Comment on Saturday SOTD Thread - December 16, 2023
gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social 9 months ago
December 16, 2023
- Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving 31mm x 57mm Moar Boar
- Razor: GEM Micromatic Flying Wing
- Blade: Personna Gem PTFE (2)
- Lather: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag - Soap
- Toner: Thayers - Lemon - Toner
- Aftershave: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag - Aftershave
- Fragrance: Chiseled Face - Midnight Stag - Eau de Parfum
- Talc: Yardley Gold
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
It is nice to bring out the Stag every once in a while, and I enjoyed the trifecta today. However, only the dog and I seem to like this scent.
To me, the Flying Wing is more form than function. I find it to be too mild a razor. I can get a great shave from it, but it does not have that wonderful blade feel that I love about the MMOC, and I can’t help but compare them. I was inspired to use this by @djundjila’s 7-day Micromatic tour, and it will likely stay on the shelf unless MMMMFF becomes a thing again.
djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social 9 months ago
I’m on record with a similar (but over-the-top) statement: “The Micromatic Flying Wing has the same mechanism and is beautiful, but unfortunately it’s so mild you can barely get a shave out of it.”, but I later ate my words 😅
After using it for a while it became one of my favourite razors, and it’s one of the few razors I have two of (one gold plated, and one chrome)
❤️ I miss those!
gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social 9 months ago
I wonder how you feel about its mildness now that you have put in so many hours using straights. My technique provided a comfortable BBS shave today but I have grown accustomed to much more blade feel. As you mentioned in one of your SOTDs, it is arguably the best looking Micromatic and while I was using it today, I was wondering how DEs ever took over. I see no benefit to a DE over a Micromatic SE.
djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social 9 months ago
I don’t really think of it as a mild razor any longer. It just has a different geometry than the MMOC and Clog-Pruf (which are very similar IMO), and it took me a minute to adjust.
I rudely changed your question to answer with an observation: I don’t think mild and aggressive are super helpful categories, because even mild razors will give you a bad irritation if you don’t do your homework. I used to think of the safety bar as a mix of safety belt (doesn’t help avoid accidents, but helps in case of an accident) and training wheels (does help avoid accidents).
Now, I think of it as a mix of safety belt (not a nuisance) and training wheels (very much a nuisance).
On the spectrum between safety belt and training wheels , a training-wheel-like razor is one where the safety bar gets in the way of a good shave. The Merkur 34c is on the edge of that category for me, for instance. The Flying Wing isn’t, I get to feel and hear the blade without interference from the safety bar.
100% agree. But then again, one can get a great shave from a DE too, and before Gillette adjustables, DE razors were probably much cheaper to manufacture than Micromatics?
gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social 9 months ago
Yeah, interesting analogy, and spot-on IMO. The training wheels aspect can be overdone. The Henson razor is a design that exemplifies this I think; safety to the detriment of technique development. (Again, IMO. Judging from what I see in pictures). I became aware of technique during my first bout with straight razor shaving years ago. Admittedly, I really didn’t focus on it until I took up wetshaving as a hobby. That was a big mistake.
This is certainly true about 3-piece razors, but I think the “big win” was with the band steel used for DE blades. There’s less steel mass to each blade and almost zero cost to machining both sides of the band. I’m not sure how the user benefits from this. I guess it was a greater benefit to manufacturers than anyone else. I’ve heard many times that Gillette made razors in order to sell blades.