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.  

A logical progression...

Or, I am about to intentionally harm myself.

I ordered a straight razor.

Yep, those scary looking weapons of Sweeney Todd, aka Cut-throat razors.

It's coming from across the pond and should be here in a week or so..just enough time for me to either change my mind, or assemble a proper first aid kit.

Stay tuned.

+++++++++++++  Update  +++++++++++++ 

What a surprise!!  A neatly wrapped package arrived at my office today.. Yes, it's my straight razor!  It made the trip to New York from Austria in about a week less than I expected.

I need some time to research the proper holding technique as well as how to properly segment the shave before I'll let it touch my face.

Straight razors come in many shapes, sizes and designs.  What they have in common is the prep and upkeep of the blade.  The steps required to make a str8 shave-ready are best left to a professional.  A dull blade is far more dangerous than a properly prepared tack sharp blade.  There-after, the blade needs to be honed and stropped to keep it sharp.  This requires a decent inventory of stones, creams, strops and hones, plenty of practice and about as much money.  All on top of the cost of the blade itself.

I decided I wasn't up for the learning curve or monetary commitment so I chose a Feather Artist Club RG "No-Sharpen" straight along with one pack each of the Professional Blades, Professional Super Blades and the Pro-Guard Blades.  I plan to start with the Pro-Guard which have some kind of wire cage on them to protect the newbie from slitting his/her throat.  I figure that's a good plan, but I'll update as I progress.

Drobo update...

I've not been keeping track of how many days the Drobo has been running.. maybe that's a good thing since...well...it's still running.

The Drobo Dashboard runs in the background monitoring all things Drobo.  It gave me an alert that there was a firmware update that was recommended.  As a general rule, I perform all the firmware updates since the manufactures surely know better than I...Microsoft updates, Nikon camera specific updates and now the Drobo.  Seemed easy enough.  Just download, install and reboot the Drobo unit.

But for some reason the Drobo failed to reboot throwing an error message that Drive R was still running preventing the Drobo from going into standby mode.  Hmmm... Drive R is the Drobo.  Sounds like it's chasing it's own tail.

Quick visit to Data Robotics support site and followed instructions to reset it.  Done, and done.

The Drobo monitor reports all drives are fine and once again Drobo is healthy.

Excellent, now I can forget about again.

...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.

So what do I need???

Like so many other hobbies, you can do wet-shaving on the cheap, or go all out and spend a boat-load of dough on fancy smelling creams, all stainless steel razors and English made Silvertip Grade A brushes.

I've gone down both paths..  Since I love old things made new and new things made to look and feel old, this chore turned hobby works perfect for me and I have amassed a collection of razors priced from $12 to $100+ and brushes in the same price range, but life can be much easier...

This morning is a near perfect day..end of summer, still warm but just a faint break in the temperature and zero humidity.  A shave out on my deck was in order.

I hung a small face mirror from the upright on the pagoda... While I have one of these that belonged to my father-in-law and is an antique, I bought this one at a local pharmacy for $3.00..

I prefer to shave after a shower since having a well hydrated beard is one of the key factors to a good shave.  Statistics say that a man's facial hair is 85% softer after exposure to just a minute of warm water.   Ten minutes in the shower is a perfect prep, but since I was also creating some images and the breeze was drying my face quickly, I also did a relaxing warm towel treatment just before lathering...I dunked a wash cloth in a bowl of hot water and held it on my face..what a treat.

This mornings shave was done with a vintage 1954 Gillette SuperSpeed that I bought on-line for $16 shipped.  It was already cleaned but I gave it a dip and soak in alcohol.  Added a Derby blade, $0.40.  The brush is a well sought after Shea Moisture, Pure Badger.  It's entry level all the way, but for some reason it is a joy even when compared to brushes costing tens of times more.  Find this one at Target, $9... and if you do, buy three.

I broke my normal routine of using shave creams and lathered with a soap.  I find the creams lather easier and are slicker, but this soap is awesome.. Van Der Hagen Deluxe is also a drug store item, and costs about $2.  I put it in an old coffee mug (freebie) and heated it in the microwave for about twenty seconds so it took the shape of the mug..  The stainless bowl held rinse water...$1.50 at a local home furnishing clearance center!

I finished with a touch of Oil of Olay moisturizer that I have had for about ten years.. new it may have cost $3 or so..  Add it up and this was indeed a wet-shave on the cheap, but the result is a damn fine shave by any one's standards!   With the razor, soap and brush now in inventory, future shaves will be even more cost effective!!  I'd venture to say the "per shave" cost with this setup is under a dollar!

Today was a two pass shave, interrupted by some image making.  The mirror image is from the Nikon D3, but the other is from a new-to-me Canon G9, with a Nikon SB-600 speedlight off camera controlled by Radio Popper RF remotes..  Expect some more feedback on the G9, but having shot with it for only a day or so, I can tell you I love it.  It fills the gap between full size SLR bodies and pocket point and shoot.  It's technology is a few years old and there is now a G10 and G11 in Canon's G line-up, but it is perfect for what I need it for...super light, full manual control in addition to Av & Tv, built in hot shoe and most important, it captures in RAW format..  more to come on this...

Entry into Wet Shaving.. not just for the guys!

One reason I chose wet-shaving is I am tired of the cost of modern cartridge razors, especially given the inferior results I get from using them.  Close to $20 for a ten pack...razor burn included.

The other reason, as noted already, is the closeness and comfort of a wet-shave has to be experienced to be believed.  Friday I was out shooting at dawn at a race track near Cape May, New Jersey, so skipped the morning shave.  Saturday I had a full day of growth to wack and I was really looking forward to the shave.  I slipped a new Wilkinson blade (cost about 45 cents) into my Merkur Futur razor, lathered with a iKon Silvertip Badger hair brush and a wonderful semi-soft soap from Italy, Cella di Parma and got to it.  Cella has an intoxicating scent of Amaretto..you almost want to sip it.

My shave involved three passes, as most DE shave do...one with the grain of my beard (WTG), one across the grain (XTG) and the last against the grain (ATG).  This is a routine I dare not do with a cartridge razor or I would be covered in blood and in pain for days.

Not only was I blood and irritation free, but my face was as smooth as a baby's butt.. We call it a BBS shave...Baby Butt Smooth.  So smooth that a pass with cotton ball against the grain leave not a wisp of cotton.  But to really get a feel for how good this shave can be you have to check it's smoothness after a few hours.  At 10PM, my face was smoother that it would have been immediately after shaving with a cartridge!!

Not every shave has to be a three pass.  I often do a two pass WTG and XTG which yields a damn fine shave (DFS).  Multipass does take a little longer to do than a one pass cart shave in the shower, but the daily ritual of shaving is no longer a chore.

Saturday's shave..  Merkur Futur adjustable double edge, iKon Silvertip Grade A brush mounted in a custom turned stainless steel handle, Cella di Parma, a drop of natural glycerin for lube, and Kiehl's After Shave Balm.  Image from my iPhone, processed using Lightroom v3.

My last post was, sadly, off the mark in that I failed to make comment that wet-shaving isn't just for the guys!!  Ladies, I encourage you to consider ditching you Venus or Soleil, stop swiping your hubby's Mach III (he'll appreciate that even if he doesn't convert to a DE) and try using a DE..  There is no shortage of DE razors made just for you!  Some sport shorter handles, others smaller heads, and a few with a curved head that better fits all the curves and hollows of your body!

The lost art of shaving

Over the years I have tried to make what is otherwise a laborious, oft painful event into something enjoyable, but the act of shaving my face never seemed to be something I looked forward to.  A sad fact considering the frequency with which I have to shave...

With the resurgence of wet-shaving, I now welcome each days shave and treat it as an event...a ritual of pleasure that I anticipate and savour...

Wet-Shaving has a pretty broad definition, but it's focus is on old style double edge (DE), single edge (SE) and straight razors (str8's) in tandem with creams and soaps made from more natural ingredients and don't come from a can.

I've always had a love for new things that look and feel old and old things made to look new again, so the nostalgic nature of the implements of wet-shaving are a natural attraction for me.

I have made numerous feeble attempts at shaving in this manner with the obligatory shave brush and some glycerin soap and even a few DE razors my father gave me, but I never had technique and the result was lackluster.  I always reverted back to the multi-bladed cartridge razors and canned goo.

A few months ago I was chatting with a good friend who mentioned he was using a DE which led me to a bit of research on-line and a week later, I made the jump.  My Mach III razor has sat unused since then, as my inventory of soaps, creams, brushes and razors has overwhelmed the master bath and my shaves have never been better.  Better. Closer.  More enjoyable, less expensive and at this point completely free of irritation, stubble and blood loss.

Now, this blog isn't about wet-shaving...at least it wasn't... but I have taken to documenting each days shave as a means of tracking which razor, blade, brush and balm seem to work best and as part of this I am photographing the setups...  using either my iPhone or my (new to me) Canon G9.  (I could never fully explain toting my tripod and light stands into the bathroom..)

Safeguarding your work

You've heard it a million times.. maybe more.  Backup your stuff.  Make a copy and keep it off site.  Don't format a memory card unless you have at least two backup copies of your data.  In theory it's really easy to do but in practice, many if not most folks have woefully inadequate backup plans.

As recently as last month I have experienced hard drive failures taking with them valuable data, but truth be told I have never lost a single image that I didn't want to lose.  I've often thought of my backup strategy as excruciating to keep up with..time consuming and resulting in more hard drives than I can manage, but it works.


If someone expresses an interest in the details, I'll share...but the short story is..  I keep at least three copies of every image..

• Field backup to a Hyper Drive (deleted along with the memory cards after all other copies below are done);
• One working copy on a dedicated internal hard drive. (OS and editing apps are on the primary drive);
• One copy on an external back-up drive, usually a Western Digital MyBook of some incarnation;
• One copy in the clouds using BackBlaze.  
• I said "at least three" copies because I've gotten paranoid of late and keep a mirrored copy of the external drive off-site..that makes four copies. 

The problem is that these copies are across multiple drives and it has become increasingly difficult to track.  Add to this challenge that hard drives experience instant mortality..one day they work and the next...not so much.  The WD MyBook 1 Terabyte that croaked last month is a perfect example, and it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Enter Drobo...by Data Robotics.  

The Drobo is an external housing that can hold multiple drives and writes data to them in a RAID configuration. Well, Data Robotics calls it Beyond RAID and truth told, I don't know exactly what that means or how it actually works, but it works well.  I put it in service as the primary back-up device about a month ago and it has replaced an abundance of external drives scattered around my studio.  I still keep one copy of critical data in the clouds and one off-site.

I bought the base model which can hold four drives with a maximum capacity of 4tb each, and you can mix and match sizes and speeds.  There are other Drobo versions that hold many more drives and all can be set up using either USB 2.0, Firewire or Ethernet cables.

It comes with proprietary software that allows all sorts of monitoring of the drives, updating, formatting and such, but my favorite feature is that it can perform scheduled backups of what-ever I choose.  Right now I have it scheduled to go once a week and I perform manual back-ups to it after each shoot, but at some point I am going to let go of the leash and allow it do it's thing.

Technology is moving way too fast for me to grasp all the nuances, so I have a bit of blind faith with this, but the front panel monitor lights indicate that all the drives are healthy (green LED's) and there is plenty of available space (Blue LED's).  MyComputer shows the multiple drives as one big storage device, and I use BeyondCompare to confirm that all the data is there and sync'd across the various backups.. 

I am watching this whole affair with a careful eye and will keep you updated over time.

Interesting side note...As I was sync'ng the data to the Drobo, I inadvertently deleted all images from 2001 through 2003... DOH!!   It happens.  I knew I had all this data in the clouds, but the off-site back-up easily repaired the data vacancy..

A moment of magic with Apple...

I'm still in love with my iPhone.. it's been over a year and I doubt I have come close to tapping into more than 25% of what it can do..and it's near bullet-proof.  Sort of...

I caved in a few months ago and made the decision to jail-break my phone..  Not sure why but it seemed like a good thing to do.  But as the days past, I realized that since all I accomplished was uncovering more untapped resources, when the next OS update Apple rolled out for the 3Gs I would revert back to factory spec.

Never as easy as others tell you it will be....

Yes, it's been a while...

Summer is coming to an end...  I've had a lot of time to reflect. 

From what I have read from other bloggers, there is a metamorphosis that occurs somewhere around month four of blogging...  You look back at where you started and question where you are going...

I've focused on what I thought others would want to read and realized it wasn't what I wanted to share.  At least not in the format in which I wanted to share it....

More follows the break..