SOTD November 30 - December 6

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 29, 2020

There really is something revivifying about a great shave! Trying to sleep sitting up with broken ribs is not easy, but despite that, this cold, beautiful, sunny morning set the stage for the shave to follow! I selected my favorite, and probably my oldest straight razor, the Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 for the mug shave and the Tom White repaired Schick F Type for the dome.

The MrEE #007 Knurled Aluminum Hybrid Knot brush easily created the two types of MWF lather I like for my shaves - a thin, slick lather for the mug and a nice thick yogurty lather for the noggin. I do love shaving with the Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 Stubtail. Three slow, luxurious (WTG, ATG, XTG) passes with this magical stubtail left me velveteen smooth. I truly feel like a caretaker for this 200 yr old beauty! It always takes exquisite care of me. My son, Ben, shaved with it and shares my opinion. He’ll be the next caretaker.

When I was first gifted this old, somewhat battered Schick F Type by my neighbor, the razor was non-functional. The very able administrations of TSD’s Tom White (@twhite) restored its function. My two pass (ATG, ATG) dome shave with it was close and very comfortable! And as I said earlier, the total shave, both mug and dome, almost made me forget about my broken ribs! I feel cool, clean, refreshed and velveteen!

RAZOR: Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 Stubtail (Mug), Schick F Type (Dome)
BLADE: Schick Proline B-20 Injector
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE Knurled Aluminum Hybrid Knot
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brushsqueezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Osage Rub and Pre de Provence Bergamot & Thyme Balm.

[drmoss_ca]

Mappin & Webb wedge, Ada's Soap Shop Rose, Simpson PJ3, Guerlain Mouchoir de Monsieur:

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[pausted]

MWF soap
WCS Tuxedo synthetic brush
Colonial General razor
Feather Pro blade
Royal Copenhagen aftershave

[Mike R]

Monday

Brush: Omega 13522 Pure
Cream: Derby Normal
Razor: '52 Super Speed
Blade: Dorco ST300
A/S: Dollar Store Splash - Green / "Original"
Cologne / Fragrance: Lagerfeld Classic

Mike

[drmoss_ca]

Zowada O1 custom, Ada's Soap Shop Peppermint, Simpson PJ3, Taylor's Eton College:

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD MONDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 30, 2020

Welcome to a dreary, rain-soaked Monobilt Monday! For today’s shave I broke out a few stalwart members of my shave kit that I just don’t use enough! The Cooper Monobilt, first and foremost amongst them, followed by the Riga Razor 7/8, sadly the only modern straight razor I own, and what used to be a regular feature of all my shaves for half a century, Williams Aqua Velva. The hard-working, bargain basement Rooney Badger generated the two MWF lathers I like to shave with, and the result was as expected, a velveteen smooth, cool, refreshing result. As George Peppard in his A-Team TV character Hannibal Smith used to say, “I love it when a plan comes together”!

I’ve grown very fond of my vintage shave tools, and have been neglecting my modern artisan safety razors. I rarely shave with my Karve, my Rex Ambassador, my brand new Fine New LC homage, and my Blackland Tradere sits alone in its box along with several others. So this next month I will have a series of dome shaves with these razors to help me decide which will stay and which will go. My shaves with the Riga straight razor are ok, but just don’t compare to some of my favorite vintage straights. That may be an edge issue, so I’m going to have the edge refinished by my son, Ben, on his jnat progression, and see if that makes a difference. Enjoy your shaves, my shave brothers and sisters!

RAZOR: Riga Razor 7/8 (Mug), Cooper Monobilt (Dome)
BLADE: Feather DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Rooney Ebony Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Aqua Velva (Spanish Version) and A&E Post-Shave Serum.

[Mike R]

Monday

Brush: Omega 13522 Pure
Cream: Derby Normal
Razor: '52 Super Speed
Blade: Dorco ST300
A/S: Barbasol Brisk
Cologne / Fragrance: None

Mike

[drmoss_ca]

Last of the Ada's Soap Shop - lavender this time. W&B chopper, Apothecary Shop brush and Taylor's Lavender Water:

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[Mike R]

Wednesday

Brush: Omega 13522 Pure
Cream: FA Oceanic
Razor: '52 Super Speed
Blade: Dorco ST300
A/S: Old Spice Leather
Cologne / Fragrance: None

Mike

[drmoss_ca]

Zowada O1 custom, Kent soap, Rooney finest, Penhaligon's English Fern:

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[brothers]

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 2, 2020

DX Decision December’s second shave featured the Blackland Tradere, a truly groundbreaking razor for its time in 2012. According to Sharpologist, the original design, here replicated by Blackland Razor eight years later, represented one of the first CNC SS safety razor designs delivered with a unique serial number. The name “Tradere” in Latin means ‘to pass on posterity’ and the safety razor was designed by Richard Mason, a lawyer and wet shaving enthusiast from Reno Nevada. Only 1100 original razors featuring both safety bar and open comb designs were produced during the two years of operation of the original company and cost $169.99, a high price for the time.

The new razors are faithful to the original design, which is moderately efficient in the safety bar version here, but given the current plethora of US produced CNC designed razors these days - Timeless, Charcoal Goods, ATT, HC&S, and Carbon Shaving - to name a few, the Blackland Tradere is a dated design that has been improved on by its successors. So the question is, does it stay or does it go? The two pass (ATG, ATG) dome shave today was good, but not in the same category as my vintage Shake Sharps, Schick E Type or even my Valet Auto Strops. So there’s an excellent chance it will go on the auction site shortly.

The Feather DX delivered a bloodless three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) velveteen mug shave. The highlight of this morning’s shave was the wonderful croap lather generated from A&E Kaizen. It was almost comparable to MWF, but in fairness is in a different lather making product category. According to pedants on one of the major Wet Shaving Forums, there are 4 categories of lather making product using a brush. Canned shave foams are naturally excluded as there is no brush involvement. They are, and I quote directly with added numbering and my comments in brackets:

“ 1) Soap: Hard not moldable, can sometime be melted and poured. ex. Tabac, Soap Commander, Williams, Col. Conk, Van Der Hagen, etc ‘[also easily grated]’

2) Stick: Comes in stick form to be used to build lather on face. Some sticks can be softer some harder, but these are all sticks. ex. Arko, La Toja, Palmolive, etc

3) Croap: A soap that can be molded easily, and has consistency thicker than a cream, but still classified as a soap due to ingredients used to create product. ex. Cella, Stirling, Proraso, etc

4) Cream: An item that comes in a tube or tub, but has the consistency similar to lotion or a balm. ex. Proraso (tube), Godrej, KMF, TOBS, etc. ”

Kaizen, according to this typology falls neatly into the Croap category. It generated a rich, lather that also provided excellent post shave skin feel. The only negative for me was the scent, which I killed with a healthy application of wintergreen oil. All in, the result was a marvelous shave with great post shave. I feel refreshed, clean, and smoothly velveteen.

RAZOR: Feather DX Wood Handle (Mug), Blackland Tradere (Dome)
BLADE: Feather
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute w/ 26mm Two Band Badger Ferrule
CROAP: A&E Kaizen (Scent killed w/ wintergreen oil)
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Pre de Provence Bergamot & Thyme Aftershave Balm.

[Shave4Fun]

Razor: 1946 Gillette Super-Speed
Blade: TREET DURA-SHARP Coated
Cream: Geo. F. Trumper's Limes
Brush: TGN Best Badger set in an EVER-READY 500 handle
P/S: Thayer's Rose Witch Hazel and Lucky Tiger After Shave & Face Tonic
EdT: TABAC

Now, for some reason, this shave cut my face in two places. Perhaps it was the blade. (Shave #1 with this one.) Or maybe my cream to water ratio was off - too thin, perhaps. It is not the razor. I don't know, but it has been ages since this happened.

Ciao,

[TRBeck]

Zenith 506U boar
Palmolive soap
Rockwell 6S plate 5
Treet Dura Sharp coated
Bigelow Dr. Galen splash
Terre d'Hermes EDT

[drmoss_ca]

Mappin & Webb wedge, homemade soap, Simpson X2L, Truefitt & Hill Freshman:

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[Mike R]

Thursday

Brush: Omega 13522 Pure
Cream: Godrej Lime
Razor: '52 Super Speed
Blade: Dorco ST300
A/S: Dollar Store Splash - Green / "Original"
Cologne / Fragrance: Lagerfeld Classic

Mike

[pausted]

MWF soap
Yaqi white synthetic brush
Colonial General razor
Kai Captain Original blade
Aqua Velva Sport aftershave

[drmoss_ca]

Wacker damascus, homemade soap, Simpson E3, Trumper's Wellington:

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 4, 2020

My shave this morning during DX/Decision December was too danged good! I’ll probably be selling my Tradere, but this Rex Ambassador is definitely staying. It is just an excellent head shaver. On 6 and riding the cap with a Feather blade it delivered an awesome velveteen noggin result. The DX is definitely growing on me as well. The first few shaves with a Feather Super loaded taught me to avoid set down errors. This morning’s mug shave checked all the boxes. The two slow ATG passes put the baby to bed. I’m finding that I really prefer smaller straight shavers like the DX. For me, achieving a VBBS result above the jawline is easy, but doing so below with the swirling growth is a challenge with a longer bladed straight. Maneuvering with a shorter blade is easier and just works for me. I feel refreshed, clean and velveteen smooth!

RAZOR: Feather Wood Handled DX (Mug), Rex Ambassador (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super AC (Mug), Feather DE (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE Knurled Aluminum Handle Hybrid Knot #007
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Cremo Cooling Post Shave Balm.

[drmoss_ca]

Wacker damascus, Trumper Limes soap, Taylor's No.74 Victorian Limes, Vulfix 2-band:

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