7 a.m. Plus blade shave #2

The second shave with the 7 a.m. Plus blade was an uneventful shave.

Wow, blogging about shaving is pretty boring.  I mean, I shave every day, pretty much the same way, with the same tools and its pretty much the same....

But, man, does my skin look good!  And I smell good too!

Blade Sampler beginning

I ordered a sampler of blades from Joanna at The Shave Den and decided that I would start working my way through it.  It appears to have 3 each of 6 different blades.

I will be using each set of 3 blades in my Weber razor, my Gillette New open comb razor and in one of my Gillette Tech razors for shaving my head.

I think three different razors will give a pretty fair representation of how I might use the blades.  

Today's face shave was just fine, no surprises, no blood! and best of all, the blade was a non-issue.  It seemed to be sharp and smooth.

Update - Still Shaving and Still Enjoying it!

Yep, I'm still alive and still enjoying shaving in a more traditional way.  Pictured above is a set up I used exclusively for several weeks.  The Weber Polished Head stainless steel razor was purchased in April and has been a very nice addition to my assault on whiskers.  The Godrej shaving cream came from a Pay It Forward I received all the way from India.  The Vie-Long horsehair shaving brush is the main brush I used most days.  And Old Spice, well, I've been using it for a long time and I am comfortable with it.

I also use this Gillette Tech razor to shave my head.  I just figured out that it is a 1954 model!  That, unbelievably, is older than me.  I've started using Feather Hi Stainless blades in this razor and this makes for a great combo and always results in cue ball smooth head shaves with nary a nick to be found.

The other item I have added to my arsenal of shaving weaponry is a scuttle from Georgetown Pottery.  The idea around a shaving scuttle is to make warm lather by filling the outer chamber with hot water and making the lather in the bowl.  It seems to work quite well.  I had no idea I would enjoy warm lather, but I certainly do.

I'll try to update more often.

I've been using this old style technology for about 2 months now.  Shockingly, I'm shaving my face every day and shaving my head every other day.  Anyone who ever talked to me about time wasting habits would know that I've always considered shaving to be a massive waste of time.

Well, that has changed!  I'm not quite a traditional shaving evangelist, but I am close.  I don't really talk to people about it, but I will drop an occasional comment about getting a "damn fine shave" every so often.  I do encourage my child bride to feel my face at least once a day.

One of the constants in this new found enjoyable habit is this Old Spice Mug.  It is pretty old, older than me anyway.  It was manufactured sometime after 1943 and before the mid 1950s.  It isn't too big or too small.  It has nice crazing in the glazing and well, it just looks cool.  It was manufactured by Hull Pottery.

New Brush- Riding a Horse!

Vie-Long 13061 

I made a final purchase this week (famous last words) of some blades and a Gillette Slim Adjustable and this new Vie-Long 13061 horsehair shaving brush.  Yes, it was impulsive, but it arrived and well, being a good product tester, I put it right to work.

Some of the real sissy face shavers just can't stand the smell of the horse hair brush.  It doesn't bother me.  I've been around horses enough to know that horse hair smells like, well, horse hair.  Don't be a girl about it!  I'm the father of 3 sons, so I am used to the smell of animals.

The Vie-Long is a little "scritchy" feeling when applied to your face, but again, what would you expect?  This isn't a make-up brush! It's a shaving brush.  I expect Ghengis Khan ripped the tails off horses to lather up before he shaved with some giant sword.  So I'm just carrying on the tradition of well-shaved barbarians! (insert appropriate manly grunting noises here in your mind)

I've used the brush about 5 times so far.  I've head lathered and face lathered and mug lathered with it.  The slightly stiffer hairs do pick up the soap rather nicely but I am trying to learn how much water is proper for the soaps.  It seems to want to hold more water than the boar bristle brushes I've been using, although "boar" may be an oversimplification.  I expect that "boar" hair also may come from sows, but that's a topic for another post.  Anyhoo, today I shook more water out of the well soaked brush before I started on the soap and ended up getting a much better lather overall.

So, on behalf of the well groomed marauder line of Ghengis Khan, I wish you all a great day and a great shave!

Weapons of beard destruction