The brush is one of Vie-Long’s mixed badger+horse brushes, and it does a very fine job indeed. I did soak the knot, now that I know I can do that simply by wetting the knot well before I shower. The lather was sumptuous and thick and fully enjoyable.
Today I used another Gillette NEW, this one with the original handle. This is the short-toothed version. I have commented on how the smoothness, ease, and quality of the shave is inversely related to the number of blades: Using the 5-blade Fusion as the benchmark, the shaves get better in all respects as you move to the 3-blade Mach 3, and another step up in quality with a two-blade cartridge and again with the single-blade DE. This morning I discover that the absolutely smoothness of action of 0 blades is amazing, though it removes little, if any, stubble. I had thought the NEW had a blade. I loaded it with a Kai blade, and still it was very nice: easy and smooth but also removing stubble—and quite efficiently.
Three passes, a good splash of Musgo Real’s excellent aftershave, and I’m on my way to the weekend.
Filed under: Shaving
