Share your shave of the day!
December 16, 2023
- Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving 31mm x 57mm Moar Boar
- Razor: GEM Micromatic Flying Wing
- Blade: Personna Gem PTFE (2)
- Lather: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag - Soap
- Toner: Thayers - Lemon - Toner
- Aftershave: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag - Aftershave
- Fragrance: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag - Eau de Parfum
- Talc: Yardley Gold
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
It is nice to bring out the Stag every once in a while, and I enjoyed the trifecta today. However, only the dog and I seem to like this scent.
To me, the Flying Wing is more form than function. I find it to be too mild a razor. I can get a great shave from it, but it does not have that wonderful blade feel that I love about the MMOC, and I can’t help but compare them. I was inspired to use this by @djundjila’s 7-day Micromatic tour, and it will likely stay on the shelf unless MMMMFF becomes a thing again.
To me, the Flying Wing […] I find it to be too mild a razor.
I’m on record with a similar (but over-the-top) statement: “The Micromatic Flying Wing has the same mechanism and is beautiful, but unfortunately it’s so mild you can barely get a shave out of it.”, but I later ate my words 😅
After using it for a while it became one of my favourite razors, and it’s one of the few razors I have two of (one gold plated, and one chrome)
MMMMFF
❤️ I miss those!
After using it for a while it became one of my favourite razors
I wonder how you feel about its mildness now that you have put in so many hours using straights. My technique provided a comfortable BBS shave today but I have grown accustomed to much more blade feel. As you mentioned in one of your SOTDs, it is arguably the best looking Micromatic and while I was using it today, I was wondering how DEs ever took over. I see no benefit to a DE over a Micromatic SE.
I don’t really think of it as a mild razor any longer. It just has a different geometry than the MMOC and Clog-Pruf (which are very similar IMO), and it took me a minute to adjust.
wonder how you feel about […] mildness now
I rudely changed your question to answer with an observation: I don’t think mild and aggressive are super helpful categories, because even mild razors will give you a bad irritation if you don’t do your homework. I used to think of the safety bar as a mix of safety belt (doesn’t help avoid accidents, but helps in case of an accident) and training wheels (does help avoid accidents).
Now, I think of it as a mix of safety belt (not a nuisance) and training wheels (very much a nuisance).
On the spectrum between safety belt and training wheels , a training-wheel-like razor is one where the safety bar gets in the way of a good shave. The Merkur 34c is on the edge of that category for me, for instance. The Flying Wing isn’t, I get to feel and hear the blade without interference from the safety bar.
I see no benefit to a DE over a Micromatic SE.
100% agree. But then again, one can get a great shave from a DE too, and before Gillette adjustables, DE razors were probably much cheaper to manufacture than Micromatics?