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Kingfisher's open blade (straight razors and shavettes) journey
- Thread starter kingfisher
- Start date
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Do you dip at least the head/blade of your DEs/SEs in isopropyl before setting them down to dry? It seems to drastically reduce tea staining/blade rust issues for me.
Thanks for the reminder of a thorough cleaning and drying of the razors. I don't always do that and now I think I need to take a look at some of mine!
Yeppers!
I do not. For most of my DEs, I take the blade out, rinse it, rinse the razor head, and dry both on a towel, then leave the parts out of the bathroom with airflow. No problems develop at all.
The issue with the Pils clone is the boxy, completely enclosed head, coupled with the difficulty of loading the blade. If the blade were really easy to load, I would open it up every day like I do with all my other razors.
No problem! My first PSA!
198/235 this morning.
This morning I changed up the soap to Mystic Waters in the Rosalimone scent. I love this scent. This is such an excellent scent. I've always been drawn to rose scents but had a hard time finding one I really liked. Early on when I was a beta-tester for Michelle, she made a scent called "tea rose" that I was excited to try, but I didn't really like it much. I bought a tub of a limited edition scent that Razorock put out around Valentine's Day in 2014 called, I believe, San Valentino??? Anyway, it was a straight up rose that was so-so, but ultimately unsatisfying. I tried a couple of samples of Truefitt and Hill Rose cream, and it was better, but still it wasn't quite what I was looking for.
So when Michelle came out with Rosalimone I was intrigued but hesitant. I needn't have been. This scent is the bomb. A beautiful floral rose that is not too powdery, livened up by a light lemon that doesn't smell like a tile cleaner. The two blend perfectly together, so it hits you as a single scent rather than as rose and lemon. It's fantastic! Seriously, unless you DESPISE rose scented products, you should check this one out.
Anyway, I got a beautiful, fragrant lather and started the shave. For hardware I went back to the Mighty Mite. I did two passes with it, at which point I already had a very good shave. To make it even better I added a very light, very quick touch-up pass with a Schick injector.
Wow. This one was a true DFS. No cuts, no weepers, no problem. Right now, about an hour later, I notice a tiny bit of irritation at the right corner of the mouth, but it's really minor. A stellar shave today.
Two more shaves and this journal closes up shop. At least, that's my plan.
My son is scheduled for a fairly significant and difficult surgery on Monday. He is making himself sick with worry. So once again I find myself asking for prayers. His name is Grayson. My friend Andria who lost her father last week is back to work and doing pretty well, all things considered. She is thankful to anyone who prayed for her. I think she could use continued prayers, if anybody is so inclined.
Have a great day, gents!
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Consider it done!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
My thoughts are with you and your family that you weather this storm and see sunny days again !
Thanks, Chris. It means a lot to me.
At some point it doesn't seem like it is helpful to anybody. I dunno, I may keep it up on an intermittent basis, like maybe once a week, or make special posts when I try out a new product or get a new razor or whatever. Thanks for your prayers.
Thank you very much.
Thanks!
I really appreciate your prayers and thoughts. I may keep the journal but I'll probably back not continue to do daily entries.
Thank you so much, Dave.
199/236 this morning.
Pulled out a razor I hadn't used in awhile, the el-cheapo Chinese ZY. Since it was kindly honed by Chris, I think I have only used it twice, so the edge is still quite keen. Clearly sharper than my other razors at this point.
I also loaded up a fresh, brand new Polsilver blade for the touch-ups, this time into my minty 4th-quarter 1960 Fatboy (love this razor).
For software, back to Soapy Science's Lollipop Citrus. This is just a really nice soap, and I got another wonderful lather from it today.
Two passes with the ZY left me pretty close to done. I did a bit of touch-up with the Fatboy and had a CCS+. There was one area on the low neck and one on the jawline that got a tiny bit of razor burn; I think I was a bit too aggressive with the ZY, which is both sharper and quite a bit heavier than any of my other straights. Still, all in all a good shave and a great way to start the day.
Hope you have a good day, and that your favorite college team wins its football game.
Solid shave today...
You son and your friend will be in my prayers!
You son and your friend will be in my prayers!
I like the journals just for keeping in touch with people and seeing what is going on in their lives in addition to the shaves. Honestly, Unless something about their Shave piques my interest, I normally just skim it until I get the the part where they talk about their day, what they did, or plan to do. It’s the personal stuff that gets me, and what makes this forum such a close group of folks.
Catching up, Randall. I hope that your son's surgery is successful; I shall light a candle for him while at church tomorrow.
I also hope that you don't close your journal for good. I'm with KJ. It's nice to use this as a means of socializing. And like Tom said, it's a good stress reduction outlet.
I also hope that you don't close your journal for good. I'm with KJ. It's nice to use this as a means of socializing. And like Tom said, it's a good stress reduction outlet.
[QUOTE username=cmh737 userid=5837841 postid=1305881735
I also hope that you don't close your journal for good. I'm with KJ. It's nice to use this as a means of socializing. And like Tom said, it's a good stress reduction outlet. [/QUOTE]
I know my situation isn't the same at all...but a couple years ago I went through an extremely trying time. By posting what I was going through and how my life was progressing was really almost like therapy for me. I was able to express myself and I knew that that the people reading were very supportive of me. Just my two cents.
I also hope that you don't close your journal for good. I'm with KJ. It's nice to use this as a means of socializing. And like Tom said, it's a good stress reduction outlet. [/QUOTE]
I know my situation isn't the same at all...but a couple years ago I went through an extremely trying time. By posting what I was going through and how my life was progressing was really almost like therapy for me. I was able to express myself and I knew that that the people reading were very supportive of me. Just my two cents.
Thank you so much.
Gotcha. I started this thing as a way to help people see the difficulties I encountered trying to learn to straight shave, and how I overcame them. But I agree that the journals tend to become much more than that. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with this journal but I guess I won't shut it down entirely just yet.
Thanks, Chris. I appreciate the candle lighting.
Thanks for sharing that. I hear you. I guess it's kind of like a psychology session, only a heck of a lot less expensive!
200/237 this morning!
Yep. I finally did it. I had my 200th straight razor shave this morning. Wow. Hard to believe. I still feel kind of like a beginner.
So, for the big 200th, I decided there was really no other choice than to go with the first straight razor I ever put to my face: the Noonan I bought as a "sight unseen" from Whipped Dog. Last time I used it it felt like it was dulling a little, so last night I gave it 20 laps on the CrOx and 20 laps on the FeOx, followed by 107 laps on leather.
For software, what else? Soapy Science in MY Special Blend, of course.
So, the stars were pretty much aligned, I think. Beautiful lather, razor felt keen and smooth. Did two passes with the straight and a third with my Fatboy set at 4, and I was ready to face the day.
As far as the rest of what's happening......My son and wife had to leave the house at 5:05 this morning in order to get him checked in on time. I have to work today and didn't want to be up that early, so I chose to sleep in another room. That didn't really work, as I went from a deep sleep to bolt upright at about 4:20 a.m. I guess my mind knew that it was time for my wife to be up and subconsciously I must've been worried that she might need to be awakened (she's not a morning person at all).
So I got up and checked on her. She was already up but said that the alarm went off for 5 minutes before she awoke.
I tried to go back to sleep but was unsuccessful. When I finally felt settled enough to perhaps go back to sleep, one of the fire alarms began chirping. It's one that doesn't even have a battery in it, and it chirps every once in a while when it gets a bug inside of it. So, the chirping kept me awake the rest of the morning.
Long story short: I'm exhausted, but clean-shaven.
It's day-to-day with my friend and her grief, too. Some days are better than others. She had to switch to night shift, which I think was particularly cruel. Also, one of the pediatric patients in the intensive care unit where she is working died the night before last, which didn't help. Yesterday afternoon/evening when she woke up to get ready for work she was overwhelmed with sadness and cried bitterly; it's obviously going to tough for a while. I was able to grocery shop for her mother on Saturday, and when I dropped off the groceries I was able to sit and talk with her for a few minutes, which was nice and I think provided some measure of comfort. In times like this there is nothing anyone can do but be supportive and always available. I am appreciative of everybody's thoughts and prayers, both for Andria and for my son, Grayson.
Thanks again, guys. Have a great day.
