It’s the last shave of the week–Thursday. And this week, I’ve been using the Rockwell 6C razor with the Rockwell blades it came with. (You’ll recall that I’m doing this because I wanted to see how my 3 favorite razors work with the blades their manufacturers paired them with).
The SOTD for Thursday, May 22 is this:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C, plates 1 & 4
- Blade: Rockwell
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Pre-Shave Shaving Soap
- Soap: Razor Emporium Nordic Shaving Soap (small sample)
- Alum: Stirling Soap Co. Alum Block
- Post Shave: Barbasol 1919 After Shave Balm
- Beard Oil: Stirling Soap Co. Unscented Beard & Pre-Shave Oil
Since the razor allows me to adjust the aggressiveness by swapping or flipping plates, I’ve done shaves this week with the R3 plate (medium to medium-mild) and the R2 plate (mild to medium-mild). Today was intended to be a straight mild shave using the R1 plate (the mildest option for the Rockwell). But as I started, it was clear this setup was just not going to work well. I needed to make multiple passes over my cheeks, which is something I rarely need to do except in the mildest of setups.
So I pushed down my fears and swapped in the R4 plate. It cleaned up what the R1 combo missed on my cheeks, and then I moved on to my neck. That also took three passes, which seems a little odd, but I did also reapply the Nordic lather between the second and third pass.
And it was fine. Oddly, less irritated than my Sunday shave with the R3 plate and not quite as smooth as that shave either, but I may chalk that one up to a slightly worn blade. In short, I was pleasantly surprised, but maybe I shouldn’t be since less aggressive blades seem to perform well for me in a more aggressive razor.
I know someday I’ll probably try them, but I’m still trying to decide if I’ll ever use the R5 and R6 plates. The idea of that much aggressiveness gives me pause. Maybe I’ll try them with a Gillette 7 O’clock Yellow.
As to the rest of this setup, here are my thoughts:
I haven’t used the Razor Emporium Nordic soap in a solid two months, and that’s been an oversight. Their soaps have performed well for me, and I really should try their unscented, as that’s what I prefer from a soap. I have 3 samples from them, and the only difference is their fragrance profiles. They lather very well, lubricate very well, and generally have made for good shaves. I’ll be honest here and say that the Nordic and the Barbershop smell very similar to me, with the Nordic showing maybe slightly more pine or outdoorsy notes in the fragrance. But they aren’t terribly strong, so I find them tolerable.
I haven’t talked about it much yet, but I’ve come to love using the alum block. After you finish shaving and rinse off your face, you wet the block and wipe it on your face (or onto the shaved areas). It will sting initially if there is razor burn, cuts, razor bumps, etc. but that should go away fairly quickly. Once it does, rinse your face off again and then apply the after shave of your choice. I’m prone to razor bumps, and maybe ingrown hairs (I could never tell, really), and using an after shave splash or toner stings a lot more and dries out my skin, which for my neck is not a good thing. So applying the alum, taking a minute or so to let the sting go away while I clean things up, then rinsing again, helps just smooth out my skin and take away the irritation.
Today’s shave was a two-audible shave. Not only did I swap out plates on the razor, but I decided after smelling the Nordic soap on my face that I’d just go all-in on scented products today and use the Barbasol 1919 After Shave Balm. These are relatively new products, released last year by Barbasol to harken back to their 1919 shaving cream formula. I got this and its companion shaving cream at the grocery store one day because they were on sale for $5 or $6 each. I haven’t tried the cream yet, but this was the second use of the balm. It’s a fairly common barbershop-y scent, not too strong at first, but strong enough to be in your nose for a while as it wears off. But as I write this a few hours after shaving, it’s clearly beginning to fade and is no longer the primary scent I’m picking up. It’s a good balm–slight cooling on application, but it’s also thicker than the lotion-type balms I have. It’s almost to an ointment like thickness, but not in a bad way. It lubricates and soothes well, and I generally like it. I’d probably like to see it toned down a little in the fragrance department, but my face is liking how it feels after its use.
The Rating
Shave #124. If I’d stuck through it with the R1 plate, I probably would have been disappointed. It would not have been as close as I like, and extra passes might have contributed to a less comfortable shave, so I’m glad I switched. Compared to the other shaves this week, Sunday’s was closer but more irritated, and Tuesday’s was less irritated but not quite as close. But all three shaves get the same overall rating.
Comfort: 4.75 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 4.75 out of 5
Overall: 4.75 out of 5
