The mail just arrived a bit ago (as I write this), and in it was something addressed to my son. (Yes, our adult son lives with us, rents the upstairs as a multi-room apartment and pays rent.) Now, packages coming to him in the mail are typically Legos (maybe I’ll write about that sometime later), as he’s a huge fan of them and also his a very successful Instagram channel (I mean, for crying out loud, the kid’s got almost 3,000 followers).
But this package had a big Razor Emporium logo on the back, and it is my birthday on Monday, and maybe he took the hint I’d been dropping…
So happy early birthday gift to me!
I’ve talked about it here, and was planning on buying one for myself later in the month, because I needed to try a slant razor and it’s been about four months since I last bought a razor (honestly, I thought it had been about six months, but I looked up, and I was wrong). But my son looked at my wish list and ordered something I really wanted.
I’ve been wanting to try a slant razor for a while, and while the Parker isn’t as slanty (?) as many slant razors (hence the semi-slant descriptor in the name), it still has the shave characteristics of a slant razor.
What’s a slant razor, you may ask? You can see it in both pictures here: the head has a slight twist (or slant) to it. The parker is a 3 piece razor, meaning there’s the cap, a baseplate, and the handle. The blade gets sandwiched between the baseplate and the cap, and in this case, will be angled and curved in such a way that as the blade is drawn along the face, the cutting motion is more like a slice than a traditional chop. This, say the proponents and manufacturers of slant razors, makes these razors better for those with sensitive skin and coarse beard hair. My skin is sensitive, I know that, but is my beard hair coarse? I’ve always thought so, but to hear others talk about it, I don’t think it’s that coarse.
Anyway, the Parker, being a semi-slant, is more mild when compared to other slant razors. And it’s one of the more affordable slants out there, so I’m excited to try it out!
But…You may have noticed that next week kicks off Anniversary Month–the month-long celebration of one year back in wet shaving. And I had planned on using the Van Der Hagen for the first time in about seven months, pairing it with my favorite blades, soaps, etc. to see if it really is as bad as I remember, or if it still has a place in the collection.
So, I’m calling an audible, two days before the Anniversary Month begins, and will be shaving with the new shiny thing next week, and I’ll come back to the Van Der Hagen later. I’ve got to make some adjustments to the August shaving schedule, so stay tuned for those.
And stay tuned for the Parker 55SL Semi-Slant Proraso Sunday SOTD!
