Global economics and straight razors....

[Jay S]

I'm new enough to using a straight razor that I've only fondled the nice NOS razor that has recently arrived. However, today I received the Gold Dollar razor I bought off AlExp to practice honing and stropping with.

Ordered on Nov 14th, it arrived today, Nov 21st from China...for the princely sum of $0.99, including shipping. How in the world is this even remotely possible???

Jay

 

[BBSSBOSS]

I'm new enough to using a straight razor that I've only fondled the nice NOS razor that has recently arrived. However, today I received the Gold Dollar razor I bought off AlExp to practice honing and stropping with.

Ordered on Nov 14th, it arrived today, Nov 21st from China...for the princely sum of $0.99, including shipping. How in the world is this even remotely possible???

Jay

It's a loss leader for them to get you interested in the platform. Also, overseas shipping is very low-cost (as long as it is an envelope-sized package) due to an early US—China trade pact.

 

[Jay S]

It's a loss leader for them to get you interested in the platform. Also, overseas shipping is very low-cost (as long as it is an envelope-sized package) due to an early US—China trade pact.

Well, this was my first purchase from that website...for this price, I will likely pick up a few and really work the stones!!

 

[captaincaed]

Man you reminded me of the intro to this video series. The 99c chesseburger is a little mind boggling, like the 99c razor!

Skip to 1:04 if the embed doesn't capture the timestamp.

 

[Jay S]

Saturday DE shave was wonderful. I used the same gear as Tuesday, except I returned to the tub of 1966. With approximately four days of growth, I was ready to really clean up. A warm face wash with glycerin soap, Proraso white pre-shave and 10-15 seconds of loading my boar brush and I was ready to scrape away.

It's interesting that I often read of the difficulties others have in raising a good lather, especially with some tallow soaps, while on untreated and unsoftened well water. This has not been the case in my house. Although I haven't had the water tested recently, we know from experience that the mineral content changes dramatically depending on how much recent rain we've had. Here in western Oregon, our June through September is often nearly rain free while the rest of the year can be overcast and drizzly to days of saturating rains. This dramatically changes the taste of our water as the rains percolate down through the water table. I also notice the difference when cleaning and changing the hot tub water. The amount of chemicals needed to keep the water balanced is an ongoing effort....a well worth effort!

Face lathered and relaxed, I loaded the previously used Treet Carbon blade and proceed with 2+ passes of a nearly ideal shave. Other than a single, distracted moment in which my chin paid a small penalty, I had one of my best shaves in a long time. Compared to my last shave, this was a dream. Whether it was a small change in prep or the different shave soap that made the difference, I can't be certain. But I've really become a fan of the Rex 1966 shave quality and scent.

A few months ago I received samples of the 1955, 1966 and 1977 shave soaps. While they all share the same soap base and would likely have similar shave qualities, the scents of 1955 and 1977 were immediately rejected by SHMBO and myself. The cute little containers were deposited into the future PIF box and I ordered a tub of 1966 that evening. The shaves with 1966 are on par with my favorite, MWF, but with a 'sweeter' scent. I do love the smell of MWF and hope to always have some around. I still have the old formulation in the crock so we'll see how the non-tallow performs in the future.

I've also recently been using some samples from Stirling, most of which I really like the scents, but there are a few non-starters...I've used Picenza for a number of shaves and really liked the slickness and protection. The scent is also very comforting to me. When I bought my first sample pack from them, they included a sample of D-503 bath soap. I liked it so much that I tried a full sized bar of Picenza...I now have an order in for 6 different bars of bath soap, D-503 splash and balm! Since I go through bath soap faster than shaving soap, this feels like a more efficient way to find the scents I really want to shave with. I really don't want too many soap choices necessitating a bathroom remodel to keep it all in order!

I finished my shave today with a lovely alum treatment followed by my homebrewed witch hazel and Maggard's Orange Menthol splash (purchased over nine years ago). It's a mix of approx 2/3 generic witch hazel and 1/3 splash. It's been my go-to since I started DE shaving. However, today I tried to liven things up a little. Along with my recent recent order of shave soap samples from Stirling, I also ordered a bottle of their menthol. I intended to add two drops of this menthol to the splash in my hand, but I don't know how much I really added. I had shaken the bottle prior to dispensing anything and there was a lot of bubbly liquid coming out...for the next hour, my face felt as though ice cubes were held in place. It was an interesting sensation.... ;-}

Going forward, I'll target shaving every three to four days as much as I can. This may change a bit as I transition into using a straight razor. But, for now, I'm quite happy where I am...

Enjoy the ride,
Jay

 

[Jay S]

Looks like I should have posted this in my journal....oops!!