Micromatic Clog-Pruf

The Clog-Pruf is the "Micromatic in the middle", and marked an apparent comb design departure, but a very similar comb appeared on goofy thick-handled razors in the 20s under the Treet brand, so it really wasn't new at all. What is for sure, The CP is a 'looker' and the build quality is first rate.

OK, what about the shave? I used a 'fresh' Treet blade and got a very nice shave in 4 passes with total security and great feedback. You don't need to be 'careful' like you do with the OCMM - at all - which is kind of a departure - WTF were they thinking?

Conclusion: Looks great, shaves good, certainly no better than the 1912s and you can only use 'modern' punched/notched blades with no DE blade workaround like you can do with a 1912. 

40s style Super Speed

I've always believed that the various Micromatics were a downgrade from earlier models of SE razors. The OCMM is what I would call 'unnecesarily harsh', the final 'Flying Wing/Bullet-tip' is pretty close to being universally considered to be sucky, but there is a LOT of love out there for the Micromatic Clog-Pruf. I wanted to try a CP, but didn't want to spend any money, so I put an offer to trade an OCMM for a CP on the B&B. That very day, a kind member had one in the mail to me, no trade, AND he said he was including a "surprise".

That surprise turned out to be a 40's style Super Speed, and a couple packs of Gillette Bleue Extra blades. The cognoscenti seem to agree that the 40s SS kicks ass, but I've heard that before. It occurred to me that this guy threw in this razor for a reason... According to the handy Gillette date code on the back of the head it is from the 1st quarter of 1951, so it's 60 years old! The decline in build quality, plating thickness, etc., is noticeable between this 1951, granpa's 1959 Flare-tip, and the 1968 Slim that I've tried. I used the 51 before the CP, with one of those nice oily Russian blades, and DAMN - if you are going to go the Super Speed route, and there is a lot going for them as a group, the 40s style is the way to go, may as well have the best! Absolutely superb and effortless shave with ZERO irritation/nicks/weepers. I used it again to finish a most unsatisfying GEM Featherweight shave this morning, and this is fast becoming one of my favorite DEs. The Gillette TTO has never been equalled for quality, and there is something to be said for being able to just drop in a blade and go! The head being what it is, there is sadly little audible or tactile feedback. To me that's the only negative, and the quality of the shave speaks for itself.

The best news of all? They made SHITLOADS of them and they can readily be found in great shape for little money (if not for free) - they are easy to spot even in the shittiest Ebay phone pix, so you have a better than decent chance of getting real lucky.

Ultimate aggression

Ha, it was only a matter of time. I've been saying for months that the 'safety bars' on the Yuma are purely decorative. Well, I aim to prove it. I took some tin snips and clipped off the bars, nothing to it. It's on deck and ready for the Monday shave.

Ha ha ha! I've got a mole on my face between the nose and the left eye. It produces hairs that would make a Chinaman proud! So I moistened it with some spit and damn! I can drive this thing! You can see, hear and feel what the blade is doing, so it's not really a big deal...
TBC

GEM Featherweight - FUGLY!

OK, it's pretty clear how GEM lost the razor supremacy battle - would you look at this thing? FUGLY! It looks like a fucking toy. The styling reminds me of Jim Morrison's quip about the Space Needle - "A 1920s vision of 20 years into the future" - something like that.

What were they thinking with the handle? There is no way it will ever look anything other than disgusting! Lots of people praise this head design, which is the same as the "Heavy Flat Top" or "G-Bar" but at least that model doesn't look like total SHIT. I tried it with a Treet that I stropped the livin' hell out of. Suspicions confirmed - I did 2 passes and was still so 'scritchy' that I finished with the '40s SS. The Featherweight is a good choice IF:

1. you have no aesthetic sense
2. you don't care about a face-turbation shave
3. you are a candyass who is afraid of getting cut - no danger here
4. you are even a bigger cheapskate than me - somebody will gladly give you one, maybe even me!

Schick Type G injector

The other reason for picking up that crusty lot was to try one of these. Hey, I'm all about exploring the options out there! The type G was produced from 1946 to 1955 and this one cleaned up pretty well. Picked up a pack of blades at Freddy's (they still sell them) so I'll give it a try tomorrow. Gotta say it's a looker, and there are some real partisans of the injectors, sort of the '3rd party' of the safety razor world - I aim to find out.

SHAVE #1:
1st weirdness - the blades are slick with what appears to be gun/sewing machine oil...

WTG: good audible and tactile feedback which I appreciate. What I didn't appreciate is that in terms of hair removal, any number of razors do more on a WTG. As an aside - there is no way to miscalculate the angle on the Schick - if it's wrong, it simply doesn't cut at all.

XTG> I found myself using PRESSURE (!) and that pass was a lot better but still not ready for ATG.

XTG< got to the point where I could do the ATG

ATG: This is where the Schick really shines - the compact idiot-proof head (no bigger than a twin blade cart) design is pretty remarkable - you can do ATG blade buffing with pressure and all it cuts is hair. By the end, not a speck of blood to be seen.

All in all, I would have to rate the Schick as "very good", if slow. Will I keep it in the rotation? No, there are too many 'issues'. Firstly, I don't want a razor to be this safe, I want that thing to CUT. If you want to get all Mantic Method and do 5-6 passes you will probably love the Schick though, as it is VERY easy on the skin.

The other major minus is the blades. There are only a couple of available choices currently manufactured, and while they are quite a bit cheaper than any 'system' garbage, $5 for seven is not exactly cheap. In the interest of science I'll use it until the blade dulls. Schickies claim the blades are good for 7 shaves, so we'll see.

Gillette "Slim" Adjustable

So I picked up a rather crusty lot on Ebay and one of the razors in it was one of the vaunted "Slim" adjustables from 1968 which was the tail end of the production run. The Slim is also the last Gillette to be made entirely of metal. There are serious 'fanboys' of these things on the boards, and they sell for ridiculous prices normally, so I basically jumped at the chance to try one for little dough. Initial impressions? Construction is solid, but the quality of the materials is noticeably less than my Super Speed that is only 9 years older. It cleaned up well, as you can see. My 'fans' know that I'm into 'aggression' - the more blade the better, so I'm coming at the whole idea of an adjustable with a healthy dose of scepticism. Does it really have a purpose, or is it only as I suspected, a clever marketing gimmick? What are the 9 settings 'for'? Let's explore.

OK, I tried it out yesterday, with a fresh Derby. Started the WTG pass at "5" and it was kind of a joke - hardly any 'bite' at all so I immediately went to "7". 7 was OK, but no more aggro than a Super Speed. So I just opened the fucker up to "9". 9 was good and worked well. I then stirred up a minor shitstorm on B&B by saying I was underwhelmed and couldn't imagine using the Slim on anything other than "9". Some of the replies were pretty vehement! Some of the 'cooler heads' explained to me the 'why' - start high and then dial down on subsequent passes. Supposedly it increases the 'safety' as you get down to skin level. Gotta say I'm intrigued by this concept, although the opposite can be argued that too mild can mean you have to hit certain spots over and over which leads to irritation...

Shave#2: WTG at 9, XTG at 7 and ATG at 5. As predicted, at 5 there were some neck spots that required a lot of touchups. The pleasant surprise was on the upper lip where the different settings worked great and resulted in super smoothness. Basically I'm still on the fence. A cheapo razor like a LORD or YUMA works just as well, and faster in the right hands. For example, the Yuma does more on the upper lip XTG than the Slim does ATG on 5. On the third, mostly ATG pass with the Yuma I just do another XTG on the upper lip because you see, that's all it needs. 2 shaves is probably not fair before passing judgement on the Gillette, but I still believe that the outrageous prices these things fetch aren't really justified. Also, at least for me, I found changing the settings during the shave to be kind of a PITA, but hey YMMV. The best 'adjustability' IMO comes from just knowing how to drive the razor - when/where to use your muscles to subtly change the blade angle and pressure. If you can do that you don't need any dumbing down. It has been said that the most adjustable razor of all is the straight. The 'adjustability' of a straight is limited only by your level of training and physical coordination. Bring it on, haters!

TBC

Finally found the razor that scares me!

So I ordered some Yumas and brushes for my homies and figured I'd throw one of these in the mix. Well it was bound to happen - I managed to find a razor that I am actually afraid to use! It's a 'straight' that takes 1/2 DE blades, made in Turkey. Just getting a blade in it is pretty dangerous, big injury potential before it even gets anywhere near your face! Bestshave has a link to an instructional vid:

How to load a blade

No, it's really NOT quite as simple as that... It's in there good and tight and mostly even, but having that much exposure on a DE blade is pretty terrifying - just imagine what those blade corners could do - a whole new dimension of "gotcha". I'll get around to trying it, but today I'm more tempted by 'safer' options.