Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Peppermint Soap
Lather: Lea shave stick and Arko Cool Mint Cream
Brush: Omega 50014
Razors: Merkur 985CL travel razor with a Wilkinson Sword blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, tiny alum stick and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Travelling – but for once not on the Go
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Lavender Soap
Lather: Mike’s Coconut Soap (sample)
Brush: Omega 50014 travel boar
Razors: Merkur 39C slant and Parker 22R TTO, both with a fresh Laser Super Stainless w/ chromium coated edges…
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Prototype Menthol
If you’ll excuse the aeronautical term, the angle of the blade have been somewhat on my mind lately – not the angle it has in regards to the razor (which differs between various razors), but the angle it has in regards to the skin when it cuts.
It is – like many other things – the fault of the cartridge shaving systems… the so called modern razor tends to have a flexible head, which is supposed to make shaving easier. A cartridge razor teaches us a lot of bad habits – use of excessive pressure is the one mentioned most often, but just as bad is the lack of proper angle… and when shaving DE (or SE) the angle of attack is alpha and omega in my opinion for getting that great shave.
The head of a traditional safety razor does NOT pivot. Therefore the pivoting action have to come from the wrist – making shaving a little more labour intensive, but more importantly giving the shaver near perfect control… unlike a wibbly-wobbly plastic hinge.
Maintain proper AoA at all times – and check your six for bogeys.
/ for a more complete discussion on the how and why of the shaving angle, please see this article over at the Badger & Blade wiki
We’re getting up on a new year, and it’s time to take stock of the gear in my den to see what ‘holes’ that ‘needs’ filling.
I didn’t find a lot of gaps, really.
I got my eye on one or two new brushes; a Omega 343167 synthetic and a Vie-Long 14033M unbleached horse.I would love to get my hands on an affordable and agreeable open comb twist to open razor – not to mention an affordable and agreeable open comb slant. Apart from that… nothing, with the exception of soaps and creams.
At least until my ADs starts playing up again…
Felt like some more subtle scents at the end of the week – and it made for a nice, relaxing DFS.
The Omega 10048 – aka the Omega 48, Omega Pro, and/or Pro 48 – was the first “real” shaving brush I was exposed to after using an old Body Shop brush for a decade. The one I got was part of a Starter Kit I bought from Barbershop.no, and the box it came it was branded Proraso. The brush itself bears no re-branding, but proudly proclaimed itself to be an Omega boar brush.
The brush is of good quality manufacture, and should last a lifetime if properly looked after. I have no idea what grade of boar it is – I’m really not all that knowledgeable when it comes to boar brushes. What I can tell is that it looks like the hairs have been bleached, the knot has plenty of backbone and is not all that scratchy. It is also a big knot – the biggest in my small rotation – and a big handle… almost too big for my hand.
The knot is, as mentioned, bleached boar bristles. It’s a 28mm knot with a 70mm loft, but thanks to the solid backbone it’s not in the least bit floppy. The handle is chromed plastic and fairly light – meaning the balance of the brush is firmly towards the knot end of things. And speaking of the handle, I was expecting the chromed plastic to be pretty slippery, but to my pleasant surprise I have found that I can get a great grip on the brush even with wet fingers.
Various places online touts the Omega 48 as the preferred brush of professional barbers in Italy; and as much lather it’ll hold I can easily see why. At the same time the things that makes this an excellent brush for lathering someone else makes it – for me at least – a less perfect brush for shaving one self. The sheer size makes it somewhat awkward to use – I feel like I am applying lather with a straight elbow – and the balance makes it less optimal for applying lather. The size also means I can’t use it for making lather in my favorite Turkish copper bowl, but luckily I have a back up in the cereal bowl from IKEA The size of it also means I simply can’t face lather with it; my goatee gets in the way.
The Omega 48 isn’t a bad brush, far from it. It’ll whip anything you’ll throw at it into lather, be it a soft cream or a rock hard soap. But it is a BIG brush; from base to tip it clocks in at 133mm. If you’re in the marked for a boar brush and you like ’em big, the Omega 48 will get you lots of brush at a reasonable price.
As an aside, I see that Omega also sells the 10049 – an ever so slightly smaller brush than the 10048 but with a handle that’s coloured either red, black or white. It might be an option for those who find the chrome to be a little too much.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Magic Soap, Liquid Orange
Lather: Proraso Menthol & Eucalyptus Cream
Brush: Omega 10048 boar
Razors: Merkur 985CL with a “Lord Platinum”, Yuma with a “Zorrik Super Stainless”
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum block and Krampert’s Finest Prototype Menthol
Another DFS – the Yuma is an extremely good razor considering the price, and Krampert’s Menthol is a cold blast that chases the last vestiges of sleep away.
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 Peppermint
Lather: Mike’s Peppermint & Rosemary Soap
Brush: Omega 10048 Boar Brush
Razors: Merkur 25C with a “Treet Platinum Super Stainless” blade, and 1958 Gillette TV Special with a “Astra Superior Platinum” blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse and Alum block
Yet another DFS with the TV Special.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Magic Soap, liquid peppermint
Lather: Orange Essential Oil Shave Soap
Brush: Omega #10048 boar
Razors: Franken-nought-four loaded with a “Lord Platinum” blade and a Feather Popular with a “Feather Hi Stainless”
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, Alum block and Krampert’s Finest Experimental Menthol
Peppermint, orange and menthol makes for a very nice and refreshing shave in the middle of the work week.
The Frankenrazor works as well as can be expected, ie. pretty well – the handle of the Yuma is a little on the light side to balance the Merkur OC head properly.