Sunday SOTD Thread - November 24th, 2024 (#532) (1000th post on sub.wetshaving.social!)
Share your shave of the day!
This is the 1000th post made to this instance. Hooray!
This is shave 15 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the prettiest vintage safety razor of all times, the GEM Micromatic Flying Wing. The American Safety Razor seems to have hired a designer or two because this and the next razor (the legendary Streamline/Jewel/Ambassador to come out of the factory are absolutely stunning.
The Flying Wing/Bullet Tip
The Flying Wing is an update to the Micromatics with the same exact same twist-to-open mechanism as the MMOCs and Clog-Prufs, but with a redesigned head, a true safety bar and a reduced bullet tip-shaped knob. The top cap is now flat, and the modern safety bar and its geometry have roughly settled for the remainder of ASR razor history with the exception of the Jewel (more on this tomorrow).
For the first year, the Flying Wing came with the so-called "Guiding Eye", a gimmick that's supposed to encourage the right shaving angle like the "HOLD FLAT AGAINST FACE" engraving on some MMOCs.
The original version with the Guiding Eye came in the chrome-plated version I'm using today which shipped in cardboard packaging, and a gold-plated version in a see-through display case visible in the background of the SOTD pic.
A later version replaced the brass twist knob by a plastic knob.
The Flying Wing is the mildest of the Micromatics, and because of the flat top cap feels significantly different than the MMOCs and Clog-Prufs, but it is still an efficient razor, and had seen significant use on the sub, particularly during a brief phase when Micromatic Mammoth Monday Formation Flights (MMMMFFs) where a regular thing.
The shave
I love the scent of 1889, but get a tingling from the frag, so I use it rarely. I limited myself to two passes today, and I managed to get a great shave before the tingling reached unpleasant levels. Success. The Flying Wing consistently gives great shaves, and today was no exception.
I have a guiding eye on my Flying Wing. Complete gimmick. Would love to have been in the room to hear the discussion when they added that to the cap. Or, I wonder if it is actually a manufacturing error and a bug was promoted as a feature?
Or, I wonder if it is actually a manufacturing error and a bug was promoted as a feature?
I dunno, these razors are pretty flawless otherwise. Looks like they had a tight QA? But yeah, it's so comically pointless that I wonder what whey were thinking :)
Nov 24, 2024 - Mousse de Saxe Sunday
Warm and comforting MdS combined with vanilla, tobacco, and lavender. A Sunday treat!
November 24, 2024
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
I used The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything and followed the Guiding Eye.
Thanks to @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social for the idea.
43;
With Cheshire and TNeV out there and wildly popular, 42 seems like it was a risk for Will. He obviously pulled it off as many of us have this soap. As good as Cheshire is, I find 42 more interesting. If I had to limit myself to one, though, it would be TNeV.
Sunday, November 24, 2024: FLS - Away At Sea
I'm glad to be here for post #1000! Here’s to a thousand more! 🍻
This morning, I had a quick two-pass shave to get me out the door.
This was my first shave with WestMan's base, and I was quite impressed. It has great slickness and is easy to lather.
The scent of Adamastor was lovely for a sunny Sunday morning. The briny salty sea air comes through in a surprisingly convincing way. This is a scent I could see myself wearing in the summer. Perhaps I'll look into a set once summer rolls around.
Have a good day y'all.
🎉🎉
November 24, 2024
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
Klar Lemongrass is a simple scent I enjoy a lot. I used to use it frequently but sort of forgot about it. It's nice to rediscover forgotten little treasures.
This was shave 16 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors:
Very late to post but I shaved with ssl
Sunday, November 24, 2024: SLS
I was only able to get enough lather from my Shire smush for a single pass, so I switched to Summer Storm to finish the shave. In retrospect, I probably should have used a smaller brush.
I very much enjoyed Shire, but I'm not sure I'll pick up a full tub. There are other HoM scents I'd like to try first before committing.
Bracing myself for Monday. I'm glad it's a short week, but a lot of work will be compressed into these next three days. Have a good one all!
24.11.2024 - It smells like smoked Worscht
-> 2 passes on the dome, 1 around the beard lines. A very good shave, but a bit too much blade feel for my taste.
This MT soap arrived shortly before I left for my vacation trip. It's a hard soap in a violet glass jar, according to Meißner Tremonia it was infused with real scottish whisky. However, it smells very dank - not boozy as I hoped. My mind immediately went to my grandparents' "Worschtkammer", meaning sausage room in local thuringian dialect. It was a dedicated room for storing meat and sausages, mostly Knackwurst , especially the smoked/cured ones (basically, those were put over a small fire to use the smoke to make them last longer). Everything else that was also left in this room (and there were a few things also there) sooner or later had this smell of the smoked Knackwurst. So yeah, this soap unearthed a memory but not one I am too fond of. I now regret that I haven't chosen Himalayan Heights by MT... since the soap base performs really great when you load a lot of soap into the brush and even with this heavy scent, no signs of skin irritation.
The GC 2.0 with plate No. 4 is really efficient. Probably the highest blade gap of any razor I own. After my last shave was Wednesday, still at the hotel, I kinda was up for something really efficient. The first pass worked great, but as soon as the second one started, it felt a bit rough. I probably could change back to the II plate for consecutive passes, but ain't nobody got time for that!
Nevertheless, impressive that I didn't cut myself or got weepers. Neither was there aby noticeable redness. I guess this razor & RPLs are a great match!
Going into the early shift tomorrow. I already hate it, as I am an owl type. But well, it is what it is. Fair enough. Hope everyone had a good weekend & have a nice start into the new week!
I can’t say that I’ve had a smoked meat shave yet. Have to admit, it doesn’t sound too appealing to me! 😄
I wonder if they were going for the peat and smoke from scotch with this scent?
I wonder if they were going for the peat and smoke from scotch with this scent?
I guess so. Still, wasn't too thrilled about the Knackwurst scent 😂
November 24, 2024
In honor of @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social using one of my favorite GEMs today as part of his "GEM Days" celebration, I too used my Flying Wing.
Great shave.
This SOTD thread is the 1,000th post made to this Lemmy instance. A big milestone! With 10,200+ comments, the average comments per post is about 10.2.
The Flying Wing is a great shaver. Thanks for joining in the GEM Days :)