And THAT is why we shave! Comfort and to start (or end) the day on a great note!
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Kingfisher's open blade (straight razors and shavettes) journey
- Thread starter kingfisher
- Start date
And THAT is why we shave! Comfort and to start (or end) the day on a great note!
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Amen!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Nice shave Randall and I like the signature line because I LOVE a good Ribeye
Amen, brother!
See above.
You don't HAVE to have it..........You're determined to wear me down with that Lollipop Citrus, aren't you?
Ha! I don't even like steak that much. The quote is something my brother told me back when we were extremely poor college students living in an apartment.
Thanks!
The bases are the same, and I really think they lather the same. I think it's mostly my imagination. I had, for example, an outstanding lather this morning with the DSB scent.
Shave number 109/146 this morning.
Y'all know Vince, the guy who sells Sham-Wow on the infomercials? Read this one in Vince's voice and with Vince's accent.
Hey! Randall here with another FAN-tastic shave!
You shaving with one of these 5-bladed monstrosities?!? (Tosses it over his shoulder onto the floor) Worthless!
You need a rotating flexing ball to follow the contours of your face?!? (Throws flexball haphazardly into the air and it falls to the floor with a decidedly plastic thwack) Fuhgeddabout it!
You need some kinda lubricating strip?!? (tosses another plastic razor high into the air and lets it fall) Unnecessary garbage!
'Cause now you can shave with a simple sharpened piece of STEEL!!! It's awesome! Makes all other shaving implements obsolete!
Yeah, so three passes on the cheeks, two on the neck; a bit of clean-up with a Colonial General on a UFO handle.....CCS+.
Have a good day.
Very nice!
This literally made me laugh out loud!Sold!
Thanks, guys.
For today, I'd like to post a little comparison. I copied what I posted in my journal after straight razor shave #20. Here it is:
Thinking about giving it up after the 20th shave, this morning. Touched it up on the balsa last night and it was plenty sharp. Really sharp.
Two passes WTG on each cheek went OK, as did the chin. Neck was a nightmare again, especially a small area just below the chin on the right side, despite going even shallower. Tugging, stinging, trying to skip, etc.
Switched to the Feather SS kamisori and it handled the same patch just fine. At first there was a bit of resistance but then it just plowed through. It's almost like the straight doesn't have enough structural integrity to get through that stubble. I was able to do the whole neck with the Feather SS without much trouble. Almost felt like I was shaving with a DE, it was so comparatively easy.
I did pick up the straight again for an XTG pass on each cheek, which went OK, but again did not feel as good as if I were to do it with the Feather SS.
The whole experience this morning just made me wonder why I am doing it. I can already get outstanding shaves with DE, SE, and AC-type razors, and even the Feather SS! I have plenty of DE blades, SE blades, and I have a pack of Schick Prolines, too.
Remind me, what is the potential benefit of the old-school straight razor? I mean other than that it looks cool? If I persist and learn how to shave really well with the straight, is it going to offer me any benefits in terms of skin care or closeness of shave or something?
Now for today's shave, #110/147.
Mike's OCBP soap, outstanding lather. After two smooth, easy passes, my cheeks were so well shaved that I considered stopping there with a CCS. My first and second passes are obviously getting more efficient. I decided to go for the XTG on the cheeks anyway, and I did it with an extremely light touch. End result was probably the closest shave I have ever had with a straight razor. I'm going to go ahead and call it DFS (I never get BBS because I never do ATG passes, but today's shave was pretty close to BBS even without an ATG pass).
Only a small amount of touch-up was required, for which I used the Colonial General on a UFO handle.
Just another great shave. Still using the Noonan, and I haven't refreshed the edge again, so I think that means my stropping is getting pretty good, too.
Enjoy the first official day of summer, gents!
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
You’ll be doing ATG before you know it!
Awesome comparison Randall, I remember those days well. Maybe not quite that early, but close!
For me it’s been the figuring out the right skin stretching and pass angle that has made all the difference.
Go kick today’s booty!
Aaaand now I have a hankerin' for some classic rock
Thanks, guys.
Today was shave 111/148. Had the day off from work. Went and played 18 holes of golf and saved the shower and the shave for afterwards. Played pretty well and had a great time. My tee shot on 15 (a short par 3) landed 3 feet from the hole; normally my shots go forward a few feet after they hit, which would've left me a tap-in birdie, but this one actually backed up, leaving me about 10 feet and I missed the putt. On 17 I made a 70-foot downhill putt that broke about 5 feet. That was a lot of fun.
Now on to the shave.
I traded the Art of Shaving Sandalwood for Lemon because I was allergic to the sandalwood. So today I decided to try the Lemon cream for my shave.
For the razor, last night I did a few laps of touch-up on the CrOx and then FeOx with my ZY, because I wanted to get a little variety (I had been using the Noonan for every shave for a while).
End result of the shave? Rather disappointing, to be honest.
First, I never use creams. Ever. And now I think I remember why. I made what looked like a great lather, but it doesn't have the body of my soap lathers and doesn't seem to have anywhere near the protection of my soap lathers. It's foamier and doesn't last as long, either. I mean, it LOOKED darn good on my face and in the bowl, but it doesn't shave like my soap lathers do. I wonder if adding a little glycerin would fortify it.
Anyway, then there was the edge on the ZY. A bit overly harsh. I remember now that the last time I refreshed it on CrOx followed by FeOx it felt "overly sharp and overly dull at the same time." One of the guys at the Shave Nook said that was a common complaint because after the FeOx refreshing, the edge generally took a shave or two to mellow out. I remember now that for refreshing the Noonan the last time I just used the CrOx and by-passed the FeOx, probably for exactly that reason.
So, anyway, bottom line is that it felt really sharp but it tugged like it was somewhat dull. That's a bad combination. So, of course, when my edge is iffy, I had an iffy lather, too. Worst of all possible worlds.
So, I'm making hot sound like I had a terrible shave. But I really didn't. I did two passes plus a tiny bit of touch-up and the end result was decent. But my face felt a bit irritated. That's all. No cuts, no weepers, no nothing bad. Just a shave that seemed like too much work and a bit of minor irritation.
Live and learn, I guess. I have options tonight, one of which is to strop that ZY into submission. The other of which is to strop up the Noonan for tomorrow's shave. And then I have to decide if I want to try the AoS cream again, maybe with a bit of glycerin, or go back to something I know for sure will be solid as a rock.
Sitting here right now I think the wisest choice would be to strop up the Noonan and to go back to Soapy Science. Just get in a nice, solid, smooth shave tomorrow.
Hope you had a good day!
Today was shave 111/148. Had the day off from work. Went and played 18 holes of golf and saved the shower and the shave for afterwards. Played pretty well and had a great time. My tee shot on 15 (a short par 3) landed 3 feet from the hole; normally my shots go forward a few feet after they hit, which would've left me a tap-in birdie, but this one actually backed up, leaving me about 10 feet and I missed the putt. On 17 I made a 70-foot downhill putt that broke about 5 feet. That was a lot of fun.
Now on to the shave.
I traded the Art of Shaving Sandalwood for Lemon because I was allergic to the sandalwood. So today I decided to try the Lemon cream for my shave.
For the razor, last night I did a few laps of touch-up on the CrOx and then FeOx with my ZY, because I wanted to get a little variety (I had been using the Noonan for every shave for a while).
End result of the shave? Rather disappointing, to be honest.
First, I never use creams. Ever. And now I think I remember why. I made what looked like a great lather, but it doesn't have the body of my soap lathers and doesn't seem to have anywhere near the protection of my soap lathers. It's foamier and doesn't last as long, either. I mean, it LOOKED darn good on my face and in the bowl, but it doesn't shave like my soap lathers do. I wonder if adding a little glycerin would fortify it.
Anyway, then there was the edge on the ZY. A bit overly harsh. I remember now that the last time I refreshed it on CrOx followed by FeOx it felt "overly sharp and overly dull at the same time." One of the guys at the Shave Nook said that was a common complaint because after the FeOx refreshing, the edge generally took a shave or two to mellow out. I remember now that for refreshing the Noonan the last time I just used the CrOx and by-passed the FeOx, probably for exactly that reason.
So, anyway, bottom line is that it felt really sharp but it tugged like it was somewhat dull. That's a bad combination. So, of course, when my edge is iffy, I had an iffy lather, too. Worst of all possible worlds.
So, I'm making hot sound like I had a terrible shave. But I really didn't. I did two passes plus a tiny bit of touch-up and the end result was decent. But my face felt a bit irritated. That's all. No cuts, no weepers, no nothing bad. Just a shave that seemed like too much work and a bit of minor irritation.
Live and learn, I guess. I have options tonight, one of which is to strop that ZY into submission. The other of which is to strop up the Noonan for tomorrow's shave. And then I have to decide if I want to try the AoS cream again, maybe with a bit of glycerin, or go back to something I know for sure will be solid as a rock.
Sitting here right now I think the wisest choice would be to strop up the Noonan and to go back to Soapy Science. Just get in a nice, solid, smooth shave tomorrow.
Hope you had a good day!
