Now that Anniversary Month is over, I can get back to some of the more normal shave plans. Like trying out new (to me) blades.
Going into this week’s shaves, there are 3 blades that I haven’t yet tried. So I chose the Lord Shark Super Stainless, and I’m pairing it to start with the Rockwell 6C.
The Shark Lord (Lord Shark?) blade is one that I see fairly often in SOTD posts in the Wicked Edge Subreddit, but it isn’t one that people will list as being one of their favorites, or is good for shavers starting out, or really any list of recommended blades. I think because of that, I didn’t have huge expectations for this blade.
How many others lately have I said that about? (The Dorco, Durablade, Bic)
It’s a mild blade, and that is apparent. There isn’t alot of blade feel, even with the more aggressive plates on the Rockwell. But it works well, and is comfortable. It needed some extra passes to get the closeness I need, but even then, wasn’t uncomfortable or didn’t seem to increase the irritation.
Let’s talk about the name for a minute. I had it entered in my spreadsheet as the “Lord Super Stainless.” That was taken directly from the shipping or order list from Razor Emporium. But the box doesn’t say “Lord.” It says Shark. So is it the Lord Shark? Shark Lord?
Lord is an Egyptian company, which traces its history back to 1930, when it started making stamped shaving blades. In the late ’70s, it formed a joint venture with Wilkinson Sword, the big UK shaving company, to help modernize and improve its manufacturing processes, and in 1981, the resulting joint venture was sold off as Lord Precision Industries. Somewhere along the line, it became Lord International Co., making shaving products and dry cell batteries.
Lord makes several brands of blades, or lines of blades, including Lord, Big Ben, and Shark. And each appears to be labelled with those brand names and not the Lord name prominently (except, obviously, on the Lord blades). So it feels a bit like they’re modelled after Dorco or even Gillette. Though Gillette proudly displays their name on almost every blade they make (not the Perma-Sharps, it should be noted).
The Shark blade is rated at a 3.50 aggressiveness, so just above the middle-point. And that plants right along side the Dorco Platinum HQ Red, the Gillette 7 O’Clock Black, Green, and Yellow as well as the Silver Blue. And that would seem to track, as generally I like those blades (the black and green I’m less enthusiastic about than the Yellow, but I also haven’t used them since February, and that was in my King C Gillette).
So it’s things like this that make me wonder if I’m really happy with the result after a week of aggressive, uncomfortable shaves, or if it really is that good for me? That becomes less important, though, when I realize that weeks like this, when I look forward to the upcoming shave, are shave weeks to love, and why I’ve been on this journey–to make shaving enjoyable and something I look forward to.
Despite the doubts, though, after a week of shaves, I’m a fan of the Shark…Lord…Lord Shark(?) blades, and will put them on the list to restock and will come back to them. I’m anxious to try them with the Henson!
It’s been an outstanding week of shaves, and I will be revisiting them for certain.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #171. The Proraso blue Sunday SOTD with the Shark.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 4
- Blade: Lord Shark Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Blue Aloe & Vitamin E pre-shave cream
- Brush: Proraso boar brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso blue Aloe & Vitamin E shaving cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso blue Aloe & Vitamin E aftershave balm
First off, I have really fallen in love with the Proraso blue line. I know I keep saying it every time I use it (this was the 3rd now?), but I love just about everything about it, just like the white. I love the menthol cooling effect of the pre-shave and the shaving cream. I love the scent which seems to strike just the right balance between strong and imperceptible. And I love the performance–the shaving cream lathers impressively, and the pre-shave and aftershaves perform just as well as their counterparts in the white line. I will be restocking these in full when I finish the samples (which should be another 2 or maybe 3 shaves).
Now, let’s talk about burying the lede: This was an almost perfect shave, the 15th of this journey. After the initial passes WTG, ATG, XTG on my neck, there were more spots than usual that needed touching up, but repeated extra passes didn’t cause any additional irritation. Or really any irritation. The alum block only had a couple of spots of very faint sting, which is always a good result.
And let me redefine the almost perfect shave for you: this shave was very comfortable, very close in the end, and just made me happy with its quality and feel. As I mentioned above, even with plate 4 in the Rockwell, there was not much blade feel, and after a week of extreme blade feel, I really appreciated that.
So, given how good this was, I’m considering changing the plan for Thursday’s shave based on Tuesday’s: if Tuesday’s shave on plate 3 is not as close as today’s, I’ll swap in plate 5 and see how that goes instead of going down to plate 2.
Should be a good week!
Comfort: 5.000 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 4.750 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
Tuesday’s Shave, #172. The TOBS SOTD.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 3
- Blade: Lord Shark Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented Pre-Shave
- Brush: Razor Emporium Badger shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Taylor of Old Bond Street Unscented Organic Shaving Cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Zingari Man Artisan Aftershave Sego Balm
Another almost perfect shave with this blade and combo, which was a little surprising.
I was expecting a comfortable shave, but I also expected to need more extra passes to get the closeness I want. But instead, I needed fewer extra passes. I don’t know if that’s due to the setup, where somehow, thanks to magic and science, a more mild razor setup made the blade work better, or if it’s due to the fact that my Sunday shaves have a 3-day growth, and Tuesdays and Thursdays have a 2-day growth. I’m really leaning now toward trying the shave on Thursday with plate 5 and not plate 2, just to see how a more aggressive setup works.
Either way, it was a very satisfying shave: comfortable, no burn with the alum, close on the neck with the normal passes plus one pass to clean up some spots.
The Taylor of Old Bond Street (TOBS, to their fans and long time shavers) Unscented Organic Shaving Cream lathered very well in the new bamboo bowl with the badger brush. I’ve been aiming for a lather that’s slightly more watery than stiff and thick, and I hit it perfectly, and the lather held it very well. TOBS products have a strong reputation and following, and being a very old English company, they do still have a shop in London, but not on Old Bond Street…just about a block away, though. Next time I’m in London, I will be visiting, because I was impressed with this cream.
The Zingari Man Sego balm works well, moisturizes very nicely and was a great finish to this unscented shave.
And by the way, I’ve finally tried all of the shaving soap or cream samples I bought in July. Only one more soap to try (we’ll talk about that one next week).
Comfort: 4.750 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 5.000 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
Thursday’s Shave, #173. The Badger & Boar shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 5
- Blade: Lord Shark Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave
- Brush: Omega 10019 Boar Shaving Brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Badger Shaving Soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Soothing Post Shave Balm
Okay, just to level set at the start: no, I won’t call this shave almost perfect, but it was very close. I did audible up to plate 5 on the Rockwell, and I was impressed by the closeness of the shave with minimal passes–really, I just needed single passes in all directions, then one cleanup pass. But there was, unsurprisingly, a lot more blade feel, and ultimately, some pronounced (but not really strong) stinging with the alum block. But it still was a great shave. Low effort, good comfort, great closeness.
The Badger shaving soap is the first shave soap I’d purchased, bought at my local food co-op with the now famous goat hair shaving brush. My spreadsheet indicates I’ve used this soap five times (this being the 5th). When I bought it, I was really disappointed with a lack of lather, but that clearly was a problem related to the brush and not the soap. However, I will note that while it lathers well, it’s a foamy lather and not a rich and creamy lather. The shave wasn’t that slick, and perhaps that impacted the comfort of the shave.
But the whole shave was uplifted in the end by the Nivea shave balm. I love its fragrance and slickness. It lubricates very well and helps just about every shave settle down at the end.
Comfort: 4.750 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 5.000 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
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