SMF

My supplies will far exceed my remaining years, so it's rare that I buy anything new. I have razors and brushes that are pert' near perfect. Still, every so often I'm tempted to try something new to see if it's even better, and it generally isn't. I also have hoarded more blades and soap than I will...

I had both of my cataracts removed this past spring. I'm glad to have it done.

I'm wary of any surgery, but the cataract removals weren't bad.

- Murray

Thanks for your perspective, too, Chris.

- Murray

Murray, I find the Jagger and Muhle razors to be mild.When I use my Rockwell it’s plate #4 or #5. So we differ on those razors. In my opinion, the General is not an overly aggressive razor BUT, it uses AC blades which are extremely sharp. The razor design benefits from these sharp blades. I think t...

My concern is that I require a mild razor for "sensitive" (in reality, delicate) skin. I often hear of razors that many of my co-wetshavers consider outstanding, motivating me to buy one. Then I most often discover that the razor in question is way too aggressive for me. (For example, many...

kronos9 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:49 am Happy SMF Anniversary to me! 14 years of quality shaves. I really should celebrate this event with a luxo shave later this afternoon.

Congratulations on your SMF anniversary, Ed!

- Murray

I see prostitution in much the same way as I see the War on Drugs, which has been about as successful as was Prohibition (of alcohol) in the US. I think it would be better to legalize and regulate these to hopefully eliminate the criminal class (organized crime, pimps, and such) that exploits these ...

Congratulations on your fifteen years, Roger!

Yes, I now too have a veritable hoard of shaving equipment and expendables. Way more than I will exhaust during my remaining years.

- Murray

Great to see you, Lynn!

- Murray

It's a bit like learning to be proficient in French in the UK, then trying it out in Canada. Mind you, it's worse for the Quebeçois visiting Paris: they get laughed at as a bunch of hicks. I love accents, but I'm not good at north American ones, which have mostly admixed into an indistinguishable t...

Brutus, languages and linguistics are my passion, and I especially love the Portuguese language. I went to Portugal speaking good Brazilian Portuguese, and the difference came as quite a shock. I went through something of a linguistic cultural crisis ("I speak Portuguese, but this isn't the lan...

Gary, I would really be surprised if there is any health issue related to the use of tallow in soap. If we can eat beef, I can't imagine that smearing the fat on our skins would be in any way harmful, unless the tallow in question is rancid or otherwise compromised.

- Murray

Hi Gary and Chris -

I find acronyms frustrating (possibly because I have difficulty retaining them in volatile memory), as the same acronym can mean entirely different things in different contexts.

- Murray

I've always favored smaller brushes, so my Semogues in badger and boar - along with most of my other brushes - have 22mm knots.

My synthetics are mostly larger (up to 24mm) because of their different splaying behavior.

- Murray

PS. Brutus, do you speak Portuguese?

Good to hear from you, Brutus! I lived in Brazil, 1975 - 1977, and in Portugal, 1978 - 1981. I lived in Faro, in the Algarve, in Portugal. Those were different times, but I toy with the idea of going back to live in Portugal. I was attracted to Semogue shaving brushes, originally, because they were ...

Hopefully, Tim (TRBeck) will weigh in on this one. As I recall, Tim did quite a bit of research and experimentation in his soap-making, and he came to the conclusion that stearic acid near the top of the ingredients list contributed more to a good shaving lather than did tallow on its own. As I reca...

pausted wrote: ↑Sun Jul 24, 2022 12:58 pmYMMV

Exactly. "Your Mileage May Vary."

- Murray

Hi All - My shaving soaps (artisan, Valobra Shave Stick, Valobra-made AoS) are "hard" soaps, but they are not "triple milled." Mitchell's Wool Fat is another well known hard soap that isn't milled. (I believe Valobra quadruple-mills their bath soaps, but they don't mill their sha...

Thanks, Gary. Great to see you here again!

- Murray

Buzz, congratulations on your Quadruple Chai Birthday! (Is Chai a Hebrew letter with a numeric value of 18?) I turned 70 last November, which can hardly compare with the significance of a quadruple Chai, but I had watched it closing in on me for years. Now it's past and here I am. I have well over a...