Ugh, sick day today. At least the shave was very nice. Back to bed.
Oh yeah, SSL is a huge crowd pleaser 😊
I remember getting what you’re getting now then it came out, and I used it for my first two Austere Augusts.
I kept finding new nuances for the first ten or so shaves. So good
Ooh, this sounds interesting!
I found this red scaled Wectoblade on eBay a few weeks ago. It was caked with hard layers of grime, but also super cheap, so I took a chance and it came over the pond in my most recent reshipper bundle. After a few rounds in the ultrasonic cleaner and scratching the verdigris off the rivets it is now almost pristine.
After a long and Tabac-free November, this Tabac Tuesday was a delight. What started as a meme has become an uplifting little ritual.
Chatillon Lux and Declaration Grooming Pure Lavender (in Bison)
Oh what joy! I enjoyed going through a good part of my safety razor collection last month, but a nice morning shave with a smooth and sharp straight is something else.
This cosmetically challenged Thiers Issard 14 is a great shaver and Shire is a fantastic start into the day and the week. I combined it with Winter Break today to give a more wintery twist.
First use with the Occam’s. I jumped on the opportunity when a discord member decided to move his.
I’m not sure yet how much I like it. I struggled a bit finding and maintaining the right angle at first, but I ended up getting a good enough evening shave. So no red flags, no love at first shave.
Nocturne++;
Congrats for finishing your first BBS November!
Thanks for the kind words!
You’ve definitely motivated me to secure more Micromatics! :)
A fun side tunnel of the rabbit hole, and one of the most affordable :)
lol!
Thanks for the kind words!
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it :)
Congrats to you too! One more successful BBS November in the books.
Over the last two weeks, I ran through all† 14 generations of GEM-style razor. When comparing the major safety razor families DE, GEM, injector, Artist Club and One Blade/Valet, the GEM family is my favourite, gives me the best safety razor shaves, and the only type of blade that I’ve ever taken to 100 uses. It was a fun little project to go through the different concepts in chronological order and compare their designs, their manufacturing quality, and how they shave.
One thing that struck me is how ASR had many of the most clever designs in safety razor manufacture, but the one that stuck around was their first, and cheapest: the 1912 with a simple leaf spring pressing on the spine and a double leaf spring locking the top cap. ASR came out with four alternatives, the 1914, its improved version the 1924 Shovelhead, the Micromatic and the Pushbutton. They all had advantages over the original design but didn’t stick around, and ultimately none of the ASR razors could stand up to the DE competition.
This little experiment confirmed that the Micromatics stand out for me as the best safety razors I know, but even the Contour II gave me a great shave with Softheart Brew Ha-Ha today. These things shave well.
This shave concludes the 2024 edition of BBS November for me, my fourth, and it was a very nice experience again.
† As mentioned in the first instalment, there are some razors I don’t have, such as the 1906, the OC Damaskeen, a first generation Streamline/Jewel or the elusive adjustable Pushbutton.
This is shave 27 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the Contour II
The Contour II
Here, ASR dropped all pretense and gave up on any cleverness or quality. The plastic push-button mechanism was apparently too complicated to manufacture, so they dropped it. Back to the 1912 mechanism that was their initial fallback after the days of Micromatic glory. They didn’t change the base plate though so now it still has gaping slots for leaf springs that aren’t there anymore.
The original Countour top cap didn’t fit anymore, so they just went back to the top cap of the Featherweight. This top cap needs a thick leaf spring to hold in open or shut and it kind of fits, to they bolted that on too. Add a cheap handle to this heap of spare parts (I’m exaggerating a bit here) et voilà, you have a Frankenendling to conclude the GEM story line with a whimper.
Add poor QA on the plating for good measure. This NOS razor never left its original clam shell packaging before taking these pictures, and it has plating loss and verdigris around the hinge and where the safety bar is joined to the base plate, for instance, while early ASR razors have legendary thick plating often going strong after100 years in dirty storage.
The shave
Nice, and uneventful shave with the mild Contour II, tribute and a a few summery dupes.
The timeline
This is my only wooden bowl, so I’m not sure, but I’d assume so. Unless there is a layer of paint or lacquer, or the wood is otherwise stabilised.
Nice tea combo for a calm Friday evening shave.
This was shave 26 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors:
Not the best choice of material, though. The soap and water really dries it out, and i think I’ve oiled it with linseed oil once per two or three uses😂
This is shave 25 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the penultimate GEM, the Contour, or when ASR stopped trying
The Contour
At this point, ASR has given up. The Contour brings nothing new to the table and is just a cheaper version of the Push-Button with a slightly modified handle design and no more gold plating. That’s it.
The head is remained the same, just that it’s raw unplated stainless steel.
A look under the base plate shows that there was a slight modification of the outline of the thin leaf (foil?) spring that opens the top cap to accommodate the new footprint of the handle’s neck. It’s that thin sheet that’s placed between the base plate and the neck of the handle.
Looking into the open razor, we can see that also the width of the foil springs was reduced, but the cutouts on the back of the base plate still have the full width for the wider springs. It makes for a slightly more sluggish mechanism, and in the open position, a little bit of slack in lets the head jingle. No big deal, but distinctly cheap feeling. Lastly, they also dropped the grooves on the safety bar. Apparently, those “tough whiskers” don’t need setting up anymore for closer shaving?
TL/DR, this looks and feels like the budget version of the Push-Button, which itself was a sub-par attempt at replicating the magic of the Flying Wing. #Sad
The shave
Fantastic warm and sweet shave with MotI, Haverford, and TV. These scents have been among my favourites since the beginning of my descent down the rabbit hole and they still are.
The timeline
Following along with @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social’s NovGEMber,
🍻
I should give away all the soaps that are just sorta mid to make room for scents like this.
But what if that obscure soap I’m giving anyway is needed for my LG roster 😱?
Solid shave with Capt. Fawcett’s and the Push-Button. These mild modern GEMs are really good autopilot razors. Mild, efficient, intuitive.
This was shave 24 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors:
Thanks! You too!
Now just crossing fingers to not spread my germs to the rest of the family