The Maggard 22mm Synthetic Brush

New Synthetic Brush Stock Picture

Purchasing the Maggard 22mm synthetic brush was a great investment. I bought this brush back in April of 2016 and since then I have used it exclusively. I have put  round 850 shaves on this gem and it has performed flawlessly the whole time. Before I purchased this brush I owned a couple of boar hair brushes and a cheap badger. All of those constantly lost their bristles, became floppy when wet or just to stiff for my needs. Buying this brush put a whole new dimension on lathering.



I wished I had taken a picture of the brush when I first purchased it. But the stock photo from Maggard Razors does a good job of showing it's condition when it is new. At $9.95 it is an exceptional buy. The 22mm knot is a perfect fit for my face and for lathering soap from a small container.

After 2-1/2 Years of Use







Brush after over 2-1/2 years use



As you can see from the pictures, the brush has held up remarkably well. There is no floppiness in the bristles and they continue to stand up nice and straight. The only wear on the bristles in the very tips where they have split and softened up. Some loss of color has occurred from that. I have yet to see a single bristle fall out, bend over or damaged in any way. The center continues to be well formed and firm when you stand it on the bristles. The grove at the base of the handle is great when I wash out the brush and sling the water out in the sink. Easy to hold and hangs nicely on a razor stand. Just be sure you get a stand that holds small brushes.



Brush Center

Standing on Bristles

Easy Grip Handle

Lathering and Cleaning

Lathering with this brush is a very therapeutic experience. This brush does not need to soak. Just Wet the brush with hot water, knock it out a few times and load it with soap. The bristles do not absorb water, but instead, the water is trapped between the bristles. It will take a few shaves to get used to this if you currently use a natural hair brush.

I don't build my lather in a bowl but am an avid face latherer. And boy does this brush make it a great experience! I could literally face lather for hours with this thing. It allows the soap to sink into the skin and gently massages your face. My skin feels more refreshed after using this brush over a stiffer brush. I think this is why the high dollar badgers are so prized.

Cleaning up is really easy. After washing out the soap, I hold the brush by the grove and gently sling the water out of the brush in a left to right motion towards the sides of the sink. I then take my towel and cup it in the palm of my hand and place the bristles in the towel. I gently close my palm around the bristles and then twist the brush out of the towel in the direction of my thumb, flicking the bristles as they come out of the towel. This removes the water, and preserves the formation of the bristles. After a few times I then hang the brush to dry.

One thing I will add about the pictures, is that this brush spent it's first year hanging from a brush stand. After I was flooded out of my home, I lost my stand, and I resorted to  standing the brush up on the end of the handle for the second year of it's life. Both ways of drying has had no effect on the shape of the brush or the integrity of the knot. Standing it on it's handle will cause the printed Maggard logo the eventually come off. Otherwise, this brush is just great!

If you haven't tried a synthetic, you should really try one. When I did, all my other brushes went into the closet. There is just no comparison to the experience for the low price of this brush.

Until my next post, keep the lather thick and slick!





Where Have I Been?

Busy, Busy

It's hard to believe that five months have passed since my last post. It's not that I have nothing to blog about DE Shaving, it's just that I have been very, very busy! If you picked up on a post last year, you may have guessed that I was one of those unfortunate Hurricane Harvey flood victims. We got over 65 inches of rain in just a couple of days, and then the Army Corpse of Engineers dumped three dams on top of us. I had never seen flooding like this in the 60 years that I have lived here. Never had water standing in the street! We ended up with about six feet of water in the house. It has been a long nine months and we are still not back in our house. Hopefully it will be no more than two or three months until the rebuild is finished.

There has been so much to do. Working during the week and then shopping for everything from door knobs to furniture on the weekends! My poor wife is about to pull her hair out. All the colors, choices in flooring, tile, windows, doors, countertops, remodeling of the house; it all really gets to be mind boggling. Then considering the hundreds of homes in our town that has to be rebuilt, the craftsmen are literally running from one job to the next and then to wait for them to make the rounds back to our house.

If you do not have flood insurance, BUY IT! We have purchased it for the last 40 years and this is the first time we had to make a claim, and I am so glad we had it. So many people in our town did not, and it has been a real struggle for them. The premiums are small but water is extremely damaging to any home, Even just a few inches can do more damage then you think. And the recovery from that is quite expensive. Don't think that just because you have never flooded, that rising water may never get you!

During this time, shaving has been both therapeutic and interesting! I have learned to live in a bathroom with a sink that literally has no counter space, and a shave den that is a Wal-Mart tote carry. Learning to adjust to that took some time and I'm still adjusting!

Things To Look For

Over the next few months I hope to post some interesting things that I have experienced since the first of the year. Some of these are:

• Using the Shaving guy products
• Various razor blade experiences, (Big Ben, Crown, Zorrik, etc.)
• My new Merkur Progress razor (Really, really nice!)
• Shaving technique changes
• Razor bump problems
• Various soaps under $10.00
• Reviewing my 2 plus year old synthetic brush that has over 750 shaves
• And who knows what else.

In the mean time, I am will be finishing up the rebuild of the house, moving back in and  getting ready for retirement and who knows, maybe even grow a beard!

Until my next post, keep the lather thick and slick!

Winter Shaves

I generally like cold weather. But only when I'm curled up in front of the fireplace with a hot cup of coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate. Different story if I'm outside changing a flat tire on the side of the road! This week, it has been really, really cold down here in South East Texas dropping into the low 20s. In fact it has been colder than Reykjavik, Iceland! Don't believe me? Just look:

One thing I do not like about Winter is the dry skin that I am plagued with during this time. The dryness tends to make my skin very sensitive and the dryness makes shaving painful and many times leaving lots of weepers to deal with. This year has been exceptionally tough and painful!

If it didn't work last year......

You would have thought that I learned last year. I didn't. I just started doing the same thing over again this year to try and adjust for the change in my weathered skin condition. More aggressive razor, more milder razor. Sharper blade, milder blade. Scrambling to find the right soap. It was after I had done a lot of damage to my skin, did I realize, if it didn't work last year, take a whole different approach this year.

What has worked this year!

I think that the number one change that I made that has helped my skin was changing to new and the

The Shave Guy Pre-Shave Oil



continued use of a shaving oil. Not just any oil, but a specific brand. I started using a pre-shave oil made by The Shave Guy that I bought on Amazon. This particular oil is thin and loaded down with 25 unique ingredients/oils. It is the best of the few oils that I have used. It had increased the quality of my shaves when I was using is a few months ago (I lost that bottle to Hurricane Harvey.) I reordered another bottle a couple of weeks ago and it has proven to be the answer to my dry skin.  After wetting my beard stubble, I wet both hands and apply one squirt to the palm, rub my hands together and apply to the shave area and then the rest of my face and forehead. After just one application, the dryness went away. And the usual rough areas have smoothed out. Great stuff, this is! I will never shave again without it!

Rainbow Super Stianless Blades

The second thing I changed was the blade. With my light beard that's tougher on the chin area, a sharp blade does more damage than good to my skin. The blade I was looking for had to be relatively sharp and needed to be extremely smooth. After trying two or three blades, I loaded a Rainbow Blade made by Lord into my Lord L6 razor head that is mounted on a Maggard MR-1 handle. This blade was exactly what I was looking for. The smoothness was incredible!

The last change that I made was in the soap that I was using. I purchased and started using the soap made by  The Shaving Guy on Amazon. This is a really great soap! It loads easily and face lathers to really nice lather. It is slick when water is applied and used with a Rainbow blade, there is little to no tugging when shaving against the grain. This is another product I will not be without.

The Shaving Guy Soap

It just continues to deliver the perfect shave and shaving conditions, wonderful smoothness, very little razor burn, lubrication, and the most important of all to me, the after shave feel. My skin is soft, little to no dryness and after 15hrs, the beard growth is soft and not harsh feeling. This means that tonight's shave is guaranteed to be comfortable. I have found very few soaps that actually seem to soften the beard, but this stuff seems to do it. The container is a little small, but a 22mm synthetic brush is easily loaded for a face lather. The small container size also makes it great for traveling.

Finishing up the shave with Witch Hazel,  Clubman Pinaud original aftershave with Nivea Balm and I walk away feeling clean, refreshed, and above all happy with the smooth, non dry skin that I have been plagued with for so long.

My winter combination has been found!

Hurricane Harvey Shave Gear

So what shaving gear would you grab if you were treading a couple of inches of rising water in your house? It will surprise you what you will think of.

I have lived in my home for twenty years and never saw water standing on our road. And never in the forty years our neighbourhood has been around has there been water on the roads.Hurricane Harvey changed all of that. It brought 60 inches of rain over three days and the Army Core of Engineers opened three dams above us and we saw the Neches river swell 8 miles out of it's banks and flood my home with 5 -1/2 feet of water. Not a pretty sight. Not at all. And it came up fast.

Anyway back to the evacuation shave gear.

Evacuation Shave Gear

As I was running through the house putting the last few things we missed as high as we could, my wife was quickly packing a few clothes into a duffle bag. I ran into the bathroom, grabbed my "Lord Maggard" razor, a Van der Hagen shave stick, My Maggard 22mm synthetic brush, and a small bottle of  Clubman Pinaud original aftershave,  and a small bag of blades that were in the drawer. I then made a quick last past through the house and noticed my box of shaving items on the floor. I thought if that gets wet I could have hundreds of blades all over the house. Not good during clean up. I grabbed the box and put it on the top shelf, and then hitch hiked out on a passing boat.

Well the rest is history. The house is dried out, the rebuilding is in progress and we wound up with a couple of new cars. Ironically, I did save most of my shave gear. I did loose all the creams, oils, most of the soaps and my Edwin Jagger DE89, but all my other razors, blades, aftershaves and a couple of soaps survived.

Life is good. I'll be retiring in a year or so, and we will be doing that with a new house, and two new cars. The clutter is all cleaned out, and we are making a few modifications to the house. And the evacuations shaves were pretty good even though I didn't have the pre shave oil, witch hazel, or balm. And did I mention It was with a Lord stainless blade?

"Lord Maggard"

When I started DE shaving a couple of years ago, It was fun researching razors and finally making a purchase. The anticipation of the arrival and then putting it through the motions to evaluate my purchase. Over the course of time, I made a few good purchases and also wasted money on something no better than a fishing line sinker.

It wasn't until I used the Lord L6 razor that I find one that was almost perfect for me. The head on this razor just seemed to work great with several blades, and had a nack of cutting my beard growth perfectly. What wasn't so great about the razor was the handle. It is a long aluminum handle that caused the razor to seem light and unresponsive on certain areas of my face.

It wasn't until I put the handle from my Maggard MR1 razor on the L6 head did I realize what a gem I had! The MR1 handle is shorter, but being made of stainless added just the right amount of weight to the razor as a whole. This has quickly become my favorite razor and one that I will continue to use while all my others gather dust in the closet.

Shark Super Chrome

Over the next few weeks I am going to keep a daily running experience of different blades. Mainly so that I can remember what they were like. Hopefully, you will find this interesting or helpful as you try different blades. Each blade will be used for 7 days unless they are a really bad blade.

 

Blade Name

Shark Super Chrome

Shaving conditions

Beard Type

Light beard growth, thicker on and under the chin, very sensitive on the neck. Susceptible to razor bumps on and under the chin area.

Preshave Prep:

• Shower
• Shave Secret - three drops (First day only.)
• VDH Pre Shave Oil (Second day only)
• The Well Groomed Guy Pre Shave Oil (Third day through fifth day)
• Proraso Shaving Cream for Sensitive Skin.( First day only)
• VDH Luxury Shave Soap (Second through fifth day only)
• Lord L6 Razor head mounted on a Maggard M1 handle
• Soft water
• Maggard 22mm knot synthetic brush

Post Shave:

• Dickenson's Witch Hazel (Blue Bottle)
• Pinaud Clubman Original
• Nivea Balm for Sensitive Skin

The Shave Week

Day 1 Shave

• Smoothness: The blade felt kind of sharp and on some sensitive areas such as my neck I was afraid that I was going to get a few weepers, but I did not. By the end of the shave it seemed to be a little smoother than when I started. It was not as smooth as I like, but I think it will wear in on the next shave.
• Tugging: Slight tugging as I went against the grain on my neck area.
• Razor Burn: There was some burning as I applied the aftershave that seemed to slightly linger for an hour or so after the shave.
• Nicks: No nicks or weepers.
• Closeness: Very close shave. I think that is due to the Proraso branded shave cream. I have had several good close shaves with this product. But it does slightly irritate my skin, however the aftershave feel was very smooth and satisfying.

Day 2 Shave

• Smoothness: Thinking it may smooth out after the second shave. This blade continues to be slightly on the aggressive side. I was constantly on my guard not to get to careless.
• Tugging: There continued to be some tugging on my sensitive neck areas
• Razor Burn: There was razor burn again after this shave, but it seemed to last a little longer. I thing that this may be from skin damage from the previous nights shave. Burn lasted for a couple of hours.
• Nicks: I experienced three or four weepers that appeared sometime after the shave and post prep. Not really bad but noticeable.
• Closeness: The shave was close, but not as close as the night before. I think that this may be due to using Proraso cream on day one, and then VDH luxury on day two.

Day 3 Shave

• Smoothness: Still a little harsh on the skin. I did have a good smooth shave afterwards, but the skin did not feel comfortable.
• Tugging: Some tugging on my sensitive neck area.
• Razor Burn: Had enough razor burn to last me a good hour after the shave.
• Nicks: had three or four little weepers. Nothing major.
• Closeness: Had a close shave but the sides of my chin and the underside began to show signs of razor bumps.

Day 4 Shave

• Smoothness: Finally got the smoothness that I was looking for. It took four shaves to get the harsh edge off the blade.
• Tugging: Thee was a little tug on the neck area but nothing serious.
• Razor Burn: There was razor burn after the shave that lasted for about an hour. This could be left over from the previous shaves where the skin has not had time to recover.
• Nicks: No nicks or weepers.
• Closeness: Very close!

Day 5 Shave

• Smoothness: The blade took a quick downturn on the fifth shave. It was dull feeling and the blade seemed to produce more shave bumps under and around the chin area. The shave was not near as comfortable as the day before.
• Tugging: There was a noticeable amount of tugging that caused me to be extra careful to prevent weepers.
• Razor Burn: There was quite a bit of razor burn after this shave. I think that the additional amount of cleanup strokes that I had to do was the contributing factor. The burn lasted longer than an hour.
• Nicks: There was no nicks or weepers.
• Closeness: Shave was not as close as the day before.

 Concluding Thoughts and Score

This particular blade is sharp and not smooth. For me and the tender skin that I am plagued with, the blade was more harsh than I would like to shave with. It produced weepers, razor burn and a few razor bumps. The shaves were not actually very comfortable. I think it might have done better in the Edwin Jagger DE89 but I will not be making that test. I just didn't like the blade. Overall I do not think that the Chrome coating has helped this blade. I think that the Shark Stainless to be smoother and gave a more comfortable shave. After five days, I gave up on the blade.

If I were to score this blade form 1 to 10 I would rate it an overall 6.2.

• Sharpness: 7
• Smoothness: 4
• Tugging: 7
• Razor Burn: 6
• Closeness: 7
• Overall: 6.2

Rethinking Lather

Just when you think that you have found the perfect combination something comes along that upsets your perfect world. I had pretty much settled on VDH Luxury soap with their shave oil as a great combination that gave me close shaves and a great feel during the shave and afterwards. I will admit that this was with a Gillette Silver Blue blade in a Lord razor.

Ladas Super Stainless

However this past week, I switched over to a Ladas super stainless blade in the Lord razor and the soap and oil combination bombed! After a three pass shave I could feel stubble and a lot of places that just didn't clean up right. Frustrated, I originally thought that the Ladas blades were junk and about to toss it out in favour of another blade. As I was showering before my shave I started thinking about the cushion that the VDH soap gives me. Just what if I were to try something different? Something with a little less cushion?

My first impression of the Ladas stainless blade was that it was not very sharp. More like a Derby but without the Teflon coating. What if I gave the blade a little less cushion, and more of on opportunity to "grab the pavement" a little? Well, it was the end of a nice hot day, and I decided to throw caution to the wind and pull out the C.O. Bigelow shave cream and my bottle of Shave Secret.  I'm not really a big fan of Menthol products, but the thought of using them that night sounded pretty good.

C.O.Bigelow

After the shower, I got everything out and proceeded to wet my face. I then rubbed the palms of my hands together to get them both slightly wet. I then added three drops of Shave Secret to the palm of one hand and then lightly rubbed them together. I then rubbed it in the stubble. Three drops was more than enough to get a nice menthol feel going. I wet my Maggard synthetic brush and put about 3/8" ribbon of C.O. Bigelow onto the end of the brush. Since I am a face lather guy, I took this and gently pressed the end of my brush all over my face and neck several times to get the cream applied to my skin. Then I started the face lather and added water as needed to get the lather built up.

I went for my traditional three pass shave trying not to do anything different in the way I shave. I could feel the menthol kick in. It felt pretty good after a hot day, and my skin was feeling refreshed. After I was finished and was washing off with hot then cold water I noticed that my skin felt slick and smooth. Much different than with the VDH soap. I then applied the Pinaud Clubman original aftershave and then the Nivea balm for sensitive skin and headed off to the living room. Within a half hour when the shave started to settle down, I was feeling a perfectly smooth shave that was as good as any I could have asked for. No irritation, no razor burn, just smooth, soft skin with a menthol coolness about it.

As I was sitting there, I was thinking that for my skin and beard conditions, I need to always match the blade with the soap that I use, For those blades that are sharp and not as smooth I need a lot of thick cushion to protect my skin from the sharpness. When I use blades that are not as sharp or have a lot of smoothness to them, then I need a soap (or cream) that does not have as much cushion so that the blade has better contact with the skin and doesn't "ride" over it because it can't cut through the cushion. Pre-shave oils are the same. If your oil is thick it just adds to the barrier that the blade must cut through whereas a thinner oil like Shave Secret adds the slickness needed, but without the licker barrier.

It's all about the blade! Having various soaps, creams and oils on hand is a good thing. Match them accordingly. A blade that doesn't shave good with one soap may be the perfect blade with another! And that's the beauty and fun of DE shaving!