Share your shave of the day!
Utilitarian Shave
- Brush: Dogclaration LG 2022 Mystery Brush (B16)
- Razor: Gillette Red Tip Rocket
- Blade: Feather new Hi-Stainless
- Lather: Mäurer & Wirtz Tabac Original Cream
- Aftershave: Mäurer & Wirtz Tabac Original Balm
Busy Sunday today, full of Chistmas market, playground, and mulled wine. A quick Stankening with the cream and Rocket is just what the doctor ordered.
gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social 11 months ago
December 3, 2023
Brush: AP Shave Co Summer 28mm G5C
Razor: J.A. Henckels Friodur 14 Full Hollow Square Point
Lather: Declaration Grooming - Opulence - Soap
Toner: Thayers - Rose - Toner
Aftershave: Declaration Grooming - Opulence - Aftershave
Talc: Yardley Classic
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
This shave was superbe (FR spelling and pronounciation). That is mostly due to the Frio 14 I think. Stainless steel has been around since the early early 20th century. I guess that a combination of cost and heritage have kept straight razor steels as carbon steels (which rust) until the '60s. But, really, when tempered properly, stainless has no drawbacks as a straight razor steel. Note that most DE blades from the mid-20th century onwards are stainless. [ And, yes, I’m not an authority. I’ve had formal training in materials science but that was around the time humans were learning the advantages of the wheel. ]
Today was a revisit of Opulence. During BBS November I used my tub and had the worst lather of the month. I was pretty sure it was user error, but both @walden@sub.wetshaving.social and @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social informed me that there were Opulence tubs out there with a reputation for being very difficult to lather.
My strategy was to give the soap every chance possible to produce a good lather. I bloomed it with hot water for about 15 minutes prior to use, then loaded my dense G5C synthetic knot very heavily from the tub. The soap produced no suds just a paste. I spread this on the face and proceeded to add water to the brush and agitate the lather (i.e. face lather). I added a lot of water, did a lot of brush scrubbing, and finally built a moist dense and slick lather. This worked just fine for the shave and rinsed cleanly from the razor. There was enough lather in the brush to easily build for a second pass, but almost the same amount of water and agitation effort were needed. The lather did lose slickness during each pass but did so slow enough that my shaving was unaffected. Real residual slickness only came when the face was wet post-pass.
So, I know that I don’t have to work this hard to lather any of my other DG soaps. I like the scent of Opulence, and can deal with the tub I have, but it is not a candidate for a quick shave.
sahenders@sub.wetshaving.social 11 months ago
Can confirm, I have a bad batch Opulence too.
djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social 11 months ago
Yeah, that’s pretty much my opulence experience, too. Dense, no suds, and you need to load super heavily. But that fragrance ☺️
I speculate it’s the “tradition” part in “traditional wetshaving” at fault.
PorkButtsNTaters666@sub.wetshaving.social 11 months ago
What I’ve seen several times when discussing carbon vs. Stainless steel as to kitchen knives (for instance here) is that carbon steel can be honed quicker, to a sharper edge, and retains the edge longer. On the other side, it’s more brittle, and rusts if you even think about rain.
I don’t know whether that’s true, though.
gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social 11 months ago
I think so as well.