The RazoRock Eco Single Edge:

Today is a great day for the single edge razor and for those that enjoy those types of razors. Italian Barber has just released a brand new single edge razor today that uses a half of a DE or Double Edge blade. For as long as I've been wet shaving, the only way to get a single edge was to either buy a razor that uses the Kai Captain or Feather Artist Club blades or go Vintage with a GEM style razor or a Schick Injector. Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements does have a modern 3 piece GEM style razor but you really only have 3 kinds of blades to choose from. Then there's the One Blade and One blade core but once again there's only one blade choice for those 2 specific razors. With the Vintage Schick Injectors, you are limited to 3 choices. Schick's brand of single edge blades which are still available which are very inconsistent and somewhat expensive, Vintage Schick Injector blades which are extremely expensive and getting harder and harder to find or the Personna miniature hair shaper injector blades which are pretty good. The Supply company does sell a modern version that uses these very same blades but once again there's no variety. That changed today. Say hello to the RazoRock Eco Single Edge :

Before I get into the specs and what not, I'm going to give you guys a bit of a background story as to why I've been wanting this razor. My Twig Sculptor which can be seen below is on its last leg. That's my second one and I do have another ready to go but it has no weight behind it to plow through my tough beard. The cheap plastic twist to open Twig Sculptor came with my Leaf razor which I really like using with the Gillette 7 O'clock green label blades but I really enjoyed being able to use just a half a DE blade in the Twig sculptor. Due to its cheap construction, the Twig does not last at all. For over a year and a half, I've been hearing the Leaf Shave Company say that they are working on a prototype. I have yet to see one anywhere. I do believe they are indeed working on one but there's been no timeline given and all I keep hearing is "soon". Sorry Leaf Shave Company but I am done with you guys. This Twig sculptor is on borrowed time:

The RazoRock Eco does come in several colors. Black:

Gold:

Hulk Green:

And my personal favorite color, Electric Blue:

They do have a video up on how to snap a blade which is really simple to do. I've managed to squeeze 7 shaves out of half a Feather DE blade in the Twig Sculptor. So that's 14 shaves per Feather DE blade. I don't know how many shaves I will get out of a DE blade with this razor:

Another bonus is the fact that as of right now on their website, Italian Barber is throwing in a free package of 100 count Crown half DE blades which is an awesome thing to do:

^ That is a really sweet deal. Now onto the specifications:

^ This seems to be a little on the lighter side at 1.3 ounces or 38 grams, but that's okay because I have an extra handle here that could help if it needs it. I'll have to shave with it a few times before I can determine whether or not I will need to do that. After all, my monster handle that I currently have on my Hawk SE will add a ton of weight to it. It currently weighs in at 8 ounces.The length is 90 mm or 3.5 inches which is about normal for your average razor. The materials used are CNC machined billet aluminum so it will definitely have some strength to it which is a good thing. And it is a 3 piece so loading the blade should not be a problem as you saw earlier. The cost is excellent and extremely budget friendly my total is below:

I've not heard anything yet in terms of shipping but since I ordered this razor, I'm going to let my beard grow out to give it a real acid test:

If you have seen my videos, you know that my beard is insanely tough and grows extremely fast. 3 days of beard growth for me is equal to 5 to 7 days for some. Anything I can buy that can get rid of that kind of beard growth that does not cost a lot of money is a good thing. Straight razors are great and I have got one of mine dialed in perfectly and it is comfortable but I still have one more to test before I can call it good on my straights. I still need a razor like the Eco to trim and get my moustache area with because it's extremely sensitive to shave with except with my Twig sculptor. But if the Twig isn't going to hold up, then I will be back to using something else.

This is a game changer in my humble opinion because there's a ton of DE blades that you can try if you don't like the blades that come with it. I'm willing to bet that the Gillette 7 O'clock green labels are going to be perfect for it in addition to the 7 O'clock black label blades. I'm not willing to try Feather blades in it at all. I gave them a fair shot and it came down to using them in the Twig sculptor or Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's double open comb razor. I've also got a few other blades here to try in it as well if I don't like the Crown half blades.

Italian Barber says that it has a medium level of aggressiveness which is a good thing. You don't want it like the Muhle R41 where it can slice you all to pieces if you are not careful but you also don't want it too mild to the point where you have to make 4 passes just to get a decent shave either. I also recommend buying a small blade sampler pack as well just in case you don't like the blades that come with it.

New Top Blade & Razor Combo!

This is phenomenal. Up until now, I did not think that anything would equal the Leaf razor with the Gillette 7 O'clock green label blades along with the Twig sculptor with a Feather blade for trimming the old moustache area. I was wrong. Earlier tonight, I just wanted a relaxing shave off camera and I had zero plans for doing a blog post. In fact, doing a blog post wasn't even on my mind. So this is a spur of the moment kind of post. For tonight's shave, I used Cremo's cooling shave cream as a preshave, Taylor of Old Bond Street's coconut scented shave cream, my Omega 10019 S brush synthetic boar and the Fine Accoutrement's Marvel DE safety razor with a Gillette Platinum DE blade and oh wow what a great combo:

I did my usual two passes with the grain and I went against the grain on my bottom lip. After that, I did a half pass against the grain on my neck. NOT ONE DROP OF BLOOD and a slick as black ice post shave feel. I was blown away and this was a brand new blade fresh out of the pack. Man what a shave, wow. I'm going to continue to shave with this combo off camera to see how many shaves I can get and to see what the shaves are going to be like after the first one.

This also makes me want to sneak over to EBay and get my old "go to" blades which was the Gillette Platinum Plus that I use to get at Kmart before they decided to quit carrying them and closed. I think I will do that this evening and see what else I can find. Those blades that I just mentioned in an Edwin Jagger DE 89 were epic. I'm also considering getting a bulk pack of the Gillette 7 O'clock green label blades as well for my leaf razor. 

My straight razor shaving is going great now that I've switched to Shapton's Professional stones and I'm loving my Ralph Aust straight razor in addition to my other Vintage straight that recently arrived from EBay. I'm just about done in the straight razor department. I might get one more before calling it quits in terms of buying straights at least for a little while.

I've also gotten a request to use a straight razor with Barbasol shave cream. I'm considering it but I really don't want to because I really don't care for that stuff and my barbershop already uses it with a Personna shavette after heating it in a hot lather machine and performing a hot towel treatment. I think I will substitute that out with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's C.a.D.

So to sum up this blog post, my wet shaving hobby has hit another level of excitement. RazoRock has a brand new half DE blade single edge currently in production. They are calling it the "Eco" which will be really cool. Leaf has not delivered on the metal prototype of the Twig Sculptor and to be honest, I think RazoRock's will be much better and more affordable than Leaf Shave's version will. I'm waiting on the Eco razor with great anticipation. My next shave video will be in a few days or so. Probably around Sunday. So I will see you all then.

Mickey Lee Soapworks is Closing:

Today marks a sad day in the soap making world. Mickey Lee Soapworks has decided to close up shop for good. Eric McDaniels was recently promoted to Chief in the United States Navy which put them on the moving list. They are scheduled to move in late September. I'm very proud to call them my friends and their products were awesome. My personal favorite scent was The Kraken and I also liked their Pantie Dropper scent which was a Drakkar Noir type scent. I never got to try Drunken Goat because it stayed sold out constantly and she had to quit making a chocolate scent because it caused her to have severe migraine headaches. You guys will definitely be missed for sure:

And we can't thank you enough for your service. Congrats Chief:

Here's a link to their facebook page which explains everything that influenced this decision:

https://www.facebook.com/mickeyleesoapworks/ .

Antique Store Finds:

It's been a while hasn't it? First, let me take a moment to say Happy Father's Day to all of the dads and step dads out there. Hope you have a blessed day and get a chance to relax and enjoy your day. Today, I visited a local antique store and found a ton of wet shaving goodies. Unfortunately, I did NOT buy anything because the amount of money they wanted was ridiculous. In the first photo below I found a twist to open Gillette and it was not in good condition at all. The finish was pretty much gone and it could barely open. There's no way I would pay what they wanted for it because by the time I sent it out to Razor Emporium for a restoration which would cost a lot due to its condition in addition to postage, I could buy at least 2 brand new DE safety razors. That's why "getting lucky" in antique stores matters:

They also had a few antique brushes which were also over priced beyond belief. Once again, not worth restoring due to their condition:

This Valet Auto Strop was the only thing priced correctly in the condition that it was in which was $18 U.S. Dollars. It was in some what better condition and would clean up really nice: 

This was really sad to see these vintage leather strops in this condition and the price tag would bring tears to your eyes too:

I also found a puck of Vintage soap:

I also found a few single edges which were decent:

The straight razors was way over priced for the shape that they were in:

They had stuff scattered everywhere:

They had a ton of twist to open style razors:

And here's a few more SE razors:

I would have found a gold mine if they wasn't over priced and in much better condition than what they were. This was one of those times I wish I had a bigger budget. So new guys be aware of antique stores but do not rule them out because you never know what you will find.

Occam's SE Razor Ordered:

I'm happy to report that my blog was not effected after Google plus was shut down which is a very good thing. Today, I also pulled the plug and ordered Occam's Single Edge Razor from Classic Shaving while it's on sale. I've been wanting this razor for a while. Even though I do enjoy using my Monster Black Hawk single edge, it has too much bite for my sensitive skin. This new razor is adjustable with different razor heads along with different amounts of blade exposure which I think will make a huge difference in my shaves with these types of blades:

Normally this specific razor goes for $220.00 U.S. Dollars when it's not on sale but the specific razor I ordered was only $55.00 U.S. Dollars while the rest of the finishes go for $99.00 to $110.00 U.S. Dollars and for this kind of razor, I consider that to be great deal: 

I'm also trying to get back into straight razor shaving. It took a really long time and a lot of shaves to determine what my skin type needs but the perfect edge for me is the Naniwa 12K Super Stone. My friend, Dr. Matt fixed a razor for me and he finished that razor on that very stone and it was an excellent edge. The Belgium Coticule is soft enough for my skin, but it really struggles to remove the hair. The ILR has no issues at removing my beard but it tends to be really harsh for my sensitive skin. I've had many Japanese natural edges and they are great in a lot of ways but they are extremely challenging to get "dialed in" on where I want the edge to be and they are extremely expensive. So for me the logical choice is the Naniwa 12K super stone.

Stan Retires From Above The Tie:

Before I share his post, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you Stan for all that you have done for the wet shaving community. It won't be the same knowing that I could drive down the road 2 hours away and that you will not be there. You will be missed. Here is Stan's post from their website:

STAN'S RETIREMENT

Posted by Stan H on Mar 08, 2019

Hello Friends,

While some of you may already know, I wanted to take a moment and share that I have retired from Above the Tie.

In January, my son-in-law Matt accepted responsibilities concerning the business. Above the Tie is in great hands. The dedication to service and quality has never been better.

I have had a wonderful business experience, but most importantly I have enjoyed getting to know all of you. I feel like I have an extended global family. Clearly, my life has been made richer from interaction with each and every one of you. All of you have played a role in making this little family business in the foothills of Tennessee known around the world.

It is my hope the razors I have designed continue to provide pleasure and enjoyment to wet shavers each day. In fact, my hope is that many years from now, these same razors will still be providing nice results to their “new” owners. It has been a pleasure and an honor to have been a part of this community, and I hope any small impact I may have had was a positive one.

As for me I feel great and will enjoy my new found freedom. This is my second retirement—first health care and now business. Who knows, in time I may start dabbling in something new.

Regardless there will be plenty of good times traveling, reading, playing guitar and of course having the grand-kids over.  Life is good.

God bless,

Stan 

One Down in 2019:

Well as I mentioned in one of videos, scratch one of my soaps from my collection. I finished off Stirling Soaps Lemon Chill which had a lemon meringue pie scent to it and the menthol chill was fantastic especially if you had some sinus issues. I will miss this one for sure. This was my "go to" soap when I was sick or having problems with my allergies and especially after doing yard work. I don't when I will be getting this one again. Stirling Soaps has a ton a products that I want to try: 

I don't know which one I will finish off next. My record is 20 soaps in one year.