What's in a name?

Every razor has it's own unique shave characteristic and what I might consider a wonderful whisker whacker might tear your face to pieces..  load up one of the many available blades, each with it's own set of dominant traits and the matrix goes hyper on your..  Aside from the visual appeal of different razors, it's their temperament that differentiates them from a daily shaver, dust collector or worse...offered for sale or trade.

I recently added a vintage 1961 Gillette Fat Boy Adjustable to my inventory.  Its prior owner had named it George.  Learning this got me thinking about each of the razors I have.. not so much from a technical, forensic perspective, but in consideration to the way they treat my face and hands and what images they bring to mind before, during and after a shave.  While I don't know exactly how George got his name, I find it appealing that he actually has a name and I working on naming George's stable mates.

Open Comb or Safety Bar... an Observation

I think I am becoming an open comb snob.

With the exception of the Slant Bar razor, which I just adore, I am finding my preference is moving away from regular DE's with a straight safety bar, and towards the open comb configuration.

Over the past few weeks I have concentrated my shaves to a SuperSpeed, Fat Boy and iKon Standard which in my limited knowledge of this stuff, is a spin-off of the Gillette New Deluxe.

It seems like attaining an ultra close shave is more difficult with the DE's that have a safety bar.  Dissecting one pass, (W/X/ATG doesn't matter), the first stroke seems to serve to clear away some of the lather and subsequent strokes on the same area are required to actually get a cutting action. The next lather starts the 'clear & cut' process over.

On the other hand, the Open Comb (OC) gets busy with the first stroke.  Multiple strokes over the same area aren't necessary, so while the OC's are regarded by some as more aggressive, in my case it is the other way around since it takes multiple strokes across multiple passes to get close to what the OC can do in one pass. When all is said and done, the safety bar razors prove much more difficult to attain a Baby Butt Smooth finish, at least for me.   


NOTE: I feel it's important to share that the world of shaving has precious few right and wrong.  Let's agree which side of the blade is the sharpest.  After that, do what every you like..what ever works for you and most important that which makes you smile...  Remember, YMMV.

Have I found nirvana in the slant? Is there something missing in my technique? Poor blade selection?

I believe I have sound technique with both lather and shave, but I would be way arrogant to think I have nothing to learn... I'm all ears [eyes, given our medium here]

For sake of discussion.. My prep is always a hot shower. Soap or Cream.. either works for me and I believe my lather technique is good. One in ten shaves result in any weepers or irritation and seven out of ten are closer to BBS than DFS, but none out-right suck. Except the face gashing I did with the Feather AC..

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.