So far, so good

I have for some months been on a shaving regimen involving rotation of razors for one week each, each using one fresh blade for its week.

The short Weishi 9306 F
The Feather Popular
The Merkur 180
The long Weishi 9306 FL
The Baili Victory Shaver

In order from most to least mild, though none is really aggressive.

I am amused to note that I have one Japanese, one German, and 3 Chinese razors.

All of them clones or variations of American inventions.

Long handled Weishi 9306 FL

Bought one on ebay, and it came in the mail Thursday with 10 Dorco blades.

Just in a box, like the far too aggressive Edward London I threw in the trash.

No case of hard plastic or soft leather.

In heft and beauty it compares to the Merkur 180.

Maybe it's just that heft, but it seems a bit more aggressive than the short handled Weishi 9306 F.

Still no question at this time that it's acceptably mild, though.

I need to be kept safe from my unsteady, arthritic hands.

And I definitely prefer the longer handle.

The misnaming of things

It's not just in politics.

It conceals truth rather than revealing it to write of razors being mild or aggressive, or to rate them for aggressiveness, particularly when aggressiveness is defined as the physical feature of razors that causes them to be literally aggressive in the normal sense of the word.

In truth, razors are mild or harsh, and they are being rated for harshness.

Shaving with so-called aggressive razors results in much bloodshed, razor burn, and pain - all due to the above-mentioned physical feature.

These razors are justly called harsh because they give harsh shaves.

Shaving with a mild razor almost never involves the least dab of blood, or the least bit of pain or razor burn.

These razors are justly called mild because they give mild shaves.

Clear?

A retreat to safety

Sick and tired of being cut to ribbons and scraped raw, I have retired the Edward London (I just got it !) and the Baili, adopting a rotation using a new blade for 6 days, 2 days each with the Feather, the Weishi, and the Merkur, in that order.

For how long?

We'll see.

How long will I appreciate excellent shaves that are also bloodless, burnless, and painless?

How long can one value privations of what is evil?

(Take that, St. Augustine.)

Update, 0028 hrs, 10/3/16.

I have just had six consecutive days of excellent, bloodless, burnless, painless shaves.

Now if only I don't do something stupid like trying the Edward London, again.

Edward London long classic butterfly

Newly arrived from Amazon.

At a fall sale price of $14.85, they're selling it cheaper than the Edward London site that wants $17.95, on sale from a normal price of $28.95.

No case, no blades, though it does come in a nice box, mine rather dinged up by Amazon or by the delivery service.

It's quite hefty.

I'll try it tomorrow.

Update, 9/23/16, Friday. 

This is a very heavy razor. 

On one use, I say it seems aggressive, though perhaps less so than the Baili, than which it is much heavier - and longer. 

I used the same Dorco blade today that I used new in the Baili yesterday.  

Excellent shave, but more caution is required than by the milder razors. 

The same is true of the Baili.

No damage, though. 

Like the Baili, a bit harsher on the skin than the milder razors - the Feather, Merkur, and Weishi.

Excellent shave, but I question whether it's any better, or more easily achieved, than the shaves I get with the mild razors.

They do take more touching up, especially the Feather. 

But at less risk of bloodshed and less roughness to the skin or burn.

Hmm.

9/24.

Used the same razor again.

Cut to pieces and burned raw.

As bad as the worst with the Long Feng.

Proraso vs. VDH; Weishi vs. VDH.

Several days ago, the puck of VDH scented soap I had been using ran out, and since then I have been using a new, green tub of Proraso, bought some time back, as an experiment.

This morning, annoyed beyond further toleration at its inferior lubrication, I threw the Proraso in the trash.

As another experiment, I bought a puck of VDH unscented that I will use tomorrow.

Supposedly it differs only in lack of scent from the VDH scented, but, interestingly, the scented is white while the unscented is clear.

It may have been just the Proraso soap, but it seems to me the Weishi I just got in the mail from China is as mild as my Feather Popular.

In hopes it would be a little less mild, I bought at VDH at the local Giant Eagle.

Imagine my annoyance to discover it appeared identical in every respect to the Weishi 9306-F.

I had seen information on the web that the VDH razor is made in China and many people thought it similar to other types of Weishi, but I have seen nothing comparing it to the 9306-F, in particular.

I say it's the same razor.

I have already returned the VDH to the Big Bird for a full refund.

And I hope the Weishi will be more effective with the VDH soap than it has been with the Proraso.

Oh, the Proraso left a kind of dull soap scum to be seen on the razor as it dried on the rack, even though I rinse thoroughly after shaving.

The VDH scented did not.

Weishi 9306-F

Ordered it for 12 bucks, free shipping from China.

It came in the mail yesterday with 15 Dorco blades and a cleaning brush, all in a traveling case.

Reputedly the Merkur 180 and Feather Popular are about equally mild, but I find the Merkur a tad less mild and the Feather a tad too mild.

I am hoping the Weishi will be a bit more like the Merkur than the Feather.

This is not a long handled razor, and so is unlike the Popular and 180 in that respect.

We'll see how this goes.

Fact is, the arthritis in my fingers and thumbs makes me a bit unsteady, which is a reason to use a mild razor.

And it's also turning out to be a reason to use a butterfly rather than a 3-piece, it being simpler to change blades.

Update, 9/14.

Mild as the Feather, but heavier.

Nice shave.

I find I prefer the long handle.

Update 9/28.

It turns out there is a long handled version of this Weishi available.

But I doubt I will buy it.

Broken brush

Put it together with a very small bit of Gorilla Glue.

Seems ok so far.

Update 8/23/16.

Still good, but I must say this brush never stops shedding.

It's a VDH pure badger.

Just keeping up

I have thrown away the Schick razor and now use the CVS house substitute for Mennen Skin Bracer.

Just an update.

Update, 7/7/16.

This morning after shaving I was rinsing the VDH brush when it broke.

The glue holding the piece with the bristles to the handle let go.

Very odd.

A googlecheck on the web reveals it's a common problem to be handled with gorilla glue or epoxy, or whatever.

Some DIY types even buy bristle knots and handles separately and attach the pieces themselves, to begin with.

A different shaving soap

The lather of a Van Der Hagen puck, my usual soap, is very slick, and leaves your face slick after several rinses.

The lather of Proraso shaving soap is not at all slick, and leaves your face not at all slick.

If you're selling shaving soap, why would you put a drawing of a guy with a full beard on your package?

A beautiful combination

I attached the diamond handle from the discarded Long Feng to the head of the Baili Victory Razor.

A very handsome match.

And with a Shark chrome blade nearly a week old - I was using it with the Merkur 180 - and a gentle, careful hand I had an excellent shave.

Bothered by scent and allergies, I have given up after-shaves altogether.

Not for the first time in my life, either.

Update, 9/22/16.

I have been using Mennen Skin Bracer for several weeks with good results.

The problem was with the blue Aqua Velva.

Settled, for now

OK, the Feather is too mild and the Baili and the Schick are both too aggressive, though in all cases not by much and these razors are certainly usable.

The Merkur 180 wins the day.

Legacy shaving

Since I switched to wet shaving with a DE a few months ago I have learned through experience that my preferred razors are quite mild, a Merkur 180 and a Feather Popular.

Acne scaring and arthritis in the hands combine to make nicks a near certainty with anything more aggressive.

All the same, I do have a few unused injectors left for the Schick with which I shaved for so many decades, so I have put that razor back in the rotation, pending exhaustion of the supply, despite its greater exposure to the blade.

So, despite my caution, this morning I did get a small nick – not enough to need a styptic pencil or a bit of TP – on a scar on my cheek.

We’ll see how this goes.

Ripper Street vs. Poirot

Both shows are set in London.

Ripper Street features the Third Degree, ignorant brutes for police, filth everywhere, and men mostly unshaved for days.

Poirot cops are universally law-abiding, though Japp is primarily a foil for the little Belgian.

Everything and everyone is spotlessly clean, and even unfinished basements are free of dust and cobwebs and appear freshly whitewashed.

Even street people and tramps are perfectly shaved and clean, as are their clothes, always.

Why the difference?

Ripper Street is set in the last decade of the 19th Century.

Poirot is set between the two world wars.

Disposable blades for safety razors, making it technically and economically feasible for men to regularly shave themselves without having to master the dangerous use of a deadly weapon whose maintenance was tiresome, anyway, only became available in the early 1900s, and became popular thanks to King Camp Gillette's World War One US Army contract.

A fresh shave every day for men with or without mustaches or beards became the new normal.

Yes, I'm kidding.

But by no means entirely.

Is the Baili a Tech?

Various places on the web say the Baili Victory Shaver is a contemporary Chinese clone of the Gillette Tech razor of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s and that the Tech, though mild to begin with, got milder as the 20th Century progressed.

I suppose there is something to that.

But my Baili, though nowhere near as harsh as the broken no-name or the discarded Long Feng, is definitely more aggressive than the Merkur 180 and so, of course, than the Feather Popular.

Nice shave, though, if you're careful.

That lip scar is an accident waiting to happen.

I used to nick it once in a while when I was using the Schick injector, too.

Still testing the Shark Chrome blades.

Go figure

McConaughey uses a mug and brush in a Lincoln commercial.

The bad guy in Catch shaves with a DE.

Check out any convenience, drug, or grocery store and you'll see the big sellers are the multi-blade cartridge razors.

No injectors or SEs on the scene.

But maybe a VDH DE razor and some shaving soap for your VDH mug.

Wet shaving with a DE is a cult thing or a geezer thing.

I'm a geezer.

But not those two guys.

Update, 042316.

The night manager in The Night Manager uses a brush, mug, and DE razor in episode 1.

Wow. Don't lose your razor when you retire.

David Letterman.

The last thing a man's face needs is oil

Google pimples, blackheads, acne, or acne vulgaris.

And then ask yourself why men who learned to wet shave during or before the Vietnam War used or use alcohol based aftershave.

Drat

Last night I dropped the no-name butterfly DE razor my wife gave me some time back and one of the butterfly wings came off.

I tried for quite a while but I couldn't get it back on, so I threw the thing away.

Having liked the Baili I bought a while back, today I ordered a 3 piece Long Feng from ebay.

And also a 3 piece, long-handled Merkur 180 (23C).

Of course, at $2.19 the Chinese razor was considerably cheaper than the $22.99 German one.

Internet comment indicates the Long Feng is aluminum.

The Merkur is chrome finished steel.

Free shipping, of course.

Not buying from Amazon if I can help it.

Update.

The Merkur came today, 3/26.

That's one heavy razor. 

Update, 3/27.

Heavy razor, beautiful balance, beautiful shave.

The heft makes it a bit easier to control for my arthritic, sometimes shaky hands than the lighter Feather.

A shorter handle does that, too, like the one on the Baili.

Update 042316.

I used a Shark Chrome blade for a week with the Feather, my mildest razor, and then for a week with the Merkur, a little less mild and notably heavier.

Worked out better in the Merkur.

Today I began a week using a Shark Chrome in the Long Feng, which turns out to be much more aggressive than the German or Japanese razor.

Fewer strokes and passes to get an equally close shave, but a little bit more dangerous.

I have an old scar on my upper lip where I took a punch in a childhood fight, below the bottom edge of the mustache and where the lip covers an eye tooth.

That's a vulnerable spot and I did indeed nick it pretty well.

Used the styptic pencil for only the second or third time since I bought it.

Update 042416.

Benched!

On its second day with that Shark blade the Long Feng nicked me on the cheek and on the throat at the Adam's apple.

It will not be in the regular rotation.

Update, 042516.

The wife got a much better look at my neck and the edges of my cheeks than I can in a mirror.

Trifocals, you know.

She said it was nasty and urged me to throw away the offending razor.

So the Long Feng went into the recycle waste.

Update 9/22/16.

Having had more experience I now think a longer handle is safer for my shaky, arthritic hands.

And I find the pain and associated jumpiness are at their worst right away when I get up.

So I am shaving a little later, when possible - half an hour or so seems enough - and changing blades at my bureau, sitting on the bed, in the afternoon or evening.

No, I don't think so

Wet shaving sites may have too cozy a relationship with cosmetic producers or retailers.

They seem universally to urge men not to use alcohol based after shaves, and use something to do with putting oil on dry skin, instead.

Think of putting Jergens lotion on your face instead of on your winter-dry hands.

I can only guess this is even the least bit plausible as advice for men because since my own adolescence somebody has actually done away with acne.

Because back when it was a problem everybody knew for a fact that the skin on men's faces was way too oily and using an alcohol based after shave helped stave off zits.

Well, I never got the memo and neither did the skin on my face.

So it's Skin Bracer, Aqua Velva, or the like stuff for me.