After reading the lamentations of a man whose bakelite slant—like the one above—broke, I brought my own (still surviving, knock on wood) bakelite slant for a memorial shave. I am very glad I did.
The little Vie-Long horsehair brush produced a very fine lather from the Bathhouse Soapery Cloud shaving soap: ample, thick, and slick.
I put a new Personna Lab Blue blade in the Merkur white bakelite slant and it performed like a dream. I think I had left the old blade in for one shave too long, because the difference the new blade made was unmistakable: the razor glided across my face, and the greater part of my face was BBS after two passes (one WTG, one XTG). I did the final ATG pass anyway—the razor is very mild and gentle on the skin despite its fierce aggressiveness on stubble—and ended up perfectly smooth with no trace of a nick, cut, or burn.
A splash of Ginger’s Garden Suede, an aftershave I enjoy a lot, and the week looks benign to me.
Filed under: Shaving
