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.

Twig = Permanent Moustache Razor:

If you saw my video today, you saw some blood in my moustache area. Even with the Rockwell 6C, my moustache area is really hard to shave without getting cut. So I have decided to use the Twig Sculptor for each and every shave from here on out. I don't want to keep a moustache and as my friend Ace Cavendish says, Shave it off! So I intend to do just that with moustache area using the Twig Sculptor:

And some changes have occurred to the blog. My Nikon app no longer works and I have to remove the memory card from the camera to upload photos which is no problem to do. This is due to Google + being discontinued on a permanent basis. Below is a photo of the notice that was on blog today:

So things are going to work out for my blog. That's how I upload videos and thumbnail photos, I simply use the front memory card on my laptop after I transfer them to a micro SD card. So I have no problem removing my memory card from my camera and uploading photos to my blog. So things are looking great.