Thread: Hail Hydra !!!

At the risk of starting another shit show of a thread I am going to post my thoughts about my first shave with my Portland Razor Company Hydra. these thoughts are mine and mine alone. After 40 shaves with Straights you can take them for what they are . . . namely the opinions of a fairly inexperienced user who has jumped into this hobby with BOTH feet and no life jacket.

Razor: PRC Hydra, 6/8, 1/4 wedge Spanish Point
Prep: Hot bath.
Brush: Brock Brush Best Badger
Software: Queen Charlotte soaps Fougere
Growth (days): 2

As stated, this is my 40th Straight shave. I have had good results, bad results, and some shaves that I aborted due to utterly atrocious results. the razor was unstropped as it was shipped "shave ready" according to the manufacturer.

And how . . . the first pass for any of my shaves is always a left-handed N/S pass from left ear to jaw-line and earlobe to lips in progression. To say things went smoothly would be to state that water is damp. I will sum this up as follows: my wife is always asked to judge the quality of my shaves when I finish up. Tonight she summed things up as follows: Not as good as your last one (a W&B Stubbie that was restored by the Gentleman's Den), but it's close.

The only difference was that tonight I had her check after my first pass. ONE PASS.

I finished the shave with a total BBS quality shave, no irritation to speak of, and REALLY hard decision to make between the Hydra and my Stubbie for pride of place in my pecking order. Regardless of which is #1, the other will be #1a. Hell, the Clubman Reserve didn't even burn . . .

I rated this razor as an 8/10 based on the experience of unpacking and examining it yesterday. My rating for the shave provided by this razor is a 10/10. If it is not the best of my 40 shaves to date, it is in the top 2.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go write an e-mail.