April 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Adam also makes awesome looking strops! It's not weird to sit and sniff a strop is it? Lol just something about the smell of leather....

 

April 18

Stirling Sheep facial soap
Merkur 37C slant bar razor
Feather blade (day 1)
Kent BK8 silvertip badger brush
Arko & glycerin
Two passes plus touch-ups
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Alt-Innsbruck

I had another great shave on this beautiful Saturday. The month of April is my first extended run using Arko, and it is a fine soap. I have enjoyed following everyone's posts this month!

 

Razor: Bluebeards Revenge
Blade: Wilkinson Black
Brush: WD Marble Handle Silvertip, 24/67
Cream: Bluebeards Revenge
A/S: Lucky Tiger

Day 15- Another good shave tonight. Wilkinson Black blade is doing good on the second day. Been enjoying this focus.

 

You may want to check that out with the young lady by your side in the picture. What we think doesn't matter, what she thinks does.IMHO.

 

Thank you so very much for sharing your insights with us!

 

April 19 Plans

Stirling Sheep facial soap
Merkur 37C slant bar razor
Feather blade (day 2)
Kent BK8 silvertip badger brush
Arko & glycerin
Two passes plus touch-ups
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Alt-Innsbruck

Have a great Sunday!

 

Great photo. Love the reflection on the razor head.

 

Thanks Eric. I hope you are having a great weekend. I'm ready for more of those father and son shaving photos.

 

Arko April Focus - CJB Kamisori
April 18, 2015 - Week 3 Day 7
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - VDH Boar
Soap - Arko
Razor - 1959 Superspeed
Blade - (3)
Post - Alum, Aqua Velva Ice Blue

With apologies to taskmaster @wristwatchb today was a very early start for the monthly spiff meeting. So, rather than try the CJB asleep I went with a two pass on the SS and Bic blade. Very nice DFS. I'm glad I tried the Bic and will keep a few around from now on. Finished with a very quiet alum and put on the Ice Blue to start the day. Tomorrow it's back to the CJB with a new blade....unguarded this time. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. It's a very late night now so off to bed in a bit to recover from a busy Saturday.

 

Saturday night shave was a great one..... DFS plus, with the SuperSpeed and Lord blade(2) I am really beginning to enjoy the DE shaves..... so much, I am thinking of getting a few more.... Raging RAD. I have my eyes on a my birth quarter SS (A1) yup, I am that old....

 

Merkur 39c focus
pre: hot towel over lather
brush: Semogue 1800
soap: Proraso Red shaving cream
razor: Merkur 39c
blade: Gillette Platinum White
post: Brion AS

3 passed to BBS land, Platinum White blades are the sharpest mild blades I have in my collection and they're available locally which is a big plus. Proraso Red should be in anyone's software collection. Period!
Brion AS is yet another Pitralon clone, with great performance albeit high alcohol content and it smells of chamomile, just like the Johnson's baby shampoo.

 

FB focus day 19:

Homemade PS Oil
Stirling Electric Sheep SS
Vie-long Horsehair Brush
FB w/Astra SP set on 6
Stirling Glacial Lemon Chill AS

Went one more aggressive today. Liked the results. I think I will continue working with aggressive settings for the remainder of this focus. I will probably switch back to my goto blade the Rapira PL.

 

04/19/2015
Razor – Gillette New DeLuxe Red & Black
Blade –Lab Blue (1)
Brush –Rudy Vey with TGN Finest
Lather – B&M Lavanille
Post - Witch Hazel and Floid Blue



I just got this razor a week or so ago. I tried but just couldn't help myself so I decided to give it a go this morning. A little more aggressive than my New LC but a very smooth shaver. This could be due to the base plate being 2mm more narrow than the New LC. Took my time and went with the normal 3 pass shave, WTG, XTG and ATG. Fantastic BBS shave this morning. The B&M Lavanille whipped up a very slick protective lather. Finished off with a splash of witch hazel and Floid Blue from my sampler. Back to SE razors for the remainder of the focus. Hope everyone has a great Sunday.

 

Arko April Focus - CJB Kamisori
April 19, 2015 - Week 4 Day 1
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Arko
Razor - CJB
Blade - (1)
Post - Alum, The Veg

Increased the difficulty level today by moving from the Kai Mild MG blade with the guards to the Mild without the guards. I soon learned how the guard blade really works. By running the guard wires down the side of the blade it limits the angle where the blade can actually contact the face. Without the guards the entire range of angles is suddenly available. This increases the chance of user error exponentially.

Only three incidents. One is a cut near the left ear as I set the blade down. Wanted to ride the tip and as I corrected it I felt the bite. Second was another small cut on the lower right neck when I changed the angle at the end of a pass. Third was two nicks under the chin as I tried ATG. Nicks while doing that have been fairly common but less frequent over the weeks.

All in all two good passes, some blood but nothing of consequence. Did a quick third pass with the SS/Bic combination on the neck just to smooth things out a bit. Alum was nice and fiery and the Veg was a body splash again today.

Here's a close up of mild against the guard.

 

Good plan, Neal! I get up between 4:30 and 5 am on most work days. If I'm not fully awake, I either skip the morning shave or reach for my "trusty" Braun electric. Better safe than sorry! I have enjoyed following your SOTD posts this month. You have made some really nice progress with your CJB. Have a great week, and sell a bunch of cream puffs!

 

Well if the progress continues I plan on the Feather Pro blade next week to finish up with. Trying not to disfigure this honest salesman's face!

 

No tugging today from the straight but after 3 passes my face was still very rough. I cleaned up with 2 passes with the slim and got decent results. What surprises me the most was Arko gave me plenty of lather for 5 passes and I still rinsed tons of soap out of the brush. Baby steps for progress but at least it was progress.

 

Be careful and don't get caught! You wouldn't want to be labeled a strop-sniffer for life!

 

But......it smells so good!

 

Strop-sniffer!! See how quickly that just happened? Yeah, I know, when I get my strop in a couple of weeks I'm sure I'll be right there beside you, hopelessly addicted to the sweet aroma of a finely tanned dead animal. Ahhhhhhhhh the glory of it all!