Share your shave of the day!
November 28, 2024
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Brush: Wald Nimbus Chryselephantine 29mm A1 Fan
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Blade Holder: Gillette NEW SC
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Blade: Gillette Nacet (9)
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Lather: The Cajun Blade - Wild Oud - Soap
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Aftershave: WestMan Shaving - Alma - Aftershave Balm
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
This has been a very relaxed day. Almost forgot the SLS. It would have been easy to skip, but I always enjoy them when I do them.
Thursday, November 28, 2024: SLS
- Brush: Yaqi - Sagrada Familia 24mm Synthetic
- Razor: Merkur - 34C
- Blade: Van Der Hagen - Stainless (3)
- Lather: Stirling - Sandpiper
- Post: Chiseled Face - Ghost Town Barber Aftershave splash
- Post: Nivea - Sensitive Post Shave Balm
A comfortable two-pass luxury shave to cap off Thanksgiving. It was a good day spending time with family. It’s so wild watching my niece and nephew get older.
November 28, 2024
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Brush: AP Shave Co Summer 28mm G5C
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Blade Holder: Tatara Muramasa (setting: 3)
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Blade: Gillette Nacet (8)
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Lather: House of Mammoth - Hygge - Soap
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Aftershave: House of Mammoth - Hygge - Splash
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Talc: Yardley Gold
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
Enjoy your holiday if you celebrate today!
“Hygge is a Danish concept which conveys a sense of comfort and togetherness”
November 28, 2024
- Brush: Chisel & Hound “Rob’s Finest” w/25mm Paragon Synthetic
- Razor: GEM Pushbutton
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (4)
- Lather: Chiseled Face - Bespoke #1 - Soap
- Post Shave: Chicago Grooming Co. - Frankie & Myrna - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Goodfellow & Co. - Face Lotion - Kelp & Sea Mineral
- Fragrance: Barrister & Mann - Lavanille - EdP
I really like Bespoke #1. I should give away all the soaps that are just sorta mid to make room for scents like this. (I only have a sample for now)
I was looking at my aftershaves trying to decide if I had anything in the same ballpark to pair with the soap, and I picked Frankie & Myrna. I’m looking at the scent notes of Bespoke #1 now and Frankincense in Myrrh are both in there, so I nailed it.
Following along with @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social’s NovGEMber, today is Pushbutton day. This was my first GEM razor and although I prefer some other GEMs at this point, this one still shaves really well.
Happy Thanksgiving!
GEM Days 12a/14: Push That Button – One Last Hurrah – Thu 28 Nov 2024
- Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
- Razor: GEM Push-Button
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
- Lather: Abbate Y La Mantia – Koké
- Post Shave: Abbate Y La Mantia – Koké
- Fragrance: House of Mammoth/Noble Otter/Declaration Grooming – Cerberus
This is shave 23 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the Push-Button, one more attempt at doing something clever.
The Push-Button
One word: “plastics”. The loss of the Micromatic mechanism seems to have sat wrong with ASR’s engineers, and with the Push-Button they brought out one more mechanism that keeps your fingers away from any sharp edges as you open and close the top cap.
So, did GEM catch lightning in a bottle again like they did with the Micromatic? Well, the overall usability is similar, but the plastic sliding button does not look as durable as the venerable Micromatic mechanism, in particular the minuscule contact line where a short arc of a plastic cylinder pushes the back of the brass head in a sliding contact.
In terms of geometry, the Push-Button remains very close to the G/E-Bar and the Ever-Ready Featherweight (not the GEM Featherweight). The similarities with the G-Bar extend also to the handle shape.
And the base plate seems to have retained the same geometry as well, but they have changed the grooves of the safety bar from vertical to horizontal “to set up tough whiskers for closer shaving”.
Given the historical context, a then modern plastic mechanism possibly didn’t have the negative connotation low-cost plastic parts have nowadays, or this was supposed to be a low-cost razor. It’s interesting to note that this Push-Button and the 11 years older Flying Wing were both sold at USD 1, which adjusted for inflation is a price reduction of about 24%.
The shave
Like all the GEM razors with the Flying Wing head shape, the Push-Button is a good shaver. The cheap-looking mechanism doesn’t impact the shave and once the top cap is closed, the blade is clamped as well as with the previous GEMs. I really enjoy the hard soap base that Koké comes in, and I had a comfy and close shave without any issues. Cerberus is always a nice finish for this scent.
Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!
The timeline
1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene1914-1927: 19141924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to “Slim-V Flat Top” in 1953, British version sold as “Natural Angle” by Ever-Ready1955-1958: GEM V-Slim “Heavy Flat Top” (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)- 1958-1965: Push Button ← We are here
- 1965-1973: Contour
- 1973-1979: Contour II (The last GEM razor)