This week is a GEM of a week. I have willingly fallen into the rabbit warren of GEM razors, starting with Dave lending me some back in April, along with his Sabre. I know have 5 vintage GEMs in-house and 2 more en route. My goal was to try them out, but if one really worked great, then stick with it for the week to improve technique. Yesterday I had a pretty good shave with the MMOC, with only minor irritation by the corners of my mouth, and not feeling I got as close as I wanted under the nose. Today I tried the Clog Pruf. It seemed to have more blade feel and felt more aggressive. After the first pass, I had a couple of weepers, so I pulled the blade and put it back into the MMOC. Finished well and the Zingari Man unscented balm had me, to borrow a phrase, Right as Rain! Refreshed, as I say.
In other news, the SOC Semogue boar made its trial run during the first pass today.
This was gifted to me by a friend over on B&B, after I had commented in a post that I have not experienced the wonderful softness of boars that people write about. Ben PM'd me and offered a NIB SOC in cherry wood, telling me it is his softest boar once broken in. He asked that I take the time to break it in and see what I think. Given that attitude, he should be over here at DFS, right?!
I was happy to agree, offering filthy lucre, but Ben upped the ante and said he'd even pay shipping! I researched breaking in a boar, and decided that Utoober Kevy Shaves accelerated method was most natural and have been doing it. Basically, it is just long loading and lathering in a bowl or your palm daily, for 5-10 days, then start using it as often as possible.
Here is the the SOC fresh out of the box:
And after eight load and lather sessions:
And it performed like a champ this morning for the first pass! Subsequent passes were handled by the Supernova.
The boar felt good, not very pokey at all. In fact, I found it less scrubby and pokey than the G5A I have! The boar splayed well. I am looking forward to how it develops. I will be trying to use it for the first pass for a while before letting it solo.
- Eric
Put your message in a modem,
And throw it in the Cyber Sea
--Rush, "Virtuality"
Overloader of brushes, Overlander fanboy, Schickhead, and a GEM in the rough!