I’ve been making a big deal of this for a while now. Sunday’s shave is shave #300, though honestly, I made a rough estimate of about the first 60 shaves and started logging the shaves with shave 66. But even though the number is a little arbitrary, it’s based on some solid math that I’ll stand behind.
So, how will these shaves be celebrated?
I’ll be taking a unique route on the week’s shaves, building the shaves around the blade and not the razor. The result is that while the blade stays the same, the razors change through the week’s 3 shaves. So, the blade: the Gillette Super Blue, a medium to medium-aggressive blade that’s a tribute/throwback/homage to the Gillette Blue blade of past years. There were some produced in the early parts of the 20th century, then again (or still–it isn’t really clear) in the ’70s (as the Super Blue).
What distinguished the original Blue blades was that they were “true blued steel,” which was a process applied to steel to make it more resistant to rust, but gave the steel a blue-black coloration. The modern blades are not blued steel, but standard stainless steel coated with Teflon. They’re manufactured in China.
I’ve seen these blades out there on and off, and was intrigued by them, so threw 2 tucks in a recent order to give them a shot. I haven’t seen much in the way of reviews, or even aggressiveness ratings (Razor Emporium hasn’t rated them on aggressiveness yet), so I’m not entirely sure what to expect, but if they are medium-aggressive, they should work well with the mild razors I’ve got going this week.
For the razor side of the equation, as usual, I’m trying the new blade with the Henson mild, but I decided to also try it with my other exclusively mild razors: the Feather AS-D2, and Mühle R89. I’m particularly interested in trying it in the Feather, as many reviews I’ve read of the razor say that a lot of blades underperform in it and that it really is made to let the Feather blade shine. But it also will be fun to just compare these three razors head-to-head-to-head with the same blade. I know they’re all very mild, but it will be interesting and informative to see how they compare to each other.
Other parts of the celebration this week include the second use of both the C.O. Bigelow Premium Shave Cream and Mike’s Natural Soaps Unscented soap. The C.O. Bigelow, you’ll recall, is often claimed to be (and confirmed in my one shave with it) a repackaging of or directly produced by Proraso as their Refreshing (green) shaving cream. It performs and smells the same as the Proraso green–at least with no difference that I can note–so that will take over the lather portion of Proraso Sunday. I used the C.O. Bigelow last in late April during the green shaves week.
Mike’s Natural Soaps Unscented gets its second call on Tuesday. In my first go with it, it worked well, but the lather was a bit too wet for my liking, which may just be me getting used to lathering with it. Mike’s is another one of those small artisan brands that has a pretty broad liking out there, so I’m excited to get a second shave in with it. I last used it in February.
From there, I’ll finally be getting to the last of the Henri et Victoria samples on Thursday. I say finally because all of the Henri et Victoria stuff (which was free to me) was ordered in September, delayed until November-ish because of the Trump tariffs, and arrived in February. I’ve gotten into the unscented soap and Bay Rum soap once each, but just kept putting off the Cognac & Cuban Cigars until now because I’ve had so many things added to the collection. And to remind you, I really like the unscented soap, but while the Bay Rum soap was nice, the balm was too strongly fragranced for my liking. I’m expecting the same with the C&CC, but we’ll see what happens.
No other really special notes for the shaves, though I will use the Maggard Razors Purple Swirl synthetic brush for the second time with Thursday’s shave, and the Omega S10049 synthetic comes out to play on Tuesday for it’s fourth go.
I’m really excited for this week of shaves, but why is #300 important? In the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t. I shave about 156-160 times per year, so by the time Anniversary month hits in August, I’ll be somewhere around 315 shaves. But these 100, 200, 300 shave milestones feel important because it’s marking time and experience. I’m at a point in my shaves where I have far more excellent shaves than shaves that aren’t as great, and I rarely have a bad shave these days, which is saying something about the journey I’ve been on now for almost two years.
So let’s get into it and see how things went, starting with Shave # 300.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #300. The Proraso Sunday 300th Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL13+ mild
- Blade: Gillette Super Blue
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Refreshing pre-shave cream (green)
- Brush: Proraso boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: C.O. Bigelow Premium Shave Cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Refreshing after shave balm (green)
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the Gillette Super Blue blade
- 31st blade used in my shaves
- 20th blade used with the Henson mild (most of any razor, the Rockwell is second with 15 blades used)–28 blades to go to use all of them with the Henson
- 2nd shave with the C.O. Bigelow shave cream
- 87th shave with the Proraso boar brush (the Omega 10019 boar is second with 50)
- 16th shave with the Proraso green pre-shave
- 13th shave with the Proraso green aftershave balm
- 115th almost perfect shave
- 38th shave with an overall rating of 24 (16.2% of all logged shaves)
If this shave is a representation of the blade, then sign me up. There was a lot of blade feel and blade noise to this shave, but at no point was it uncomfortable. The blade cut well, didn’t tug, glided smoothly across the skin, was efficient even in the Henson mild, but still wasn’t aggressive enough to cause any irritation even with a few extra strokes to clean up the usual trouble spots. The Gillette Super Blue really shone in this combo today.
I’ve always liked the Proraso Refreshing shaving cream (the green one), though it isn’t my favorite because it just seems to fall a little short for me when compared to the blue and white formulas. But after this second shave with the C.O. Bigelow cream, ostensibly the same stuff, I’m more inclined to think it is just slightly better for me than the Proraso green. Go figure, but I’ll have to put the two of them head-to-head again sometime down the road. For certain, though, they perform at least identically.
Overall, this shave was surprising, mostly because I didn’t know what to expect from the blade. And as it turned out, it really shown in the Henson mild, to the point where it reached the top of my shaves. Not perfect–there are still a couple of minor spots of stubble, and just a touch of sting with the alum in a couple of spots–but very, very close and easily one of the best shaves I’ve had.
So, a great way to celebrate shave #300! And a look ahead to the next hundred shaves as I start the journey toward #400!
Comfort: 24 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 of 25
Overall: 24 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #301. The Gillette Feather Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Feather AS-D2
- Blade: Gillette Super Blue
- Pre-Shave: Carden Farms Clear & Clean shaving soap stick
- Brush: Omega S10049 synthetic shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Mike’s Natural Soaps Unscented Artisan shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Cool Post Shave Balm
- Stats:
- 4th shave with the Feather razor
- 2nd blade used with the Feather
- 2nd shave with Mike’s Natural Unscented soap
- 3rd shave with the Carden Farms shave stick used as pre-shave
- 3rd shave with the Nivea Sensitive Cool post shave balm
- 4th shave with the Omega synthetic brush
- 116th almost perfect shave
- 13th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 39th shave with an overall rating of 24 (16.5% of all logged shaves)
This shave afforded me an opportunity I hadn’t thought of: a chance to directly compare the Feather’s mildness to that of the Henson. I had assumed that it likely was milder than the Henson, but the chance to directly measure these things by performance is valuable. I had planned on these shaves letting me know how they compared to each other, but having this direct an opportunity to compare the mildness between them didn’t really dawn on me.
So, to that comparison, the AS-D2 is milder than the Henson mild. There was still considerable blade noise, but not nearly as much blade feel. There was still more efficiency from the blade than I probably expected, but even with a couple of extra strokes on the usual trouble spots, I decided to get out while I was still ahead. The shave was still close, but not quite as close as I think I could get, or indeed, got on Sunday.
The base and lather were nicely slick, and the Feather performs smoothly anyway. One thing that I have to consider as I write the review of Mike’s unscented soap is that for an unscented soap, it smells strongly earthy and tallow-y in the tub and as I’m lathering. That seemed to go away once I got to applying it to my face, but it seems stronger than my other tallow-based, unscented lathers. It isn’t a bad thing because it doesn’t linger, but it’s notable.
Overall so far, I’m very impressed with the blade, and have had two very enjoyable shaves with it in my mild razors. I’m looking forward to the third.
Comfort: 25 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #302. The Super Blue Mühle.
The setup:
- Razor: Mühle R89
- Blade: Gillette Super Blue
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave
- Brush: Maggard Razors Purple Swirl synthetic
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Henri et Victoria Cognac & Cuban Cigars shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Henri et Victoria Cognac & Cuban Cigars aftershave balm
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the Henri et Victoria C&CC soap
- 1st shave with the Henri et Victoria C&CC balm
- 56th lather used in my shaves
- 4th blade used with the Mühle
- 10th shave with the Mühle razor
- 2nd shave with the Maggard Purple Swirl brush
- 20th aftershave balm used in my shaves
- 115th almost perfect shave
- 14th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 40th shave with an overall rating of 24 (16.9% of all logged shaves)
So much to cover here today, so let’s just get the basics out of the way: This was a great shave. Closer and more efficient than Tuesday’s shave, but with a lot more blade feel.
But, I hear you asking, how did the Mühle compare with the Feather AS-D2 and the Henson mild using the Gillette Super Blue blade? Okay, on relative mildness, I would say the Feather is easily the most mild, followed by the Henson and then the Mühle. And their performance leads me to say that the Super Blue blades tend to the more aggressive end. These combos were all comfortable, with a lot of blade feel with the Mühle and the Henson, which led to some unexpected efficiency.
This was the first shave with the Henri et Victoria Cognac & Cuban Cigars soap and balm. The soap lathered wonderfully, making a ton of lather, and it was nicely slick on the skin. The balm, as expected based on my experience with H&V’s Bay Rum balm, worked fine, but had a very strong initial scent, with notes of vanilla and some tobacco. Not one of my favorites.
And finally, with my 2nd shave with the Maggard Purple Swirl synthetic brush, I’ve got to say that I really like this brush, and I’ve quickly become a fan of the synthetics. Its bristles are relatively soft but firm, lathering efficiently, while still applying the lather to the skin with a pleasant light touch.
Overall, an outstanding shave to end an outstanding week of shaves. I look forward to coming back to the Super Blue down the road.
Next week, another new to me blade.
Comfort: 24 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25