It’s been a year of safety razor shaving. New razors, new blades, new soaps, balms, pre shaves, beard oil and the like. I’ve been on a journey of discovery, and that discovery has led to spending somewhere north of $400 on stuff for shaving in one year. What’s next to try and/or buy?
Razors: I’ve said before that each of my razors (with the possible exception of the Van Der Hagen) serves a niche.
Though having just revisited the VDH to see if it’s really terrible or works well with good software and technique, I’ll say that it is a serviceable razor that isn’t outstanding, but isn’t terrible either. It gets the job done, and I appreciate that. It still doesn’t fill a niche, unless a butterfly opening is a niche in my collection.
The King C Gillette is, to my face, a more medium-aggressive razor. It’s weighted well, glides fine, and does a good job in general. But it’s more aggressive than I like sometimes.
The Henson checks a lot of boxes: it’s precise, just goes where it’s supposed to go on your face because of its design, it’s lightweight, and incredibly mild and comfortable.
The Rockwell 6C is a really nice razor: weighty, glides well, is adjustable by changing plates, and is solid and well made.
The Parker 55SL Semi-Slant is a slant razor. I felt I needed to try one and so it’s in my collection.
There aren’t many other positions left in the stable, and nothing I’m seeing really excites me. I’m thinking about a good twist type adjustable–Parker has an inexpensive one, Muhle and Merkur have a couple, and Rockwell has the T2. But I don’t know I need a twist adjustable just for having a twist adjustable. I can accomplish the same thing already with what I have.
I’m also thinking about getting a Henson medium. I love the design of the Henson, and I love how it just works. And I think sometimes that having their medium aggressive model will just provide another tool to do a great job.
And there are a handful of unique designs that I find interesting to look at, but I can’t really get myself excited about them enough to want to figure out how to spend the money. So all-in-all, I think if I add another razor any time soon, it’ll be a Henson medium, and that may be it for a while.
Blades: There are few blades that I haven’t tried yet that I feel I really need to. I see people talking about the Wizamet Super Iridium Stainless blades, and sometimes some of the Wilkinson or Lords, but none of those have motivated me enough to try them yet.
I’ve found strong performers in a good 10 blades or so, and I’m really starting to think that I might settle down and carry a fuller stock of those blades. To that end, I do need to stock up in the next couple of months on some of my newly discovered favorites like the Bic Chrome Platinum and Dorco Red HQ, though, and probably work through those that I’m less enthusiastic about, just to get them out of stock.
Soaps: I’m working through the samples I bought, and there’s only one left to try. After that, I’ll go to them again a few more times, just to see where they stand.
But I have already decided that I need to get the Proraso blue line in their full-size versions. I’ve I love its performance and the scent is good–not too strong, and unique enough that I like it. I want to make that a regular in the rotation.
As for the others, nothing has really stood out and grabbed me yet, so we’ll see. I’m pretty happy with what I have, and I’ll stick with them for sure. Though I will probably get a full tub of the Stirling Soap Co. Sheep soap when I finish with that sample because it is an outstanding performer…It helped me realize I’m a sucker for a good tallow-based shave.
Pre shaves and aftershave balms: Same thing here. I’ll be getting the Proraso blue set at some point down the road. But nothing is jumping out at me yet insisting that I buy it. I kind of wish I had more pre shave products to use, but I can keep trying other samples and work on finding one. But on the balm side, I think I’m pretty well set and will just replenish what I have as I go through them. I’m definitely a Proraso fan! I might get the green pre-shave and after shaves, though. There was nothing really special about the soap, but having that cooling smell and feel might have a place in my collection.
Brushes: I hear enough about them that I’m convinced I need to try a synthetic brush. So I’ll probably add an inexpensive one to the stable in the near future. As I’ve been learning how to use the badger brush more, I’m liking it more (though it’s losing hairs more than I’d like), so that bodes well for any additional softer-bristled brushes.
Other stuff: I keep waffling about needing a lathering bowl. I have two mugs I’ve dedicated to lathering, both are not intended for soap lathering as they’re just a coffee mug and a mug from a camping mess kit, so there may be limitations imposed there. But as I’ve recently been discovering the need to lather in a container that isn’t the tub the soap came in, having a dedicated, purpose-made lathering bowl seems like a good move. But that one feels like a silly luxury, even though I could get a bowl for about $10.
So there you go. As I’ve thought about what I have in putting together this post, I’ve come to realize that I’ve done a lot of good work to figure out what I like and don’t like, what works and doesn’t work, and what I want from this experience. I can keep on learning even with what I have, but I’ve found combinations that work very well for me, and I don’t know that adding anything else will substantially improve the experience. I see posters who have 30 or 40 razors, and 3 to 4 years worth of blades and dozens of tubs of soaps and such, and while it’s fun to look at, I’ve decided that just isn’t me or what I want from this experience. So I’ll probably just have a core group of everything and keep mixing up the combinations going forward.
