Screaming Mimi

All my other modern razors have names, so the Rimei will need one, too. I should probably drop the "screaming," so as not to offend her, and hope that my first cousin doesn't read this. But for me, shaves tend toward excessive exfoliation. If I try to shave for comfort, the way my grandparents advised, I am left with unacceptably uneven stubble. She only excels at going all the way to the root. At least, on my wiry hair. I'd certainly have to think twice before recommending this to a beginner, even disregarding supply issues of handle quality, quality control, and fraud. Bluebeards and young people, other adventurous types only.

Mimi does continue to teach me, though, even at this late date. Because of the balance discrepancy between Mimi and Chaoying, it finally clicked in my head why I can tolerate the longer Mission handle. The real reason. I don't think it's just the thinner cutting head. With the balance point in the middle of the razor, my grip tends to fall there, leaving enough clearance for the end of the handle to gimbal freely within my cupped palm. Whereas Chaoying, like my preferred vintage razors, is head heavy, placing the balance point near the cutting head. And thus, my grip also, requiring the shorter handle.

I do have kind of small hands, for a dude my size. But not Donald Trump small. Still slightly above average, which to me indicates that the classic dichotomy -- super short TTOs, slightly longer Techs -- is absolutely correct.

When I reexamine my collection in this light, I see that the NEW LC could have withstood a longer handle. Then again, people's height has probably gone up in the last 85 years. As much as pasteurization and refrigeration have harmed our nutrition in terms of eclipsing fermentation, they did effectively solve the problems of milk distribution that were driving those developments.

But a later razor from the same company, which I hold as the pinnacle of design, Gillette Slim, errs the other way, placing the balance at the lower edge of the adjustment knob. The handle then makes positive contact with the calluses on my palm. Obviously, I compensate by gripping slightly behind the balance point. But (whoomp) there it is -- my ideal lies devastated. I can now guess why some people prefer the Fat Boy.

Double checking the Razorock Mission handle on the Torsionshobel cutting head with which it was supplied, the handle end does indeed graze my calluses when held at the balance point, but it's not as far off as the Slim. So clearly, it would have worked -- it just worked better to put an actual Merkur clone handle on it.