In a big rush today, so I decided to do a quickie shave – Palmolive (India) Lemon shave cream…by itself!…worked up with the Simpson #10 ’60s brush. E.J. Chatsworth razor with a Balaka carbon steel blade (the cheapest blade on earth I think!). Its no secret that I really like carbon steel blades like the Treet BS (my “gold standard”) because they can really take a sharp edge. So, I was very eager to try the Balaka from Barbiera Italiana.
Nasty! Despite a generous dollop in the brush, the Palmolive could barely muster an adequate first-pass lather and I had to recharge the brush a second time. I did manage to get two more rather anemic (lather-wise) passes after that, but man, gimme my superlather! The Balaka started off pretty good with nice feedback and reasonable sharpness, but it turned rough pretty quickly too. By the second pass it was already struggling. Weird! As a result of this “perfect storm” of poor performance I stopped after three passes because I sensed that there could be trouble ahead. Quite a bit of leftover stubble, with a resulting 7.5 shave overall. On a positive note, its good to do these Yin/Yang experiments from time to time, just to keep the “range” refreshed – otherwise we risk always getting 9+ shaves which begin to lose their reference value after a while.
I was director of admissions at a small college, and after I read each application it went to a faculty committee for their review. Some of the applications were, as you can imagine, hopeless, and the committee would periodically ask me to cull the hopeless ones so that they saw only those that were reasonably good. I refused for the same reason you gave above: loss of reference range.
By: LeisureGuy on November 28, 2007
at 11:23 am
You are so right. A compelling case for continuing to experiment with blades, razors, and other products, even if we have found the absolute best combination for us at any given moment. For me that’s the Treet Black Beauty in my E.J. Chatsworth; despite this I must from time to time try something new or risk becoming an “unconscious incompetent”. BTW, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of the four stages of the evolution of competence, so just in case:
1. Conscious incompetent – Don’t know and know you don’t know. Usually a “beginner” at something.
2. Conscious competent – Have mastered the skill and know exactly what you’re doing right and wrong. Usually pretty fresh to the learning.
3. Unconscious competent – Are very good at what you do, but it is now so automatic that you no longer think about it.
4. Unconscious incompetent – The world has moved on but because you never questioned why and how you do things, your skills have not kept up but you don’t even know it. Old Fart stage.
By: scourmanop on November 28, 2007
at 3:52 pm
Steve, give the Lemon Palmolive another chance, with a better blade. The Balaka is a weak performer, useful only by folks with a very light beard or willing to accept the pulling from this very inexpensive blade. Regarding carbon steel blades, we do have some exciting news: we are expecting a shipment of carbon steel blades from TREET: these are the same blades as the TREET Blue Specials (aka Black Beauties), but are finished in a slightly golden steel color, rather than in the characteristic black finish of the Blue Specials. They should be excellent blades.
By: Giovanni on November 29, 2007
at 8:26 am