Shaving notes of the MaineYooper

Jan 1

Tatara Amakuni
Kai ProTouch MG (6)
Ethos Tibu Sabuni
Trotter Quasar with APSC 24mm Independent UHD knot.
CaYuen shave bowl
Cool wooden spoon from Paul

Yesterday's shave with the Ethos cream was not a fluke. I plan to stick with this soap for a few more days.

My tray came in and I'm using it already. But I found out we are Post-It-less!! So I am about to look on the 1 stop shopping site. The Post-Its tabs you have fit perfectly, made me wonder if they are under the foam even! Is there a specific size? I'm being lazy and in minutes will probably find the answer, but I would like to know what you got there Mike!

As nearly as I can tell, mine fit perfectly Eric.

I brought a ruler to the box last night, and the compartments are 1" in width. The tabs on Amazon come as 0.625" and 1", so based on your photos the 1" are ordered! Along with a cool telescoping screw/bolt/nut retriever with Ken's Fluffy favorite addition, a magnet! I thought I had one of these already, but upon digging through my tool box (yes, only the one, two left thumbs, remember?!) I found that what I had was the telescoping dental mirror. No idea why I have that, and kind of bummed I hadn't bought both whenever I bought the mirror. Not to worry now, I'll have the cool tool soon enough. At first I wasn't sure I'd need one, but trying to pry those blades up, even if the magnetic pad is super strong, I can foresee a nasty cut if I don't at least try the magnet tool!

I understand that getting the telescoping retriever is a cool way to kill several birds with one stone.  But for the benefit of anyone else passing this way, a cheap bar magnet will do for extracting blades from these boxes.  I happened to have an alnico bar magnot, and it is major overkill.

Jan 2

Same setup as yesterday, Amakuni and Ethos Tibu Sabuni, but changed the brush to my Trotter Nacar Oscuro SynBad. Another wonderful shave.

Today's mail had a letter from Tatara. They sent a Torx screw to replace the flat-head screw that attaches the baseplate to the handle. The Tatara guys noticed that fiddling around with that screw can cause scratches to the base plate if the screwdriver slips out of the slot. So they changed the assembly to the Torx screw, and sent all of us who got an Amakuni before that change was made the new Torx screw. Color me impressed!

Jan 3



Tatara Amakuni with Kai Capt. Titan Mild (2)
Ethos Tibu Sabuni cream, flattened in the CaYuen bowl
PAA Green Ray brush

Very close and comfortable. But I hit a pimple or bump on my cheek, and managed some red spots at both corners of my mouth. So not a 10, but a respectable shave nonetheless.

Jan 2

Same setup as yesterday, Amakuni and Ethos Tibu Sabuni, but changed the brush to my Trotter Nacar Oscuro SynBad. Another wonderful shave.

Today's mail had a letter from Tatara. They sent a Torx screw to replace the flat-head screw that attaches the baseplate to the handle. The Tatara guys noticed that fiddling around with that screw can cause scratches to the base plate if the screwdriver slips out of the slot. So they changed the assembly to the Torx screw, and sent all of us who got an Amakuni before that change was made the new Torx screw. Color me impressed!

Good on them.  Wonder why they ever used a slot screw in the first place? Slot screws suck and are inferior to Phillips, hex, torx and Robertson (square drive). They do have limited applications like for adjustment screws where you want to use the slot as a reference and absolutely no torque is required but other than that, nope.

And a general sort of question came up: how do you store an AC blade if it has several shaves on it but you aren't ready to bin it yet? The blade I used this morning had been sitting on the countertop and I cannot vouch that it wasn't moved around a lot. I once put a blade back in the dispenser, but worried how much damage I might have done to the sharp edge as I manipulated the dispenser to accept the blade again.

I store my AC blades in the AC version of these blade dryers.
For each of my AC blade dispensers, I rubber band one of the blade dryers so I know which AC blade is in which dryer.
I also rubber band a blade dryer on my TryABlade sleeves as well.

I also use the DE, half-DE and GEM versions of those blade dryers as well and find them very handy when traveling as they don't take up much space and allow the blades to dry.
There are blade dryers for several other blade formats as well.

Jan 5



This is mostly the planned set this week. The brush used and the blade involved may change as the mood changes, but the plan is to experiment with the Amakuni this week. The soap will stay constant with the razor. 

Today the blade was the ProTouch MG on its 9th use. I did 2 passes as I will be shaving earlier tomorrow morning and like to have more stubble, as in the past I shaved with too little time elapsed since the last shave my skin could get irritated. 

Buckle up, here comes Monday!

Jan 6

Tatara Amakuni
Schick Proline P-30 (1)
Denton Majick Unscented
Wald Calyx

Oh so easy!

Jan 7

Two consecutive shaves with the Proline blade. Less stubble this morning and no irritation. I think the Proline blades are going to be great for a close, comfortable shave.

Jan 8
Tatara Amakuni
Kai Captain Titan Mild (3)
Denton Majik Unscented
PAA Amber Aerolite

Stirling pre-shave soap applied and used the brush to cover my face better. Then loaded the brush and made a great lather. Awesome shave felt so different from earlier use with no blade feeling. I thought was heading to a Glide Fest but saw I nicked myself under my nose during the ATG pass. Overall, a wonderful and close shave achieved.

I plan to update later with some blade photos showing 4 different blades. Stay tuned, story at ??