Share your shave of the day!
Nov 26, 2024 - Tea Tuesday: Jasmine Green Tea
- Brush: Declaration Grooming Magic Hour 28mm B8 Badger Knot
- Razor: Karve Shaving Co. Overlander
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Stainless (Green) [10]
- Lather: Noble Otter - 茉莉綠茶 (Jasmine Green Tea) - Soap
- Post Shave: Noble Otter - Hamami - Splash
Excellent scents for a quick morning shave.
Tuesday, November 26, 2024: FLS
- Brush: Yaqi - Mysterious Space 24mm 2-band Badger
- Razor: Chiseled Face - Titanium Legacy Razor
- Blade: Personna - Lab Blue (1)
- Lather: Stirling - Haverford
- Post: Stirling - Haverford Aftershave splash
- Post: Stirling - Glacial Unscented Aftershave balm
- Frag: Stirling - Haverford EdT
Haverford is a great scent. I’m almost finished with my aftershave and EdT samples, so will probably add these to my next Stirling order. It’s just so dang comforting, especially in cooler weather.
Have a good day y’all.
Haverford++;
GEM Days 10a/14: The Featherweight – A Great Buy For A Great Guy – Tue 26 Nov 2024
- Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
- Razor: Ever-Ready - Natural Angle a.k.a British Featherweight
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
- Lather: Red House Farm – NoScrub r/wetshaving s(cr)ub exclusive
- Post Shave: Mühle – Aloe Vera
- Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Island Man
This is shave 19 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached u/Semaj3000’s favourite GEM, the Featherweight, or the return to making razors as cheaply as possible.
The Featherweight
This little razor comes just one year after yesterday’s Streamline, and similarly picks up the mechanism of the 1912, but with the base plate of the Micromatic Flying Wing. Similarly to the 1912, the razor is mostly made of bent sheet metal, and has a hollow plastic handle. Clearly, keeping manufacturing cost low was a principal driving force here.
This razor marks the beginning of the final stage of GEM razors: The head geometry won’t change much anymore (which means they will all be excellent but mild shavers like the Flying Wing), and neither will the base plate. The cleverness of the Micromatic TTO mechanism is a thing of the past, and handles will never again be detachable like they were with the 1912, 1914, 1924 Shovelhead, and the Streamlines.
Apparently, the Featherweight give the “closest, most comfortable shave” because of “GEM’s built-in Barber’s Stroke”.
The shave
The low profile of the head (like the Flying Wing) invites a low angle, and the cheap looking, but ergonomic grip is comfy. This thing reminds me of the plastic Wilkinson Sword Classic razor: cheap and good. The very light weight of the razor is not an issue for me like it is with the very light Henson.
The timeline
1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene1914-1927: 19141924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)- 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to “Slim-V Flat Top” in 1953, British version sold as “Natural Angle” by Ever-Ready ← We are here
- 1955-1958: GEM V-Slim “Heavy Flat Top” (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
- 1958-1965: Push Button
- 1965-1973: Contour
- 1973-1979: Contour II (The last GEM razor)
the razor is mostly made of bent sheet metal, and has a hollow plastic handle.
Ugh. Can’t imagine how disgusted the designer of the TTO mechanism had to be about this. He (probably a he/him) might have been long gone at that point. This is now post WWII.
Another comment. The marketing miracle of plastic is starting to gain momentum in the 50’s.
Ugh. Can’t imagine how disgusted the designer of the TTO mechanism had to be about this.
It’s like if Mercedes produced a car with an aircooled two-stroke engine.
Another comment. The marketing miracle of plastic is starting to gain momentum in the 50’s.
funny enough, this is the first GEM with plastic, but the next one will be full metal again :)
November 26, 2024
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Brush: Muninn Woodworks w/AP Shave Co 24mm Titanium Synthetic
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Razor: Böker 14er 8/8 Full Hollow
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Lather: Los Jabones de Joserra - Noir - Soap
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Aftershave: Noble Otter - Cerberus - Aftershave
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
FLS, but I’m posting it late. Noir is an interesting soap. The scent is well blended and mild-medium, and quite suitable for fall/winter. The soap is very dark gray in the tub, and the lather is light gray. It has activated charcoal in it, and I think this is the only soap base that Jose makes that has it. Interesting stuff to use!
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November 26, 2024
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Brush: Muninn Woodworks w/AP Shave Co 24mm Titanium Synthetic
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Blade Holder: Gillette Aristocrat UK #21
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Blade: Gillette Nacet (5)
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Lather: Los Jabones de Joserra - Blas de Lezo - Soap
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Aftershave: Noble Otter - Cerberus - Aftershave
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Talc: Yardley Classic
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
Today’s SLS. Such a different experience in scent and in soap base from this morning. If you used Noir for a while, you’d have a hard time believing this soap came from the same maker. A very enjoyable evening shave.
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Tuesday, November 26, 2024: SLS
- Brush: Omega - 10048 boar
- Razor: Merkur - 34C
- Blade: Personna - Lab Blue (1)
- Lather: Stirling - Vanilla Sandalwood
- Post: P&G - Old Spice Aftershave splash
- Post: Stirling - Glacial Unscented Aftershave balm
- Frag: Stirling - Stirling Gentleman
The Merkur 34C was my first “nice” DE razor when I was first starting out. I haven’t shaved with it in a while, so took it for a spin tonight to see whether I want to bring it with me while traveling for the holiday.
It’s surprising how much of a difference improvements in technique make. This was an absolutely flawless BBS shave with very little effort.
It’s such a great little razor, I think we’ll get on fine for the next several days.
November 26, 2024
- Brush: Maggard 24mm Tuxedo Synthetic
- Razor: Ever-Ready Streamline Jewel Gen 2
- Blade: Personna Lab Blue (5)
- Lather: House of Mammoth - Santa Noir - Soap
- Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Santa Noir - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Goodfellow & Co. - Face Lotion - Kelp & Sea Mineral
GEM Days 10b/14: The Featherweight – Tue 26 Nov 2024
- Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
- Razor: GEM - Featherweight
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
- Lather: Klar Kohle
- Post Shave: Wars – Fresh
Simple evening shave with unscented Klar Kohle, generic Wars, and the GEM Featherweight. This razor is practically equivalent, but not identical to the Ever-Ready version: The best way to tell them apart is by looking at the bottom of the handle. The Gem version has a little “G” where the Ever-Ready has just a bullseye (blue annotation in the picture). We will see this distinction again tomorrow when we look at the G-Bar and the E-Bar. Further the Ever-ready has an additional rivet at the neck (yellow annotation) and finally there are a few minor differences in the detailed outlines of top-cap, the leaf springs, the rivets, and the base plate of the Ever-Ready in thicker that the GEM’s (red annotation).
This was shave 20 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors:
1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene1914-1927: 19141924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO)- 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to “Slim-V Flat Top” in 1953, British version sold as “Natural Angle” by Ever-Ready ← We are here
- 1955-1958: GEM V-Slim “Heavy Flat Top” (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
- 1958-1965: Push Button
- 1965-1973: Contour
- 1973-1979: Contour II (The last GEM razor)
