Beautiful shave today. I used my Brent’s Brush with Prairie Creations’ Barbershop shave stick and got a wonderful lather—we’re talking D.R. Harris quality here.
I realized yesterday that the category of razors I call “mild-aggressive” (mild and comfortable on skin and face, aggressive and efficient on stubble) seems to start at around $70, and that there are three mild-aggressive razors currently at that price point: the Weber polished head, the Standard, and the iKon Shavecraft #101 open comb. (The iKon Shavecraft #102 slant is also in that category but will not be released until around December.)
I thought that cluster was interesting, so I wrote a post on Wicked_Edge about it, and that reminded me of the Sharpologist article I wrote when the first Weber (the DLC model) appeared a couple of years ago. So I reread that, updated some of the figures, and noted that indeed more new DE razor manufacturers have emerged: Standard and Tradere, for example, and the iKon line continues to grow. This renascence of DE manufacturing is consistent with a steady and serious trend (as are, for example, growth in subscribers of shaving forums, growth in number of traditional-shaving vendors, increases in prices of vintage razors, and so on).
At Wicked_Edge, one poster didn’t quite feel that the Weber was all that comfortable—this could be from any number of causes beyond the usual YMMV variation from shaver to shaver: he may not have found the ideal blade, he may have a razor that’s not quite meeting specs, and so on. But it did make me want to use my Weber to verify that, for me, the Weber is still in the mild-aggressive group.
So I picked up my Weber, which holds a previously used Astra Superior Platinum blade (and in this case has a UFO handle) and went to work. Wonderful shave: no nicks at all, very comfortable, and absolutely BBS.
A good spllash of Shulton Old Spice, and the day is officially launched for me.
Filed under: Shaving
