Today's Shave...

~ Today's Shave, September 17th, 2010 ~

Cream/Soap: Tom's of Maine, Natural Mint
Brush: Penworks, Silvertip Badger
Razor: Frankenrazor...Hoffritz Slant head on Bob's Razor Works Ultra Lite, anodized Black
Blade: Feather
Balm: Kiehl's

The slant bar razor has a safety bar that is curved rather than straight which, in tandem with a matching curved cap plate bends the blade in an strong curve.  This presents the blade to the beard in an angle which results in a shearing action as the blade passes the hair.  The result...a very close shave, though one needs to be extra careful when new to it.

The Slant is one of my favorite razors and I look forward to using it.

Tom's of Maine just discontinued this fabulous all natural, domestic shave cream.  It gets a bad rap because it lacks some of the glitz of the imported stuff, but I love it and have a few tubes in inventory.

 

Nikon D3, 70-200 f/2.8 VR, mounted on a Berlebach Mini Tabletop tripod with RRS BH55L ballhead.  Nikon Speedlights fired remotely via Radio Popper triggers. 

First straight razor shave is a smashing success!

Well.. it is a high level success.  The details can use some improvement.

Like others I don't have the inclination to go with traditional straights, though I can see them in my future. I have a collection of well over 300 straights that my dad left me, some of which I know I will eventually want to use, but I started with a Feather Artist Club RG.

As I mentioned in my first post about straights, this is, on all counts a regular straight razor in feel and execution, but it has removable blades.  This eliminates the need for the maintenance that traditional straights require.

The head of the razor opens to allow a disposable blade in your chosen flavor to be inserted.  The spring action locks securely and the blade exposure is perfectly even.  Removing the blade for disposal is as easy as inverting the head and squeezing.  This allows the blade to fall freely.  The head comes apart for cleaning.

Yesterday's shave was a BBS with a DE (Baby Butt Smooth with a Double Edge) so I wasn't working with a thick beard this morning.

I showered and whipped a big bowl of The Body Shops Macca Root shave cream because it is the slickest stuff I have and for me, it is 100% reliable. For some reason I chose my Hoffritz Pure Badger brush which is a flopper by comparison to the rest of my brushes, but something had it calling out to be a party to the experience.  I underestimate this brush...it needs to be in the brush rotation more often.

The blade I chose is the Feather Pro-Guard.  Per Feather's advertising, "By wrapping the blade in a protective cage a comfort margin is maintained between the blade edge and the skin.  The wire guard also virtually eliminates nicks and cuts."  It works as advertised.. reminds me of the Flicker razor my mom used to use. 
 
Kiehl's Men's Ultimate AS Balm was ready for post shave.

My plan was one pass and I was ready to bail out if it got dicey.  Other than this, I had no real plan.h I have read Dr. Chris Moss's book, The Art of the Straight Razor Shave,  but I felt I needed to hold this experience very loosely since I had no idea where it was going.. expectations are premeditated disappointment.

Top level report... The str8 shave is awkward for a newbie. Hold the razor this way or that? Can I see the angle of the blade?  Can I see my face?  Is that blood?  The left side of my face is impossible to reach or see. Getting around my chin and upper lip is quite challenging.

The shave lasted only marginally longer than a BBS DE shave. Still, I think I would be hard pressed to attempt this on a work day, at least not yet.

I pulled off three passes.. WTG, XTG & XTG. Zero cuts, nicks or errors, but it's far, very far, from a BBS shave. In fact, though I rate it a smashing success due to the lack of personal injury, if this were a DE shave I would consider it an epic fail given the lack of closeness. It's even, so I feel I did a decent job with coverage, but there is a nice even stubble that I would expect late in the day after a morning DFS DE shave (DFS = Damn Fine Shave; a notch below a BBS).

As I sit here, forty minutes post shave, I have zero irritation and have time to review the shave frankly, I don't know what I might do different next time.. The Pro-Guard blades are suspect. But only slightly. If they are designed to prevent cuts, there must be some compromise in closeness.  I didn't attempt an ATG pass.  Though the Macca Root is perfect for DE, it's quite thick and made it tough to tell if the blade or spine of the razor was actually on my skin.

Gotta wonder if I should push to shave two handed... now would be the time do it, before any kind of muscle memory sets in.

To the more experienced...tell me your thoughts..suggestions and comments.

To the less traveled..don't let the straight scare you. Respect it. But don't fear it.

Image is from the Nikon D3.  28-70 f/2.8 Nikkor lens.  Hand-held.  SB-800 fired into a Wescott 43" double fold umbrella via Radio Popper JRx Wireless units.  

...Call it perfect

Another absolutely glorious morning and another perfect shave out on the deck.  The family is still asleep...well, sounds like the whole neighborhood is, but that isn't unusual.  I live on Long Island's Great South Bay...there are only two roads into and out of my neighborhood, so if you don't live here there's no reason to come down this far towards the water.  Only home buyers and site-seers pass by so the neighborhood is typically dead-quiet.

But I far digress...

What constitutes a perfect shave?  For each of us, the exact specs will differ.  YMMV is a pretty popular acronym in the on-line wet-shave community..  Your Mileage May Vary means what works for me might be a horror show for you.  I don't define my shaves by how close they are, though that can be one means of describing them.  A perfect shave is a sum of all it's parts..it's a sensory rich experience.  A soft brush against my skin, gently lifting the hairs; A sweet smelling lather that lasts for multiple passes;  A fresh blade that doesn't skip or chatter; Unlimited time; No nicks, cuts, weepers or irritation; The feel of the razor and brush in my hands....

No question..I am a hardware junky. 
(hardware = razor, brush, bowls, face cloth, jars and containers / software = creams, soaps, oils, balms)

I enjoy the interface that exists between the tools of the trade..  I feel the same about my camera gear.  The tools are part of the experience.  New things that look old, old things made new..

Back to this mornings shave...

The razor is from a new company that turns and mills the parts from solid stainless steel.  iKon razors are just about perfect and this razor will last lifetimes.  It's heavy, yet well balanced and the handle has perfectly placed knurls to help your grip with wet hands.  This is a numbered limited edition and  sports an open comb which is the teeth on the head.  What I like about an open comb (OC) is that with each pass, it leaves a bit more lather on the skin than a regular safety razor will which better lubes the blade that follows. 

The cream?  C.O.Bigelow is a private label for Bath & Body Works and the cream is made by Proraso of Italy.  It is a barber shop staple.  Once it hits your skin you get a wonderful blast of eucalyptus and menthol.  It lathers well, lasts on the skin and is slick as an eel in olive oil.

Adding to the sensory rich experience and hardware inventory is the cool metal key used to turn down the tube of cream.  I am seriously anal retentive about keeping this stuff neat and use these keys in all my tubes even my toothpaste.  I searched for weeks and finally found and bought a handful of  them at Crabtree and Evelyn.

Brush... yes, brushes.  There are more sizes, shapes, colors and hair grades than I can list..give me some time, I'll do my best.  The best brushes are stuffed with Badger hair and the highest grade sports lots of names, most commonly called Silvertip or High Mountain and comes from the neck of the Badger.  The actual hair cluster is called a knot and most are made in China where the Badger is considered a pest, so killing them for their hair is entirely legal.  For those who have reason to avoid Badger there are knots made of Boar hair, horse hair and synthetic materials.  

This brush is a Silvertip, Grade A, three band (refers to the bands across the hairs) made by Penworks.  I purchased pre-owned and it is currently my favorite brush.  I'll revisit the whole pre-owned deal, as well as more details on brushes, in future posts.. 

The aftershave balm is a simple fragrant cream.  Very Sexy, for Men..  a gift from my wife. 

The Elmo face cloth is courtesy of my daughter.

There have been lots of questions via email about how to get started..what razor, where to buy, technique...  I'll keep the momentum on my side and will answer all the questions.  I promise.

Today's image is courtesy of the Canon G9.  It's day three and I love it.  Shot in RAW, aperture priority at minus 1.3 EV to underexpose the background, then I built the light back up using a Nikon SB-600 mounted in a Justin Clamp off to camera right.  The flash was fired using a Radio Popper JrX transmitter and the JrX Studio Receiver.   The Radio Popper setup allows for control the output level of remote flashes.  You can have an infinite number of flashes in three separate groups with each group having independent level control.  Sweet stuff.  The Justin Clamp has endless uses.  I have a few of these in my lighting bag.  I need a Circular Polarizer in 58mm for the G9; Ironically, I had one and sold it a few weeks ago.  In this situation, the CirPol would have knocked down the specular highlights and reflection in the stainless and the handle of the brush.  In retro-spec, a diffuser over-head and about another third of a stop less fill would have been perfect, but considering I am using a new-to-me G9, the images were shot in the middle of shaving and my original intent was to use only the iPhone, I'll take this one as it is!

I am finding the exposure and white balance on the G9 is spot on.  It's on-board flash is pretty much useless though I intend to try it as a wireless transmitter in optical slave mode.  Not sure how it will work since the flashes output will contribute to and contaminate the overall exposure....topic for another blog post.