Switching To Milder Blades:

While my phone charges, I thought I would take a moment to switch out the blades. Recording YouTube videos on your phone really runs your battery down. Mean while, the first shave with the Leaf and Perma-Sharp blades was great but today's shave wasn't as good as I would have liked it to have been and that was due to the harshness that the Perma-Sharps tend have. The 3rd shave would have been worse. So for my next shave, I will be trying these Gillette Silver Blue blades in the Leaf to see what happens. My blade sampler pack didn't arrive this past Saturday but they did arrive at the nearest distribution center about 2 hours away. I am thinking that the Feather blades I ordered may have been a mistake but we will see:

^ I've had great success with these Gillette Silver Blue blades and I do have 2 more Gillette brands coming which are the Gillette Wilkinson Sword which I see in a ton of shave of the day posts, along with the Gillette 7 "o" Clock blacks. In addition to those blades, I also have Personna Lab Blues coming. I also have some of the Parker blades left that was given to me by Dr. Mike's Emporium which I really need to try in the Leaf razor. Plus I still plan on trying the Super Platinum that came with the Leaf razor. I will also do a blog post on each blade with the Leaf Razor. In a science experiment there are 2 variables. The independent variable and dependent variable. In this specific experiment, the independent variable is the Leaf razor because it will be used in every single shave that I do from here on out. The dependent variable will be the shave quality itself both during and afterward. The blade changes and so does the shave soap and brush, so they can't be variables in this specific experiment. The biggest factor for me is comfort both during the shave and after the shave. I don't want to use a blade that can't cut my whiskers but at the same time, I don't want a blade that draws blood and causes irritation with each use either.

The Leaf & Perma-Sharps:

Oh my! is all I can say about this Leaf razor and Perma-Sharp blade combo. Wow what a phenomenal and blissful shave. It was the best shave I have ever had in my entire life. At first I thought it was going to be aggressive possibly some what harsh due to the fact that these were fresh blades and these specific blades are known to be a little harsh on the first shave. I did NOT get any of that at all. In fact I could NOT tell there was any blades in the razor at all. It also NEVER clogged up on me either and I used some glycerin as a pre-shave as you will see when the video is finished uploading on YouTube. It also had NO problem removing my 4 day beard growth either:

The pivoting head requires some pressure to keep the razor head flat against your skin which I am not use to doing but it definitely helps in getting a close shave especially on curved surfaces such as my my neck area. This razor is perfect for head shavers and the ladies would love this razor as well. As you will see in the video once it has finished uploading, I was slick as black ice after just 3 passes and the best part is that I had zero weepers. I also did NOT have any need for an alum block and I did NOT get any burn from the aftershave as well. Like I stated earlier, a perfect shave. The scary part is that these were Perma-Sharps and I have Feather blades arriving tomorrow. There's no telling what that shave will be like. Wow what a razor. This Leaf razor is definitely a must buy.

MeWe Wet Shaving Groups:

With Google Plus being dismantled over the next 10 months, a lot of talking has been done amongst members in those wet shaving G+ communities. 2 out of the 3 communities that I'm a member of have moved over to the new social media platform called MeWe which is free to join. So lets get started and yes, I will include the links to these MeWe groups:

^ This is the old classic How To Grow A Moustache G+ community and currently has 1,399 members over on Google plus and has been one of my personal favorites for many years and I was extremely excited to see it up on MeWe. Here's the link to that specific group: http://wetshavinggroup.com/ :

^ My friend Jeffrey Smith has also moved his G+ community over to MeWe which is called Artisan Shaving and can be found here: mewe.com/join/artisan_shaving . I decided to replace Wet Shavers United with Jeffrey's group. I'm currently a moderator over in Wet Shavers United and the owner of that G+ community has gone MIA. I'm pretty sure the owner of Wet Shavers United has been notified of Google's decision to end G+ but I really could not tell you because he has long since left the community and basically left me to watch everything. Wet Shavers United only has 85 members on G+ but a lot of them are inactive:

^ I was invited to this one first by my friend, Don Youngner over at Wet The Face. I have been a member of his G+ community for years and years it currently has 1,118 members over on G+. I was proud and happy to join this group over on MeWe which can be found here at this link: mewe.com/join/wet_the_face :

^ I have also decided to go back onto Twitter and stick with the wet shaving hobby only. Here's the link to my Twitter profile if you wish to follow me: https://twitter.com/knightmare10151 . It's a shame that Google had to pull the plug on G+. There's tons and tons of people on there who wet shave but refuse to use Face Book for various reasons and in some cases, I can't really blame them. MeWe is free to join and you do get 8 GB's of data, but if you want more data, you do have to buy it. The most data you can get is 500 gigabytes and it will cost you $20 U.S. Dollars per month which comes to $240 U.S. Dollars per year but I don't see people needing that much data at all even for a large group. I've got several posts up in different groups including a video on my specific MeWe profile and I'm only using .001 gigabytes of 8 gigabytes total. By the way if you wish to follow me over on MeWe you can find me here on this link: mewe.com/i/stephen.davidson3 . I will miss Google Plus when it's gone by 8/19/19 or sooner.

Leaf Razor Blade Choices:

The U.S. Postal tracker has been updated and I could not be more excited and happier than I am now. My Leaf razor is scheduled to arrive this coming Thursday as you can see below:

Unfortunately the blades that I want to try first before won't be here until this coming Friday as you can also see below:

Here's a list of the blades that I ordered from Maggard Razors. I spent a grand total of $10.25 U.S. Dollars for 27 blades. This does not include shipping costs because that rate varies based upon location. So I will leave that part out from now on. So lets do some math here. $10.25 divided by 27 total blades = .3796. I'll go ahead and round that up to $.40 cents per blade which is 10 times cheaper than cartridge razor blades:

The reason that specific cost is high is because of the $5 U.S. Dollars price tag on these Feather DE blades which can be seen below:

^ Feather DE blades are the sharpest DE blades you can get in my humble opinion and there are several people out there who would agree with me on this specific statement. They also tend to have an extremely harsh post shave feel afterward. The post shave kindly reminds me of a sun burn with most of my DE safety razors. I have no clue what they will be like in the Leaf razor at all which is why I ordered them. I will do a write up on each and every blade that I use in the Leaf razor. My next blade choice I have been hearing and seeing in a lot of shave of day posts and that would be the Gillette Wilkinson Sword DE blades:

^These were extremely inexpensive at only $1 U.S. Dollar for 5 blades which puts the costs at $.20 cents per blade. I've spent more than that on a cup of coffee so that is definitely a plus. I never got around to trying these blades in a DE safety razor so I will give them a go in the Leaf. Up next is an old favorite amongst many wet shavers and it's the ONLY DE blade that's still being manufactured here in the United States of America and that is the Personna Lab Blue blades:

^ These are made in my home state of Virginia near the Richmond area. I did try the Medical Prep blades which is used to prep a patient for surgery which were only good for 2 multi pass shaves in a DE safety razor and I really loved the Personna Reds which were also good for 2 shaves in the 37C slant. So these will be very interesting. The costs of these blades is $2.00 U.S. Dollars for 5 blades which puts the costs at $.40 cents per blade for this specific go around but you can buy 100 of these blades for around $13 dollars which brings the costs down. My next blade of choice to try out I have tried before and they're crazy sharp. Especially in slants, and that would be the Gillette 7 "o" Clock blacks :

^In your standard DE safety razors, the Feather DE blades are the Ninja Grandmaster when it comes to sharpness while these Gillette blacks are its Master student. These are $2.75 for 7 blades which would be $.40 cents per blade. These will be very interesting in the Leaf. And of course, I will also be trying the blades shown below with the penguins checking things out:

^ The Perma-Sharps I've used repeatedly and are an extremely comfortable blade. The only difference between them and Feather blades is that the Perma-Sharps were extremely comfortable afterward. The Gillette Silver Blues are slightly sharper than Personna but not quite as smooth. The big surprise for me was the Parker Blades which was sent to me by Dr. Mike's Emporium and they are a very comfortable and a solid middle of the road DE blade. I was told by several people that the Leaf razor is what they call a "sleeper" type of razor which means that it might look evil but is comfortable and enjoyable to use in addition to removing the toughest stubble very efficiently. I will find out when it arrives this coming Thursday. So new guys, I strongly suggest and recommend that you make a similar purchase with each and every DE safety razor you buy. The reason behind this is because you can and will get different results with each and every razor even if you stick with the same brand of blades. I'm also wanting to try blades in the Leaf that I did not enjoy in previous shaves. That for sure is going to be interesting.

Bye Bye Reef Point Soaps:

Not a good night at all for the wet shaving community. First we lose Google Plus and now Reef Point Soaps is permanently closing up shop. So once their stock is gone, they are calling quits. I wish them all the best because I had a couple of their soaps sent to me and they were amazing. Below is a photo of a tweet that I took a picture from the How To Grow A Moustache Google Plus community:

R.I.P. Google Plus:

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that over the next 10 months, Google Plus will be no more if not sooner. That means that the 4 communities that I am a member of, will no longer exist. A Google Plus community is like Google's version of a Face Book group. Over the weekend, a bug infected Google's server and exposed 500K members to being hacked. So in order to contain the security breach, they have decided to put an end to Google Plus permanently. Here's the link to the article that was posted on Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/tech/google-to-shut-down-following-bug-that-exposed-500k-profiles .

The first step has already taken place and that was to disconnect YouTube from Google Plus. What that means is that when you posts a video, it will NOT show up on Google Plus. I will miss the 4 amazing Google Plus communities that I am a proud member of especially Wet Shavers United which I had the pleasure of being a moderator of. I will stay with these communities until they are gone. Google talked like it would not take that long before G+ was shut down. I think the only reason they are going to stick around that long is to give people a chance to find other options. My blog is NOT effected or going anywhere as far as I know. So if any news says other wise, I will let you all know first thing. There's also another developing story in the wet shaving world as we speak which I will write about tomorrow.

Leaf Razor Ordered!

Finally, I have ordered the Leaf razor. As many of you know, I have been wanting this razor for quite a while now and a few friends did mention me in some YouTube videos that I should really look into investing in one of these razors and I did. Unfortunately I was not able to get the exact finish I wanted which was the new Matte Silver finish they have recently added so I had to go with my second choice which was black. Right now that's the only finish they have in stock:

The cost was pretty expensive being $82 U.S. Dollars shipped but considering the design and the great reviews it gets, I think it's totally worth the investment. And unlike the One Blade and One Blade Core, I have numerous blade choices available:

I can use just one half of a DE blade and move it from one slot to another to change my shaving experience or go ahead and load three halves for an even closer shave. You can also purchase factory split DE blades for as low as $6.00 U.S. Dollars for 100 blades which is almost nothing. So I am totally excited about this and it's been in the works for a while now. I will do a detailed YouTube video on it and don't be surprised if you see it in every shave video that do once it arrives. Now I am off to purchase a DE blade sampler pack as do I do with ANY DE razor.