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Sunday, December 10, 2023 - Rainy Day Shave
- Prep: hot shower
- Brush: Yaqi 24mm Naples Tuxedo Knot (synthetic)
- Razor: Gillette Ball-end Tech K4 (1965)
- Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (1)
- Lather: Zingari Man - The Watchman - Sego Shaving Soap
- Post Shave: Zingari Man - The Watchman - After Shave Balm
With it’s “Stormy Air and Dark Seas” subtitle, The Watchman has become a soap I reserve for rainy/stormy days, especially with how little I have left in this tub. Although I wish I didn’t have to go anywhere on this rainy day today, at least I get to use one of my favorite scents.
Spiced Sunday
- Brush: Trotter Handcrafts Souls 26mm T1 Fan Knot
- Razor: Karve Shaving Co. Christopher Bradley Aluminum, SB-E
- Blade: Gillette Nacet [3]
- Lather: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Spiced - Soap
- Post Shave: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Spiced - Toner
- Fragrance: Bentley - Bentley for Men Intense - Eau de Parfum
It was a very relaxing Sunday morning shave.
Rating: 4.5/5
Micromatic 1/7
- Brush: Boti Motherlode knot in laminated wooden handle, 30mm
- Razor: GEM Micromatic Open Comb (gen 1)
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (1)
- Lather: Highland Springs Soap Co./Australian Private Reserve - Eclipse
- Aftershave: Wholly Kaw Entropy Man
- Fragrance: Chatillon Lux Gratiot League Square
There was talk about GEM razors and specifically their Micromatic line on the lemmy and the discord these past few days, and I realised that I haven’t used mine in a while, I was busy going down the straight razor rabbit hole. So I decided to do a tour of all five generations of Micromatics in a week.
Right to left, in chronological order: (OC[MM)OC] gen 1, (OC[MM)OC] gen 2, Clog-Pruf gen 1, Clog-Pruf Gen 2 “Peerless”, Flying Wing/Bullet Tip
We start today with the first, the gen 1 MMOC/OCMM/Ockmock, and a fresh Personna GEM blade. This brass rake is the razor that I’ve used when I did my 100 shave on one GEM blade (hence the “GEMturion” title), and it’s my most used razor. By now, I’m virtually guaranteed a great shave using it, and today was no exception.
The chonky, 30mm Motherlode is a pillowy soft lather monster and looked comically large in the narrow Eclipse tub.
I’ve been wanting to use Eclipse ever since my Raconteur shave a few days ago. Each of those two scents reminds me of the respective other. Rich, warm tobacco, leather, and oud, Eclipse is a comforting blanket on a cold day. Entropy Man leans in the same warm tobacco-leather direction, but with sweet plum that takes it in a playful direction. Gratiot League Square completes a wonderful leather and tobacco-themed morning shave.
This reminds me that I’m a MMOCwhisperer. You could argue that the Gen 2 has better blade alignment than the Gen 1 but, really, the MMOC is a design that offers little for improvement. The TTO mechanism is quite elegant.
Boltzmann++;
You could argue that the Gen 2 has better blade alignment than the Gen 1 but
That should only be true if you use spineless GEM blades. With modern GEM blades, the blade bumps are without function as far as I can see.
The TTO mechanism is quite elegant.
The pinnacle of safety razor technology IMO, and a beauty of engineering. It’s a mechanism actuated by a single degree of freedom, acting on two degrees of freedom, never jams and works for nearly a century without maintenance or disassembly required. Hard to beat.
Boltzmann++;
++ Indeed
The only reason I own a Clog-Pruf is because I mentioned once that I wanted a razor with that mechanism, but had no interest in a MMOC. Someone introduced me to the Clog-Pruf, with the same mechanism but a friendlier shave.
December 10, 2023
- Brush: AP Shave Co. - 24mm Synbad Fan
- Razor: Chiseled Face - Legacy Raw Titanium (#69)
- Blade: Gillette Stainless (3)
- Lather: Oaken Lab - Far Afield - Soap
- Post Shave: Pinaud - Clubman Musk - Aftershave
- Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Mood Indigo - Balm
- Post Shave: L de L - Retinol Men - Facial Serum
This retinol stuff is pretty much just labeled “Retinol Men”. The brand name is super tiny. I used to never use it because the little pump bottle that it came with simply didn’t work. I decided to move it into a different pump, and now it works great. I like how it makes my skin feel, but my research just now indicates that it makes your skin sensitive to sun exposure… Probably not a problem in the winter for me.
My wife also swears by retinol creams.
sun exposure… Probably not a problem in the winter
Not a skier/snowboarder, I take it?
December 10, 2023: Double Ishtar
- Preshave: Proraso Green Preshave
- Brush: Yaqi 28mm Synthetic ““Rock””
- Razor: Gillette Slim Adjustable
- Blade: Astra Superior Platinum (39)
- Lather: Abbate y la Mantia Ishtar
- Post Shave: Floid The Genuine
- Post Shave: Nivea After Shave Balm
- Fragrance: Rogue Perfumery Ishtar
Inspired by @spj_hook@sub.wetshaving.social’s shave yesterday, I got out my Slim Adjustable (, aggressive to milf 😊). I also resumed my exploration why Ishtar doesn’t lather that well. It’s not the Proraso Preshave. I used the Rock brush - really like a soft cloud on the face, but 28mm is a bit excessive. Anyways, it took some work, but I got to YouTube lather.
Lathered, Ishtar doesn’t smell anything anymore (or at least, I cannot detect anything). I combined it with Ishtar from Rogue Perfumery - which is a nice enough scent, but should really be named Flowery Balcony or something like that. Clearly, Our Lady of Nineveh wouldn’t smell like that!
Have a good night!