Post 9
So the first up of my DE sampler pack: Astor. Made in France. A colorful, but ultimately unassuming, wrapper I certainly would not have reached for had it not been randomly selected for the position. The shave feels light and very sharp, similar to Feather. First two shaves cut me up really bad – also like Feather. Third shave was much better, but I can’t see reaching for this blade ever, especially having gone through five Gillette Wilkinson Sword blades, still my blade of choice at this point.
Post 10
If you, like me, are a noob, and you do not listen to the Moustache & Blade podcast, do yourself a favor and download Episode 5 with Iain Kane, AKA The Village Barber. To all of my friends who have been curious about my involvement in this whole wet shaving thing, I have directed them to this episode ever since Doug posted it. As a thank you for our interview, Iain sent me a bottle of his Shaving Oil and one of his Shaving Balm. If you’ve been following along with my Newby Notes you now know that I am, historically, a balm guy. But I ain’t never had NUTHIN’ like the Shaving Balm from the Village Barber. I can describe it no other way than to say that it is like slathering Narnia onto my face. Yes, I now go through my day with all the whimsy of Tumnus, all the deliciousness of Turkish Delight, all the antiquity of the White Witch, all the learnedness of Lewis, all the wonder of the entire classic children’s series! Now, you should know that in my marriage (going on 7 years!) I do all the cooking. And one of the things I love most about cooking is the magic of fresh herbs. For instance, I grow thyme in my garden. Not infrequently will I walk out to the garden and rub my hands through the live thyme simply to enjoy the scent it provides. It is simply magical. The Village Barber’s Shaving Balm lists thyme as an ingredient. So there you go.
Post 11
Second up from my Turkish DE sampler pack: Rapira! Made in Russia. First shave on Dec 9, 2013.Used Petal Pushers (sandalwood) and Village Barber pre-shave oil. EXCELLENT shave, quite smooth. No nicks. Very close. Has a solid feel to it. It doesn’t feel samurai-sharp like your Feather. It cuts real smooth. I shaved a total of five times (three on one side, two on the other) and each time was amazed yet again at how much I like this blade. Also, style points for the BEAUTIFULLY printed-paper wrapper in addition to the soft wax-paper secondary wrapper inside. Gorgeous! I might add that this blade has just replaced my previous top pick, Gillette Wilkinson Sword.
Post 12
12/13/13 – Third up in the sampler pack: Zorrik! Made in India. From the moment of opening the outer paper wrapper (yes, this blade has an outer wrapper in addition to a soft wax paper inner one) everything about this blade feels hand-made. Almost like a hand-made toy. Pretty much every product I’ve ever beheld out of that ancient land called India has that feel to it. The inner wrapper looks like it was cut with antique scissors and is a bit ill-fitted to the blade itself. However, style points on the double wrapping! One side of the blade is of a far lighter shade of printed ink. Perhaps the stamping machine was almost out? The razor has a very light feel to it, similar to Feather, but it does not have a smooth shave to it. The skin-feel is scratchy, uneven, again – toy-ish. That said, it provided a remarkably close shave. My wife even commented on it when she got home from work. Even so, I can already tell this is not going to be a blade I reach for, though I will give it it’s full three-shave trial (it bears mentioning that I am giving each blade in the sampler pack at least three shaves. This Zorrik is the first one that I probably would have tossed after this first shave, were it not for the rule).
Ryan Steven Green, aka Rynostevie, is a native Los Angeleno and a professional film and commercial director. Along with Douglas Smythe, he co-hosts the popular podcast–Moustache & Blade. It was Smythe’s discovery of his award-winning short documentary Between the Upper Lip and Nasal Passageway that initiated Ryan’s entree into the wet-shaving world. Contact Ryan: Ryan@moustacheandblade.com
Read more: http://howtogrowamoustache.com/new-to-wet-shaving/#ixzz2qhgOW5T1
About Douglas Smythe
