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Natterings of a Nasal Barbarian

SOTD 02/16/20

My MWF focus this month continues with one of my less well-behaved razors, my MMOC. This razor never fails to deliver an excellent close shave, but also requires attention to its use. If that attention wanders Madame Micromatic will bite!

In this case, I chose to forgo my usual PAA Preshave Cube prep and simply stuck to my cold water rinse before lathering up for my first WTG pass! I used careful short strokes and avoided long sweeping ones, as those never failed to incite a bite in the past.

The Pella PTFE Gem Blade swept through the whiskers like Sherman through Georgia! The result was a bloodless first pass that totally cleaned up the dome and left very slight roughness around the Adam’s Apple, which has proven problematic with this razor in the past.

I relathered that area as well as the back of my head and did some ATG buffing. When I finished there was no heat at my throat and minimal stinging at the back of my head, but again, no blood! BBS with minor heat. So onward and upward!

I just received back my repaired Rex Ambassador! The last time I used that razor, it wreaked havoc. I was unable to shave the dome for almost three days! So that’s on the docket For tomorrow. Today I feel clean, smooth and refreshed!

RAZOR: Gem MMOC
BLADE: Pella PTFE Gem
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and PAA Mentholated Mysterium Serum
 
Patelliott said:
Nice post! You are making me consider putting MWF on the future acquisition list.
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It’s my favorite soap! However, some folks have issues with lathering. It depends a bit on water quality, but my MWF lathering method has worked with hard and soft water. If you take the plunge and have an issue, let me know and I’ll share my method.
 
I've never had a problem lathering MWF, though it has been some time since I used it. I looked for it the other day, and it appears to have been lost in the move. I may need to purchase more, with the ceramic tub this time.
 
SOTD 02/17/20

So today is the day for my first shave with the repaired Rex Ambassador. The blade now sits evenly and symmetrically with the new top cap. I will admit to bit of trepidation since the last time I used the razor it left my dome and face in pretty bad shape. A friend at TSD who has recently mastered the razor suggested starting low and working one’s way up. Matt Pisarcik, the razor’s developer said that the majority of his users shave between 2 and 3 on the dial. Since I am starting with an essentially new razor, I decided to start at 2. I like a lot of blade feel, but will put that off until I learn the razor’s sweet spot. I loaded a Voskhod, a blade I trust for testing a new shaving tool.

I began with the usual cold water rinse followed by the PAA Cube Preshave Soap. I then lathered up with MWF, my soap focus for the month. I rode the cap at 2, but was not satisfied with the closeness of the shave, so I dialed up to 3 which seemed to provide an acceptable level of efficiency, not quite as close as I like, but this outing was dedicated to relearning the razor. The first WTG pass left me with a fair bit of roughness in the usual areas and slight roughness everywhere else.. Rather than buff I chose to concentrate on gradual whisker reduction. I reapplied the PAA Preshave soap and relathered with MWF and began a careful XTG pass, again riding the cap throughout with particular care on the dome.

For my third ATG pass I dialed down to about 2.5, reapplied the PAA Preshave Soap and MWF and worked my way through the shave carefully. I ended up with two very slight weepers. One on the right side of my head and the other just to the right of the Adam’s Apple, both of which resolved after my cold water wash with the MWF brush squeezings. A test with the alum block revealed heat and slight stinging at each of the weeper sites. Witch hazel application followed and I finished with Fine Accoutrements Snake Bite AS Splash. This was a very different result than my last use of this razor. I’m happy with this decent three pass DFS. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. I’m going to continue with this razor until I reach the bloodless BBS level, if possible. I feel cool, relatively smooth and quite refreshed.

RAZOR: Rex Ambassador
BLADE: Voskhod
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Cube Preshave Soap before each pass
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Fine Accoutrements Snake Bite AS Splash
 
The Ambassador and I didn't get along. I could get a nice shave but always felt like it was ready to bite and left me with irritation on a not as close as I like shave. The Envoy was a totally different story. Pleasure to shave with. I don't know how they can say that the Envoy was equivalent to a 3 on the Ambassador. Glad it was improved for you.
 
Dave in KY said:
The Ambassador and I didn't get along. I could get a nice shave but always felt like it was ready to bite and left me with irritation on a not as close as I like shave. The Envoy was a totally different story. Pleasure to shave with. I don't know how they can say that the Envoy was equivalent to a 3 on the
Ambassador. Glad it was improved for you.
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Thanks, Dave, but my razor was seriously f’ed up. The cap was bent and didn’t allow the blade to seat evenly! The result was scalp and face mayhem. It seems much better now.
 
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SOTD 02/19/20 Tuesday

All right, I’m sold on this razor! For whatever reason, I originally bought a lemon, but the good news is that Matt Pisarcik is a standup guy who honors his lifetime guarantee! I thought I would share the diagnostic photo that led Matt to request that I return the razor to Razor Emporium. As soon as he saw it, he asked that I send it back to him on his dime. He sent me a return label; informed me of the top cap issue, replaced it and returned the razor to me, a very satisfied customer. If you look at the side view of the attached before photo you can clearly see the faulty cap fitting. The blade is well clamped on the right and left ‘free floating on the left’.

As a result Matt replaced the top cap and adjusted the baseplate, and my Rex now seats the blade properly, and shaves as it should! You can imagine my confusion as I tried to use my original defective Rex over a series of months and kept doing damage to myself. I've been wet shaving with a safety razor for a very long time (50+yrs), and was unable to shave effectively with it.

After the repair I now understand why people love this razor, because I do now as well. My shave today was the polar opposite of my former experiences with this shaving tool. I did my head at 2 and my face at 4 today. Yesterday, I described myself as approaching the shave with “trepidation”. Today I was much more confident, and decided to just dive in. The result was a bloodless, leisurely, three pass BBS that I thoroughly enjoyed! There’s really not much more to say. I’m joining the mass of Rex fans. This is an excellent razor that shaves every bit as well as any of my favorites! I feel clean, cool, very smooooth, and refreshed!

RAZOR: Rex Ambassador
BLADE: Voskhod
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Cube Preshave Soap before each pass
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with the brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Cremo Cooling AS Balm
 
I'm glad it was solved as well. They did have some issues with a run and told people to return for repair/replacement. This makes me wonder if the bad feelings I have towards the razor are because the pass around razor was needing repair........
 
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