Sotd - Thursday 24-3 -
Razor - Mergress short-handle (4)
Blade - Gillette Silver Blue (1)
Brush - Maseto 24mm two-band
Soap - Karo cream - Bulgarian (sample)
Post - Witch hazel
A/S - Williams Aqua Velva
Balm - Svoboda Vitamin F - Russian.
Result - I feel human again - shaving after six days. Four more than I wanted but sometimes life gets in the way.
Software - dedicated to the idea of good value for money products, not cheap or budget, just good value.
Fist use of the Bulgarian Karo and it was very good. Really slick and it produced an excellent lather that wasn't hard to achieve - not a fussy cream at all. It's smells of something - I'm just not sure what. Not unpleasant - something from my childhood - I just can't remember what it is. I'd use it again happily. The star of the new stuff was the Russian balm - it works really well for me. Just as well I looked at the back label - the front is entirely in Cyrillic script - I thought from the packaging initially it was shaving cream. Easily absorbed, non-greasy and my skin loves it.
Hardware - let's cut to the chase - none of the above is important - The Mergress -
The vast majority of you here will know exactly what a Mergress is but if you don't - it's a modified standard Merkur Progress that has been re-engineered to provide more accurate calibration of the adjustment mechanism and at the bottom of the handle the original plastic aggression selecting dial is replaced with an all metal version. The rest of the handle and head are identical. I've happily used the standard Progress for years but I have always been intrigued by the modded versions and when I saw one up for sale recently I jumped at it - they are pretty scarce. Especially in a condition as good at this one - thanks to the honesty of the seller I knew it had been used a few times but I would of believed it had never been out the box. Pristine. It's almost like a different razor - it is much heavier and this completely changes the balance of it in your hand. For me we are into let gravity do the work for you territory - just guide it around your face. There is no thought to apply pressure whatsoever. Always a good thing. It's noticeable that when you screw it shut - which takes far more turns than the original - after putting the blade in - it lands dead on 1 every-time. There is no slack in the mechanism at all. It dealt with a 6 day growth effortlessly but in fairness so would have the original. It's just different - it probably bears a more reasonable comparison with the the Parker Variant - given the weight. Excellent - one shave in I know it's a keeper for me. Three new razors in as many shaves? I need to get a grip.
So - for many reasons a fantastic shave tonight. BBS - totally irritation free and happy hydrated skin. Smoother than a Minke whale that has been adopted and brought up as one of Terry Thomas' own children. Ding dong!
Enjoy your shaves - yours - I.
@Rohleder - thank you again J. You're a gentleman.