Old Sarge's Shaving Journey

Festival of Featherweights!
Williams Wednesday!
DE-less-cemBoar

Cold Water Shave w/ Hot Water Lather
Pre - Aloe Vera Glycerin Soap Face Wash, Noxzema Cream as Pre Shave
Razor - Gem Heavy Flat Top
Blade - Gem SS PTFE (6th Use)
Brush - Omega 66 Boar
Lather - Williams Mug Shaving Soap, Face Lathered
Post - Generic Reformed Alum Block, T.N. Dickinson’s Witch Hazel, Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue, Nivea Sensitive Balm

The Festival of Featherweights continues with a kissing cousin to the FW, the Heavy Flat Top. While there is a significant weight difference between a FW and a HFT, to my eye the head of the HFT is pretty close to the Gen II FW.

This is the first use of the Omega 66 boar, with it arriving just in time for DE-less-cemBoar), or DEcemBoar later on in the month when I shave with an unmentionable. I gotta say, for an under $6 brush I liked it quite well. I made sure to load enough of the Williams for the first pass and hydrated it well during face lathering. The lather did not dry out during the first pass. However, I did have to go back to the puck for the second pass, but no real issue there. The 66 initially has decent backbone for its 55mm loft. I'm looking forward to seeing how it breaks in over time!

Well, I've held everyone in suspense for long enough. I had a very good two pass shave with the HFT. It's confounding why I'm not able to yet get the same with the Gen I FW, but tomorrow on to the Deluxe model!

Festival of Feather Weights! (Day 4 of 7)
DE-less-cemBoar

Cold Water Shave w/ Hot Water Lather
Pre - Aloe Vera Glycerin Soap Face Wash, Noxzema Cream as Pre Shave
Razor - Gem Gen. I Feather Weight
Blade - Gem SS PTFE (7th Use)
Brush - Semogue SOC Boar in Taj Resin
Lather - Mike’s Natural Soap (Orange, Cedarwood and Black Pepper), Face Lathered
Post - Generic Reformed Alum Block, T.N. Dickinson’s Witch Hazel, Clubman Pinaud Lime Sec EDC, Nivea Sensitive Balm

Admin Note: I'm going to change the way I've been spelling Featherweight to Feather Weight. I did some looking around on the intertubes and believe it to be correct based on images of original shippers.

Today was a much better experience, with no explanation as to why or how. Before starting the first pass, I just said to myself that yesterday was a good shave with the Heavy Flat Top so just imagine that's what I'm using. As Fuzzy always says, Pressure and Angle. I continued to focus on those two elements and bang...a good shave with minimal irritation and couple of weepers, but whose counting. While is was a successful shave, it didn't feel smooth. When I finished I could feel not quite razor burn, but a sensation of a bit of harshness. The post shave routine took care of that for the most part.

While I only have four boar brushes, two of which are new, I'm enjoying Day 2 of DE-less-cemBoar. I'm very careful not to load too much product, as I've had problems with this when face lathering before. All went very well for the first pass, but on the second pass I needed to go back to the tub for a few swirls as there just wasn't enough lather left even after squeezing it out. Overall, I'm glad I've switched to face lathering and look forward to more improvement!

BTW...Mike's Soaps rock and the Lime Sec is a good match for the Orange, Cedarwood and Black Pepper!

Mike's Natural Soaps aren't talked about much, but they are outstanding, solid, and priced very affordable. There will always be Mike's in the soap drawer.

An unusual delivery at 0830 today, vice the usual delivery time in the afternoon. I've entered a new rabbit hole...or should I say a new marmot den!?

I'm pretty sure this is an AutoStrop B1. Not the best image as the razor needs some TLC, but wanted to try and show the "Auto Strop" on the blade holder (is there a better term for the part of the razor that hold the blade?). For a while now I've been watching for my first AutoStrop. While the VC1 is pretty easy to pick up, but I've been hoping to get an earlier model. When this guy showed up for $12.99 with free shipping...how could I not pull the trigger!? It's good that an old original blade is included so I can use it to double check when I modify a Gem blade. I recall Dave in KY talking about the aluminum foil/baking soda technique on silver finishes on another neighborhood. I guess I'm not sure if this is a silver finish or not.

I'll give you one guess what I'll be doing this weekend and also what I'll be shaving with next week!

Nice score Brian. As far as whether it's silver or not I would think it is but better to Google it to be sure. I don't think the method for silver would hurt it at all if it's not silver. Emphasis on the I think which is not guaranteed to be accurate.

Festival of Feather Weights! (Day 5 of 7)
Mitchell’s Wool “Fat” Friday!
DE-less-cemBoar!

Cold Water Shave w/ Hot Water Lather
Pre - Aloe Vera Glycerin Soap Face Wash, Noxzema Cream as Pre Shave
Razor - Gem Gen. I Feather Weight
Blade - Gem SS PTFE (8th Use)
Brush - Omega 10290 Boar
Lather - Mitchell’s Wool Fat, Face Lathered
Post - Generic Reformed Alum Block, T.N. Dickinson’s Witch Hazel, Clubman Pinaud After Shave, Nivea Sensitive Balm


I'm not saying I've got the Feather Weight deal figured out, but I had a pretty successful three pass shave.

The Omega 10290 is new to me and this was it's first shave after a couple of test lathers. My initial impression is it's a nice sized knot for face lathering (24mm x 48mm), has a ton of backbone and has a long way to go until it feels smooth on the face. However, it hit the spot and did a great job with the MWF. I was only intending on going two passes, but the shave was going so well and the brush had plenty of lather left. Another pretty good deal from Connaught Shaving for under $6!

I think I'm getting the Pressure and Angle figured out a bit more. I did have some irritation and a few weepers, but having only been doing two pass shaves recently, this was not unexpected. I really worked on my skin stretching, which seemed to help. Overall I'm very satisfied, particularly as I'm getting to the end of life with this blade.

Two more days left on the Festival of Feather Weights!

Another great report!

I'll give you one guess what I'll be doing this weekend and also what I'll be shaving with next week!

A nicer looking user grade AutoStrop B1 after a soak in hot water/dawn detergent and scrubbing with toothbrush/bristle brush! My non-expert opinion is this is nickel plated, not silver.

I think I'm going to need to tweak the tooth (proper term?) that holds the left-side blade stop/guide, right as you are looking at the second photo. It is lower than the one on the left side of the photo. When I push on the tab to raise the guard, if I don't push down on the blade...the blade only goes under the blade guide on the left of the picture. I have to slightly press on the blade for it to go under both blade guides. I'm concerned that this would cause to blade to not sit level.

Festival of Feather Weights! (Day 6 of 7)
DE-less-cemBoar (Wchnu)

Cold Water Shave w/ Hot Water Lather
Pre - Aloe Vera Glycerin Soap Face Wash, Noxzema Cream as Pre Shave
Razor - Gem Gen. I Feather Weight Deluxe
Blade - Gem SS PTFE (9th Use)
Brush - Omega Pro 49 Boar
Lather - Arko, Face Lathered
Post - Generic Reformed Alum Block, T.N. Dickinson’s Witch Hazel, Skin Bracer, Nivea Sensitive Cooling Balm


For the most part, looks like I've got the hang of shaving with a Gen I Feather Weight. A successful two pass shave left me feeling much more confident with this razor. Much more of a smooth shave today. One more day to go until the end of this festival.

I had a real good experience face lathering Arko. While it's a shaving soap that finds itself the butt of bathroom jokes, I find it produces a rather nice lather. I know some are not please with the scent, but I'm OK with it.

The Omega 49 with two rubber o-rings in place has just the right amount of backbone. It always was a good brush for painting, but now it does the job splayed out.

Festival of Feather Weights! (Day 6 of 7)
DE-less-cemBoar (Wchnu)

Cold Water Shave w/ Hot Water Lather
Pre - Aloe Vera Glycerin Soap Face Wash, Noxzema Cream as Pre Shave
Razor - Gem Gen. I Feather Weight Deluxe
Blade - Gem SS PTFE (9th Use)
Brush - Omega Pro 49 Boar
Lather - Arko, Face Lathered
Post - Generic Reformed Alum Block, T.N. Dickinson’s Witch Hazel, Skin Bracer, Nivea Sensitive Cooling Balm


For the most part, looks like I've got the hang of shaving with a Gen I Feather Weight. A successful two pass shave left me feeling much more confident with this razor. Much more of a smooth shave today. One more day to go until the end of this festival.

I had a real good experience face lathering Arko. While it's a shaving soap that finds itself the butt of bathroom jokes, I find it produces a rather nice lather. I know some are not please with the scent, but I'm OK with it.

The Omega 49 with two rubber o-rings in place has just the right amount of backbone. It always was a good brush for painting, but now it does the job splayed out.

I'm with you on arko, not a wow scent but decent lather and great bang for the buck!