Pre-Shave: SebaMed, cold water
Razor: Parker Variant on 2.5
Blade: Ladas (1)
Brush: Doug Korn D7V
Lather: Stirling Bay Rum
Post-Shave: Alum, Thayers Original Alcohol Free Witch Hazel, Australian Emu Oil
First shave with the Variant today and I wanted to thank again
@Mark1966 for this great pass around
The Merkur Progress was my first razor and I used to get lovely shaves with it. My favourite setting was 2.5 and while I can't remember how it exactly shaved, I remember two things: it was very head heavy and the handle was too short/small/light.
Surprisingly, the Variant is also head heavy - while the handle is rather long and heavy. In any case, I played around with the setting while doing short strokes on my cheeks and settled here also on 2.5. On 5 the razor has A LOT of blade feel - not sure if it is actually that aggressive, but it feels very aggressive. Even on 2, there is some blade feel and add to that that the razor is very loud, I was a bit worried.
To make sure, there would be no other issues I whipped up some
fantastic Stirling lather and loaded a trusted Ladas blade.
Four passes later and I was very impressed. Again the razor feels and sounds aggressive, but at this setting the angle of attack was quiet narrow indicating, that the setting is actually mild. The result was a very nice and close shave - no blood and not irritations - so a great first experience.
I hope you all have a wicked Wednesday
