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SOTD SATURDAY MAY 9, 2020
My new/old Ronson Self Sharpening Safety Razor (1930s vintage) finally arrived from British Columbia. It was scheduled to arrive this last Monday, but with COVID19 delays showed up 4 days later. It’s in remarkably good condition for an 85 - 90 yr old razor and included a NOS unused blade. One of my FB shave brothers with a remarkable vintage safety razor collection owns one as well which he declares to be his favorite razor.
Now I’ve known about this razor, but avoided them because of the blade usage issue. Now I guess I could hone and strop the included blade, or could modify a modern blade by nipping out a gap in the blade tabs as I do with my Gibbs, but my clever friend has been using injector blades very successfully. So after some FB Messenger tutorial sessions from my patient teacher, I felt ready to go. Before use I cleaned and sanitized it and loaded a Proline Injector blade as instructed.
I began the shave with an iced water rinse following my shower. The MrEE brush’s hybrid Badger/Boar knot whipped up a gorgeous, thick Pannacrema Nuavia Blu lather enhanced with 6 drops of M-Bomb. At 77.6 grams, the razor feels good in the hand. The 3/4” head and 2 5/8” handle seemed awkward at first, but as my friend instructed, it shaves at the same angle as a Gem. The Proline injector blade is both smooth and sharp, and made short work of the facial whiskers in two careful passes (WTG, ATG).
The head shave was a bit problematic, not due to the razor, but rather to user error. The razor has a generous sweet spot, but is quite head heavy. As a result I ended up with two minor set down errors. The first as I attempted an ATG pass on the left side of my dome, just above the ear, and the second at the back of my head as I started a WTG pass. Don't get me wrong; I really like this razor. I plan on shaving with it for as long as it takes to master. Most of my focus will be on mastering the head shave, as the face shave ended up an easy BBS. My head shave despite the two nicks worked out as a solid DFS. The challenge with the noggin are the hills, valleys and curvature as I work toward a BBS. In any case I feel clean, smooth and refreshed.
RAZOR: Ronson Self Sharpening Safety Razor
BLADE: Schick Proline B-20 Injector
PREP: Iced water rinse
BRUSH: MrEE Brush 007
SOAP: Pannacrema Nuavia Blu
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and Fine Accoutrements Lavender Pour Homme AS Splash. Finished with A&E Post-Shave Serum
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[/URL]SOTD SATURDAY MAY 9, 2020
My new/old Ronson Self Sharpening Safety Razor (1930s vintage) finally arrived from British Columbia. It was scheduled to arrive this last Monday, but with COVID19 delays showed up 4 days later. It’s in remarkably good condition for an 85 - 90 yr old razor and included a NOS unused blade. One of my FB shave brothers with a remarkable vintage safety razor collection owns one as well which he declares to be his favorite razor.
Now I’ve known about this razor, but avoided them because of the blade usage issue. Now I guess I could hone and strop the included blade, or could modify a modern blade by nipping out a gap in the blade tabs as I do with my Gibbs, but my clever friend has been using injector blades very successfully. So after some FB Messenger tutorial sessions from my patient teacher, I felt ready to go. Before use I cleaned and sanitized it and loaded a Proline Injector blade as instructed.
I began the shave with an iced water rinse following my shower. The MrEE brush’s hybrid Badger/Boar knot whipped up a gorgeous, thick Pannacrema Nuavia Blu lather enhanced with 6 drops of M-Bomb. At 77.6 grams, the razor feels good in the hand. The 3/4” head and 2 5/8” handle seemed awkward at first, but as my friend instructed, it shaves at the same angle as a Gem. The Proline injector blade is both smooth and sharp, and made short work of the facial whiskers in two careful passes (WTG, ATG).
The head shave was a bit problematic, not due to the razor, but rather to user error. The razor has a generous sweet spot, but is quite head heavy. As a result I ended up with two minor set down errors. The first as I attempted an ATG pass on the left side of my dome, just above the ear, and the second at the back of my head as I started a WTG pass. Don't get me wrong; I really like this razor. I plan on shaving with it for as long as it takes to master. Most of my focus will be on mastering the head shave, as the face shave ended up an easy BBS. My head shave despite the two nicks worked out as a solid DFS. The challenge with the noggin are the hills, valleys and curvature as I work toward a BBS. In any case I feel clean, smooth and refreshed.
RAZOR: Ronson Self Sharpening Safety Razor
BLADE: Schick Proline B-20 Injector
PREP: Iced water rinse
BRUSH: MrEE Brush 007
SOAP: Pannacrema Nuavia Blu
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and Fine Accoutrements Lavender Pour Homme AS Splash. Finished with A&E Post-Shave Serum
