Share your shave of the day!
July 6, 2023: A French Shave
- Preshave: Proraso Green Preshave
- Brush: Semogue C3 Galahad Horse 🐎
- Razor: Thiers-Issard 188 7/8 ““Coq et Renard””
- Lather: Le Père Lucien Narcisse
- Post Shave: Mennen Le Grand Large
- Post Shave: Nivea After Shave Balm
First shave with the Thiers Issard straight I bought on ebay. This is by far the best straight razor I have - there’s copious auditory feedback, and my face feels great. The one thing I 'm not enthusiastic about is the rather short thingy to put the fingers on befond the scales. Size matters.
Since rioting in the streets has officially ended, I decided to pair the razor with a French soap. I have no French brush, and the aftershave is also of doubtful provenance, but this is the most Frenchest shave I could possibly manage given my permanently expanding den.
Have a good evening!
Blade anatomy - this seems the most complete and correct image I can find of it. Point is also called the tip, tang is also called tail, sometimes people confuse the tang and shank. Some razors are shoulderless (makes sharpening easier), and a shoulder is different from a stabilizer though they’re often mixed up because they’re next to each other. This image actually calls the stabilizer the shoulder - the shoulder is the boundary line between shank and stabilizer or blade, the stabilizer is the space between that second line above the heel and the shoulder. Often razors have no stabilizer, occasionally they’re shoulderless too, you can’t have a stabilizer without a shoulder though.
https://images.app.goo.gl/deR5RZJmfYoakpZu8
I think you’re referring to the shank.
Thanks for the explanation!
In fact, the shank is perfectly ok; I was trying to tell you that the tang was kind of diminutive. Maybe this is because I’m too used to the Tedalus Essence - in the beginning I found the size and shape of its tang ridiculous, but actually, it’s very useful when manoeuvering around your face.
That makes sense, there are old pre-1850s usually straight razors with extra short tails, called monkey tails, but since 1850 the tail has actually become quite standard shape and size, with occasional outliers for decoration. The tedalus definitely has a strangely long tail, but sounds like you found it useful
I started out with shavettes, and I still find them more manoeuvrable around the face than straights - but I’m getting the hang of it.
pre-1850s usually straight razors with extra short tails, called monkey tails,
Pretty sure those are “stub tails”, monkey tails are long like that Tedalus and, most famously, the De Pew “Perfect Razor”. Some French razors were even made with no tail at all.
Yep. I’m a dope, remembered it wrong
