Back home among familiar things and routines, but also some new things.
Vintage Blades LLC is dropping the Rooney line (supplier problems, I gather), and so the Rooney brushes were on sale just before I left and I ordered the ebony Style 2 shown. I had some lather-fading problems with this first shave (the brush in the photo has yet to be used), which seems odd to me, though perhaps I’ve simply avoided the issue by making a practice lather or two with a new brush before using it for real.
But by reloading I was able to go all three passes with excellent Strop Shoppe lather from the tub of Carnaby Street shown.
The Feather Popular ($8.42 currently at the link) is an example of a beginner razor: low cost, usable, but destined for early replacement. Razors in this category are mainly purchased by men who are unsure whether they will like DE shaving, so they don’t want to spend much to try it out, figuring that if they like it, they will upgrade the razor.
The drawback, of course, is that a very cheap razor may not provide a good basis for a decision. Some cheap razors don’t shave well, and lead to an incorrect belief that DE shaving is not all that good. Thus I tend to recommend the Parker 24C as a starter razor ($29), since it is both very comfortable and very efficient and will not require early replacement—indeed, it would be perfectly satisfactory for most as their permanent razor.
But the Popular has recently received praise, so I thought I’d give it a go. The baseplate, including the bar guard, is plastic. It’s a TTO (turn to open) razor, with the silo doors lifting as you turn the metal ring beneath the head. It comes with two Feather blades, but this morning I used a Gillette 7 O’Clock SharpEdge, which worked well.
Three passes, BBS result, but the razor has one sharp corner that scratches—no marks, just uncomfortable as you use the razor. It may be a one-off defect—these are not made, I think, to a high level of precision—but it was unpleasant. The efficiency was good, though. I would give it a C.
A good splash of Barrister & Mann Fougère Classique aftershave, and life at home resumes.
Tomorrow I have both a new soap (from jabonman) and a new razor (the stainless iKon Tech) to try, and I’ll give the Rooney ebony Style 2 another shot.
Filed under: Shaving
