After a week with the Dorco Titan blade, it’s now the Platinum HQ Red’s turn.
I do have more history with the Dorco Platinum HQ Red blade, having used it for 10 shaves coming into this week, with half of those getting an overall rating of 23 or 24.
I’m expecting a week of better shaves, though that largely is going to be due to the bad shave last Sunday. But because I’ve had so much success with the Platinum, including great shaves with the King C Gillette, I’m looking forward to a run of great shaves.
Why do the KCG shaves make a difference? Because that razor is more aggressive than most in my collection, and lines up fairly similarly to the Henson medium, which gets the call again this week to keep the playing field even.
This week also brings the first uses for two more lathers and one aftershave balm. Both have French names, but one is from Canada and the other is from France. Tuesday’s shave will use the Martin de Candre Original shaving soap (from France), and I’ve heard a lot about the whole Martin de Candre line, and am looking forward to using it to see if it does measure up to the hype.
Thursday’s shave features the unscented soap and aftershave balm from Henri et Victoria, a Canadian product from Quebec. You see Henri et Victoria often online, and now that I finally have their products in hand, I’m excited to use them.
As usual, though, I open the week with the traditional Proraso Sunday shave, this week with the green line and the green cream.
I’m looking forward to a good week of shaves, and I’m excited to compare them to the shaves with the Dorco Titan.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #252. The Dorco Platinum HQ Red Proraso Green Sunday Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13++ Medium
- Blade: Dorco Platinum HQ Red
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Refreshing pre-shave cream (green)
- Brush: Proraso boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Refreshing shave soap (green)
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Refreshing after shave balm (green)
- Stats:
- 11th shave with the Dorco Platinum HQ Red blade
- 19th shave with the Henson Medium (3rd most behind the Henson mild and the King C Gillette)
- 7th blade used with the Henson medium
- 10th shave with the Proraso green cream (2nd among the Proraso creams, but 3rd for all Proraso lathers behind the white soap and blue cream)
- 3rd consecutive almost perfect shave (overall rating of 23 or 24)
- 17th shave with an overall rating of 24 (9.1% of all logged shaves)
Thinking back on last Sunday’s shave and comparing this one, the difference is (well, literally) almost night and day. I mean, Daylight Saving time and all, this one was done completely in the dark…or the dark outside, I mean.
But this shave was much more pleasant and comfortable than last Sunday’s shave, and I’m thinking that the Titan is a slightly more aggressive blade that also dulls faster than the Platinum HQ Red. There was a lot more blade feel last week, and less efficiency on Sunday, and I really believe that the Titan starts out sharper and more efficient, but just can’t hold its edge as well, leaving the other shaves more pleasant.
That sounds like a case for corking the blade, but I’ll continue to look into that. The Proraso green team today was up for the challenge as usual, providing excellent lubrication and smoothness, along with it’s wonderful cooling feel all the way through the shave until I rinsed off the lather. The lather this morning was excellent–thick and rich and protective, and the only reapplying I needed to do was to drag some off of the beard and onto the skin.
There were only a couple of very small spots of sting with the alum, but they were gone in seconds, so this shave had almost no irritation, and a closeness that, with the Henson medium, didn’t require very many extra strokes.
All-in-all, a shave I will happily come back to because it was what I want from my shaves: comfortable, very close, and pleasant. An enjoyable morning shave to start the week.
Comfort: 24 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 of 25
Overall: 24 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #253. The Second French Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13++ Medium
- Blade: Dorco Platinum HQ Red
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave
- Brush: Omega 10019 boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Martin de Candre Original shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Soothing Post Shave balm
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the Martin de Candre Original shaving soap, 2nd shave with a French lather
- 72nd shave with the Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave, tops among pre-shaves
- 45th shave with the Omega 10019 boar brush, second to the Proraso brush
- 42nd shave with the Nivea Sensitive balm, tops among aftershaves
- 57th shave with an overall rating of 23 (30.3% of all logged shaves)
- 74th almost perfect shave (overall rating of 23 or 24)
I was really excited for this shave, getting to try the Martin de Candre soap for the first time.
I’ve heard a lot about it–how it lasts a very long time, works well, and people just seem to really appreciate it as a premium shaving soap. I scooped about half the normal amount of soap out of the sample tub and pressed it into the bowl and went to work on the lather, and yeah, I can see how it lasts a long time. That small amount made plenty of lather, and I didn’t even fully wet it. By that, I mean that it’s what’s known as a “thirsty” lather, meaning it needs more water than normal, and I got a very stiff and thick lather that probably could have used just a little more water to become really slick. As it was, it worked very well.
The rest of the shave was great–a touch more irritation than on Sunday, and I’ll chalk a lot of that up to just needing to learn to lather with the Martin de Candre soap. But the closeness was excellent again, and I’m remembering just how much I really like the Dorco Platinum HQ Red blade.
I’m not feeling the same blade differences that I did with the Titan, though, so I’m really believing that either the Titan is just a lower quality blade, or it does start out with a difficult edge that needs some dulling before use. Generally, though, I’m happier with the Platinum than the Titan.
Again, an excellent shave that was thoroughly enjoyable. And I look forward to trying some new things again on Thursday!
Comfort: 23 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #254. The Canadian Dorco shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13++ Medium
- Blade: Dorco Platinum HQ Red
- Pre-Shave: Stirling Soap Co. Unscented pre-shave soap
- Brush: Yaqi Rainbow shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Henri et Victoria Unscented shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Henri et Victoria Unscented aftershave balm
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the Henri et Victoria Unscented shaving soap and aftershave balm
- 13th shave with the Dorco Platinum HQ Red blade
- 13th Shave with the Yaqi brush
- 75th almost perfect shave (23 or 24 overall rating)
- 58th shave with a rating of 23 (30.7% of all logged shaves)
- 8th almost perfect shave with the Dorco Platinum blade (3rd most after the Gillette 7 O’Clock yellow and Shark Super Stainless)
- 13th almost perfect shave with the Henson medium (2nd to the Henson mild by a wide margin)
- 34th lather used in a shave
This, as noted above, was the first go with the Henri et Victoria unscented soap and aftershave balm. And given the wait to get it, it was well worth the wait. I need to shave with it a second time before a full review, but I’m very pleased with how it lathers and how it lubricates. But this was the 34th different lather I’ve used in a shave, so I really can’t say that I’m not trying new things here.
As for this shave, it was very good–a little bit more irritation than Tuesday’s shave, but the new to me balm is working well to moisturize and calm it down. The Dorco Platinum, for me anyway, seems to have about 3 shaves in each blade. Maybe a 4th, but it doe seem to consistently start falling off at and after the 3rd shave, whereas the Titan was doing well on its third shave, but had that issue with the first. Either way, not a huge concern for me as typically I shave 3 times per week.
Overall, I’ll say that the Dorco Platinum has a slight edge on the Titan, and really it does come down to that first shave with the Titan. There was good sharpness with both otherwise, and nice smoothness (except for the first Titan shave). The Dorco Platinum has certainly earned its place in my collection and I will continue to pull it out in the future.
A great week of shaves, and I’ll shift gears a bit next week and pull out the King C Gillette, which I haven’t used since a one-day use for a bonus shave in early December. Time to show it some love.
Comfort: 22 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25