Velva Musk. My skin did feel very dry and tight on drydown, albeit perfectly comfortable, so I went back and applied moisturizer.

I wonder if soft water is the key external condition that makes for a thick stratum corneum. It's pickle and jelly season, a good time to be boiling things in the evening, so I guess I'll keep it up for a week.

Sign From On High

"Shave comfortably, Man!"

I know I've got welding goggles around here someplace, but I made a pinhole viewer, just because we need another toy around here so desperately... and this is basically what we saw on Monday, August 21, 2017 (only, sharper in person). Having fun in these final days of summer, with heavenly approval, apparently.

The razor parts have aligned to set me up for another long run with a single razor blade, it seems. I missed a few hairs with the Ming Shi diamond blade in the Slim, yesterday, but shifted it over to the Tech for a surface-oriented shave, nothing but Williams, and I have to say, it's visually better. I can feel the hair tips, rubbing backward now, a couple hours later, but I would have called it BBS. Traction from the dulling blade made the Tech unusually efficient, while its new light plastic handle made high-velocity buffing a breeze.

Maybe I can have it all -- the classic comfort, optimal blade use, and three-pass closeness -- using some of the cheapest kit available!

Frankenrazor Face-off

In the bucket under the sink, a monster has spontaneously assembled: the Schmidt R10 cutting head on the overweight Baili BD-191 handle. They're just the spare parts of what I would currently consider the ideal beginner's razor, but they look great together.

(Aesthetic technique: match knurl pattern to guard.)

Anchor heads aren't my favorite. I have bad memories from early days, when I myself was persuaded by internet fora to buy a crooked piece of shit Maggard razor, instead of going to the antique store like I should have done. It's the new tradition, and reportedly, quality continues to improve. The R10 was the best of the type I could find, when I still cared. It went in the bucket when I found it relatively less amenable to my sliding technique.

What's making me resurrect it now? I still read as many "neck bump" posts as enthusiasm, from beginners. But I just had a damn fine shave with the Ming Shi Diamond in a Sedef shavette. I reason that, since I can handle that blade with no traction control (or much control of any kind), I should be able to handle it with the relatively poor traction control of a pressure-modulated DE razor. In so doing, I hope to better understand what, other than marketing and aesthetic appeal, inspires the fanboys.

My Champion

Instead of the Baili, which would also require the Diamond blade to compete, I'm going to make use of the less sharp Personna (U.S) blade currently circulating around the medicine cabinet, in a side-by-side shave. My own beginner razor, a Rimei, paired with a Razorock bulldog handle, represents my personal maximum weight, length, and blade flex. The aggressive limit of the "classic" paradigm... igm... igm... "Mimi!"

Tabac!

Mimi was stronger on first pass, but missed more on second, ATG, under the chin. Not so surprising, perhaps, given a relatively dull blade; but, being perfectly customized to my person, I was able to push it to a comparable result with extra touchups after the third pass. Meanwhile, however, the R10 was smoking ATG, and I didn't think I'd find anything to shave on third pass -- but I did. It was a great shave, easy BBS, and not eating nearly as much skin as the Ming Shi adjustable.

Decision: R10, by easier shaving and better postshave. What an upset!

XXX Formula Duro

With the blades switched, Mimi was amazing on first pass: efficient, comfortable, tugging just right. Both razors were less inclined to exfoliate, but the monster was perceptibly less comfortable. It only took about two seconds for me to shift to an auditory approach, because it was quite loud, even when not in close contact with the skin.

Ease of use was more equal on second pass, but things reversed quite dramatically on third, with Mimi disinclined to cut any further. Any other day, it would have been a two-pass shave. But the modern Prometheus turned in a third pass just as loud and apparently effective as the preceding two. So I pushed her again, anticipating a smell of blood which never came. It was detail-oriented work, taking my moustache and jawline down to the roots, but not too dangerous, with the blade so well suited.

Thus, Mimi fought to a draw, because while both shaves were slightly more comfortable than yesterday, and the heavier razor demonstrated superior ease of use, specifically facilitating hair extraction mechanically, the more technical shave gave a longer-lasting result -- a difference only apparent after six hours. Mimi delivered a 10-hour BBS, which I believe is my personal limit.

I find playing barber entertaining, myself; today I got to use my "pushing skin toward the blade" move, on that perfectly N-S spot along the jawline, which is always fun. Or, like I said, I could have enjoyed a two-pass shave. But I'm not going to discount the value of an easy BBS, either. The statement of luxury made by the sculptural Baili handle doesn't seem so extreme, when backed up by that kind of shave.

Decisions, Decisions

Far from narrowing the field to a single razor, I find my discovery of the Ming Shi blade leaves me with even more, tough choices. In lathering, too, I'm slipping from palm lathering and prepping the skin with what sticks to my hand, to just whipping up an overwhelming mass of lather with larger brushes. Could I become the kind of shaver I normally enjoy making fun of?

$1.50 Razor Review

For so small an investment, I could not deny the insistence of certain redditors that the Yingjili 8306L Gillette Sterling knockoff was a great shaver and beginner's choice. I ordered late, but now join the chorus.

At first, I was disappointed that, despite the airbrushing in the source advertising, mine was indeed stamped "YINGJILI" on the top cap, similar to the "Gillette" imprint on late Techs. I've pooh-poohed this cutting head before, I think, in the form of the Yingjili aluminum-handled Tech clone. Again I could immediately spot the wavy blade, a "V" deformation inverse to a high point on the baseplate, caused by the diamond stamp. (That original razor ended up as a DE-vette, and eventually the head went into the trash, while the handle serves my Travel Tech.)

Classic

I considered this first impression so inauspicious, that I reverted to a Personna blue and a special preshave prep: fiber-loading with flaxseed drink before an oatmeal breakfast; and Shave Secret to meet the fiber and swell up my hair with gel, facilitated by a hot potassium bicarbonate soak and wipe. Cold Williams lather took up the residual oil, with my small PUR-tech brush looking just slightly too classy for the classic setup. The brush has been growing on me; my unbranded white cashmere has been sent to the travel bag for specific application with small lumps of soap. Synthetic brushes hardly "break in," but the tiny degree to which the fibers splay more easily makes a difference.

That shave was so good, it prompted an identity crisis of sorts. It was very much a revisitation of the "perfect shaves" documented in my post archives, the best representation of how I typically shaved until very recently, when I turned to "everyday BBS." The hair was simply wiped off my face, as in shaving fairy tales. The clone was as screaming fast as my real Tech, allowing easy, long strokes. And I actually thought I had the BBS, until an hour or two had passed, and a comfortable velvet arose.

Suddenly I perceived that my "classic" technique really formed around that blade. It's not that the Ming Shi I prefer now is any more perfect; it just does something different. I didn't need much aftercare with the Personna -- actually made a balm with Skin Bracer, one of my harshest aftershaves. Having a velvety shave is like having a beard, without the look or the heat. I couldn't stop stroking it.

Neotraditional

But, to know this razor better, I loaded a fresh Ming Shi and went "neotraditional" for its second outing. Big honking BC Plissoft brush and Fresco Verde from Italian Barber, no special preshave, other than a hot bowl lather. I was surprised to find less edge distortion just from the blade change; I always thought Personna was a battle tank. I then loosened the handle a little bit for efficiency, and the distortion all but vanished. There was a lot of spring force holding the blade still, and with the light components, no chance of coming loose like the heavier Baili razors.

Yep, the razor is completely capable. The lightness and handle length was a bit dangerous feeling in the thick whisker areas under my chin; on the other hand, I can't remember a more effective ATG stroke on my moustache. I lost some stratum corneum, but much more hair -- no shadows. I nursed my tender face with alum and cocoa butter, at about the same time the velvet appeared in the prior shave.

Verdict

Just based on the feel of the tool in use, though, I'd say the classic shaving style is more natural. It actually took me further in that direction than I had ever been, in a way, because the handle length doesn't allow my typical grip. Instead, I found myself sweeping the razor in a three-finger grip from the side of the handle. It felt like an artist's paintbrush, and I liked myself as the artist. But when it came to applying brute force, the stroke was not as well controlled as with a heavier, short razor. Furthermore, without the real gap adjustability, that is so important for a good low-angle shave, you're really asking for it if you go for BBS. (A criticism that applies to all Tech designs.)

Now I want all the razors of this type, and will probably end up paying more than I would have for a really nice razor. Rapira and Gillette both make them. This handle will definitely get tried with my Travel Tech in the meantime.

Great beginner razor? Absolutely!

Shim Your Weishi

This is a retraction of sorts, though I can't cite the error: I didn't think the Weishi could be effectively shimmed. It probably had to do with the type of shim I made -- narrow, as seen in the photo with a Feather brand, on the left. That may have been fairly effective with Tech and anchor-style 3-piece razors, which I got my start with, because they support the blade near center. It's not as easy to cut along the very edge, and I may have seen some wavy blade with initial, poorly-executed attempts.

But clearly, I have to revisit all of my less than ideal razors with the shims. Hell, maybe even the Slim! Because the narrow shim and the wide shim differ in how they affect the emergent angle of the edge, depending on how the top cap contacts the baseplate or analogous part. I've even heard of people putting the shims on the top side of the blade, perhaps for the purpose of altering that contact.

Anyway, I put one of the wide shims that I made for Chaoying under the same Ming Shi blade, and the Weishi became instantly efficient, and fully capable of BBS. Whereas, the narrow shim just made a rougher shave, and still couldn't reach into my follicles. This was a left-side, right side comparison; luckily, the rough side wasn't so rough that I couldn't finish it with the better shim.

So. If you're unwilling to give the internet your bank information, are averse to the vintage razor market, or you just don't have the moolah or real estate for more razors; you can still enjoy a custom-tailored shave. At least, it's not exactly like running around with pins in your suit. There weren't always adjustables, or a million models of razors available. Shims are fairly traditional.

I hereby retract all criticism of the Weishi. It's good to start learning to shave with complete safety against cuts, and in the end, it is a fully capable razor. The only fuss about it was having to hold the blade down by the ends, as I screwed the doors shut. Because of the bow in my shim, the razor was raised to where the doors could impact the edge.

One Slim Better Than Two Shims

Taking advantage of the Baili BD-191 cutting head's ability to be adjusted in two ways simultaneously -- the gap via shim, the angle via handle loosening -- I found myself reverting to my adjustable ways. The rougher shave provided by one shim with some handle loosening was good for WTG, but two shims with no handle loosening made the finishing smoother.

The feel of the cutting was reminiscent of the "efficient" low angle razors, but I found I had to apply high-velocity strokes to actually take down the hair. I wasn't expecting that. As a fighter, Chaoying was definitely wobbling. I lost track of how many shims were in there for one shave, and took some battle damage, myself.  Roughness nigh bumpiness on the contralateral jaw corner.

Then the Slim came forward and just laid waste. I didn't have to use progressive settings with each pass -- set to "5," in light of my condition, it easily bested the contender.

My theory of three-piece superiority was incorrect. If you have to raise the edge for the exposure that lends efficiency, the traction control provided by the safety bar is lost. Beyond the safety value, a hair extraction function is lost.

I still love the Baili, and think it's the best beginner razor out there. The way it starts on the safe side, like the Merkur 41C, transitions to a super learning tool for tug-and-cut method with shims, and with skill, is fully capable.

But if you haven't had it all together, at the same time -- the safety, the efficiency, and the ease -- you haven't had the best that DE has to offer. And that, my friends, is exactly what the Gillette Adjustable is.

Zeroing In

Good news for the suckers who bought a Viking's Blade "Godfather": you might have broke even by saving the cost of a Slim adjustable. (The more savvy first-time razor buyers who found the Razorock DE1, with a less dildo-ey handle, or the original Baili BD-176, can still lord it over you, unfortunately.) The battle of vintage vs. new has come to a sudden head in my medicine cabinet, and it looks like it's going to be a real fight!

The Undisputed Champion

The Slim long ago unseated a great 3-piece from its place in the cabinet by virtue of adjustability. Not in the "aggressive" direction, but in the mild -- reducing gap made unsafe blades workable, and worn blades perform to their maximum potential. I further used it to increase the edges' reach with successive passes. That's like starting WTG with a gentle TTO, aimed relatively more directly at the skin, and ending with an idealized, Tech-like capability to reach the roots without stabbing. I think it's more than fair to say that the Slim is the greatest razor of all time. Especially considering its original price, historically -- it was, and is, the ultimate legacy of King Camp Gillette's idealism.

The Underdog Contender

And yet, something of a clap-trappy impression is left by its mechanism. The touchy way it must be opened before adjusting, little rattling noises. The Tech is a more elegant razor, and was arguably more accessible to the common man because of its even lower cost. The same attraction brought me to the Rimei RM2001 originally, and today, the Razorock DE1 is an even better option. Where the Tech and the Rimei give the edge a good amount of exposure by default, the DE1 does not, instead relying on the old-style handle loosening adjustment. But that doesn't mean the gap can't be adjusted independently, either, because it can be shimmed.

The Equalizer

The narrow shim I was able to dig up, from earlier times in my technical development, was not suitable to the smooth curve of Chaoying's baseplate, the way it would have been to other razors with a raised portion or ridges in the center. The curve was exaggerated, and when compensated for with greater loosening, flattened the blade to the point where shaving was uncomfortable.

I tried to figure out some slick way to remove only the edge from a razor blade, but manual grinding on a sharpening stone wasn't working rapidly enough, and my blade shattered before I could work anything out with pliers and scoring, just from the teeth of the pliers. So I didn't have anything better to use before lathering up for the next shave, and was like, "Oh, shit" -- off to the kitchen, to hurriedly snip the edges off a blade using a pair of those toothy, penny-cutting scissors.

Surprisingly, that worked just fine. Although the non-edge was now curled and rough, it extended beyond the baseplate, and did not result in any wavy blade. Which I suppose also speaks to the vise-like grip of that cutting head.

Round 2

Slim takes it by a score of 10-9, because I had a good bit of burn with my splash. But the contender is showing some good stuff. Where the narrow shim had given a shiny shave (like other low-angle shavers, Ming Shi 2000S and Dorco PL-602), the wide shim preserved my skin texture. Maybe even improved it, as evidenced by the burn -- hey, a guy can hope!

The smoothness in operation was not as notable as those other mentioned razors, and certainly not the flight over skin that the Tech gives, with its relative inefficiency -- but a good balance of tug-and-cut and not missing any hair. I think that in time, I could shave off a third pass with this, and get my BBS in two. Overall, I could almost be persuaded that I was supposed to have this amount of burn with my aftershave, because it felt natural.

One Razor?

Let's just assume, for a moment, that my Ming Shi Diamond blades are the ultimate. My first minimalist milestone has been achieved. I don't have to try any more blades -- I'm done.

I'm not quite there with soap. Not that there will ever be just one puck, but I envision a small variety of "fresh" soaps and creams, with a seasonal spin. It's not going to be associated with or proportional to my perfume collection, in other words; I have faced that monster. Aftershaves, on the other hand, are loosely associated with soaps, and serve as EdT on days I'm not willing to wear any (which is to say, most days). Aqua Velva Musk goes the furthest in that direction, following Palmolive Classic, for example. Brut follows the hard boiled Razorock sandalwood, Dollar Tree follows the muskier AOS Sandalwood, Lime Sec follows Tabac, Duru Limon follows Fresco Verde. Some splashes are better at soothing the skin than others; the factors in making a choice seem hopelessly multiplied. I think I can at least stop buying more. The brush situation may be similarly tied to the whims of my skin.

But a new target in clutter reduction has risen on the horizon. Having expanded my hardware collection recently has ironically turned my attention to perhaps the least obtainable goal of the minimalist: a single DE razor. And I am thinking just as I did at the very beginning: a three-piece ought to do it.

What I learned from the Ming Shi 2000S, and the Dorco PL-602, I had already some inkling of with the Slim: gap adjustment is more important, the lower the natural pitch angle of the razor is. The aim of modern fixed razors that wouldn't cut it for me, with their unreasonable demands on the nature of my skin and hair, was finally achieved. I got that taste of a low angle and high exposure, without the usual penalties of nicks, burns, or residual velvet.

With the Slim, I had used the adjustment to compliment technique, and accommodate ill-suited blades, because I can shave with the non-adjustable counterpart (a Tech) just fine. With these latest razors, it was simply accommodating the poorly suited geometry of the hardware itself. The fixed counterpart of the PL-602 is a BiC. The fixed counterpart of the Futur is an anchor-style razor. My skin was fed into the breech in ideal fashion, yielding smooth shaves, but fed nonetheless. Visible, shiny, but oddly comfortable exfoliation resulted.

"Chaoying" Baili BD191, with a Schmidt R10 handle is my most beautiful razor. It occurs to me that where I have customarily used the handle-loosening angle adjustment to get some skin contact, I have never tried a shim. Unlike the Tech, which is like a Slim turned to 8 or 9, Chaoying starts with negative exposure and greater blade curvature. This may be concealing some hidden, useful element of efficiency (which the Tech decidedly lacks). Today, I just did the usual adjustment with the Dorco blade that came with the PL-602, and it was handled more easily than in the Super Speed.

Great Progression: Ming Shi Diamond

The Ming Shi 2000S (Futur clone) seems to require a fairly fresh blade to operate, at its low, low natural angle of attack. The supplied blade seemed up to the demand -- despite the initial weeper and over-exfoliation -- for a few shaves. And I guess that's what it takes for someone like me to experience no tugging. But once that performance was over, I put the blade through its paces.

Next down the ladder was the equally new and nearly as exfoliating Dorco PL-602 disposable. I've come to the belief that it's just the top cap made of ABS, and the rest a cheaper polystyrene, not that that's a huge distinction. It works well, the way an aluminum handle works with a plated zamac screw, but aluminum on aluminum might bind and strip. An evil kind of genius that meets the market where it's at, because let's face it, everybody IRL is shaving with disposables. That rock solid screw mechanism gives a gap adjustment allowing the close shave I am accustomed to -- and which BiC cannot supply. But it's only a couple more shaves after the 2000S before the blade nosedives into my skin. I could ride it the full month like a BiC Sensitive, but it wouldn't be a close shave.

Moving the blade to "Stella," Baili BD-177, was much too extreme. I couldn't feel the blade at all WTG! (My Tabac might have been a little dry.) So I tried the Rimei, which was fine for a couple more shaves, but notably more injurious to the skin than any of the other razors when it reached a perceptible limit. I must have used the Super Speed then, but honestly, I can't remember... such an underrated workhorse!

The blade ended up in my Slim, the ultimate dull blade milker. Set to "5," it's about 60% as aggressive as a Tech -- and that's pretty damn mild, which is what you need to keep a dull edge from diving into your face. I got through the better part of a week with a relatively shallow BBS. You know what the deal killer was? Sharp stubble. I got perfectly even stubble at bedtime, but it got sharper as the blade exceeded the bounds of the Slim's geometry.

Finally, today I gave the Weishi a shot. I guess I can't write off that damn razor, after all. Another nice shave, with a lot of scrubbing, but not quite BBS.

And that's where the story ends, because it's got to be BBS everyday, now. The Ming Shi blade was smooth in every razor from extremely low to extremely steep natural angles, high edge exposure to low. The Ming Shi 2000S and Weishi razors aren't even razors I would normally use. Got to get me some more of these! They're labelled MP-036 "Super White," and a diamond is pictured, so we'll just translate that to "Diamond." Good news for DE shaving, to see China putting forth such good product.

Brushes Getting Out of Hand

No way will I ever be able to sell my few remaining PUR-tech, classic-style synthetic shaving brushes at a profit, in this world full of giant $10 "Plissofts," like the one pictured below on the far right. (I couldn't even get that good a deal to begin with.) So, with an arbitrary clearance reduction, I guess I can finally afford to try one myself. It's clearly more firm, with thicker fibers than the newer synthetics, but just as fine at the tips. Perhaps it can help me avoid rubbing lather in with my fingers. At least interesting enough to justify expanding my lineup, second from right in the picture below:

~$80 in brushes (and I'm not proud)

Meanwhile, a reddit tip xeems to have decisively saved the Bestshave No. 6 (third brush). Soaking for three days in plain water unlocked the hair near the knot somehow, which was apparently the stink's refuge before fouling my lather. After one more wash with dish soap, followed by letting shaving soap dry in the knot, the rubber tires were undetectable. This soaking procedure is said to help against "lather eating," also. I see the wood handle was waterlogged near the knot, too, so I guess I might have tried something a little different there. Indeed, I'm pretty sure the consensus I read (red flag, right there) is that the knot itself must NEVER be waterlogged, lest the glue holes be expanded like a pothole.

So of course, I gave the Omega 10049 (leftmost) and Ever-Ready 250D (center) the same treatment. The former is new, the latter old, but never broken in -- I guess it doesn't really belong in the picture, except I find it beautiful; and who knows? Like the PUR-tech, it might hold the key to lather penetration. It started looking usable when I treated all the boars to the chemical approach recently. My grandfather's brush stub, used mainly on his moustache, is at least as stiff.

I didn't think the Semogue 620 had much fight left in it, such a poofy thing. I wasn't thinking about lather eating, though, and I guess it will be good to have one subject for comparison.

The Shaving Liberation Army Wants You, Dorco PL-602

What the --? How could anything surprise me anymore? Really!

I know what I don't know; I feel the lack of safety razor R&D in my bones. I've traced my pain back to the poison of corporate betrayal in my own lifetime. Like a four-year-old standing in the debris field of a terrorist-downed jet, I could tell roughly what happened, the pieces are all there. But I had never seen the plane in flight, until now.

The Dorco PL-602 looks like a piece of crap on video, and Google lets you know it's worth about $0.99 on the West Coast. Sure, I'd buy that for a dollar -- two DE blades included -- but shipping jacks it to 2 for $7 on ebay. That ain't right! But, since Uncle Ding had already screwed me on a Futur clone deal that was too good to be true, I had refund money to burn. Leisureguy hooked me up with a link to this new razor like an Uncle Ham, on his blog. He's not selling anything himself, though -- except many other razors, apparently.

So, will I be garage-selling my DE collection? Not yet. I'm already way impressed, though.

Hybrid Bred Right

It seems DE and disposable aren't mutually exclusive, as P&G would have us think, because they've clearly gotten together at Dorco, spawning the PL-602. It's made of that cheap, hard plastic that goes white when stressed or chipped -- ABS, I guess -- allowing fine details. There are fins at the blade corners sculpted into both the top cap and the guard, as well as hair-raking fins on the latter, ahead of the blade. It's nice and thick plastic, though, ironically giving it the (cheap) look of softer polypropylene in places, and a more polished look on the top cap.

It's hard to say exactly which detail, probably not feasible with cast metal, leads to the unique shaving character. Having just used the Ming Shi 2000S, I'm inclined to think the top cap has the greater effect. The normal round curve has been ground away, sloping steeply down to the edge, exposing an extra-low angle of pitch except at the corners. It strikes low enough on the hair to miss no stubs, without the excess traction of extra blades (in a modern disposable) or a twist of the single blade (in a slant DE). It also misses the skin pretty cleanly. Fins could obviously be contributing, there, raising the entire breech of the razor off the skin similarly to the plastic frame of a cartridge.

I hesitate to apply the term "efficient" (yet), because it took four passes to reach DFS. Almost BBS, I should say, because that is what I was aiming for, but I didn't dig far enough into one of my cheeks. Alum found a couple over-exfoliated spots, too. A little bit too much of the cartridge nature shines through, in the natural configuration, forcing pressure. I'm reserving final judgment until after a less safe shave. I plan to raise the edge to flush with the fins, like I do with Stella, if that's possible.

This already works quite a lot better than a Bic, though, and just a bit better than my favorite cartridge (if one can say such a thing), Supermax Swift 3. I ask you, the consumer: is paying three and a half times too much on ebay the best expression of political will? Because I can just as easily see this coming to Wal-mart at $2.50.

Opening Her Up

Using the notch between top cap and safety razor as a gauge, I loosened the blade to what I reckoned was zero exposure. (The side rails remain unreachable, so that's gonna be hard for anyone to check.) Against the notch, the edge looked about halfway up, whether loose or tight. If its angle changes, it is very slight; I see more extension. Not as cool as the Baili razors, perhaps, but much more securely fixed at the chosen gap/exposure by the long plastic screw mechanism.

Stubble tolerance is a subjective thing. The previous, "planing mode" shave wouldn't have made it 9 to 5 for me. Though the initial smoothness was impressive, I had stubble again around lunchtime. In "tug-and-cut" mode, I got a solid BBS and a perfectly even, 8- to 10-hour shave. BUT: I found myself doing dry pickups again. More stubs were missed ATG it seemed, this way. No other technical change was required between the two geometric configurations. Or so it seemed to me, an experienced DE user. A super-safe, yet efficient travel razor, with respect to both wallet and face, the PL-602 makes a good looking set, even, with a plastic, synthetic brush and a lump of Arko.

For the cartridge user, the Dorco PL-602 is a unique opportunity to dip a toe into DE shaving, requiring no assistance whatsoever. Nor could any cartridge-conforming fireman at the station, student in the dorm, or trucker at the truck stop make fun of one's endeavor to achieve a better shave, 'cause it looks like a humble disposable. Which it really is, in the same vein as the aforementioned Supermax system, a throwaway handle with replaceable blades.

But I'm sure no one will throw this away, even when the included blades run out. Much more likely will be an order of real shaving soap, some blades, and a brush. And a couple more for the buddies.