Share your shave of the day!
Monday, November 25, 2024: FLS
- Brush: Grizzly Bay - v24 Fanchurian 26mm badger
- Razor: GEM - Micromatic Clog-Pruf
- Blade: Personna - GEM PTFE (3)
- Lather: Southern Witchcrafts - Samhain
- Post: Chiseled Face - Ghost Town Barber Aftershave splash
- Post: Ginger’s Garden - Unscented Aftershave balm (+ menthol)
- Post: Stirling - Stirling Gentleman EdT
Samhain is a great scent for a gray, rainy morning. This was perhaps the best lather I’ve gotten from SW so far. I don’t know what I did differently – quite likely I just loaded heavier and used more water – but it was lovely.
Praise a short week. Have a good one y’all!
November 25, 2024
- Brush: AP Shave Co. handle w/26mm Maggard SHD
- Razor: Ever-Ready Streamline Jewel Gen 2
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (2)
- Lather: London Razors/Summer Break Soaps - Mountain Laurel - Soap
- Post Shave: London Razors - Mountain Laurel - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Goodfellow & Co. - Face Lotion - Kelp & Sea Mineral
I can’t help but follow along with @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social 's GEM calendar the past couple of days. The Streamline (mine is a Jewel) is pure luxury as far as I’m concerned. The build quality, especially the quality of the chrome plating, is superb.
u/120inna55 made a reddit post a while ago regarding the different variations of this razor. I copied his work into a wiki format and added his wonderful pictures in line so you don’t have to click away to imgur to look at them. It’s worth it just for the pictures. https://wiki.wetshaving.social/Curated_Articles/Streamline
This handle/knot combo is new to me. I used to have a 24mm Maggard 2-Band Badger knot in this handle, but after auditioning this knot for use in another handle I decided that I love this knot, but not enough for the other handle. I lofted it pretty much as high as it’ll go, so it has pretty low backbone. Now I have a 24mm (bulb, meh), 26mm (this one), 28mm, and a 30mm SHD in my brush collection. This 26mm might be my favorite. My second favorite is the 30mm, but this one has a bit more texture to it while still be soft and comfy.
Definitely an interesting read, thanks for sharing. I’m also glad this is preserved somewhere other than just Reddit.
I can’t help but follow along with @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social 's GEM calendar the past couple of days.
The more, the merrier! Grab your Featherweight for tomorrow if you have one!
Yeah, inna’s posts with and about the Streamlines are great.
GEM Days 9a/14: Ever-Ready Streamline – Pretty Regression – Mon 25 Nov 2024
- Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
- Razor: Ever-Ready Streamline
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
- Lather: Geo. F. Trumper – Rose
- Post Shave: Noble Otter – Two Kings
- Fragrance: Mäurer und Wirtz – Tabac Man Gravity
This is shave 17 of my run through all 14 generations of GEM-style razors, and I have reached the Ever-Ready Streamline, or when things started going south IMO.
The Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador
A little bit of context. We’re in 1949, the height of shaving technology is the Micromatic Flying Wing, and the 1912 is a about 4 decades old at this point. It is still being produced. Engineers of the American Safety Razor Company have since improved upon it by decoupling the blade alignment and clamping with the 1914 and 1924, both of which went out of production since. The engineers further improved upon it by developing the Micromatic twist-to-open mechanism that keeps your fingers nicely distanced from any spring-loaded top caps and sharp edges, but still the 1912 is being produced. It seems like ASR wants to produce fancy high-tech razors like the beautiful Flying Wing, they want to shake he legacy and limitations of the 1912 design, but something (likely economic pressure from the Gillette competition) keeps them in the low cost-low tech business of the 1912.
In this context, the Streamline/Jewel/Ambassador enters the scene. It’s shiny, its hefty, it looks solid, and… It’s a fancy 1912. A full regression to their first design. See for yourself †: closed and open
This is just a cast version of the 1912 and could have been produced as is in 1912. ASR just fully gave up on being a technology brand for this one and went for 100% nostalgia. This is the second generation of the Streamline, but this time it sticks and it marks the end of the Micromatic era. Starting with this second gen Streamline, all future razors by ASR will be less technologically advanced than the Micromatics (or mimic it with cheap plastic parts).
† There is also a rare early first generation 1936 Streamline, but the historical context is the same (substitute high tech MMOC for high tech Flying Wing).
The shave
Luckily, the 1912 is a great shaver, and the Streamline has inherited that. It’s disappointing that this thing was made after the Micromatics, but as an as earlier GEM ad says, “So What? It’s the shave that counts!”
I always enjoy the rose cream, and the combo with Two Kings and Gravity works well.
The timeline
1906-1953: GEM 1912/Star Cadet/Junior/Damaskeene1914-1927: 19141924-1933: 1924 Shovelhead1930-1932: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 1 (Bumpless baseplate)1932-1941: Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2 (double-edge Micromatic GEM blades)1940-1943: Micromatic Clog-Pruf1945-1946: Micromatic Clog-Pruf Peerless1947-1950: Micromatic Flying Wing/Bullet Tip, with guiding eye until 1948, with plastic knob in the last year- 1949-1953: GEM Jewel/Streamline/Ambassador (The beginning of the end IMHO) ← We are here
- 1950: New GEM Feather Weight, renamed to “Slim-V Flat Top” in 1953, British version sold as “Natural Angle” by Ever-Ready
- 1955-1958: GEM V-Slim “Heavy Flat Top” (G-Bar, shiny chrome), New V Natural Angle Heavy Flat Top (E-Bar, less shiny nickel)
- 1958-1965: Push Button
- 1965-1973: Contour
- 1973-1979: Contour II (The last GEM razor)
This one really piques my curiosity. There’s something compelling about its design that appeals to me.
I might try to pick one up if I come across one.
Just to clarify: these don’t have a TTO mechanism, but the head levers open with that tab along the spine?
Great write up as always!
Let’s see whether the attachments fix in lemmy is already live on this instance. If not, you’ll have to look at this reply on mastodon
Edit: alas, doesn’t seem to work. Check the video out here: https://wetshaving.social/@djundjila/113544935341588382
Just to clarify: these don’t have a TTO mechanism, but the head levers open with that tab along the spine?
That’s right. It work just like the 1912 and the top cap is held down by a buckling spring in the closed state. When you press down the little lever on the spine side of the top cap, the sitting resists until it buckling somewhere near mid opening and snaps open. Then you can change the blade, press down on the cap, and when the spring buckles back, it snaps shut. I’ll upload a video later today, because it’s easier to see than to read.
I love the Streamline, technology be darned!
The late 120inna55 had a really good writeup comparing the two versions of it, which I painstakingly copied to the wiki (and added his wonderful pictures so you don’t have to click over to imgur).
Shameless plug for anyone interested:
https://wiki.wetshaving.social/Curated_Articles/StreamlineI love the looks, and I like the shave, and the engineer in me is unnecessarily and irrationally aggrieved and personally offended by the regression. IMO, MOIMO, YKMV.
One of if the best parts of pursuing a hobby is that we get to be unreasonable while doing it 🙃
Quintidi 5 Frimaire an 233 de la Révolution, jour du Cochon
- Preshave: Proraso Green Preshave
- Brush: Zenith 506U XS Horse 🐎
- Razor: GEM MMOC
- Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (13)
- Lather: Barrister & Mann Plague
- Postshave: Naissance 702 Witch Hazel
- Postshave: Epsilon Blue Mediterranean
- Postshave: Nivea After Shave Balm
I coughed so much, I hurt my rib, and as a consequence, I don’t feel confident using a straight for the moment. @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social’s series increased my appreciation of GEM razors, so I used my MMOC (2nd generation). A good and close shave.
Have a good evening!
Sorry to hear about your rib. Get well soon 🍀
