The last week. It ends here with the last three shaves. I’ve saved the more medium-aggressive razors for this last week, and I’m pairing them with some mellow, milder blades: the PAA Platinum Strangelet Super Sharps, and the Parker Premium Platinum.
Uh…the last week of the Anniversary Month shaves. The last three shaves of this year’s Anniversary Month shaves. Not…you know, forever.
I’m excited for this week. Yes, I’m using razors that sometimes don’t get the love they deserve. Yes, I’m pairing them with some mild, odd, underused blades (or in the case of the Parker, only used twice now). But I’m pulling out some software I’m excited about.
Right out of the gate is the newest addition to the collection: the Seaforth! Black Watch shaving soap. It just arrived this last week, had a mail call post made about it quickly, and it finds itself in the lineup right away, just like a star batter picked up in a mid-season trade. I’m excited to see it in action, as I’ve heard from all its fans, but you don’t hear a lot from anyone who doesn’t like it. Plus, as noted in the mail call article, it’s got the pedigree that goes back almost 90 years and even started here in my home town.
Plus the tub just looks cool.
I’m bringing back the Henri et Victoria Unscented lather and balm combo for their second use along with the 3rd use of the Pre de Provence lather and balm.
I’ve liked both of these lathers, but with the second use of the H&V lather, I’ll be able to officially put a rating to it, so stay tuned for that after Tuesday.
The Pre de Provence is an elegant French product that I was a little underwhelmed with as I don’t think it quite felt as luxurious as I’d like. But, things can change, can’t they?
And I’m excited for this shave week because it is the end of the Anniversary Month shaves. I’ve been enjoying these, but there are other things to do and try, so I’ll get to go ahead with those next week (and what a plan I have for you next month).
So let’s see how the week went and get into it.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #325. The Seaforth! KCG Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: King C Gillette
- Blade: PAA Platinum Strangelet Super Sharps
- Pre-Shave: Stirling Soap Unscented pre-shave soap
- Brush: Yaqi Rainbow synthetic
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Seaforth! Black Watch Shaving Soap
- Alum Block: Osma alum block
- After Shave: Dollar Shave Club Post Shave Cream
- Stats:
- The KCG comes into the shave with an average overall rating of 20.53 in 34 shaves
- The PAA blade has an average overall rating of 22.30 in 10 shaves
- 12th blade used with the KCG razor
- 1st shave with the Seaforth! lather
- 13th shave with the Stirling pre-shave
- 43rd shave with the Dollar Shave Club balm
- 138th almost perfect shave
- 5th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 84th shave with an overall rating of 23 (32.3% of all logged shaves)
This shave had more blade feel and less immediate closeness than I was expecting from the razor-blade combo. The PAA blade does skew on the mild side, but normally in the KCG or other more moderate razors, this kind of blade would really shine. But not here.
That being said, it wasn’t a bad shave at all. The Stirling pre-shave is nice and click, and the Dollar Shave Club post shave cream certainly punches above its weight in terms of effectiveness as a balm. It doesn’t feel like a store-bought inexpensive product.
To the Seaforth! Black Watch lather: first use and all, it was…okay. It was very slick, but didn’t make a rich lather, despite an extended lathering session with the Yaqi Rainbow. Obviously I need to, and will try it with other brushes and more times, and I’d fully expect different results, but on it’s first go, it was a little disappointing. It didn’t detract from the shave since it was very slick, but wasn’t luxurious feeling.
Still, this was a great shave that ultimately delivered a great experience over an hour removed from the shave. But the experience at the time was lacking, and for that mostly, it loses just a couple of points.
Comfort: 23 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 of 25
Overall: 23 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #326. The North American Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Razorock GameChanger .68-P
- Blade: PAA Platinum Strangelet Super Sharps
- Pre-Shave: Carden Farms Clear & Clean shaving soap stick
- Brush: Razor Emporium badger
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Henri et Victoria Unscented shaving soap
- Alum Block: Osma alum block
- After Shave: Henri et Victoria Unscented aftershave balm
- Stats:
- The GC razor comes into the shave with an average overall rating of 23.00 in 9 shaves
- 5th blade used with the GameChanger
- 12th shave with the PAA blade
- 2nd shave with the Henri et Victoria Unscented lather and balm
- 28th shave with the Razor Emporium badger brush
- 6th shave with the Carden Farms pre-shave (as a pre-shave)
- 139th almost perfect shave
- 6th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 85th shave with an overall rating of 23 (32.6% of all logged shaves)
This shave is so named because everything except the alum block is made in North America: the razor, lather and balm are from Canada. The pre-shave, brush and blades are American. And the alum block is French…yeah.
I haven’t used the Henri et Victoria Unscented products since March, so it’s second use is long overdue. The soap is excellent–it produces a rich, thick, luxurious lather quickly–and the balm is good, but not great. It’s a little thicker than I’d like, but it feels nice, doesn’t soothe as much as I’d want, but it moisturizes nicely.
The razor-blade pairing allowed me to do a direct comparison between the GameChanger and the KCG. And the GameChanger (as I suspected, but needed to confirm) is indeed more mild on my skin than the KCG. There was substantially less blade feel, and a generally smoother and more pleasant shave with the PAA in the GC than the KCG. OK? (get it? all the acronyms there?)
Anyway, this was a great shave with just a little irritation, but a shave that I could definitely come back to in the future.
Comfort: 23 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #327. The French Software Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL13++ medium
- Blade: Parker Premium Platinum
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave
- Brush: Omega S10049 synthetic
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Pre de Provence No. 63 shaving soap
- Alum Block: Osma alum block
- After Shave: Pre de Provence No. 63 aftershave balm
- Stats:
- The Henson medium has an average overall rating coming into the shave of 22.75 in 24 shaves
- 9th blade used with the Henson medium
- 3rd shave with the Parker Platinum blade
- 3rd shave with the Pre de Provence soap and balm
- 84th shave with the Razor Emporium pre-shave stick (and yes, I’m still on the first one I bought. I picked up a second one because I knew I was getting low on this stick, but apparently it’s still got some life left)
- 140th almost perfect shave
- 7th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 55th shave with an overall rating of 24 (21.0% of all logged shaves)
The Anniversary Month shaves end on a high note!
I seem to forget just how good the Henson medium can feel with the right blade. And the Parker blade is a great blade for this razor.
In general, through its three shaves, the Parker blade really demonstrated how well it can work in the right razors this month. It’s the first blade to really conquer the Semi-Slant and deliver a comfortable shave with it, and it provided excellent shaves with the other razors it was paired with.
The third shave with the Pre de Provence No. 63 lather and balm combo was outstanding. In fact, the quality and slickness of the lather prompted me to revisit and change the rating I gave it on the Lather Ratings page.
Overall, an outstanding shave to end the month, and a great segue into what I hope will be another great month of shaves.
Comfort: 24 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25