April 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Greetings Denizens...

Pics and discussion for those doing a 30 DAY RULE or 30 DAY FOCUS in April 2015...here we go! Please read the provided link to @GDCarrington and his guidelines. Pics make these threads work.

Direct chatter is highly encouraged, I also encourage all to quote posts when in discussion so we can all follow along.

I hope everyone learns a few things, makes a few friends and has a great time. See SOTD if you want an example of how this thread might work.

The housekeeping-

These are the rules. Follow them.

So let's do this...I opened it now for general prep and discussion.

To Newbies: Welcome! TSD is participation driven... you should probably be on SOTD too! It is central to DE shaving on TSD. Feel free to jump in and post pics there too. They love pics. Coming up with unique interesting pics daily in April is quite possibly another fun time!

Lots of good reference found >here<.

Have fun, follow your plan...and we are off!



Chris

 

Arko!!!

This month totally inspired by @wristwatchb and the lemon scented goodness from heaven...

 

My April:

Arko!!!
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic (Great Brush! Awful Handle!!!)
10 Vintage Gillette Blades (gift from a fellow Denizen!)
Every DE Razor in the Dojo
The Veg (and maybe Osage on Mondays!)

The plan is to replicate the @GDCarrington exercise found here. I will be holding all variables constant except the razor, and evaluate blade performance and life with each razor type.

It's almost April!

 

OK, here goes and thanks (I think ) to our very own Bob Barker of The Shave Den, @Bama Samurai , for organizing Arko April!

My goal will be to optimize a simple two-pass shave for closeness and comfort. My set up will be:

Stirling Sheep bath/face soap
Merkur 37C slant bar razor
Feather blade
Kent BK8 silvertip badger brush or Omega 10098 boar brush
Two passes
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, & unrefined shea butter

and, of course, costing a full 39 cents for the entire month of April...

 

Since I will be paying out most of my money this month to the IRS, I am going to shave for free in April. I am only using items and products I received from others via PIF. I think I will try out the Schick injector I received a few months ago from @RaZorBurn123. I've only used it twice and it is due for an extended trial. I plan on using the TGN/BurmaShave brush I received from @MoAllen and using the St. James of London Mandarin and Patchouli cream I received last year from the company itself. What the heck, I'll also use the Ogallala Bay Rum or Old Spice Pure Sport aftershaves I received from @Shotwell. My financial outlay for the month? $0

 

Look forward to your thoughts on the Injector. I think you'll like it a lot. I was surprised at how easy it was to use.

 

Charlie, good luck with the Arko.

 

For April, I will be going back to focus on the Mongoose with Feather Pro blades. I want to get a idea on how long I can expect each blade to last. JR loaned me 4 GEM razors to test drive. So there will be several days that I take a break from the Mongoose to get thru the GEM razors. I don't want to abuse his kindness by keeping them too long. Even with that the entire month will be a SE month.

 

I will be doing a Shick Injector focus. Starting with a J1 for a few weeks and finishing with a more modern version. It should be a good challenge while I await my turn for a new Mongoose. I get great, close shaves from injectors, but am more prone to irritation and weepers in the few times I have used them. Hoping I can get through the entire 30 days and come out with my technique perfected. Wish me luck!

I'm sure that Arko will be guest starring in many of my shaves this month

 

Arko April Focus - The CJB Artist Club

My plan for April is, of course, to feature ARKO as my main soap in support of learning to use the CJB Artist Club razor. The CJB is a Feather Artist Club clone and was a PIF from @Keithmax. My goal is to be performing a full 3 pass shave with it by the end of April without losing enough blood to need a transfusion. I'll be starting today in order to have extra time to work things out and figure out how much time to allow during the rest of the week.

I'll be starting with one pass with the CJB then finishing with my '59 Superspeed with a Voskhod. I'll then move to two passes and finally the entire shave with the CJB. I've followed a couple of others on here who have done the same with the Artist Club razor and have picked up a few tips. I'm also getting ready to watch geofatboy one more time before beginning.


In support of the razors, my Omega Pro 48 and VDH Boar and my usual assortments of vintage aftershaves, Proraso aftershave, RazoRock Alum and a yet to be named balm. I'll be back in a bit with the first day's finish.

 

I'm definitely going to benefit from the injector focus. I used it today and could not tell that it cut much. I had to finish off with the New SC.

 

Thanks for posting this. It hadn't occured to me that I could do a follow up pass or two with a mild DE in support of figuring out the Injector. This greatly improves the odds that I will make it the entire 30 days without my coworkers suspecting that I am moonlighing as a hired sword....

 

No problem, but I'll give credit to @Drygulch who did the same thing for March. It may also be the thing that keeps me going if the CJB tries to take too much skin off for a bit.

 

Two things that may help, from reading that I have done.

Try a new blade. I have heard that the injectors spit out an occasional dud.

When you put your new blade in, was there already a blade in the in the injector? I have also read that adding a blade into an empty head can damage it.

Gonna be an interesting month for both of us I think....

 

I have found you are correct in both items above. Which Injector are you planning to use this month? As I understand some are milder than others.

 

Arko April Focus - CJB Kamisori
March 28, 2015 - Week 1 Day 1
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Arko
Razor - CJB & '59 Gillette Superspeed
Blade - (1) (1)
Post - Alum & The Veg

Starting April a couple of days early. Loaded a Kai Captain Titan Mild MG (guard) blade into the CJB and a Voskhod into the SS. Lathered up the ARKO puck in my Old Spice mug and took a deep breath. Started on the right side of my face, one pass WTG. Hearing the CJB cutting and feeling the response in the handle is a nice little adrenaline rush. Made it through the cheek and went ahead down the neck. Switched hands (I am not good with my left) and started on the left. Same drill. Cheek, then neck. No nicks/weepers etc., and I was pretty amazed at how much had already been reduced. Considered going ahead and trying the XTG with the CJB. Sanity intervened, picked up the SS and went XTG and ATG for the finish. SWMBO declared my face the smoothest it's ever been. Neck is a bit less perfect, but overall a very very nice DFS to BBS.

Alum was totally quiet on my face, very minor barking on the neck. Added the Mighty Veg to finish and I can't wait until tomorrow to do it again! I'm wondering, though, as close as it shaves, if I will even need to shave tomorrow. Amazing little razor!

 

April Focus: Just get the dang whiskers off.

1) Use my badger brush. (I seem to prefer boar, but I want to give a good go with this one.) I will try other brushes when I get my knots in from TGN, but will mainly focus on my existing badger this month.
2) Razors: So I am going to continue to use my Artist Club SS for April with the Pro-Guard Blades, but I might not be using it every day. Weekends for sure, but weekdays I may only do one pass or stick with the DE. I will be using my Red Tip SS for this month. (I haven't really used that one yet.)
3) Soaps- Still have two samples of The Shave Den Soap. One is mostly done, but I haven't started the other yet. Also got this weird stick of chalk that everyone seems to think is the best soap ever called Arko. Going to try it. Trying to work through my stock pile of soap.
4) Going to leave everything else open for changes.

 

You're off to a great start. Maybe someday, I'll get up the nerve to try a AC razor.

 

Its a J1.

 

Sorry I missed it in the first post. I used the I1 this past month. I have a J2 Hydro Magic that I will try at some point this month. There so light it reminds me of a cartridge razor in some ways.