Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Magic Soap, Liquid Lavender
Lather: Mike’s Lavender & Eucalyptus Soap
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE
Razors: Merkur 985CL with a “Lord Platinum”, Yuma with a “Zorrik Super Stainless”
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum block and Krampert’s Finest bay Rum
Yet another DFS – the LE brush is shaping up very nicely indeed.
Since roughly the time we came down from the trees, humans have been worried about how other people see them – in short, how well groomed we are. And while the standards we been holding each other to in regards to hair care and general hygiene have fluctuated over the ages, it seems that the desire men have to scrape the beard off is timeless.
Perhaps it has to do with perceived status – by taking the time to trim your beard you showed everyone who saw you that you had an excess off time; which presumably translated into having an excess of resources in general. And since fashions spread quickly, soon everyone was wanting to take their beard off – creating a market for clam shells, finely made obsidian blades and some time later metal blades made expressly for dragging across downy cheeks.
Presumably the first metal razors were status objects by themselves; it seems several of them had holes so they could hang on a string or necklace. The proles still probably used flint blades or went unshaven… possible either complaining loudly or claiming just as loudly that the ones who could afford to shave were a bunch of pansies. Human nature change very little…
Later, as razors got more common they also got more utilitarian. If everyone own s one there is no need to flaunt the fact, so it seems to me that razors got reduced to the bare essentials; a half moon shaped blade:
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Magic Soap, Liquid Orange
Lather: Arko Cool Mint shave cream
Brush: Turkish No6
Razors: Racer Razor with a “Racer Super Stainless”, Yuma with a “Zorrik Super Stainless” – both fresh blades
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum block and Proraso Liquid Cream
The cheap gear gives a shave that’s just as good – the one nick was the cat’s fault for slipping into the bathroom at the wrong time.
I might as well admit to it; I like the Merkur Open Comb head. Which is why I got two of them; the 985CL travel razor and the long handled 25C.
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| Go ahead – guess which is which… |
Having two razors – or three, when I assemble the Franken-nought-four – with the same head gives me an opportunity to compare how the other part of the razor affects the shave. And once I know how the handle affects the shave, it gives me the insight I need to know how the head affects the shave… so it’s a win-win, really.
Speaking of the head; Back when I first created the Franken-nought-four I was researching the Merkur 41C, aka 1904, and found something interesting and/or scary… the Merkur Open Com heads were actually intended to be adjustable… by loosening the handle 1/8 to 1/4 turn you can adjust the blade angle and gap, while the springiness of the blade should keep the mechanism tight. While it might work it sounds kinda dicey – and since you’re adjusting both the gap and the angle at the same time it’ll be hard to predict just how much more aggressive it’ll be.
If used tightened all the way – as I do – the Merkur 25C is a mild and efficient open comb razor. It’s milder and more manoeuvrable than the 985CL, but at the same time it has a harder time getting a BBS on my neck. Odd how things works out…
It is overall a solid razor, with a handle that’s somewhat thicker than your average pencil but not by much. The balance is good in my opinion, but YMMV depending on your taste.
If you’re in the market for a relatively mild long handled open comb, you can do a lot worse than picking up a Merkur 25C.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Magic Soap, Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Mama Bear’s Awakening
Brush: Vie-Long 14033 mixed horse-badger
Razors: Merkur 25C with a “Treet Platinum Super Stainless”, Merkur 958CL with a “Lord Platinum”
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum block and Krampert’s Finest Experimental Menthol
Comparing two razors which shares the head but have very different handles – and a DFS with a menthol blast on a gray Monday morning.
Pre-shave: Pure glycerine soap
Lather: Arko stick
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE Brush 17/100 mixed badger/boar
Razors: Merkur 39C slant and Parker 22R, both with a “Wilkinson Sword” blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum block and Krampert’s Finest Experimental Menthol
A pretty good shave – WTG and XTG on my cheeks, 2 times WTG on my neck, since I gotten a couple of angry bumps.
One thing I can hardly do without when I wetshave is a good bowl to build the lather in… some people face lather (which I do as well when using the Arko stick), some swear at scuttles – I prefer a decent bowl that fits my hand.
I started out with a simple plastic snack bowl “borrowed” from the kitchen cabinet, then switched to a larger cereal bowl from Ikea (which I still use at times) before one of the old-timers at my favorite shaving forum showed off something he had dubbed “the fairy tale bowl”.
It is funny how fast ones Acquisition Disorders can go from dormant to “shut up and take my money” mode…
Short story even shorter; once I learned that the bowl had come from bestshave.net and was pretty damn cheap, I placed an order for it as well as a few other odds and ends – funny how you tend to spot something you suddenly need. Shipping was prompt – as usual – and as soon as I unpacked the bowl I knew I was going to like it:
The bowl is beaten out of pretty thin copper sheet, which makes it lightweight and easy to hold in my paws – the downside is that my lather gets cold pretty fast. The dimpled inner surface helps in building the lather, much like the spiral grove you often see in the bottom of scuttles. The reasonable small size of the bowl – 11.7 cm (~4.5″) wide and 4.9 cm (~2″) deep – means it’s best suited for smallish brushes; since most of my brushes have a loft around 5.0 cm (~2″) it suits me fine. My Omega 48, with it’s significantly higher loft, do not like my copper bowl much…
Overall I can recommend the Turkish copper bowl if you like bowl lathering, like short lofted brushes and are in the marked for a shiny, lightweight bowl.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Magic Soap, Liquid Lavendel
Lather: Mike’s Pine & Cedarwood Soap
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE Brush 17/100 mixed badger/boar
Razors: Merkur 39C slant with a “Wilkinson Sword” blade, and Merkur 25C with a “Treet Platinum Super Stainless” blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum block and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Another DFS – the TSN LE brush is breaking in nicely.
Col Conk’s Bay Rum was my first exposure to bay rum – and it’s very, very different than the scent of Krampert’s Bay Rum… not to put too fine a point to it, the scent is markedly inferior to Brian’s wonderful aftershave. It is not that Col Conk smells bad – far from it – it’s just that Krampert’s smells better…
That aside, the soap is pretty good for being a glycerin based soap – it lathers easily and abundantly, the lather has decent slip and cushion, and the lather don’t collapse before I’m done shaving. The soap seems reasonable indifferent as to the brush I’m using, even if I find I have to load a soft brush for longer than a stiff brush – that probably holds true for all hard soaps though.
I have come to expect that glycerin soaps don’t give as much moisture to the skin as tallow based soaps do, and Col Conk is no exception to that rule – use of a moisturizing aftershave afterwards is a must for me, even if your mileage may vary on that. As several of you already knows, my aftershave of preference is Krampert’s finest – and after using Col Conk’s Bay Run what better way to round off the shave than some of Krampert’s bay rum?
Overall I can recommend Col Cok if you’re in the marked for a glycerin based soap that gives a smooth shave – but look to the tallow based soaps if you’re after something that don’t leave your skin feeling dry afterwards.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Magic Soap, Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Proraso Eucalyptus & Menthol Soap
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE Brush 17/100 mixed badger/boar
Razors: Merkur 39C slant with a “Wilkinson Sword” blade, and Merkur 25C with a “Treet Platinum Super Stainless” blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum block and Krampert’s Finest Experimental Menthol
A bit of a mentholated kick to start the week, and also using the TSN LE brush on my face for the first time. It has gotten three test lathers so far; one with pure glycerine soap, one with Mike’s Unscented and one with Col Conks Bay Rum.
The TSN LE brush is… <drumroll> …very nice. A bit of a lather-hog, and needs more breaking in – but I can see it’ll blossom into a great brush after a few more shaves, as long as I load it heavily.