It’s Christmas week this week, and it’s also the third and final week for now with the Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge (yellow) blade. It’s delivered some great shaves in the Rockwell 6C and last week was almost perfect across the board with the Henson AL13+ mild. So this week, it’s the Henson AL13++ medium’s turn.
When I plan my shaves, especially at the end of a run of trying a blade in my razors like this, I start to have an idea of what to expect from the shave, and I have that right now with this setup. The blade performed well, but not to almost perfect standards, with the Rockwell plates 3 and 4. And through some testing on my own, I’ve decided that the Henson medium lands somewhere between those two plates in terms of aggressiveness. Plate 2 delivered an outstanding shave, as did the Henson mild, so that seems to track. We’ll have to see how things go this week. I know that the Henson design really delivers shaves on the mild end, but I do expect slightly more aggressive feeling shaves with similar closeness to the mild.
On the larger scale, let me talk about the three Gillette 7 O’Clock blades as I reach the end of about three months of comparing them (Super Stainless (green), Super Platinum (black), and Sharp Edge (yellow)). Right off the top, empirically speaking, there really is little difference. I’ve had about the same number of almost perfect shaves, all of the shaves were great, a couple were uncomfortable, but that was because they were in more aggressive razor setups (the Rockwell 6C plates 4 or 5), but all-in-all, they are excellent blades that delivered great shaves. The green is probably my favorite, and really prefers a mild razor on my face. The yellow is my second favorite, also preferring a mild razor. The black is an interesting case: it was the most consistent shave across all of the razor setups, and it has delivered the most almost perfect shaves so far (6 for the black, but the yellow has 5 with two more shaves left). So objectively, that should really be considered the best of the three. So I’m not sure why I rank it last out of the three blades in the line. I’m not even sure if I’ll restock it, because (1) I don’t really need more blades, and (2) they’re relative expensive, and I don’t know that I’d miss them when I finish the two blades I have left.
But there’s a week’s worth of shaves to get to, though Christmas week also means there’ll likely be a bonus shave, probably on Christmas Eve (Wednesday). I’ve got something in mind for that, but won’t reveal it here until then.
Let’s get to this week’s shaves.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #218. The Proraso green Sunday 7 O’Clock yellow shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL13++ medium
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge (yellow)
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Refreshing pre-shave cream (green)
- Brush: Proraso boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Refreshing shave cream (green)
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Refreshing after shave balm (green)
I’m starting the final three shaves (for now) with the 7 O’Clock yellow in the Henson medium (my black razor). I expected some more irritation than with the mild, and that did indeed happen. There was more sting with the alum than there was all of last week, but it did not reach the level of discomfort it did with the Rockwell and either plate 3 or 4. So I’ll chalk this one up to the quality of the Henson design.
I have to say that I really didn’t notice more blade feel with the medium than the mild, though I have with other blades, including the green and black. So it’s interesting to me that the yellow would be that much different in feel during the shave. But the closeness is wonderful, even closer than with any of the shaves with the mild last week, which I guess should be expected. I did take some careful extra strokes, but after the first round of the three passes, I only had a few areas that needed cleaning up, so I hit them with a very light touch.
This was another almost perfect shave, the fifth consecutive with this blade, and in looking at my spreadsheet, I’m very happy to report that there has only been one shave since September 7 that was less than great–that was a shave with the Parker and the Shark Super Stainless that was uncomfortable and not terribly close, but pleased me because I learned more about shaving with that razor.
Again, a great way to start the week, and clearly a demonstration that the 7 O’Clock blade line is excellent.
Comfort: 23 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 of 25
Overall: 23 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #219. The Yaqi synthetic brush debut shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL13++ medium
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge (yellow)
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Sensitive pre-shave cream (white)
- Brush: Yaqi Rainbow synthetic shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Taylor of Old Bond Street Organic shaving cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Dollar Shave Club Post Shave Cream
I could start and end this SOTD review here: this was one of the best shaves I’ve ever had. Period.
But since you’ll want details, let me provide them: obviously, an almost perfect shave. It was very close with just a hint of some stubble left on the neck, but even that isn’t long or distracting–an against the grain feel with my hands shows just a little bit of growth left, and that likely will lay down nicely in another hour or so. There was no sting at all with the alum, even on spots that typically have some on my neck. The combo of the Proraso pre-shave and the TOBS Organic worked amazingly well (no, I did not need to use the new tub of this discontinued cream yet–there was just barely enough left in the sample jar), and the new brush worked wonderfully.
Let’s talk about the new brush for a moment: as I mentioned in the mail call post when it arrived, the Yaqi Rainbow Synthetic shaving brush is exquisitely soft, but something I didn’t notice until using it this morning was how incredibly dense the head is. This probably contributed to it lathering very efficiently. It took some effort, though, to find the right amount of water for the brush and the TOBS–I don’t remember the cream needing this much water with the boar brushes–but I figured it out quickly with a couple of quick adds directly to the brush. And the brush laid down an excellent layer of lather on my face. So I’m very happy with an $18 brush that I added to a shopping cart just to drop something extra to an order.
Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve, so happy holidays to you, and stay tuned for my bonus shave tomorrow, followed by the regularly scheduled Thursday Christmas Day shave.
See you later!
Comfort: 25 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #221. The Barbasol shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL13++ medium
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge (yellow)
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave stick
- Brush: None
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Barbasol 1919 Classic Shaving Cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Barbasol 1919 After Shave Balm
I set myself up with a bit of a challenge for this shave week. Because I decided not to move the Tuesday shave back a day, I ended up giving myself a bonus shave day between two normally scheduled shaves, which meant that I would be shaving for three days straight, and that, as noted elsewhere, is something I haven’t done in at least 8 years, possibly more.
But with challenge comes opportunity. And that’s how I took this: Come up with shaves that would be mild and comfortable enough to keep shaving for three consecutive days from being sheer hell, while still keeping a clean shaven look on my neck and cheeks.
Today’s shave was the perfect shave for today, even though I wasn’t sure it would be. The Barbasol 1919 cream, as I’ve noted before, is thick and slick, but doesn’t lather. It makes for a quicker shave since no bowl and brush are involved, but I wasn’t positive it would be what my face wants right now.
But it was. This whole shave just worked the way I wanted it to: comfortable, smooth, and as close as I think I can expect to get. Yes, there’s some light stubble left behind, but nothing distracting. And really, there was very little alum sting, but I did make sure to limit the extra strokes to just what was needed to get the job done.
All-in-all, another almost perfect shave with this combo and this blade. The Yellow goes down as a huge winner, even though I’ve said I like the green blade more.
On Sunday, I move on to a new for me blade, and a chance to compare it to its sibling. Stay tuned!
Comfort: 23 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25