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  • November 29, 2024

    • Brush: Chisel & Hound Classic 26mm V23 Fanchurian
    • Blade Holder: Blackland Razors Vector
    • Blade: Feather Artist Club Professional (11)
    • Lather: Gentleman's Nod - Tusitala - Soap
    • Aftershave: Gentleman's Nod - Tusitala - Aftershave

    2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.

     

  • Nonidi 9 Frimaire an 233 de la RΓ©volution, jour de GeniΓ¨vre

    Death is not in its prime anymore - the soap has signs of oxidation, and the lather is not what B&M soaps normally are.

    Have a good evening!

    Shared via [emacs](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/) & [sotd.el](https://gitlab.com/shavin1/sotd.el)

  • GEM Days 13a/14: Push That Button 2, the Contour or Statis – Fri 29 Nov 2024

    • Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm Γ— 51 mm Manchurian badger)
    • Razor: GEM Contour
    • Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
    • Lather: Declaration Grooming – Massacre of the Innocents
    • Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Haverford
    • Fragrance: Tom Ford – Tobacco Vanille

    This is shave 25 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the penultimate GEM, the Contour, or when ASR stopped trying

    The Contour

    At this point, ASR has given up. The Contour brings nothing new to the table and is just a cheaper version of the Push-Button with a slightly modified handle design and no more gold plating. That's it.

    The head is remained the same, just that it's raw unplated stainless steel.

    A look under the base plate shows that there was a slight modification of the outline of the thin leaf (foil?) spring that opens the top cap to accommodate the new footprint of the handle's neck. It's that thin sheet that's placed between the base plate and the neck of the handle.

    Looking into the open razor, we can see that also the width of the foil springs was reduced, but the cutouts on the back of the base plate still have the full width for the wider springs. It makes for a slightly more sluggish mechanism, and in the open position, a little bit of slack in lets the head jingle. No big deal, but distinctly cheap feeling. Lastly, they also dropped the grooves on the safety bar. Apparently, those "tough whiskers" don't need setting up anymore for closer shaving?

    TL/DR, this looks and feels like the budget version of the Push-Button, which itself was a sub-par attempt at replicating the magic of the Flying Wing. #Sad

    The shave

    Fantastic warm and sweet shave with MotI, Haverford, and TV. These scents have been among my favourites since the beginning of my descent down the rabbit hole and they still are.

    The timeline

    1. 1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene
    2. 1914-1927: 1914
    3. 1924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead
    4. 1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)
    5. 1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)
    6. 1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf
    7. 1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless
    8. 1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year
    9. 1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)
    10. 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to "Slim-V Flat Top" in 1953, British version sold as "Natural Angle" by Ever-Ready
    11. 1955-1958: GEM V-Slim "Heavy Flat Top" (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
    12. 1958-1965: Push Button
    13. 1965-1973: Contour ← We are here
    14. 1973-1979: Contour II (The last GEM razor)

    • Very interesting. I would guess that the mid-40's was the beginning of the heyday for DE and injector razors. 1970/71 was the introduction of the cartridge razor. The marketing push on these things has been extraordinary, and there's a sleek look to their design (somewhat like the Blackland Vector's). Given the influence marketing has on us, it is a wonder that GEM blades, and DE blades are even made anymore.

  • Friday, November 29, 2024: FLS

    • Brush: Zenith - B21 boar
    • Razor: Merkur - 34C
    • Blade: Van Der Hagen - Stainless (4)
    • Lather: Barrister and Mann - Lavanille
    • Post: Chiseled Face - Ghost Town Barber Aftershave splash
    • Post: Nivea - Sensitive Post Shave Balm
    • Frag: Stirling - Stirling Gentleman EdT

    Another quick two-pass shave. Lavanille is such a complex but lovely scent.

    🍳 Created with Neovim & sotd.nvim 🍳

  • November 29, 2024

    • Brush: Summer Break Soaps w/Maggard 28mm Silvertip Badger
    • Razor: MMOC Gen 2
    • Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (5)
    • Lather: Chiseled Face - Bespoke #1 - Soap
    • Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Santa Noir - Aftershave
    • Post Shave: Goodfellow & Co. - Face Lotion - Kelp & Sea Mineral

    If this was my first experience with this soap base, I would be very dissapointed! My brush was too wet, and oof. Puffy and almost useless. Totally different than yesterday with the same soap! I imagine when people say this soap base isn't very good, this is what they're referring to. Luckily I normally do it correctly and load with a relatively dry brush, and the lather is fantastic.

    • I have run into this with the CF base before too. If I have time I’ll try and start over, but that’s not always an option.

  • November 29, 2024

    • Brush: Elite Razor Neo-resinate 26mm Mother Lode
    • Blade Holder: Gillette Fatboy E4 (setting: 4)
    • Blade: Wilkinson Sword Black (1)
    • Lather: The Cajun Blade - Wild Oud - Soap
    • Aftershave: Eufros - Rosa Oud - Aftershave Balm

    2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.

    Wonderful evening shave to complete my 58th this month. I have enjoyed visiting my safety razor collection over the past days.

  • 29.11.2024 - Black (Friday) themed shave

    • Brush: AP Shave Co. black & clear handle w/ 30 mm Tuxedo Fan knot
    • Razor: GEM Micromatic Bullet Tip/Flying Wing gold plated
    • Blade: GEM PTFE
    • Lather: A&E - Boca Negra (K2e)
    • Post-Shave: OAM witch hazel & cucumber toner; benecos 2in1 aftershave & face balm

    -> 2 pass head shave. There was just one weeper, but not even that noticeable. Great shave otherwise.

    We were bombarded by so many sales themes in Germany that I actually thought last Friday was BF. Turns out it is today... but no wonder when we do "Black Weeks" or even months over here. On the one hand, it's better than just concentrating all sales on a single day or weekend. On the other, most of it is shameless commercial tactics anyways. I bought lots of stuff before today for sale. Nevertheless, I was in the mood for a themed shave with the colour black as my leitmotif.

    Boca Negra is a beautiful blend of darker gourmands (coffee absolute, dark chocolate, ginger, black pepper) as well as resinous and woody notes. It's inspired by a perfume called Boccanera, but no direct dupe afaik. To me, it smells delicious and sophisticated at the same time. The black, screaming mouth on the tub art adds a surreal art touch to it.

    As always, the Flying Wing gave a great and hassle free shave. I was intrigued enough to get one of my GEMs going again after @djundjila 's series is almost concluded. Especially the "super close shave by holding it flat against your skin" was kinda cool. Simple, but it works. Even though the 'guiding eye' can never be seen during shaving.

    Have a great weekend, folks!

  • GEM Days 13b/14: Push That Button 2, the Contour – Fri 29 Nov 2024

    • Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm Γ— 51 mm Manchurian badger)
    • Razor: GEM Contour
    • Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
    • Lather: Declaration Grooming – Chaotic Neutral
    • Post Shave: Noble Otter – θŒ‰θŽ‰ηΆ θŒΆ

    Nice tea combo for a calm Friday evening shave.

    This was shave 26 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors:

    1. 1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene
    2. 1914-1927: 1914
    3. 1924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead
    4. 1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)
    5. 1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)
    6. 1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf
    7. 1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless
    8. 1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year
    9. 1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)
    10. 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to "Slim-V Flat Top" in 1953, British version sold as "Natural Angle" by Ever-Ready
    11. 1955-1958: GEM V-Slim "Heavy Flat Top" (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
    12. 1958-1965: Push Button
    13. 1965-1973: Contour ← We are here
    14. 1973-1979: Contour II (The last GEM razor)

  • Friday, November 29, 2024: SLS

    • Brush: Yaqi - Sagrada Familia 24mm Synthetic
    • Razor: Merkur - 34C
    • Blade: Van Der Hagen - Stainless (1)
    • Lather: Barrister and Mann - Lavanille
    • Post: Chiseled Face - Ghost Town Barber Aftershave splash
    • Post: Nivea - Sensitive Post Shave Balm

    🍳 Created with Neovim & sotd.nvim 🍳

14 comments