Ah, September (almost). Summer gives way to Fall, school goes back into session, the sun rises later and sets earlier, and I am finished with the Anniversary Month shaves.
Back to normal, right? Well, not quite.
I’ve had 4 different Lord blades in the collection for a while now (and I’m not counting the Shark or Asco branded blades I have as Lords for the purposes of this string of shaves), and it’s time to give them their shot and see how they stack up.
So, for the next four weeks, I’ll be trying each of the four Lord branded blades (the Lord Classic, Lord Platinum Class, Lord Super Chrome, and Lord Stainless) in the same 3 mild razor setups (Rockwell 6C plate 2, Henson mild, Mühle R89) each week. As with all of the other blade comparison shaves, this will let me both compare the blades fairly in the same razors, but will also allow me to see how they feel in different razors as well. Plus, it avoids using the same razor for four consecutive weeks. Not to say that would necessarily be bad, but I’d like to avoid that.
So, what’s the difference between the four blades? Well, time may tell, but the Classic just seems to be a basic, uncoated stainless steel blade. The Super Chrome and Platinum Class obviously have coatings, but the Super Stainless also is uncoated. So I’ll have to wait to see what the difference is.
For those keeping score at home, Lord is an Egyptian company that makes a lot of shaving gear (blades & razors) in addition to batteries. Their shaving brands include Lord, Shark, Silver Star, Crown, Asco, Silver Star, and others. And they manufacture private label branded shaving gear for Aldi, Tesco, Boots and others. So think of them kind of like Dorco, but for the Middle East and Europe.
Theoretically, they’re a budget brand, but I really start to question that categorization when I’ve had some great experiences with some of the so-called budget brands.
But beyond the Lord plan, I need to get some more first and second uses in for the backlog of lathers. I refined one of the sheets in my shaving tracker spreadsheet to properly track the last used date and upcoming use dates for everything in the collection, so I can see when the last time I used something was without having to scroll through the shave planner sheet.
And with that data available, I honed the plans so that I could get Wholly Kaw and Taconic Shave soaps in for their first shaves during the first week. The second week sees some second uses. And it goes on from there.
By the end of the four weeks, I’ll have a good idea where I stand with the four Lord blades, and can move into some other shaves for the remainder of the year (which, yes, I have already planned out, including at least one bonus shave).
So there’s the plan for the next four weeks, and we start week one now with the Lord Classic blade.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #328. The Proraso Blue Lord Sunday Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 2
- Blade: Lord Classic
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Protective pre-shave cream (blue)
- Brush: Proraso boar brush
- Lather: Proraso Protective shaving cream (blue)
- Alum Block: Osma alum block
- After Shave: Proraso Protective aftershave balm (blue)
- Stats:
- The Rockwell plate 2 comes into the shave with an average overall rating of 22.53 in 19 shaves
- 1st shave with the Lord Classic blade
- 6th uncoated blade used in my shaves
- 15th blade used with the Rockwell’s plate 2, 19th blade used with all Rockwell plates
- 1st Proraso Sunday shave in 4 weeks
- 22nd shave with the Proraso blue shaving cream
- 81st shave with the Proraso boar brush
- 141st almost perfect shave
- 8th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 86th shave with an overall rating of 23 (32.7% of all logged shaves)
Okay, some day I’ll write a post about coated versus uncoated blades. There are some where I’ve noted a difference, and others where I haven’t. The Lord Classic is an uncoated blade, and I could tell with the first couple of strokes. This shave, as noted above, features the 6th uncoated blade I’ve used (others are the Astra blue, Mühle Stainless, RK Stainless, Rockwell Stainless, Shark Super Stainless).
I generally don’t experience a lot of tugging or grabbing in my shaves. So when I do, it’s notable. And there was some in the first few strokes in this shave. Nothing really uncomfortable, but noticeable. And I can’t, or won’t, attribute it to whether a blade is coated or not, because I’ve had some tugging from coated blades, too. So until proven otherwise, I’ll assign the cause to the edge on the blade itself. Meaning that I’m going to say that the Lord Classic is not terribly sharp.
That said, it is comfortable. In the Rockwell this morning, it provided a very comfortable shave, though the blade feel was kind of choppy and imprecise. But the Rockwell seemed to compensate for that, smoothly gliding across my face and neck while the blade seemed unable to follow quite as smoothly.
The overall result today was that while there was that tugging, there was no irritation. But there wasn’t the closeness I expect. Yes, it’s a close shave, but on my neck, there’s a pretty broad, very low stubble that was left behind. I probably could have gone with another pass or two, but this was close enough.
Comfort: 24 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 22 of 25
Overall: 23 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #329. The Wholly Kaw Debut Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson Medium AL-13+ mild
- Blade: Lord Classic
- Pre-Shave: Goodfellas’ Smile Dawn of Glory pre-shave gel
- Brush: Omega 10019 boar brush
- Lather: Wholly Kaw Project Leather shaving soap
- Alum Block: Osma alum block
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Soothing post shave balm
- Stats:
- The Henson Mild razor comes into the shave with an average overall rating of 22.12 in 65 shaves
- 22nd blade used with the Henson mild
- 1st shave with the Wholly Kaw Project Leather lather
- 4th shave with the Dawn of Glory pre-shave
- 53rd shave with the Omega 10019 boar brush
- 142nd almost perfect shave
- 9th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 87th shave with an overall rating of 23 (33.0% of all logged shaves)
The second shave with the Lord Classic blade verified that it’s just a rough blade. It doesn’t glide terribly smoothly and just seems unable to deliver the closeness I want in a standard 3 or 4 passes. Is it a bad blade? Absolutely not, but there a lot of better options out there. And maybe down the road when I try this in the GameChanger or Henson medium, it’ll deliver the closeness I’m expecting.
This shave was good. I continue to have kind of a mixed reaction to the Goodfellas’ Smile Dawn of Glory pre-shave gel. The gel itself is very thin and liquid, but it’s wonderfully slick under any lather. And speaking of the lather, the first use of the Wholly Kaw Project Leather was great. It made a great volume of lather with a minimum of soap scooped from the sample tub and had a pleasant, mild, masculine scent.
Post shave, there was some light sting or burn with the alum, but it didn’t last long. So all-in-all, a great but not outstanding shave.
Comfort: 23 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #330 The Taconic Shave Debut Shave Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Mühle R89
- Blade: Lord Classic
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Menthol pre-shave
- Brush: Maggard Purple Swirl synthetic
- Lather: Taconic Shave Eucalyptus Mint shaving coap
- Alum Block: Osma alum block
- After Shave: Stirling Soap Unscented Glacial aftershave balm
- Stats:
- The Mühle has an average overall rating coming into the shave of 23.79 in 14 shaves
- 7th blade used with the R89
- 8th shave with the Razor Emporium Menthol pre-shave stick
- 6th shave with the Purple Swirl brush
- 1st shave with the Taconic Shave Eucalyptus Mint lather
- 1st shave with the Stirling Unscented Glacial aftershave balm
- 143rd almost perfect shave
- 10th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 88th shave with an overall rating of 88 (33.2% of all logged shaves)
Let’s start with the bigger question: how was the Lord Classic? Honestly, it was just kind of meh. It wasn’t bad, and I’ve certainly used worse blades. But it just consistently felt rough. Not uneven, but it didn’t seem to want to glide smoothly across my skin.
In today’s pairing with the Mühle R89, there was a ton of blade feel and noise, but surprisingly, it didn’t manifest into much irritation. There was some sting with the alum, but ultimately, it wasn’t uncomfortable outside of the strong blade feel and scraping.
The Taconic Shave Eucalyptus Mint shaving soap worked well, all things considered. For a glycerin-based product, it produced a good lather, and was as slick as I’d expect. It does have a fairly strong minty scent in the tin, along with that slight eucalyptus undertone. But once lathered, it faded into just a pleasant minty fragrance.
And finally, the Stirling Unscented Glacial balm did well, but the cooling almost reaches a burning feeling. Like the menthol version, it fades fairly quickly, but during that initial period, it does really pack a punch.
Next week, I move on to the next Lord–the Lord Platinum Class blade. I’m expecting better, but let’s wait to see how it does.
Comfort: 23 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25