World Shave Off Showdown 2nd Edition

Hello all and welcome to the World Shave Off Showdown 2nd Edition! 



I'm pretty excited to get started and I'm doing the first Shave Off right after posting this up. I'll have to write up the results when I get home from work tonight but we are getting started with two very well respected razors that were picked out of the box which contains the names of all the razors in the " Efficient Category " on pieces of paper which are blindly and randomly picked out of the box as explained in the World Shave Off Showdown Guidelines thread. 





I will begin an index on page 1st page of this thread after I get this first Shave Off completed. This way it will make it easier to look up a particular razor or a Shave Off. 



Look to the guidelines thread for anything your not sure of or if you have any questions you may have. Post them up there and I'll respond as I'll be checking on there from time to time. I'd like to keep this thread just about the Shave Offs and I appreciate your understanding of that. 







So these are the razors listed below that are in the " Efficient Category "  and like I mentioned in the guidelines a razor can be added to this category but they have to be listed and sent to me right away and before the end of the 1st round or I can't accept them. Razors can be added to the other 2 categories anytime or again before the end of the first round. 





Efficient Razors:







1. Gillette Fatboy - DB



2. Gillette F4 Toggle - DB - On to the next round 



3. Gillette British Aristocrat 1st Gen OC - DB



4. Mergress adjustable - DB  - Eliminated 



5. Rockwell 6S plate # 6 - Keto - On to the 2nd round 



6. Rex Ambassador adjustable - ShaveMD - Eliminated 



7. Timeless Ti DC .95 - DB



8. Blackland Blackbird - Keto



9. Karve F plate - AJSharp - Eliminated 



10. Gamechanger Jaws - Ccity



11. Paradigm 17 4 - DB - On to the next round 



12. Yates Precision - Aggressive plate - Deus Vult 



13. WSC Brawy - Aggressive plate - Deus Vult 



14. Charcoal Goods Level 2 OC - On to the 2nd round 



15. Carbon Shaving - Damasus baseplate - Sean at Carbon Shaving



16. Gillette RFB with Tibam handle  - Eliminated 

UPDATE: 

So I just picked two razors out of the box and our very first Shave off is between the Charcoal Goods Level 2 OC and Mergress Adjustable which like the rules state will be set on max setting.

I'll be doing the Shave off in a little while and will post up the results when I get home from work tonight.  Of course I'll be using the scoring system to judge the Shave Off and if you need to find it just look in the guidelines thread. 

DB

Looking forward to the results.
Happy shaves
SMURF

I'm excited about this Showdown but I have a small favour to ask - please could you use a larger font size?  The eyes aren't what they used to be.  Thanks

Mark

I'm excited about this Showdown but I have a small favour to ask - please could you use a larger font size?  The eyes aren't what they used to be.  Thanks

Mark

Agreed with font size. Also, I use the "dark" theme and the majority of the text is ghosted. It's there, but the text color is too close to the grey background to see it. Changing font colors to grey tones is no bueno with dark mode enabled.

I'm excited about this Showdown but I have a small favour to ask - please could you use a larger font size?  The eyes aren't what they used to be.  Thanks

Mark

I'm excited about this Showdown but I have a small favour to ask - please could you use a larger font size?  The eyes aren't what they used to be.  Thanks

Mark

Agreed with font size.  Also, I use the "dark" theme and the majority of the text is ghosted.  It's there, but the text color is too close to the grey background to see it.  Changing font colors to grey tones is no bueno with dark mode enabled.

Sorry guys o used a # Font thinking it was big enough but apparently not. Glad you caught it early. I’ll edit the posts and make sure to use a larger font. Any recommendations on size I should use? 

thank you! 

Thanks, what you're using in the reply seems to work.

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Shave Off Complete with review: [/font]

Mergress adjustable vs Charcoal Goods Level 2 OC 


Ok so this is the first Shave Off on DFS in this new thread and before I get started I'd just like to thank andrewjs18for all the help and suggestions and also for welcoming me to do these Shave Off on DFS. Also a thanks out to all the members who encouraged me to get back to doing them after the situation happened on the other site. 

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]So this was a good way to kick things off in the " Efficient Category. An adjustable vs a 3 piece razor. Both razors well known and both have been around for a while. The Mergress is an adjustable with settings 1 through 6 + which is the setting I used in yesterday morning's Shave Off as I mentioned in the guidelines thread that all adjustables will be set on their highest settings. The Mergress is a big heavy razor and I'm sorry I don't have the weights of both razors which I normally post up but in this case I left my scale at my warehouse so I just went by feel and there's quite a bit of difference in both weight and length with the Mergress being heavier and longer and basically an all around larger razor. The Mergress has a rather large head compared to the CG head which was inspired by a Gillette New type razor as Brian at Charcoal has told me. As you can see from the photos the Mergress is a very shiny razor where as the CG Level 2 is Antiqued brass with the Anchor handle which I like very much. [/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Gear used: [/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Mergress adjustable razor[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Charcoal Goods Level 2 OC [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]2 new hand stropped Feather blades[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]AP badger shave brush [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Captions Choice brass bowl [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Lisas Natural Orange Patchouli Shave Soap[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Eleven Sweet Orange aftershave [/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Oh and my new mascot Drago a fellow member sent me. LOL [/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Decided to do my normal 2 pass Shave with no touch ups which is how I'll do each and every Shave Off in this category. My theory is with just about any razor in this or especially the other 2 categories if I did a 3rd pass or even touch ups I could get at least what I call a entry level 1 BBS shave so I like to see what each razor can do on only two passes. Of course as explained in the guidelines thread I use my SSSST Technique so 2 passes is usually enough to give me a very good read on the razors I'm using and their characteristics and effectiveness in taking down my beard growth. Also like it's explained in more detail in the guidelines thread I section off my face into 4 sections with each razor getting one section on my more difficult right side of my face and neck and one section on my easier to shave left side. To me this keeps things fair in evaluating how each razor handles both types of beard growth. So let's get started. [/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]1st Pass WTG - So I started with my N to S pass with the CG L 2 OC and I'm very familiar with this razor and have used it many many times. The CG had no problem getting through my growth and although it has some blade feel which I don't mind there's not a lot of it. The audible feedback is also mid level and it lets you know where your at and doesn't fade away with beard reduction as some razors do. The CG with it's smaller profile head was great under my nose and I find with the Anchor handle this razor has good maneuverability. So I finished the section and picked up the Mergress to continue the N to S pass and wow you feel the weight difference right away. It feels big in hand and as I take a few strokes with it set on max setting it also exhibits more blade feel than the CG but I felt just a tad bit of hesitation when it went over my nasty cowlick so I gave my skin a bit more of an aggressive stretch and that seemed to fix the issue for the rest of the pass on my neck. Finished up and just went right over to my left side for the N to S pass with the Mergress and on this easier side I didn't feel any hesitation at all as it took down my growth. Under my nose was definitely not as easy as when using the CG but a little push the nose to the side worked out fine. I noticed when I got to my chin the audible feedback kicked up a notch and it was louder than the CG throughout the entire shave. I finished the pass and grabbed the CG to continue the pass on my left side neck and this was a very good pass for the L 2 as it easily disposed of my 2 days growth in what was a very quick pass. I gave my face a fast rinse and relathered to get ready for the ATG pass. I guess this is a good time to comment on the Shave soap. It had a pleasant scent as I could pick out both the Orange and the Patchouli but for my taste I'd like a little more orange in there. Slickness was good but I've got another one of her soaps and maybe it was the brush I was using but it didn't lather up as easily and wasn't quite as slick as the other soap I have of hers which I enjoy very much called Irish Green tweed which is obviously her take on Creeds cologne and she did a nice job with the fragrance on it. I really think it may have been the brush as I find testing a lot of soaps that sometimes the brush makes a world of difference. The AP Gelousy knot is a big fan and I had to load the brush twice to get the lather I wanted but in the end I'd say it's a very nice shave soap. I just got this soap so the next time I use it I'm going to try a synthetic brush and see what kind of results I get. Anyway on to the ATG Pass. [/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]2nd Pass ATG - Starting at the base of my neck with a good skin stretch I started my S to N pass with the Mergress and on my neck this was when I noticed another hesitation on my cowlick which was weird because it had already taken down a decent amount of growth on the 1st WTG pass so once again I got more aggressive with my skin stretch and went over it and it was better. The rest of the neck when well with no more issues. Picked up the CG and started up from my jawline and what a awesome razor this is. Smooth and confident as it takes down whatever remaining stubble I have leftover from the WTG pass. Going ATG under my nose and around my mouth was no issue at all and without feeling my face I was thinking I'm getting a nice close shave with the CG. So with it in hand I headed over to the base of my neck on my left side for the journey north and this pass was the easiest fastest pass of this entire Shave Off. The razor feels very good in hand and it's been a while since I've used it and I was thinking to myself why I had waited so long. Finished the pass and using the Mergress I headed upward and at this point I have to say this razor although it was taking down my whiskers ok just doesn't show the conviction that the CG does and I don't know how else to put it into words. Finished up the pass and this Shave Off with this pass.  [/font]



[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]   [/font]




So since this is the 1st Shave Off I thought I'd post up the Scoring System and how it works and you can also find it in the guidelines thread. Although the structure of the system is the same as it was in the last Shave Off I did " The Smoothest Razor " the percentages have been changed and it's pretty easy to see that the main focus is on efficiency but it is not the only thing the razors will be judged on. 


Scoring System: 



1. Efficiency - up to a possible 60 points 

2. Smoothness - up to a possible 25 points 

3. Maneuverability - up to a possible  5 points 

4. Balance - up to a possible  5 points 

5. Glide - up to a possible 5 points 



Mergress Adjustable: 
 
Efficiency - 40 points
Smoothness - 15 points 
Maneuverability - 3 points 
Balance - 3 points
Glide - 3 1/2 points 

Total = 64 1/2 points

Charcoal Goods Level 2 OC 

Efficiency - 42 points
Smoothness - 18 points 
Maneuverability - 4 points 
Balance - 4 points 
Glide - 3 1/2 points 

Total = 71 1/2 points 


Winner: 

Charcoal Goods Level 2 OC 




[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Summary: [/font][/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Well it's been almost 20 hrs since this Shave Off and my thoughts and results are. I got a entry level BBS 1 in most areas of my face with the CG Level 2 OC with only a couple of small spots on my chin and along my ear on my right side that were a DFS. The Mergress gave me a entry level BBS 1 but only on my cheek on my left side and the rest of my face and neck was a DFS. The CG felt better in hand as the Mergress [/font]just feels to big, heavy and licking in maneuverability for my liking and is not a razor I would buy again. [/font]


Congrats to the Charcoal Goods Level 2 and it will move on to the 2nd round and unfortunately the Mergress was eliminated from the Shave Off. 

I welcome all comments and feedback as always! 


Great Shaves! 

DB 



 

Great review. I must say I am surprised that the Mergress dialed up was still not as efficient as a CG level 2, Love my CG razors but never had a Mergress.

Great review. I must say I am surprised that the Mergress dialed up was still not as efficient as a CG level 2, Love my CG razors but never had a Mergress.

Mark going into this Shave Off I thought the same thing but when I did my final rinse and my face dried it was very clear that the CG took my 2 plus days growth down closer and it proved to be the same as time passed. CG was a clear winner.