Why Cartridge Razors?

Okay time to explain things to the wet shaving community. About 2 days ago, a couple of my friends on both Twitter & Instagram asked me "Why No straight razor or DE ?" At the time I didn't want to reveal anymore than I have to but now I have no choice in the matter. My first reason is health related. My skin reacts very badly with ANY of my DE, SE or straight razors shown below. Almost to the point where I can't shave period. This reaction doesn't occur with a cartridge razor. In fact it clears up once I use cartridge razor. My other reason is to show people who use cartridge razors is that you can use them in a traditional wet shaving routine that involves a soap & brush and that you can re hone and strop them to extend the life of the cartridge & disposable razors:

As you can see below, I already have a rash developing which doesn't happen if I use cartridge razors. I've already shaved with every soap in collection with a cartridge razor and no reaction ever occured when I used a cartridge razor which means that it can only be one thing causing this and that is my SE, DE & straight razors:

Basically what that means is that I will be going to cartridge razors on a permanent basis due to various health reasons. This decision also comes sooner rather than later. Unfortunately for me, Heart Disease runs in the family specifically on my dad's side. In fact my dad is just about the only male to make it past 60 years of age on his side of the family because of it. Plus all them including my dad ended up on various forms of medication including blood thinners which meant electric razors for them. Even though I watch what I eat & drink these days and I do get checked out on a frequent basis, it would not surprise me if I ended up on some kind of medication because of this 10 to 15 years later give or take a little. So please don't think ill of me for not using any DE, SE or straight razor in my shave of the day posts. And for those wondering, I will be keeping my razors in my collection.

Turkish Bath & The 42C:

This morning's shave was pretty good. Today I went with my Omega 10049 Professional boar brush and for today's soap, I went with Jeeves of Hudson Street and their Turkish Bath which has an incredible 1920's barbershop scent with a top note of premium pipe tobacco. And to finish off this shave, I paired it with Stirling Soap's Barbershop scented aftershave splash which adds a little hint of sweetness to the post shave scent:

The 42C was good but far from great this morning. It took the bulk of my beard off this morning but still left a lot behind and after 3 passes, that's unacceptable. In fact I have a rash trying to start as well. I'll be doing a blog post here in a few minutes to explain why I've gone back to cartridges and then all will be made clear. The ONLY thing I'm changing in my wet shave routine is the razor just like everyone else does in their shave of the day photos only it will be with a cartridge razor instead.

Lemon Chill & The DE 89:

This morning's shave was phenomenal. I was having a bit of an issue with my allergies this morning, so I grabbed Stirling Soaps "lemon chill" which has a lot of menthol to it. I also went with my RazoRock Plissoft brush. The scent on the soap is kindly like a lemon meringue pastry type of scent. And to finish off this shave, I went with Stirling's Glacial Lemon Chill aftershave balm:

Leave it to the Edwin Jagger DE 89 to give me one of my best shaves of all time with a DE safety razor. I got another ice rink post shave feel in 3 passes and 1 touch up spot. It's been a really long time since I've used this razor and everytime I do, it's like speaking to an old friend that I hadn't seen in a really long time. Wow what a shave.

#4 of 2017:

Barrister & Mann will love this. Say hello to my 4th soap that I've finished off in 2017. I won't get anywhere near what I did last year which was 25 soaps but 4 is nothing to sneeze at. This was a great soap and it really popped when you bloomed it:

I've got a ton a citrus based soaps so I'm going to hold off on getting this one again for a while plus they have some other goodies that I want to get later on.

Latha Limon & The Mach 3:

This morning's shave was great. I needed a Barrister & Mann fix this morning so I grabbed my Latha Limon which has an incredible lemon, orange and rose scent and my Omega 10049 Professional boar brush. The orange and rose really make the lemon pop in the scent. And to finish off this morning's shave, I paired it with Stirling Soap's Glacial Lemon Chill aftershave balm:

The Gillette Mach 3 performed really well this morning. I managed to get another ice rink post shave feel after just 2.5 passes which is about normal for me. I'll be doing a detailed post on cartridges and why I'm using them later on. People have been asking why and the main reasons for me is skin issues and to show people who use these that they can be used with a traditional shave soap and brush. What  I didn't know was the fact that they can be re honed/sharpened until I tried it.

Vision & The Mach 3:

This morning's shave was phenomenal. Using my Omega 10049 Professional boar brush, I grabbed my shave scuttle and Soap Commander's "Vision" which is my all time favorite shave soap. And after a nice healthy dose of Aqua Velva ice blue aftershave, I finished this shave off with Soap Commander's matching aftershave balm:

Today I started with a brand new Mach 3 cartridge. 4 shaves is all I got out of the last one before switching it out. But I do plan on honing them up and seeing how many more I can get out of them afterward. I'll probably get roughly around 10 or 12 out of them give or take a little.

Renewal & The Mach 3:

This morning's shave was great. Today I went with my RazoRock Plissoft 24 mm synthetic and Soap Commander's "Renewal" scented soap which has an incredible floral fougere' scent to it. And to finish off this shave, I went with a nice healthy dose of Brut followed by Soap Commander's Renewal aftershave balm:

The Mach 3 was great and so far it's still going strong with no tugging or pulling. I got another ice rink post shave feel in just 3 passes. I've done forgotten how many shaves I've got on both this Mach 3 blade and my Proshield blade that I'm currently using. So with stropping and re honing involved, there's no way to tell at how many shaves I can get on a blade before having to switching them out.

TTFFC Mixed & The Mach 3:

This morning's shave was great. After a nice, hot and relaxing shower, I grabbed my Through The Fire Fine Craft by Maria Arman mixed soap container and my Omega 10049 Professional Boar brush. And to finish off my shave, I went with my usual aftershave splash:

The Gillette Mach 3 was exceptional this morning. I got another "ice rink" post shave feel after only 2 passes which is perfect for me. Stropping the Mach 3 blades has proven to be extremely beneficial because not only are they more comfortable but they're lasting much longer than they normally would have without stropping.

Al Sapone & The Mach 3:

This morning's shave was great. This morning I decided to go with my RazoRock Plissoft 24mm synthetic brush and RazoRock Al Sapone scented soap. The scent to my nose is a fresh but masculine Italian citrus cologne scent. And to finish off this shave, I went with a heavy dose of TN Dickinson's witch hazel which was very cool and soothing. Since I don't have the matching aftershave to this soap, I paired it with good old Clubman aftershave splash:

Stropping the Gillette Mach 3 razor really woke it up and then some, wow. I got another "ice rink" post shave feel after 3 passes which I can contribute to my beard being ultra tough and stubborn. My neck area has really cleared up since I've started using carts again along with using witch hazel after each shave. So I am extremely happy with the shaves I've been getting.

Gillette Mach 3:

This razor was pretty sweet this morning. In fact I like these better than I do the newest ones that Gillette just recently released. So lets dive into some details and a little bit of my history with these Gillette Mach 3 standard version cartridges. Back in the early 90's, all I had to choose from was these, Gillette Atra and Trac 2, Gillette Sensor and Schick's Extreme 3 which I didn't like at that time. These tore me to shreds back then mainly because I really didn't know how to shave like I do now and I also had no choices at all when it came to traditional soaps, creams and/or brushes. All I had back then was the canned foam and gel and there wasn't much to choose from there either. There was NO Internet back then either so that meant going into either a drug store or a big box store to buy your shaving stuff and you only had maybe 4 choices of the canned foam and/or gel which has no lubrication at all. Thank God for the Internet or I would be really hurting for shaving supplies such as brushes, soaps and creams which out performs the canned goo on every level period:

This handle only cost $8 U.S. Dollars in most big box stores and it came with 2 cartridges. The costs of the Gillette Mach 3 standard are much lower now than they were about 15 years ago when they came out with their Proglides and now that they've since released the Proshield cartridges, these got even lower in costs. 10 Gillette Mach 3 standard cartridges for $21.17 U.S. Dollars and that total does include taxes. That's roughly about $3 U.S. Dollars more than what the old Gillette Atra/Trac 2 cartridges costs and it's about $4 U.S. Dollars more than the old Gillette Sensor blades currently cost now. So these are much more economical than they used to be:

These still come with a clear plastic cover that is recyclable which I'm demonstrating here in this photo. There's 3 versions of the Mach 3 cartridges. First there was these standard version which a lot of people didn't like so Gillette came out with the Turbo version which has a much better lubrication strip and comfort coating on the blades which they also claimed to be much sharper back in the mid 90's which I will find out about. The last version was the Sensitive version. I don't know too much about them at all because they only recently came out with them and as far as I know, all they really did was change the lubrication and the comfort coating on the blades which I'm pretty sure is much more milder than what they use today on both these and the Turbo versions:

Here's a better look at the plastic cover. The cost difference between the standard, turbo and sensitive versions of these blades is only about maybe $1 to $3 U.S. Dollars give or take a little:

Apart from the obvious 2 extra blades, I can definitely see and tell the differences between the two. The 1st is the fact that the Mach 3 below and on the left has a much slimmer razor head and not as wide as the Proshield is which is on the right. I needed far less touch ups with the Mach 3 because I was able to get in my trouble spots more efficiently than I was with the Proshield specifically my moustache and neck areas. Another thing that I noticed was the glide was much better with the Mach 3 because the blades are much sharper than the Proshield. The Proshields have much thinner blades and a more shallow angle than the Mach 3 does. Also take notice that the Proshield on the right has 2 lubrication strips versus the Mach 3 which only has 1 lube strip. The slightly yellow at the top and the bright yellow at the bottom of the Proshield cartridge is what Gillette is currently promoting. The Mach 3 standard also has a rubber strip at the bottom that also has ridges in it which is used to stand the hair up before the blades come in contact with the hair for a close shave. Think of how the safety bar works on DE safety razors:

These were much easier to strop due to more blade exposure, thicker blades and a stationary handle that has no "Dyson Ball" on the end of it where the cartridge attaches to the handle which makes a huge difference for the better. I don't know what Gillette was thinking with that idea:

As far as re honing these Mach 3 blades, I've not tried to as yet but I'm looking forward to my next shave with them due to how easy it was to strop these blades after my shave this morning. I'm also going to be looking at the other blades that Gillette also offers along with what Schick has to offer as well. I did consider trying Dollar Shave Club again more specifically the twin bladed version but their top of the line blades were so dull that I would have to use a full honing progression to get them where I would need to be and that could ruin them if I'm not careful which kindly defeats the purpose but I will look into it for you guys and go from there. Right now I'm just scratching the surface with the cartridge world and there's quite a few that I won't be looking at due to poor quality and the fact that they caused more irritation than anything that I've used in my lifetime.

Mountain Man & The Mach 3:

This morning's shave was excellent, wow. Today I decided to go with good old Stirling Soap Company and their "Mountain Man" scented soap. The scent is Stirling's take on "Creed's Silver Mountain Water Cologne" and it's incredible. And to finish off this shave I went with a dose of TN Dickinson's Witch Hazel (not pictured) and a double dose of my Aqua Velva classic ice blue aftershave splash which was the icing on the cake so to speak:

People will be wanting to hear this part for sure. The Gillette Mach 3 standard version was epic with my wet shaving routine. No nicks or cuts and no raw spots either. I managed to get another "ice rink" post shave feel in just 2.5 passes and a touch up in one of my trouble spots. This razor done way better in the tighter areas than the Gillette 5 Proshields did. More on these in another blog post. These aren't too bad at all in costs now that Gillette has started pushing their new blades that they recently released over the past couple of years.

Honor & The Proshield:

Today's shave was great. Today I went with my personal favorite brand Soap Commander and their modern day classic "Honor" which is their take on a "Barbershop" scent. It's some where between Phoenix Shaving's C.a.D. which is a stronger 1970's version of the classic canned foam and Fine's American Blend which is their take on the 2003 version of YSL Rive Gauche Pour Homme that has a little hint of Gaiac wood added to the mix. And to finish off this epic shave, I went with the matching aftershave balm:

This razor was epic today! I got another "ice rink" post shave feel in just 2 passes and the razor had no issues at all gliding across my skin and had no problems of getting rid of my barbed wire stubble either. Wow what a shave. The "buffing style strokes" I used yesterday on the stones made a huge difference. I also managed to get a brand new Mach 3 handle which came with 2 cartridges which I plan on trying next with my wet shaving routine.

Yes It Can Be Done:

One of the questions I get asked a lot is and I quote: "Can cartridge razors be re sharpened?" My answer today is yes they can be re sharpened. To re sharpen a cartridge you simply build a slurry and shave the stone and if you really want to get them much sharper, use buffing style strokes. 1st, I started with my Apache Strata:

Next I went with my Shoubandini Type 100 which took a little bit of time:

After I got done with the stones, I went ahead and stropped the razor which has increased the longevity of these blades by at least 3 times over. To strop these cartridge razors, you simply go in the opposite direction than you would when you shave. Now if you don't have a leather strop, you can use a cotton terry towel which you can get for almost nothing at any big box store. Another thing that you can use that does an excellent job is an old pair of blue jeans. Stropping these cartridges is the secret to making them last much longer. I went from getting just 2 shaves to 13 shaves just from stropping alone which makes the costs go down due to increased longevity:

I personally prefer natural stones specifically what you see below but you can use synthetics if you want. I highly recommend getting the ILR and/or Belgium Coticule and using Dr. Matt's under running water technique for much quicker and easier honing:

In terms of buying an entire line of stones, you really don't need to when it comes to cartridge razors. In fact you really only need 1 stone and 1 strop and that's it. I've heard elderly gentlemen claim that they kept their straight razors going with just barber hones and a strop for 30+ years which is really not surprising but I seriously doubt that you can keep a cartridge going that long. My reason for this specific blog post is to show that yes you can re sharpen your cartridge razors and yes you can get more shaves out of them by stropping.

Le Petit Chypre & The Proshield:

This morning's shave was great. Today I got to craving Barrister & Mann pretty bad so I grabbed my "Le' Petit Chypre" scented soap which has an incredible "oak moss and Cyprus wood" scent to it. And to finish off this shave, I went with the matching aftershave splash which is witch hazel based. My New York Shaving Company 24 mm silver tipped badger brush was like a sponge, so I ended up re loading the brush and right now I'm doing the old fabric softener trick to keep it from eating my lather like it did this morning:

The Proshield was great but I could tell it needs a bit of a touch up which I will right up here shortly. I ended up getting another "ice rink" post shave feel after 3 passes. Things are looking pretty good in terms of the cartridge shaving detailed blog. It will take me a while but I'm loving it and it has taken my wet shaving hobby to another level. I personally think that the problem has been both the canned goo and foam and the lack of a brush. I also didn't know anything at all about shaving either to be honest about it. The modern day cartridge makers don't mention traditional soaps and/or creams which makes a huge difference. They also don't mention mapping out the direction your beard grows nor do they mention skin stretching. All of these are important to getting a good shave.

High Jump 47 & The Slim:

This morning's shave was great. I was NOT planning on shaving today until I got up and looked in the mirror. So after a nice, hot and relaxing shower, I went with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their classic High Jump 47 scented soap. The scent on this is incredible. Think of walking into Admiral Bird's Barbershop in the 1930's and in one whiff you get a nice and fresh masculine citrus cologne scent with notes of talcum powder. And to finish off this shave, I paired it with good old Clubman aftershave splash which pairs wonderfully with the this soap:

The Gillette slim done good up until I got to my neck area. After doing 2 passes, I grabbed my Gillette Proshield and done a half pass on my neck area and then I went back and done some touch ups which resulted in another "ice rink" post shave feel. Let's face it ladies & gentlemen. Cartridges aren't going away and these Gillette Proshields are great if you use them with a traditional soap and/or cream and a brush which will always be a part of my rotation.

C.O. Bigelow & The Doc:

This morning's shave was fantastic. I went with C.O. Bigelow and their menthol and eucalyptus scented cream (re branded Proraso green ladies & gentlemen) which I'm nearly out of but not for long. I plan on getting a puck of the Proraso green next pay day. And to finish off this shave, I went with a double dose of Skin Bracer Original formula:

The doc was great this morning. I got another "ice rink" post shave feel after 3 passes. My neck area didn't get chewed up too bad this time around but I have a feeling that skipping a day would be in my best interest to give my skin a break. I'm still going to use cartridges on a regular basis and there's a couple that I really want to try with my wet shaving routine. The first one is my old favorite, the Mach 3 turbo then I want to try the Gillette Trac 2, the regular Mach 3 and the Schick Hydro 5 which is more expensive than the Gillette Proshield cartridges are. I'm also planning on getting the ILR water stone here pretty soon as well.

Influence & The Proshield:

This morning's shave was great. Today I am under the influence of Soap Commander and their phenomenal Influence scented soap. The scent is tobacco, cherry and black tea. And to finish off this excellent shave, I paired it with the matching aftershave balm which adds a little hint of menthol to the post shave feel:

The Gillette Proshield was extremely good this morning. I only did 1.5 passes and a couple of touch ups in some of my usual spots and managed to get where I wanted to be this morning. Using a traditional shave soap and/or cream has made a huge difference in the shave quality using these cartridges. The only problems with the carts is the costs & longevity which I have discovered can be changed by borrowing techniques from the straight razor world such as stropping and honing. To hone, you simply shave a water stone of some kind and to strop you usually go in the opposite direction that you shave in. So to answer the question "can the cartridges be re sharpened and/or stropped like a straight razor?" my answer would be yes, absolutely they can be.

Lemon Chill & The Proshield:

This morning's shave was extremely good. I needed a menthol fix so I grabbed Stirling Soap Company's lemon chill scented soap which has an epic amount of menthol. The scent kindly reminds me of a lemon meringue pie or pastry. And to finish off this morning's shave, I went with Stirling's glacial lemon chill aftershave balm which was the icing on the cake:

Putting the Gillette Fusion Proshield on the stones proved to be an excellent decision. There was no tugging or pulling at all like there was yesterday and the razor had no problem going through my barbed wire stubble. I managed to get another "ice rink" post shave feel in my usual 2.5 passes. I don't know how many shaves I've got on this one but it's looking like that I will be getting roughly about the same as I did with the 1st one that came with the razor.

366 & The Proshield:

This morning's shave was great. Today I went with good old KShave Worx and their discontinued anniversary soap, 366. The scent on this soap is a phenomenal cherry almond scent. And to finish off this shave, I paired it with my usual "go to" aftershave splash:

The Gillette Proshield was great this morning. It did start to tug and pull a little bit, so I stropped it on a towel to dry it off and then I put it on both the Apache Strata & Shoubandini with slurry. After I got done doing that, took the razor to both sides of my leather strop so tomorrow's shave should be pretty sweet. I was on cloud 9 when I tried this with my old Gillette Fusion Proshield chill cartridge that came with the razor. The end result was 15 multi pass shaves on a single cartridge. So we will see how it does on these non mentholated Proshield cartridges. I do plan on doing a blog post about honing cartridge razors but I've got to invest in some other razors first for more details. My old favorite before these specific cartridges was the Gillette Mach 3 Turbo cartridges.

Pipe Smoke & The Proshield:

this morning's shave was excellent. Today I decided to go with Uncle Jon's Soap and his phenomenal "pipe smoke" scented soap. The scent is premium cherry pipe tobacco, vanilla and spices. And to finish off this shave, I paired it with good old Aqua Velva ice blue aftershave:

The Gillette Fusion Proshield did great. I got another "ice rink" post shave feel with 2.5 passes. The half pass that I did was from east to west on my neck area which got me the exceptional post shave feel and still no razor burn ladies and gentlemen. I believe that I have met my "go to" razor.

Turkish Bath & The Proshield:

This morning's shave was great. Good old Jeeves of Hudson Street is an amazing soap and should be in every one's shave cave. Right now the only one I have is Bryon's Turkish Bath scent which is phenomenal. It has a "1920's style Barbershop scent" to it with a top note of premium pipe tobacco along with some other notes that you would find in a barbershop in that era. And to add a little sweetness to the scent, I paired it with Stirling Soap's Barbershop scented aftershave splash. In my humble opinion, this pairs best with this soap if you don't have the matching aftershave to this specific soap which Bryon now offers:

The Gillette Proshield had no problem mowing through my barbed wire beard this morning. But I did have to make 2.5 passes due to having a lot of beard left from yesterday. I also have to go east to west and/or west to east on my neck area to get that area cleaned up which I can't do with a straight razor at all and I can only do that with some DE safety razors. I also can't do that with my single edges either. So this is pretty much my "go to" razor now to get a close clean shave.

Le Mans & The German 37:

This morning's shave was pretty good. More on that in a moment. Today I went with Deluxe Shaving Company and their Le Mans scented soap which has an extremely nice yogurt like lather and super slick post shave feel to it. This is the non mentholated version and it has an incredible and masculine fresh citrus cologne scent to it or at least that's what my nose picks up. And to me, it pairs extremely well with good old Clubman aftershave splash which is what I finished this morning's shave off with. I've not been using this one much because I don't have much of it left:

The German 37 along with my other DE safety razors is not getting it done anymore. My straight razor is also not getting it done anymore even after I just finished touching it up. Even with stretching the skin and taking extra time, I still get small weepers and nicks and I'm tired of it. I also get the same results with my single edge razors. So for me, the Gillette Fusion Proshield has won. I get too good of a shave that's extremely comfortable and works well with a traditional soap and/or shave cream and a brush. So my next pay day is going to be interesting. I'll be making a trip to Sam's Club to get these blades in bulk and I'll be getting a custom handle from ZY Razors who makes custom handles for these blades.

Motel Shave:

This morning's shave was great. I would have posted it this morning but the motel's Internet isn't too good. But after a nice hot shower, I went with Soap Commander and their "Honor" scented soap which is somewhere between Fine's American Blend & PAA's C.a.D. scent wise. The RazoRock Plissoft was excellent as well this morning. Only took 2 hours for it to dry this morning:

For those wondering, my annual check up at the University of Virginia went well. My doctor said everything was great and all we need to do is get rid of this and he pointed to my gut. I told him I was on a "see food diet", I see food, I eat it. He shook his head and laughed. I have to go back in a year yet again which is not a problem.

TTFFC Mixed & Clubman:

This morning's shave was great. Today I went with my New York Shaving Company 24 mm Silver Tipped badger brush and Through The Fire Fine Craft by Maria Arman. This is my mixed soap container. And to finish off this shave, I went with good old Pinaud's Clubman aftershave:

Le Petit Chypre & The Slim:

This morning's shave was great. Today I went with good old Barrister & Mann and their Le Petit Chypre scented soap which an incredible oak moss & cyprus wood scent. And to finish off this shave, I went with the witch hazel based matching aftershave splash which has the perfect amount of menthol to make this shave even more soothing:

The slim did extremely well with the exception to my neck and moustache areas. I first started out with the #9 setting for my with the grain pass. After that, I turned it down to the #5 setting and did my against the grain pass which got most of it but still had quite a bit left. So next I turned it all the way down to the #1 setting and did my across the grain pass. My neck area still had a lot left behind and my moustache area also had quite a bit left. So I grabbed my Gillette Fusion Proshield razor and cleaned both of those areas up. I was happy with the final results but the fact that it took 3.75 passes to get a close and clean shave is unacceptable. So when I do my next shave of the day blog post, I will talk about just the soap, brush and aftershave. I'm getting the absolute best shaves of my life with my Gillette Fusion Proshield razor using a traditional soap/cream and a brush than I am with any of my straight, double edge and/or single edge razors. Gillette has listened to a wet shaver when it comes to their newest cartridges.

High Jump 47 & The Tech:

This morning's shave was great. Today I went with good old Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their classic High Jump 47 scented soap. Think of walking into Admiral Byrd's barbershop back in the 1930's & 1940's. You will get a masculine citrus cologne type of scent. And to finish off this shave, I went with a nice healthy dose of Pinaud's Clubman aftershave splash:

The Gillette Ball end tech was great. I got a really nice shave in 2.5 passes. There's a spot or 2 that I could have gone back over but didn't. I was close and comfortable enough with where my shave was at. I have not quit wet shaving but I have been using Gillette's new cartridges and they're great. They are expensive though at $22 U.S. Dollars for 4 cartridges but unlike their previous ones, these actually last much longer. But I still like using the razors that I have though.

Vision & The Doc:

This morning's shave was great. It's also my 40th Birthday so after a nice, hot and relaxing shower, I went with my all time favorite shave soap. It's also Sunday which means that Soap Commander is in full effect. I went with their "Vision" scent which has an aqua, amber and mint scent to it. There's no menthol in the soap but there is in the matching aftershave balm which is what I finished this shave off with after using a healthy dose of my usual aftershave splash:

The doc was great. I managed to get another "ice rink" post shave feel in just 2.5 passes. I've also done some experimenting with my Gillette Fusion Proshield and it works. I now know that I can strop and re hone cartridge razors. Yes that's what I said. After 13 shaves with the new Proshield cartridges, it finally started to tug and pull a bit. Of course I have been stropping them after each use which is going the opposite direction 5 times that you shave. So my current Gillette Proshield Chill cartridge now has a Shoubandini type 100 edge on the blades. I built a slurry and did 10 shaving strokes and diluted the slurry before going back and doing 10 more and it worked.

C.O. Bigelow & The Black Diamond:

This morning's shave was great. It's also the 1st shave of the day post that I've done in 6 days. I've been getting great shaves all week. The only thing I really took a break from was blogging. So this morning, I went with C.O. Bigelow and their Menthol & Eucalyptus scented cream (Proraso Green). And to finish off the last shave of my 30's, I paired it with good old Skin Bracer original which is the icing on the cake in my opinion:

The black diamond was also great. I got another "ice rink" post shave feel in just 3 passes and just using the toe for the hard to reach areas has helped tremendously. I had no touch up spots today which is really cool because that's usually where I get skin irritation.