Razor: Unknown Injection Moulded Semi Disposable
Brush: Vie-Long #14033
Lather: Proraso Menthol & Eucalyptus
Aftershave: BullDog Sensitive Aftershave Balm
Additional Care: Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Balm, & Pereira towel
The razor held up great after a week, but the unmarked blade in it was too dull at the end of it’s run. I’ll keep the razor and use an Astra Green in it, for those emergency shaves at woirk that sometimes happen.
Over at Sharpelogist. Well worth a read, and expanded on what I already knew about BullGoose and Phil 🙂
The sharp eyed observer probably saw yesterday that I shaved with the interesting injection moulded DE I mentioned last week. And the verdict is… not bad at all, all things considering.
Yes, it feels flimsy and the balance is off with most of the weight in the head.
Yes, it’s really sensitive about getting the angle just right.
Yes, it’s plenty aggressive and with an unknown blade that’s not the sharpest.
But once I got the angle dialed in, it chomped through several days worth of stubble with ease and left me with a DFS in two passes.
Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t get our high end (or even mid-range) razors and enjoy them to their full potential. But I am saying that we shouldn’t stick our noses up at the low end razors, because some of them can be surprisingly nice to shave with. By the end of the week I’ll put this razor – along with a good blade – in my locker at work, for those emergency shaves that sometimes crop up.
A little while back my Better Half bought a IPL – Intense Pulsed Light – hair remover. In the package was a razor to shave hair of, so the light pulses can more easily reach the hair roots and burn them out.
The razor imidiatly caught my attention, seeing as how it is a DE! And upon unpacking, I found that the design and construction is interesting, even for something meant to be a semi-disposable item. Let me show you;
The biggest surprises -apart from the fact that they included a DE and not a disposable cartridge razor – is how sturdy the plastic is and the fact that blades are changeable. I might use this for my shaves next week, just to try it out.
I have no idea how good or a bad a soap this might have been back in the day, but I am skeptical of a soap that claims to be useful for general toilet use, shaving, clothes laundering, and cleaning of mess kits and other equipment – as well as working in hard, soaps and salt water.
What I can tell, from the images I’ve found online, is that it came in two sizes; type 1 was 2 oz (57 grams) while type 2 was 4 oz (113 gram).
Impossible to cut the face – sounds good.
Shaves Easy, quick and clean – great.
Pays for it self in a fortnight – perhaps a bit of hyperbole?
Every undertaker and embalmer should have one – wait, what‽
It makes sense though, in that corpses are (and were) usually shaved to make them more presentable, and if the safety razor could do it easier, faster, cheaper and with less chance of cuts and the danger of infection… sounds like a great idea to me.
Being a military man in the modern era, I though molle meant something quite different… Apparently, it’s pronounced “Moe-Lay.” For the “smooth, smooth, slick, slick, shave you get with Molle shaving cream!”
Last week I was running a little experiments; lathering soap without the benefit of a brush, as well as trying more common soaps – basically just put soap on face, rub to lather and shave with a BiC disposable. This was in part inspired be a comment someone made a few weeks ago on my favorite shave forum, partly inspired by curiosity (the things I do sometimes…).
First I tried with my trusty Arko Shavestick; result were a very thin layer of lather little less cushioning than when I use it with a brush, but quite acceptable – if you’re used to canned goo at least.
Second out was using Prairie Creations’ Goat Soap hand soap. Results were… okay, if you’re not used to proper shaving. Thin and patchy, didn’t want to stay put on my face. Glide but no cushioning at all. Something like a cream soap might have yielded better results, but I used the bar I had handy.
Last out was my regular shower gel… and I have to admit, the shave was slightly better than the hand soap, and almost on level with one of my brushless creams; glide but no cushion, and no post shave effect at all. I know people who shave in the shower with shower gel, and after giving it a go I pity them.
As to summarise… well, apart from the “what am I doing?”, it shows that you can shave with virtually any soap… it just wont be as good as a proper shave.
If you’re going on an extended hike and can’t find the space to pack a brush, a stick of Arko can suffice to give you a half decent shave while doubling as a general soap – while a general soap likely wont do double duty as a shave soap. But if you’re that hard up for space, why bring a razor?
We have all at some point heard about the 80/20 rule, more formally called the Pareto Principle, is usually stated something like “80% of the work takes 20% of the effort”. The corollary would be that 80% (16% of the whole) of the remainder takes another 20% of the work, 80% of what’s left will take another (3.2% of the whole) takes another 20 % and so forth – in other words you’ll be running afoul of the law of diminishing returns fairly fast.
If we consider that shaving consists of
– Prep or pre-shave
– First pass
– Second pass
– Cleanup or buffing
– Post shave
and further assumes that each part takes roughly the same time (which holds true for me at least)… we can quickly estimate that a two pass plus cleanup gets rid of 99.2% of the stubble. A three pass plus cleanup will get a little bit more, but unless you did a sloppy job on the two first passes the difference should be quite minor.
So there you go; a tongue-firmly-in-cheek “proof” that a two pass plus cleanup gives a Damn Fine Shave!
As a sidebar: If you find that 80% of the effort do 20% of the work when you shave, it’s time to change your blade or strop your razor.