Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Mama Bear’s Awakening
Brush: Vie Long 13051M pure unbleached horse
Razor: (Probably) Merkur Bakelite slant with a fresh Treet Platinum blade
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest 80 Below
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Orange
Lather: Orange EO Shave Soap
Brush: Turkish No6 horse (?)
Razor: Merkur 37C slant with a Wilkinson blade
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Proraso Liquid Cream After Shave
Magnets, how do they work? Apparently well enough to sharpen razor blades…
Mr J A Nones was granted a patent for a self sharpening razor in 1933 that employed the power of magnets to keep the blade sharp and the razor head clunky…
In the inventors own words from the patent description:
…a safety razor with means for automatically sharpening or readjusting the minute particles of the functional or executive edges of the blade…
… a safety razor of the type noted with a magnetic means by which the edges of the wafer-blade may be reconditioned or sharpened…
According to my invention, the extremities of the pole portions of the magnet are inwardly curved toward the guard fingers 10 and terminate midway the length of the downwardly extending portions of said fingers; and said terminal portions or poles of the magnet are spaced apart from but are close to the line of guard fingers from end-to-end of the razor. The pole terminals of the magnet are also arranged sufficiently close to the cutting edges of the razor blade to exercise the necessary magnetic attraction for the minute deflected portions, produced during the course of shaving or while the blade is in use. It is this forceful attraction which reconditions the edges of the blade and sharpens the same, and restores the so-called teeth of said razor blade’edges to the normal plane of the blade-body.
It is my belief that the huge success of Mr Nones’ razor in the marked place clearly shows how effective magnets are for keeping your razorblades sharp. If you put this invention in a pyramid – which as we all know keeps milk fresh and razors sharp – it is quite possible you’ll end up going back in time… or just look like a fool.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Arko shave stick
Brush: BodyShop synthetic
Razor: Merkur 37C slant with a Wilkinson blade
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and BodyShop Maca Root Face Protector
Yet another razor oddity I have dug up some information on, courtesy of a chance remark over on my favourite shave forum: the Shape Sharp Razor!
The basic idea is interesting, and ties into the razor blade sharpeners I blogged about last month: Keep your razor blades sharp, and keep them longer. Made a lot more sense of the old carbon blades than it do for modern stainless ones, since they cost more (relatively speaking) and dulled quicker.
At a glance, it looks like a SE razor with a wicked blade exposure and an oversized head… but there is a reason for that: the head contains a hone, and holds a regular DE blade. The idea is/was that the user shake the razor back and forth to keep the edge honed during shaving, thus having a perfectly honed blade at all time for the best possible shave… at least, that is what the pamphlet says.
According to the information I found online, the construction is a combination of cast zinc and stamped brass, and possibly steel – although I’ve also spotted references to Shake Sharps with bakelite handles.
Since only one edge was exposed at any given time, the shaver had to open the razor and flip the blade around when he wanted to use the second edge. If the honing feature worked – and I have no reason to believe otherwise after looking at the patents online – you would only have to do that after wearing one edge out completely.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Mike’s Natural Pine&Cedarwood Soap
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE mixed badger/boar
Razor: Merkur 37C slant with a fresh Wilkinson blade
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and BodyShop Maca Root Face Protector
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Delan d’Men Enegenic
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE mixed badger/boar
Razor: Cadet TP-01 Open Comb with a Astra Green Blade
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Proraso Liquid Cream After Shave
Spotted this online today – basically a pair of marbles in a holder to keep your razor honed. No idea if it works, but a neat idea.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Nivea Mild Cream
Brush: Vie Long 14033 mixed horse/badger
Razor: Cadet TP-01 Open Comb with a Astra Green Blade
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and BodyShop Maca Root Face Protector
When most men wants to remove unsightly hair, they reach for a razor and some foamy stuff… …women on the other hand seem to do horrible things to themselves, such as:
Honestly, I rather suffer shave bumps and cuts from using a cartridge than doing any of those things…
Ladies? Keep your hairy legs if you like – or get your Significant Other to whip up some lather and shave them for you – because those things you do to keep them smooth sounds horrifying!