May 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix and Discussion

MAYhem 2016!!

May 30
Razor - Gillette NEW Long Comb
Blade - (2)
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Soap - Tabac
Post - Cold Water, Alum, Nivea, The Veg

Well, I'm glad that day is over. Four days of non-stop sales and I have one day off to finish tomorrow with a special MAYhem shave. For today, two passes on the Gillette 7 o'clock wit New LC and a fantastic near BBS with no irritation and the Veg to draw those customers right in the door.

June is also just a day away now so the new thread will be up and running in just a bit to get the discussion started. In the meantime keep posting here and let's finish with all the MAYhem we can muster!

Not giving anything away about tomorrow's shave other than it involves more than one razor but only one soap and brush. 'Nuff said!

 

SOTD
5/30/16

Pre: hot shower, Nivea face wash, Noxzema, cold water rinse
Razor: Gillette Fatboy
Blade: Gillette 7 O'clock super stainless (2nd day)
Brush: TGN Finest Badger in Olivewood handle
Soap: Soap Commander Passion ( thanks to Clint64)

Post: Cold water rinse, Maggard Alum block, Witch Hazel, Nivea Sensitive cooling after shave balm

Tonight was my cold water shave and man did I hold the baby's hand, didn't get a BBS shave but I was so close. I got my shower tonight and used my Nivea face wash, after I put on some equate (Noxzema) cream and let it dry before rinsing it off with cold water. I then applied my Shaving soap for the stick Clint put it in and with my wet Badger brush began to lather. It took a little bit to work up a good lather but it eventually exploded into a voluminous lather, then I grabbed my razor for my first pass, riding the cap the whole way through the shave. First pass of course was WTG and got good reduction, I was a little impressed with the cold water shaving. Second Pass was XTG <--- which gave me even more reduction, Third pass was again XTG ---> and I was starting to feel pretty smooth. Last was ATG and that was amazingly close, I tried a little clean up but started feeling a little discomfort on my neck so I stopped right there. The Alum let me know I got really close with a bit of burning sensation over my entire face but only lasted a few seconds. Next I splashed on the witch hazel and wow, my face squeaked as I rubbed it a little, that's when I knew I got really close. I let that dry for a few and then put on my Nivea cooling after shave. What a great shave tonight as I got so very close and almost no irritation. I am so very happy with this shave I feel I almost got a BBS shave, but still could feel a tiny bit of stubble when I ran my fingers from right to left on my neck. Maybe cold water shaving is something I'll have to do more often.

 

Can't wait to, "Read All About It" Neal shaves with more than one razors and one soap, "Read All About It" tomorrow night!

 

My immediate reaction was to wonder whether you'd actually subject yourself to the Marvy Twins deliberately, particularly in the presence of some of the other dubious razor/blade combos you had scheduled for this month.

 

SOTD May 31, 2016
Injector/SE Focus


Prep: Warm shower
Blade: Pella injector
Razor: Schick G1 Injector
Brush: Omega 10049 boar
Lather: VDH Luxury
Post: Witch hazel splash, Skin Bracer, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, touch-up

Well, I can say that Pella blades are not as smooth or near as comfortable at Chick blades! This was my inaugural run with a Pella blade. It started off okay but then started to feel tuggy. It was really inefficient on my neck. I had almost 2 days of beard growth and from experience a Chick blade with the G1 would mow all of that down quite easily. The Pella blade struggled. So I did one pass with touch-ups on the jaw and neck and called it a day. Decent shave but nowhere near the capabilities of the G1 with a Chick.

The VDH lathered up beautifully again. Skin Bracer added a nice scent and light menthol touch after the witch hazel splash. Finished off with Nivea balm, as always.

I immensely enjoyed my focus this month, concentrating on injector and SE shaves. I'll be back later today with a wrap-up for May and plan for June.

Have a great day!

 

Last day of May and this shave was a fine example of the magic of the 30 day focus! I had 3 days of beard growth and riding the cap with the Red Tip took it all down in two passes. It was rather shocking as I was rinsing after the second pass getting ready for the third when I discovered that there was no need for a third because all of the stubble was gone. Not just DFS gone but BBS gone. Did a final rinse with cold water and the Alum was quiet. Followed the Alum with some Witch Hazel and Nivea PSB and I am ready to conquer the day! I am excited to get back to my blade trials and now that I've had 30 days with the Astra SP to use as a baseline I hope that I will be able to be a little more discerning with my trials. For June I will continue to focus on technique and riding the cap as I feel it is THE technique no matter the razor or the blade. Happy shaves and a great day to you all my friends!

 

Straight Mayhem
Last day of May and its official, I'm now a fan of straights. Another very nice and painless shave.
Route 66 Sweeney Todd
Doug Korn brush
Hien 650 razor
Alum
Thayers WH
PAA Déjà Fougère AS
Have fun!

 

SOTD!!!!


Last day of MAYhem/Birthday Shave


CJB/ Kai (14)
Stirling 24mm Finest Badger
MWF
Maggard Alum Block
Thayers
The Veg


Dolphin smooth. Goodbye MAYhem my old friend. I like forward to catching up to you next year. You may have disfigured my once beautiful face but I am still standing. Next year don't hit like a girl.


Well MAYhem is over (thank God) and I am still alive (barely). I learned a lot this month. I learned a good chunk of you enjoy me butchering myself and that some of you are even twisted enough to go as far as sending me horrible instruments of death (tiger blades, and Kamisori blades) to make the blood bath even worse (@Drygulch ). I learned that @NCoxSTL has been attempting to kill me all month with his suggestions, laughing at my pain, and encouragement for the next greatest near fatal shaves. I learned that the ER doesn't enjoy daily visits and I also learned that the Wife coincidently took out a life insurance policy on me the 30th of April...

While I enjoyed sacrificing my face and scalp for your entertainment I am looking forward to June. See you all over there.


Sincerely TSD's Mick Foley..




Have a nice day!!!

 

Happy Birthday!

 

Happy Birthday brother Ray!

 

MAYhem 2016!!

May 30
Razors - Russians baby! Soyuz 1 and the dreaded Soviet straight!
Blade - Is there any other blade that says "MAYhem" like this one?
Brush - Marvy
Soap - Marvy
Post - Doesn't really matter. Plain cold water burns at this point.

Well all you MAYhemers....I hope you aren't disappointed with what I put together to finish the month. Yep, a total MAYhem shave brought to you courtesy of awful Soviet engineering, incredibly horrible Czech blade manufacturing and...of course.....the William Marvy Company, purveyer or crappy brushes and incredibly bad soap like substances.

This shave started with the Soviet straight. This razor was acquired on a bit of a dare, honed by @HolyRollah (though I think he'd like to deny any involvement), and used once by me to see what I could accomplish with it. It was actually tried after only a week of practice with the Rabbit, an actual straight razor. (Not that this one doesn't look like one, but that "steel". Oh my"). Thanks to the crappy metal in it, I didn't suffer any real blood loss, but I think I rubbed myself raw trying to get any kind of reduction.

I changed up the routine with the Marvy for the last day. I used the puck dry and.........wait for it.........some of you know what I'm thinking............rubbed it on my face. They got the Marvy imitation brush as wet as I could and went to town on the face lather. It actually whipped up pretty good.....then began disappearing which is its typical response. The problem with that is I have a very dull straight razor in my hand trying to chase lather that ends up not being there. AND drying out my face. What's the worst that could happen, right? Well, again because of the lousy blade (and stropping it may have made it worse since there's no spine to guide by) the worst was one cut along the jawline on the left side. I think that only happened because the blade actually stuck then jumped. Yeah, that's an interesting sensation. Apparently a day's growth is too much for any hope of a shave. Not a big cut but a bleeder. Got it closed up and finished the pass cussing due to the pulling, grabbing, tugging and overall horrible sensation.

Second pass - what can I do to improve it? Why, let's grab the Soyuz 1 and throw the Tiger in it. What's the worst that could happen? How about two more bloody spots due to the freaking gap on this thing being so uneven! Caught the very corner of the blade twice and bled both times. Again, the Marvy soap did nothing except run away. Apparently there is no way to get a reliable lather with this stuff, at least for me. Finished that horribly rough, ineffective and painful pass and finally gave in and picked up the New LC w/ 7 o'clock Blue for the finish. One pass to make it acceptable, lots of alum and styptic and a resigned shrug that at least I'm not at work today.

Hope you all had a great month, and again for those who participated in MAYhem.....CONGRATS! WELL DONE!! YOU, LIKE ME, are an IDIOT!!! See you all over on the June thread tomorrow!

​

 

She offered me a cut of the insurance payoff. Unfortunately it looks like I won't be getting a payday. Just my luck.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

There is always next May.

 

May focus recap

While some of you guys went nuts with crazy combinations and terrible blades, I honed in a little bit and went with injectors and SEs for May. It was an incredible month!!! By far the best month of shaves since starting this journey. The G1 is a fantastic little razor. I really enjoy it. I also used a GEM Featherweight with great results. I added the GEM MMOC late in the month and need some more time with it but look forward to having it in the rotation in the future.

I used A LOT of VDH Luxury this month. The lather got better and better and it's now a terrific lathering soap for me. Great protection and cushion, tremendous stability, and on and on.

May was a terrific month for me. I look to continue the journey in June.

 

All month with the same setup, I think I'll change the soap and aftershave for June.

 

I learned that a bad blade can not be helped much by a better angle. Bad blades are just bad blades. Iffy blades can be used with the correct angle like the Gillette Rubie. I had zero problems with it and it was more comfortable to me than a Dorco or Derby. Alcohol burns when you use bad blades. My Angry Russian is a really nice razor even if the blade exposure is different on each side and the blade gap is big enough to park cars under. TTT, I could cut off the guard bars and not even notice. I don't think they ever touched my face this month.

 

A very happy Birthday to you, and a wish for many more to come!

 

June 1 focus shave

A half day of work and then off to the airport. So to celebrate I used my beauty queen who is also one of my top shavers, a Dovo Bismarck 2.

Four passes, no blood and just a little tickle from the alum. I am getting more and more comfortable and confident with straights. I will need to add some more shavette shaves to challenge my skills and skin.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I was looking at a (hum) nice soviet Straight...LOL

 

Glad the Rubie worked for you. Again, proof of how subjective blade selection is.