A very fine shave today. Eufros really is a superb soap, made by JabonMan in Spain. Top-notch, and today’s lather made with the Chiseled Face synthetic brush was wonderful.
Rather than use the Chiseled Face pre-shave gel, today I did my more usual pre-shave beard wash with MR GLO. I found the shave certainly as good as with the gel, and I think one of the things I like about using MR GLO is that my beard is wet when I apply the lather: the more water, the better, I think. So now I’m going to try wetting my beard before applying the pre-shave gel and see how that works.
The S3S (no longer made, so I suppose it is now a vintage razor) is remarkably good. It has quite a massive head, and even with the stainless “bamboo” handle shown, it is perhaps a little head heavy. But since it is not a slant, that head mass is put to good use—not in pressure against the skin, of course (pressure against the skin should always be minimal), but in providing good inertia for the compressive cutting action of a regular razor. A slant, cutting with shearing force, does not need the extra push against the stubble, but with a regular razor, the added mass drives the edge through the stubble with noticeable ease. It’s a very fine razor.
A good splash of l’Occitane’s Cade EDT as an aftershave finished the job in fine style.
A note on cleaning: I got a flat-bottom Gillette Tech with rust stains all over the interior. Since neither nickel nor brass rust, the stains are clearly from blades rusting inside the razor. Blades back then were all carbon steel—stainless blades came later—and they would quickly rust.
I discovered that the mild abrasive action of silver cleaning paste—like this brand—did a great job. While abrasive, it’s a very fine abrasive, and I was able to remove the rust and leave the nickel intact.
Filed under: Shaving
