April 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Thank you for your kind words. Mrs Samurai has flown from Nashville to Phoenix AZ for a conference, but we had a great week last week driving across the country.

 

Will do!

 

April 21 Plans

Stirling Sheep facial soap
Merkur 37C slant bar razor
Feather blade (day 2)
Omega 10098 Professional boar brush
Arko & glycerin
Two passes plus touch-ups
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Alt-Innsbruck

Alt-Innsbruck aftershave/cologne is a very nice finish to my shave! It's definitely a nice addition to the den. Have a wonderful Tuesday!

 

Prep: Shower, goats milk soap face wash, and shampoo and conditioner on face, as well as hair.
Noxzema
Razor: 1966 Flair Tip Super Speed
Blade: Lord Platinum (4)
Brush: Wilkinson Sword boar brush
Soap: Arko stick, pressed into a container
Post shave: TSD Witch Hazel, new formula Old Spice

This shave is another great 2 pass BBS! I utilized the j hook just below the jaw line, again, and the results were a very smooth shave, with no irritation. I am going to have to order more Witch Hazel from TSD, as I really like it. This focus has really gotten me to appreciate the DE razors as well as the injectors and SE razors I have used mostly this year.

 

FB focus day 21:

Shea Moisture Shave Butter for pre shave
Palmolive Classic
Vie-long Horsehair Brush
FB w/Rapira PL set on 8
TOBS Sandlewood AS

Great shave this morning. Fat Tuesday was a little fatter today as I went on to number 8 on the FB, higher than before for me. The Palmolive and FB worked in perfect unison today and left me BBS. My wife may not like the scent of the TOBS Sandlewood, but I sure like the way it leaves me feeling after a shave. Great start to a day. Have a Happy Tuesday!

 

Be safe!

 

04/21/15
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – GEM Feather Weight
Blade – GEM SS PTFE (5)
Brush – Rudy Vey with TGN Finest
Lather – B&M Latha
Post - Witch Hazel and Floid Vigoroso AS Sample



Got up a little earlier today so I could so down with the shave. Very near BBS 3 pass shave this morning. The B&M Latha is very easy to lather with superb slickness. The initial scent is ok nothing offensive but nothing to draw you in. The scent does dissipate quickly. Post shave feel is very good but not quite at the level of other B&M soaps. Finished up with a splash of witch hazels followed by Floid Vigoroso sample from Gary's. I am really enjoying the various Floid and Myrsol aftershave samples.

 

April 2015 ... 30 day blade focus ...

pre: dr.bronner's, PSO(diy)
brush: EJ best badger medium
lather: proraso green soap
razor: EJ89lbl
blade:
post: alum block, thayer's witch hazel (various flavors)

04/16/15 ... Treet DuraSharp (1) ... 2 days growth
04/17/15 ... Treet DuraSharp (2) ...

for both shaves:
good news ... this blade is consistent. this blade did not irritate my skin. this blade did not cause any nicks, weepers, cuts, or other general bloodletting.
bad news ... keeping YMMV in mind and a sharpness scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being sharpest and Derby rated at a 2, i rate the sharpness of this blade at a 0.4 ... just above the 0.3 of my credit card ... ... as i felt the tug and pull from this blade from the first stroke of the first shave to the last stroke of the second shave. i think i will only use the treet durasharp in the future to remind myself of the blessings of a nice, sharp, smooth blade.

wilkinson, 7am, voskhod, astraSP, treet durasharp ... next up is crystal

 

The Durasharp is definitely not a great blade. I rated it on the bottom of the carbons.

 

Arko April Focus - CJB Kamisori
April 21, 2015 - Week 4 Day 3
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Arko
Razor - CJB
Blade - (3)
Post - Aqua Velva Musk

Two full passes today though the second one was a bit awkward. Still struggling with the angles and smoothness of the blade on the face when crossing over to the left side. No blood today so definitely an improvement. Also the clean up after the second pass with the SS/Bic was minimal. Really just a small patch on the lower left neck that I never could get the blade settled down on. I'm finding when crossing over that it is difficult to get a smooth stroke. Even added extra lather and still had problems but I think it may be due to my tensing up as the shave progresses too. Need to find my Zen shave again for this one to be a complete success!

Skipped the alum today since there was no blood. Did a cold towel followed by Aqua Velva Musk and did the dance of the burning face. SWMBO was quite amused as she was in the shower when I hit my neck with the AV. Such a loving, caring woman with such a delightful laugh at my pain. Thought I'd show off my meager A/S collection with the CJB today. These are the products that keep my face on fire!

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Aggressive April - Day 13 (4/21/15)



Prep: Hot shower
Soap: TSD Barber Shoppe shave stick
Brush: Omega 13522
Razor: Cadet OC
Blade: Voskhod
Post: Witch Hazel, Nivea Sensitive Balm
Scent: Tommy Bahama Very Cool

Great 2 pass XTG & ATG shave today. Tomorrow, I try a blade I haven't tried in the Cadet yet.

 

AV Musk is a classic barber shop scent, I love it!

 

Arko April!!



Blade 3, day 6, 53 Tech

Headed to Nashville tomorrow to fly home...will get back on SOTD and rejoin full force on Wednesday night!

Have a Happy Hump Day!



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Focus- Injector Razors
Pre- Hot water wash
Razor- Schick M2 Adjustable
Blade- Chinese Schick
Soap- Haslinger Shalfmilch
Brush- Semogue 1305
Post- Cold water rinse, alum as needed
Aftershave- TOBS Jermyn Street



Sorry for the post slacking. Coaching two different teams simultaneously with a full time job is a challenge to say the least.

I have been working with the M2 for about a week now and couldn't be happier with it. It is the same razor as the M39 on the lowest setting, so I started at 3. I'm up to 5 and the razor is really singing now.

Shaves are at the two pass BBS face and near BBS neck level that I was accustomed to with the DEs. My goatee lines and sideburns have never been so precise.

I will be finishing up the month with this razor and working the Arko in as well. It's weird, but I miss the Arko if I go more than a day or two without using it...

Enjoy your evening and shaves gentlemen.....

 

I'm not sure if I should continue posting as I'm drifting away from what I originally planned to focus on. I still use the slim to clean up the horrible mess I leave behind with the straight but only use about one pass since my skin is already pretty irritated. My wife got me some all natural face scrub which is really nice so I think I have a new routine for prep...that's the only positive I can say for the last three shaves.

 

Neal, congrats on all the progress you've made with the CJB! Your comment about not being able to shave a patch on your lower neck reminded me that I also have a 'hollow' area on my lower neck that was difficult to shave with my Feather Artist Club. There was no way for me to comfortably shave across that hollow area using the entire blade length unless I applied way too much pressure. I finally started shaving that area with the top third of the blade. The other two-thirds of the blade didn't contact my skin at all in that area. At that point, I started getting good shaves all over my neck.

Everyone shaves differently, but I had better success shaving my neck by switching hands. I shave the left side holding the razor in my right hand (and stretching my skin with the left hand), and vice versa on the other side of my neck. With practice, this felt much more comfortable and natural for me.

Have a great week, my friend!

 

Hang with it and keep posting on this thread! We're all here for fun and to encourage each other! (This is not as serious as brain surgery, unless you use way too much pressure during your shave. ) I'm sure you'll gain more skill with the straight and become happy with the results as you continue to use it! For what it's worth, I shaved with my Feather Artist Club for several months before I started to get the hang of it....and I still have plenty to learn. My guess is that a straight razor would be even more challenging.

 

It's soooooooo much fun when you start with a straight isn't it? It looks so easy in all the videos. Hang in there. If I can get this far with the CJB you can make it with a straight.

 

I'm working on it, but I've added a level of difficulty by holding myself to a traditional kamisori style shave. I cross over to the left with my right hand because the razor is always in my right hand. It's turning the razor to keep the same side of the razor to my face that is creating my biggest headaches. Traditional kamisori requires one hand only and only the Omote, or flat, side to the face. They are, in fact, ground for that. While the CJB doesn't have that design I thought trying to master it before getting an actual kamisori would be helpful. What I find interesting is that using the right hand on the right side has posed far fewer issues. But, it all has to do with keeping the same side to the face no matter the direction of the pass.

 

Have you tried stropping the blade? I can get a decent shave out of a dorco if I strop it about 30 times before using it.