January 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Sunday, January 22, 2017


El Druida Barberpole Manchurian
Fine American Blend
Wolfman WR1-SB with WHR7 Titanium
Feather HS #3
Fine American Blend Aftershave
Brooks Brothers 1818


​

 

Very cool pic there.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

Happy Anniversary January!!

January 21

Mostly Shavettes

Razor - Magic Shavette
Blade - (2)
Soap - Route 66 Sweeney Todd
Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip
Post - Alum

Second and final shave with the Magic and Shark Stainless blade. Used the Wolf and the Route 66 for the great lather and felt a bit more confident at the start tonight. Familiarity breeds comfort in this case. First pass was very smooth again with only a couple of spots where I let the angle get a bit out of line. Still no blood and no issues. Second pass with some touch ups got me to a very nice near-BBS. Shavettes clearly offer an advantage over the DE blades as long as they are handled correctly. At least the ones I've tried so far.

Not sure what I"ll do tomorrow but I have a day to decide that. This "mostly shavettes" theme is kind of fun but not the most focused focus I've done. That's ok, though, I think I needed a bit of freedom. Hope your weekend is going great!

 

January 21 - PAL and Dustmop focus
Gillette Black Beauty on 3
PAL Gold Thin Hollow Ground carbon (18)
Surrey Premium Badger brush, aka "The Dustmop"
The Eternal Tub of TOBS Avocado Cream ( croap )
Alum and Thayers Witch Hazel Lavender

The Dustmop in its fourth and final outing of this round built a good amount of decent lather from The Eternal Tub and then mopped the lather onto my face. It's a fine brush in its way - picks up the soap easily, builds lather in a bowl well and is soft on the face - but just isn't for me somehow. I think a lot of the problem is that I have used a brush for years that is about half this one's loft and splayed diameter, so the Dustmop simply feels far too large and covers much too much facial area at once when I use it (hence my nickname for it). I just do not feel comfortable using it; I think it is going to find a new home.

The PAL on shave 18 mowed everything off but is beginning to feel a tiny bit rough again. It's probably time to run it through the blade hone again. That would make it 6 shaves between honings.

Other than that, the alum was quiet, and the Thayers Witch Hazel was simply there to give a final bit of facial skin conditioning.

 

Great picture, Mark. What is the background?

 

Great picture. Love the razor. Also thanks for sharing the story of your reaction to your daughter's solos. Having 2 daughters I can relate to the your emotions.

 

Fantastic Picture. That has to be the brush of choice for July the 4th.

 

Thanks Clint! It's a holiday brush for sure.

 

Thanks Jim! The background is 12X12 color sheet from a crafts store.

 

Thanks you!

 

22 January 2017 NEW/Blade Focus Shave(sorry, no pic today)

Pre-Shave: VdH Shave Butter, hot towel
Razor: Gillette NEW SC ca. 1932-1940
Blade: Voskhod, Moscow, Russia
Soap: Aramis Shaving soap, circa 1980's
Brush: Omega 6212
Post Shave: Hot/cold rinse, Alum block, icy cold towel, Dominello Vitali Calming Post Shave Moisturizer
After Shave: Aramis(you were expecting maybe "The Veg?" Nah!)

First shave for the Voskhod's on a two day growth. It did not disappoint. Smooth and sharp. My first real try with a shave soap. Did some reading watched a couple of videos. The Aramis did lather up well, but in between passes(tw0) started to dissipate some. Probably operator error. I'll be using it a few more times before I step up to Route 66. Overall a very good Sunday shave.
As you can tell, still rooting for the Pack. And Pittsburgh. I hope the Pretty Boy gets knocked on his kiester A LOT today.
Happy Sunday folks.

 

Try loading more product next time. As in back the truck up... Assuming it is good soap, that disappearing lather is a sign of not enough soap in you ratio.

Some soaps just suck, and want to go from paste, straight to disappearing.

 

January 22 SOTD:

Stirling Synthetic Brush
Nuavia Blu
Ever-Ready 1914

Another terrific shave with the 1914 this morning. The Nuavia Blu is a great soap. I didn't use any after shave today, just applied whatever was left in my brush to my face and let it soak while cleaning up. The scent is great and it leaves my skin soft. This may be the best performer in post shave feel so far this month.

 

January 22, 2017
Timeless OC .95 Gap
Feather (1)
BSB-2 with Vie-Long Two Band Fan
Route 66 Lumberjack

​

A new week so a new soap and brush on deck. The soap for the week will be Route 66 Lumberjack. Reading the name of the soap led me to expect a typical forest or pine woods type scent. Nothing could be further from the truth. You have some of the forest scents as a base but I get fruit and musk. It's a very complex scent and of all the Route 66 soaps I have tried, Lumberjack remains my favorite. The brush for the week is from BSB2 (Barcelona Shaving Brushes) with a hand tied Vie Long 2 band fan. It is the first fan brush made by Vie Long. The knot has great back bone and scrub with little to no scritch.

This morning's shave was boringly automatic. The little stubby BSB2 whipped up enough rich slick lather for 4 passes. The scent of the Lumberjack filled the air during face lathering and lasted throughout the shave and beyond. I slowed down and took my time this morning during the 2 passes paying attention to my trouble spots as I went. This minimized the amount of touch ups required and helped me catch baby. A true BBS shave for me is an occasional occurrence at best. I hope everyone has a fantastic Sunday.

 

I bet the scent of Blu lingers for most of the day. Between Rossa and Blu which scent do you like the best?

 

Beautiful picture and set up, Clint!

 

I probably prefer the Blu better, and my daughter definitely prefers the Blu. Both are great, though.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a shot next Sunday. I probably will be using Aramis on Sunday's for the immediate future. Sort of a mini-Focus as it were.

 

Thank you Jim.

I feel the same way. It's close between the two but Blu scent gets the win.

 

Route 66 Sweeney Todd
B-400 Brush by Tom
Wade and Butcher Celebrated
Lucky Tiger
Fine American Blend AS
Have a blessed Sunday!