Here we are: the last week of the four week trek through the Lord blades in the collection.
To recap, I started with the uncoated Lord Classic blade, followed by the Lord Platinum and then the Super Chrome. The shaves have progressively gotten better, but I’m not expecting that to continue. But I could be wrong…That’s why I actually do the shaves.
And, just as a reminder for this last week, each shave will be with a different razor: the Rockwell 6C plate 2, the Henson mild, and the Mühle R89. These are all mild razors, which always seems to be a good start for me with a blade.
So, let’s move on and talk about the equipment used in the shaves this week. There are weeks where the shaves feel disorganized or maybe even unplanned, but I put a lot of thought and consideration into my shaves, so I know that isn’t the case. But even still, this week kind of feels that way.
Maybe it’s the lack of a Proraso Sunday, but there really isn’t a “headlining” shave for the week. There isn’t a shave that I’m really looking forward to over the others of the week. This week’s lathers really were chosen to get through them: two get a second use, and one gets its first use. And just because of how much I have and the time remaining in the year, I’m not going to be able to get back to these this year. And because of the spreadsheet, I can easily see the last used date and whether I’ve got it in the schedule for the planned future.
So I open up the week with Noble Otter’s Noir et Vanille, but also just getting things into the rotation, it isn’t necessarily that thoughtfully paired. I mean the Razor Emporium unscented pre-shave stick is fine for everything, but the Stirling Unscented with Menthol balm is kind of a wild card.
I do give the Haslinger Sheep Milk lather a first go (finally) on Tuesday. I got this early in the year, took it out of its wrapper and dropped it in a tin and haven’t used it. And it’s clearly time. It’s German (clearly), and I’ve seen some very nice reviews for it. And I’m always down for those European products. It gets paired with the Carden Farms pre-shave and Harry’s post shave. Those should be pretty neutral, but again, it isn’t an exciting combo.
If there’s one shave of the week that does kind of go off the beaten path, it’s probably Thursday’s shave. The House of Mammoth Shire soap gets it’s second go, but I’m matching it’s kind of woodsy funky scent with Castle Forbes’ 1445 aftershave, which should just reaffirm that complex mossy, damp, woodsy smell. Or maybe it won’t. Who knows.
All of the week’s brushes are synthetics–something that I’m really liking these days. So while there’s no overt excitement over the shave combos, there’s a happiness to do them because they’re new and different and worth exploring.
So let’s get on with it.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #337 The Noble Otter Super Stainless Sunday Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 2
- Blade: Lord Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented Pre-shave
- Brush: Omega S10049 synthetic
- Lather: Noble Otter Noir et Vanille shaving soap
- Alum Block: Osma alum block
- After Shave: Stirling Soap Unscented with Menthol post shave balm
- Stats:
- 23rd shave with the Rockwell 6C plate 2
- 58th shave with the Rockwell 6C all plates
- 1st shave with the Lord Super Stainless blade
- 18th blade used with the Rockwell’s plate 2, 22nd blade used with all Rockwell plates
- 36th blade used in my shaves
- 2nd shave with the Noble Otter Noir et Vanille lather
- 2nd shave with the Stirling balm
- 7th shave with the Omega brush
- 91st shave with an overall rating of 23 (33.5% of all logged shaves)
- 17th consecutive almost perfect shave
I’ll answer the ultimate question in kind of a roundabout way: I debated about giving this shave an overall rating of 22, and maybe I should have. But it was marginally better than the Classic shave, and that got an overall rating of 23, so I need to be consistent.
The overall feel of the Super Stainless blade is that it’s smoother than the Classic. But it feels just as mild, requiring an extra pass or two to get the closeness I want. And that, as the alum block informed me, created some minor extra irritation. It didn’t last long, but it was fairly widespread across the usual trouble spots on my neck.
The Noble Otter lather is nice–it’s thick and rich and fairly slick, but to be honest, it doesn’t really distinguish itself. And maybe that’s where I find so many of the domestic lathers to be lacking: that they seem so much like the others in feel and performance and only the scent is what differentiates them.
I know this was only the second use of the Stirling menthol balm, but I’m feeling better about it. It didn’t go on quite as thick, though it still left a film that took some time too absorb, but the strong but not over-the-top cooling feel helped soothe the irritation from the extra passes.
Yes, the shave ratings are very subjective, but I think that ultimately a 23 is right. It was very good, but not great. It’s got some way to go to be great, but if this combo was all I had left, I’d be happy to shave with it.
Comfort: 23 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 of 25
Overall: 23 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #338 The Haslinger Sheep Milk Shave
The setup:
- Razor: Henson Medium AL-13+ mild
- Blade: Lord Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Carden Farms Clear & Clean Shaving Soap Stick
- Brush: Parker Blue Storm synthetic
- Lather: Haslinger Sheep Milk Shaving Soap
- Alum Block: Osma alum block
- After Shave: Harry’s Post Shave balm
- Stats:
- 69th shave with the Henson mild razor
- 26th blade used with the Henson mild
- 1st shave with the Haslinger Sheep Milk lather
- 8th shave with the Parker Blue Storm synthetic brush
- 40th shave with an overall rating of 22 (14.7% of all logged shaves)
This was an interesting shave. Not because it was really good, but because it really was kind of all over the place. And I’m learning a lot from it.
First off, initially, I thought that the Lord Super Stainless blade was starting to show itself as a better alternative to the Classic, and it is better, but not very much at all. It’s smoother, certainly, but it also lacks efficiency, requiring extra strokes on my neck, but I stopped short before invoking too much irritation.
So this gets to the basis for the lower rating: there’s more irritation than Sunday, and less closeness. And in the end, the whole shave was just not satisfying, though it was fairly enjoyable.
The software mostly held up its end of the bargain. The pre-shave laid down a nicely slick base. The Haslinger Sheep Milk soap made a lot of lather, but it wasn’t slick on its own. This may have contributed to some of the poor showing of the shave, but I won’t blame it entirely. At the end, the Harry’s balm helped ease the discomfort to a point.
I know I can have a better shave, and that’s what this rating is trying to demonstrate.
Comfort: 22 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 22 out of 25
Overall: 22 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #339 The Last Lord Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Mühle R89
- Blade: Lord Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Stirling Soap Unscented pre-shave soap
- Brush: Yaqi R2002-S Lucky Dice synthetic brush
- Lather: House of Mammoth Shire Shaving Soap
- Alum Block: Osma alum block
- After Shave: Harry’s Post Shave Balm
- Stats:
- 18th shave with the Mühle R89
- 10th blade used with the Mühle razor
- 2nd shave with the House of Mammoth Shire lather
- 5th shave with the Yaqi Lucky Dice brush
- 2nd shave with the Castle Forbes 1445 balm
- 151st almost perfect shave
- 92nd shave with an overall rating of 23 (33.6% of all logged shaves)
The swan song. The last hurrah. The final countdown. Oh, wait…
I can’t say that I’m sad for this last shave. The sweep through the Lord blades has been…uh…okay. It’s had its ups and downs. And this week has kind of been a down after a couple of up weeks. But the bottom line on these blades is that they all seem to be pretty mild, and the uncoated blades are either rough feeling or have a very fine line between being comfortable and going too far to uncomfortable.
I’m happy to set them aside for a while and move on.
For this shave, I’m fairly happy with how it went. I stopped short on the closeness in order to not invoke too much irritation. But the Stirling pre-shave/Shire lather/Castle Forbes balm combo really seemed to perform wonderfully to protect and soothe my skin before, during and after the shave. And I have to say that my expectation that the 1445 balm and the Shire lather would compliment each other was dead on. They both have a kind of old woodsy, funky kind of scent, and it’s working, even with the sandalwood bourbon beard oil that I’ve applied for today.
Overall for the week, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good, either. I think I’ll use the Lord Super Chrome and Platinum blades before I reach for the Classic or the Super Stainless.
Next week: some changes are coming!
Comfort: 23 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25
