Tuesday
Today I tried the Eclipse Red Ring, I picked this up from a charity/junk shop while doing a good deed (waiting for the missus to get her hair done). Since then I have been trying hammer out the formula as to which good deeds are rewarded and which aren’t, when I work it out I’ll let you know
Proraso pre/post before coffee and breakfast
Long hot shower (holidays are great)
Eclipse Red Ring with new Personna Blade
Warmed brush scuttle
Penhaligons EF Old Formula
Custom Duke 3 2 Band brush
2 pass shave with touch up
Thayers witch hazel
Thayers moisturiser
Tabac AS splash
The Red Ring is an interesting razor, it is light in the head (all the weight in the handle) and I have to say it is odd looking. The neat feature of this razor is a magnet on the base of the handle that you can pick a blade up with. I have never dropped a blade so I doubt the usefulness of this feature, neat none the less. However it is this magnet that adds a bit of weight to the handle, the razors feel as if all the weight is in the handle so you need to control the razor pressure rather than draw the razor across with the head heavy ones. I found holding it further back helped but this is just a little different. There also is an arrow and markings on the side at the screw end, there are no numbers but I wonder if this is meant to act like the loosening off an open comb trick; which makes them a little more aggressive.
Many people talk about the noise feedback of the Merkur Futur, it is a cutting machine and it is sort of satisfying to hear, alarming for the first few uses but once you are used to it serves as a useful indicator as to when your angle is right, if it doesn’t make a noise you are already BBS or not holding it right. The Eclipse has this audio feedback as well but it is a strange noise. If the Merkur Futur is a snarling V12 then this is a British V12 where they tried to quieten it down but it is still there, a sort of rasping but a tinny one, it has an unusual blade guard and comb makes it feel a bit weird at first.
By the third pass I was getting into it and look forward to tomorrows shave. Normally non TTO’s have the poles that go through the blade on the head cap, the Eclipse has them on the head attached to the handle. To load it you take the cap off and put the blade on top of the pegs on the head and the cap has two holes in it that tighten down through the pegs. This is a strange arrangement but it works well, anyone who has suffered from the weeble wobble of a blade resting in the curved upturned cap and then tried to slot the handle onto it will appreciate this design.
I like it so far but time will tell with this one, todays shave was nice and smooth but I did play it safe with the blade and soap and did not go all gung ho either.