My Panamà Experience!

Had schedule vacations in January, 5 weeks, and being new to wet shaving (27 years electric), I decided to give my Merkur Futur one on one and leave my str8 and strop behind at home.

My first decision was which soap or cream, or both? Since me and SWMBO ( She Who Must Be Obey [thanks to jdto]) where going to be traveling all over the country, thinking on all kinds of water hardness and softness, I decided in my trustworthy Tabac soap. For good measure I also took some L'Occitane shave cream to mix with glycerine and Tabac soap, for an out of this world unber lather. For safety, I also took the cream of all creams, Castle Forbes lime shaving cream, all pack in TSA approved containers, thanks to Walmart travel TSA approved containers pack, found in the travel section.

Soap and cream out of the way, I had to decide on which brush? In anticipation to travel, I have bought a travel container for brush on e-bay. Essentially a plastic tube to fit a brush. I tried all my 4 brushes and they all fit in the tube. So which bush? I would have taken a boar brush, except I only have two. One is a Walgreen $9.99 special that give good lather but sheds like a lab dog in shedding season. The other boar is a Semogue 620, great brush but small, giving only two passes. So the last two choices where my Frank Shave 28 mm silver tips badger knot or the Vei-Long 24mm premium horse hair brush. The FS is big and it takes lots of soap and cream to give luxurious lather, has back bone to attack soaps but I feel it consumes lots of product. Having limited space for travel, I went with the Vie-Long hourse hair Brush. It has back bone, pick up just enough product and give lather for three passes and touch ups. I was going to miss the fourth pass I give my self after the shave while I pick up and cleanup the brush and scuttle. I feel it moisturize my skin while I clean up.

The alum block was going to be too much but the after shave balm was a must! I decided on the Nivea ASB from Walmart and forgo the Caslte Forbes Lime ASB. Altough I wish I had bought the TSA travel zise Castle Forbes ASB samplers! I feel the Castle Forbes ASB is longer lasting comfort than the Nivea ASB for sensitive skin I got in Walmart.

The safety razor was my one and only Merkur Futur. The blades, well, I had bought a sampler pack for my son, so I took one of each and a 10 Merkur blade pack, total of 15 blades. In the mix where, one persona, 2 feathers, 1 Astra, 1 Derby, 1 Bolsano, 1 Lord Platinum and 1 Lord stainless steel.

16 days of travel, one razor, one soap, one country, that is how my adventure begins! Double O

I was hoping to hear about Panama, havent been there in years, beautiful country. BTW dont let the people in Colon or Panama City fool you, 90% of them speak decent English, the countryside is another matter.

Tuesday Jan 17, 2012

My first shave in Panamà, was the next day after arrival at Panamà city, Panamà. It was at the mother inlaw's house, 40 minutes from Panamà city, on the outskirts of the capital. Before this shave I have shaved my whole face with the Futur twice since I started wet shaving at the end of November. I have being using the Futur for touch ups after the str8 shave, so my experience with it was limited to my chin and mustache area, witch I considered the most criticals. Have only used Merkur and Persona (CVS pharmacy repack personas) blades. With the persona giving me the smoothes shave, not close, as BBS , but smooth.

The prep was a hot shower, with BHD soap as a pre lather. Forgot to mention that I took a BHD soap puck, to leave in Panamà for prep. After leaving the BHD soap for about 4 minutes on my face, while soaping and rinsing my body, I rinse the BHD soap. With the face still wet, I hoped out of the shower to the sink, for a face lather.

The lather was disappointing. I had good consistent lather with Tabac, all this time. It's my favorite soap, above MWF, Trumper's almond, L'Occitane, BHD and Williams (in that order), the only ones I've tried! After loading the well shaken hourse hair brush for about 30 sec., I proceeded to face lather. Distributing the soap around the face and reloading the brush for 10 more seconds, I went for the foaming lather I'm accustomed to. The foam never materialized after about 2 minutes of face beating and water adding in between. The soap seems to be lubricating as it was evident with the first and subsequent passes with the Persona Futur loaded blade. I think is the ultra hard water of Chorrera ( a province of Panama).

The shave was a three pass, WTG, XTG and ATG with touch ups after wards. The persona blade was fresh an it felt sharp. Used #3 on the adjustable Futur. The shave was about 95% BBS with some areas of the cheek and chin not being BBS. Very satisfy with the shave, since I have been accepting 90% BBS with the str8. Very relaxing after a day of travel! The simplicity of no scuttle, no bowl, no unber lather, was just the ticket for a hectic day of travel. I was looking foward to my second shave and started thinking how could I improve the lather.

Lazy day for a lazy shave! Double O

Oh, so you have family there. No doubt the hard water had something to do with the later. Have they hit the dry season yet?

The dry season is just starting. Everything is green but is not raining and the wind is picking up!

So, after a day that seemed long at the house we (SWMBO and me) cooked some dinner and clean dishes at mom's house. We settle for Internet and bed.

Wednesday, Jan 18

Woke up around 11am , which gave me time to recup old sleep. After having coffe and some breakfast, it was time for a shave. Not really, but later would proof difficult.

The prep was the same as the day before. Hot shower with BHD as pre shave moisturizer and hot rinse. The lather was another simple face lather with Tabac. Loaded the brush for 45 sec., then proceeded to paint my face follow by pumping and swirling the brush on the face and adding a bit of water to the brush, at a time, for about 3 min. This time I was able to produce a some what decent lather. Not the same as when I'm at home in South Florida, but much better than yesterday.

I wanted to use a different blade in the name of finding the best blade for my Futur and beard, in the least amount of time (15 days), but at the end I could'nt see my self throwing away a one time use persona blade. So I shaved with it.

The shave was a little slower than yesterday and it was better. I spent more time touching up and ended with about 95% BBS. Same spots under the chin and upper neck where not BBS but the rest of the face was. I could spend more time touching up, but don't want to irritate the face, to where I would have to skip a day.

After that, SWMBO and I, went for shopping to the city. Shopping is my wife favorite sport! We ended up at The Albrooks Mall, an old U.S. Air Force base returned to Panamà by the Torrijos & Carter treaties, that has been turned into a mega central bus station and mall. It's like a super airport mall but for buses.

About 80% of the people in Panama move by buses and taxis. This mall is mega big with nice specialty's stores like cigars and others a like, they even have a L'Occitane store but no Art of Shaving. Picked a Romeo and Juliet Cuban cigar to light on that first 100% BBS shave in Panama. I also wanted to see what kind of shaving products they sold in Panama, so we ended up at the pharmacie. "Farmacia Arrochas" is chain of pharmacies in Panama that is department store big.

They have Nivea After Balm Shave, the usual Gillette products, no barbasol, no Williams or BHD soaps and no DE blades, at least I thought until I asked. After a little communication trouble I was directed to the cashiers where behind the cash register they had bic ( made in Greece) DE's. Here they call the DE's "hojas de afeitar gillette". Translate in Gillette shaving leaf, or sheet, not sure what they mean by "hojas". It seems they had a whole box of them and not knowing if they where going to be good or not, I resist the temptation to by more than a pack of 5 for .80 cents. That's .16 cents per blade, I call it a score. At least I thought until we stopped at the "Super 99", a supermarket chain near the house and I asked for "hojas de afeitar Gillette" at the cash register and was surprised with Dorcos ST-300, made in Korea. At .40 cents a pack of 5 I bought two. That is about the cheapest blades I've seen. At .08 cents of a U.S. dollar ( the official Panamá currency) per blade, that was a bargain!

I couldn't wait to try them the next day! So with those thoughts I went to bed, not before searching the new found treasures at the forums. Found on Badger and Blade, as well as here, that both blades have the gamet from love them to hate them. So I would have to see! Double O

Thursday Jan 19, 2012

With much anticipation I waited all morning for the whiskers to grow. By noon it was time!*

The prep was the same as it has always been. Hot shower, BHD lather face, soap body, rinse body, rinse face with hot water.

After loading brush and face lather the Tabac on my face, I went to town with the Dorco Korean blades. I read on the forums that people that used and liked Dorco's used adjustable razors with high aggressive settings. So I went where no man has gone before and used #5 setting out of 6, 6 being the most aggressive, on the Merkur Futur. The passes WTG and XTG went fine and I felt how this aggressive setting was mowing down the whiskers. The ATG on cheeks and neck where also fine, but when I went for the mustached it started to protest. Backing down I opted for two XTG from opposite direction on the mustache area. Which was a revelation because after touch ups I got about 95-98% BBS. Got me thinking that maybe that's the approach I should take with the srt8 razor on the mustached area.*

Overall, for me, it wasn't a bad blade. Not the sharpest, but it was smooth and non irritating. I like the comfort of knowing that I can find a dirt cheep blade in Panamá that would give me almost BBS shaves. I will take some back with me for my son to try and to have some in stock in Panamá and home.

Now, tomorrow, for the bic's Greek blades! Another surprise! Until then * * * * * Double O

P.S. After calling a barbershop and asking where I could find a barber store I got a lead I'm checking out on my wife next shopping match in Panamá city.

The shaving den in Panama

Attachment 87940

Ok, I had two more shaves since last. I have amass more DE's and a Fromm straight (dud) that I bought seen on sight impulse buy.

Friday, Jan 21, 2012

The shave was an early morning one, 8am, that's early for vacation. The prep was the same as its been since I got here. Hot shower, lather face, soap & rinse body, rinse face with hot water.

This time I did an unber lather with the tabac and L'Occitane cade shaving cream. The two scents are very different but the combination give a very rich, creamy lather that leaves my skin smooth and moisturize after the shave. Not that the Tabac can't do this on its own, but I feel the face more moist and slippery when I use the unber lathe,r than the tabac alone. The only thing I miss is the simplicity of the soap itself and the Tabac scent, which is why I use Tabac by itself half the time. The Vie-Long horse hair brush picks up enough soap for three passes and touch ups. It also delivers the lather willingly and softly on the face, but at the same time it has back bone to face lather well. Have you ever tried a high quality horse hair paint brush on your face when is dry? It feeeeels good!

Having good quality lather on my face helped the poor bic blade glide and not get stock on the stubbles. The poor blade was as dull as the Dorco, but it felt more like a merkur, rough on the sensitive areas of my face, the chin and mustache. I took my time and was able to achieve 95% BBS. Maybe if I would of used a more agressive setting on the Futur instead of #3, it would have perform better... I think almost all of this low end blades will give 100% BBS if you're willing to sacrifice time and razor burn. I prefer the repack Walgreen's Persona so far follow by the Dorco's and then Merkur and Bic.

I followed the lead for the barbers outlet in Cirro (hardware store) in Santa Ana Park near El Chorrillo and old town Panama. You don't want to take the wrong turn to El Chorrillo, it has a bad reputation as being a rough neighborhood! The Hardware store was small but about 1/3 was all barbers supplies. Ended up buying two very cheap, in all sense of the word, boar hair brushes ($3.95). Great to keep in the shower and face lather, or use in a pinch for a shave. The brush looks cheap, feels cheap and sheds hair at this time. I'm hoping that at least it will stop shedding and breaks in nicely, so I can have a good performer brush to leave behind in Panama.

Also got Persona red blades and a dud of a straight razor. After thinking I was getting a decent deal on this solid looking shipish scaly razor, ended up being the infamous FROMM 72 rp special from Germany! Bought it with the intentions of using it as my first honing razor, but found it is a bear to set the bevel and it gives mediocre shaves. Live and learn, probably if I ever get a semi decent shave out of it, I know that I have graduaded from honing 101!

That was Friday and today is Saturday. Always taking notes on the testing to later post here. Untill Later. Double O