Shaving notes of the MaineYooper

Well, the only reason I made it to work on time this morning was Sylvester. Seems I don't know how to set an alarm, but thankfully my little furry buddy wanted to play, or drink water from a running faucet, or wanted to eat, or couldn't find his springs, or who knows what! But he needed something about 40 minutes before I needed to leave, and I barely had time for the 3 S's! The shave ended up being a N/S sort of thing with stubble appearing by just after noon. But I made it to work on time. And work being a grocery store meat there was aisles of choices to break my fast. I chose Nescafe, a banana, and a bakery cookie. Take that, diet!

Hope your day went better!

Mama said there'd be days like this, but you made it.  Good for you!  Per Dave's comment, don't forget to thank Sylvester.  

Well, the only reason I made it to work on time this morning was Sylvester. Seems I don't know how to set an alarm, but thankfully my little furry buddy wanted to play, or drink water from a running faucet, or wanted to eat, or couldn't find his springs, or who knows what! But he needed something about 40 minutes before I needed to leave, and I barely had time for the 3 S's! The shave ended up being a N/S sort of thing with stubble appearing by just after noon. But I made it to work on time. And work being a grocery store meat there was aisles of choices to break my fast. I chose Nescafe, a banana, and a bakery cookie. Take that, diet!

Hope your day went better!

I love it! One of our kitties also insists on drinking from the running faucet. I thought it was the craziest thing. Glad to see she isn't alone.

Glad to see Sylvester saved the day. Great kitty.

Well, the only reason I made it to work on time this morning was Sylvester. Seems I don't know how to set an alarm, but thankfully my little furry buddy wanted to play, or drink water from a running faucet, or wanted to eat, or couldn't find his springs, or who knows what! But he needed something about 40 minutes before I needed to leave, and I barely had time for the 3 S's! The shave ended up being a N/S sort of thing with stubble appearing by just after noon. But I made it to work on time. And work being a grocery store meat there was aisles of choices to break my fast. I chose Nescafe, a banana, and a bakery cookie. Take that, diet!

Hope your day went better!

Mama said there'd be days like this, but you made it.  Good for you!  Per Dave's comment, don't forget to thank Sylvester.  

Yeah, I think it means crawling around the floor looking under furniture for lost toys! I did take time this morning to give him some good scratching on his cheeks and neck, which he seems to really like, but only for some indeterminate amount of time!

Yay, Sylvester saves the family income

Well, the only reason I made it to work on time this morning was Sylvester. Seems I don't know how to set an alarm, but thankfully my little furry buddy wanted to play, or drink water from a running faucet, or wanted to eat, or couldn't find his springs, or who knows what! But he needed something about 40 minutes before I needed to leave, and I barely had time for the 3 S's! The shave ended up being a N/S sort of thing with stubble appearing by just after noon. But I made it to work on time. And work being a grocery store meat there was aisles of choices to break my fast. I chose Nescafe, a banana, and a bakery cookie. Take that, diet!

Hope your day went better!

I love it! One of our kitties also insists on drinking from the running faucet. I thought it was the craziest thing. Glad to see she isn't alone.

Glad to see Sylvester saved the day. Great kitty.

OMG, that is hilarious!

Exactly! We actually named him after a favorite character in the 40s movie, The Bishop's Wife, after James Gleason's portrayal of the cabbie named Sylvester. Then several days later, showing pictures to family, they said, Oh, like the cartoon cat! We never put it together at the time!

Exactly! We actually named him after a favorite character in the 40s movie, The Bishop's Wife, after James Gleason's portrayal of the cabbie named Sylvester. Then several days later, showing pictures to family, they said, Oh, like the cartoon cat! We never put it together at the time!

My wife and I love that movie, and that was even without knowing it was good for naming cats.

Even better.    

Many, many thanks to David dmshaver for lending me this razor. The Ti ‘bird arrived this morning, and I had to put off shaving until roughly 10AM to be able to use it. Because of this later shave, and due to only 2 passes yesterday, I had a fair amount of stubble to work with. Set up was a new Israeli Red blade, the SOC boar, and the House of Mammoth Z soap. Upon the first stroke, I knew some of the Blackbird’s aggressiveness and blade-feel that I remembered had diminished. It was not as much as the titanium Vector, and there was still a lot of blade feel, as well as some “suction” or drag. Polishing may reduce this, but that is a discussion for another time.

I wasn’t white knuckling the countertop, but it was close. I knew I had to be really focused in order to prevent any nicks or weepers. Throughout the first pass I could feel that this razor is really more aggressive (for lack of a better term) than what I prefer and am accustomed to feeling. Harsh would be inappropriate, and maybe it is just a lot more blade feel than I like. Efficiency was off the charts! After that first pass, with no repetitive strokes, my face almost felt smooth enough to stop shaving. I was and still am amazed. And nothing hurt or tingled or bled!

I did however realize that I had best skip the ATG on my cheeks and upper lip, as those areas are easily irritated. Irritation needed to be avoided, regardless of smoothness, so that I could better judge this razor. So I performed my old standard shave of WTG, one direction XTG, and ATG only on my neck and chin and lower lip (I used to call this my 2.5 pass shave. Lately, especially with an injector, GEM, or the Overlander, I can go 4 passes if I want and have been irritation-free).

The result upon rinsing was excellent. Yes, I can feel areas that needed more attention. And yes, I typically get a closer shave, or at least it feels that way, if more stubble is present. But overall I am very, very impressed with the titanium Blackbird. I look forward to seeing how it performs tomorrow on a standard or less than standard amount of stubble, and to seeing how it works as a daily driver. For that experiment, I plan to accept small irritations in order to judge my face’s ability to withstand daily use of the Blackbird.

 
This will be the kit used for the foreseeable future. The Laminar Flow with a cashmere knot feels delightful on my face after a pass with the 'Bird, and I had recently acquired a YUGE tub of Clean off the BST.

The Ti ‘Bird shaves very close and removes a lot of lather. There is a sort of drag feel that I can tolerate but don’t really like. It also seems like it could catch bumps and make nicks. I noted in an XTG pass under my nose that it almost nicked or cut, so I only did careful WTG from then on. Managed 2 XTG passes, with only ATG on my neck. I had the contradictory experiences during the shave of being pleased with how closely my face was being shaved and being very aware of how easily this razor could nick me, keeping me "on my toes" vigilant. While it was a very close shave, and I got that refreshed feeling upon the cold-water rinse, I am holding back from calling this a really comfortable shave.