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Rich's Journal: Adventures with Life and Sharp things

Majorrich said:
Today I thought I’d rehearse how I might shave when we get to Japan. I’m taking a small container of soap and a tiny brush. I’ll have a tech with me, but if I can’t find blades, I’ll have to use the razors provided by the hotel. I presume they will resemble Bic disposables. Loading from the tiny container will require some dialing in, but I am impressed with how well the Bic shaves.

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Hi Rich,
I'm new here on The Cadre. I have not done any travel since I started doing the traditional wet shave almost 2 years ago. However, I wonder if you'd be better served with a tube of cream or a larger tin of soap that you can do a brush load in. I have these 2oz tins from Amazon that are about 2.25" in diameter. I use them to put Stirling samples in.

Also, I saw some YT reviews about what to take when traveling by plan. Several people recommended the Bic Metal disposable razors and someone else recommended McKesson DE disposables that they have not had any TSA issues with becauae the bladebis not removable. If you want to bring DE blades, you must pack them in your checked luggage.

Whatever you choose to do, I hope you have a fantastic time in Japan. I've never been to that part of Asia.
 
On this date a big time Mafia crime boss was gunned down in a Barbershop. Despite his being a serious bad guy, Albert Anastasia was in the barbershop with no bodyguard, a testament to the trust and discretion of the institution. Where else can a man literally put his life in the hands of another man and be comfortable with that trust? Barbers bear such responsibility to keep that social contract. And that’s why it’s rare to see reports of murders in barbershops, a mini-sanctuary in an increasingly violent world. Hooray Babadebbit!

 
I love the history lesson. I find these kinds of stories fascinating. I grew up in Philly in the 70s and as a kid I used hear about mobsters in the news all the time.
 
Today I took care of the lawn and did some last minute packing. I treated myself with Pannacrema Blu. Even broke out the aftershave this time (I forgot I had it) Boy! This was some fine soap!

 
Japanese hotels routinely offer amenities such as toothbrushes, razors, and combs. Today I used a razor and shaving cream provided by our hotel in Matsumoto. In a bit of a twist, the cream turned out to be a latherless product. The razor was a garden variety disposable 4 bladed cartridge razor. The results reflect no change from the expected. Kind of tugging but serviceable. I did luck onto a package of Feathers which I will be using along with some Stirling I Rich Moose for the remainder of our adventure. I am puzzled why it is so difficult to find DE’s, but accept it’s just the prevailing market these days.
This morning we took a bus ride through the Japanese Alps” from Matsumoto to Takayama. While a couple seated near us on the bus said it was much like their home on Colorado, I was struck by the scenery the whole trip. I hadn’t thought so much about this kind of scenery being here.
I am finding my iPhone 17 pro to have quite a good camera for this vacation and saved me from needing a ton of glass to capture some of the pictures I’ve captured.


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Majorrich said:
In a bit of a twist, the cream turned out to be a latherless product. The razor was a garden variety disposable 4 bladed cartridge razor. The results reflect no change from the expected. Kind of tugging but serviceable.
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I saw you video of that shave. I would have given up on the gel provided by the hotel and used the soap I brought with me. It was apparent to me that the razor was not comfortable. I hope you have better shaves with your DE and the Feather blades.
 
Majorrich said:
This morning we took a bus ride through the Japanese Alps” from Matsumoto to Takayama. While a couple seated near us on the bus said it was much like their home on Colorado, I was struck by the scenery the whole trip. I hadn’t thought so much about this kind of scenery being here.
I am finding my iPhone 17 pro to have quite a good camera for this vacation and saved me from needing a ton of glass to capture some of the pictures I’ve captured.
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Great pictures. Glad you are having a wonderful time.
 
I’m trying to do at least one shave per stop. Today we are in Takayama, Japan. We got in yesterday afternoon and enjoyed a bit of bougie beef as a late lunch and walked about what is called old town. Japanese “old” is quite a bit different than American old. 😆
Today I used the ball end tech I brought with I Rich Moose for a pretty darned good shave. Then we headed out for walkabout. I found a couple packs of Schick injector 2’s in a drug store and snagged them up. I’ll mail them home with the feathers I got the other day. I’m accumulating stuff to mail before we go home. Going out this evening for another round of Hida beef shabushabu. I’ll take pics for you guys.
That last picture is an actual Wanted poster I saw in the resting area of a museum we visited! Haven’t seen one in Japan ever, but remember seeing similar at the post office when I was a kid
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Well, here we are in Nara. I have seen Rudolph’s homunculus relatives and found them adorable, in unsuitable to hunt. Fully grown they may make 3 or 4 feet at the shoulders, and don’t appear to carry much in the way of meat on them. They are quite habituated to people and the handouts that implies. I bought some of the wafers used and was instantly mobbed as if I were the only man throwing Cheerios to a flock of seagulls. They were pushing me, tugging on my clothes and I got nipped (probably not bitten) several times. I handed out my wafers quickly and beat a hasty retreat looking for suitable sites for a blind.
I did get those blades shipped home but wow! What a pain in the keester to do it. I’m glad injector blades last a good long time for me.IMG_0871.jpegIMG_0946.jpeg
 
Majorrich said:
Well, here we are in Nara. I have seen Rudolph’s homunculus relatives and found them adorable, in unsuitable to hunt. Fully grown they may make 3 or 4 feet at the shoulders, and don’t appear to carry much in the way of meat on them. They are quite habituated to people and the handouts that implies. I bought some of the wafers used and was instantly mobbed as if I were the only man throwing Cheerios to a flock of seagulls. They were pushing me, tugging on my clothes and I got nipped (probably not bitten) several times. I handed out my wafers quickly and beat a hasty retreat looking for suitable sites for a blind.
I did get those blades shipped home but wow! What a pain in the keester to do it. I’m glad injector blades last a good long time for me.View attachment 151425View attachment 151426
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Once again, Rich sends me to the google machine to find WTHeck “homunculus” means:

I’m constantly learning new things on The Cadre. 😃
 
Today is our day of preparation for moving to our last station at Isska before returning home. While waiting for our laundry to finish, I break out the good ol’ I Rich Moose and ball end tech. Yesterday we had a great adventure at Toshodaiji temple here in Nara (no deer) and had adventures if boarding the wrong bus. Found purges home and arrests local Tonkatsu restaurant. Once our laundry is done, we’ll repack out packs and be ready to face the trains to Osaka. Then it’s Sumo afternoon.
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I recorded a shave at the Nikki Kansai Airport hotel. But that was before going to bed, and th3 rising at 0400 to start travelling. We arrived before we left 18 hours later. It was an epic vacation, but I’m kind of happy to be home. Saw some things at th3 airport that reminded me of out Boss of Bougie.

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Today, with five days of growth on, I tried the Schick injector II blades I got in Japan. Taking advantage of having two M-adjustables I planned to do a side-by-side. Those plans went off the rails when it became apparent I had failed to put a fresh blade in the single edge razor. TBH I didn’t notice much difference from my memory of a fresh blade to the twin blade. I presume the individual blades to be thinner in order to properly “inject”, but that wasn’t apparent.
Soap duties by CBL’s Doc Holliday providing a slick condition for what experience has been Schick’s (minor) weakness for me, that being of clogging when shaving longer whiskers. I was delighted to find that wasn’t a problem today and went on to a 3-1/2 pass DFS.
Received my early Christmas present to myself. Order these soon brothers, they sell out.


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Tonight, after a day of preparing for Thanksgiving chores. I reflected a bit on what I think of as our first “Supermodel President” John F. Kennedy. His was the first presidency of the modern Televised age. His entire image and look was very tightly controlled to great effect. His was the first to keep professional make-up artists on retainer explicitly for the print and television media. He liked brushless, particularly Noxema brushless shaving cream and was a Gillette man from his service days. From Tech in the service, to SuperSpeeds in his Senate days, to the New Gillette Slim in his presidential days. He’s was known to use Old Spice. I find all this very relatable. Excepted for the canned spoo part.

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Majorrich said:
Tonight, after a day of preparing for Thanksgiving chores. I reflected a bit on what I think of as our first “Supermodel President” John F. Kennedy. His was the first presidency of the modern Televised age. His entire image and look was very tightly controlled to great effect. His was the first to keep professional make-up artists on retainer explicitly for the print and television media. He liked brushless, particularly Noxema brushless shaving cream and was a Gillette man from his service days. From Tech in the service, to SuperSpeeds in his Senate days, to the New Gillette Slim in his presidential days. He’s was known to use Old Spice. I find all this very relatable. Excepted for the canned spoo part.

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I was in first grade the day he was killed. That morning is indelibly burned into my memory. Shocking. 😩
 
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