April 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

I like the idea of the AC for weekends. I've thought the same thing once I learn it well. As far as that stick of chalk, it also comes in hockey puck form which I am using. I have the chalk sticks as backup.

 

February ... i was brand new to DE wet shaving and just tried to familiarize myself with the landscape while taking my best shot at a blade focus.
March ... during the 30 day rule, i 'found my angle' and increased my skill level immensely!

April ... (another) 30 day blade focus
now that i've learned a tiny bit about this activity called wet shaving, i will humbly attempt to do a little better at blade evaluation.

my March blade was derby. i still have many blades remaining from my initial TSD sampler pack plus a few that just seemed to show-up with other product arrivals ... personna (platinum-UK reds?, lab blue), wilkinson, astraSP, 7am, gillette sharpedge/yellow, super-max, dorco, voskhod, treet durasharp, sharp chromium, and an unidentified blue & white 'platinum super'

now, if only i could shave three times each day ... and try a new blade every day ...

 

, especially for your first shave with the CJB! I look forward to following your progress this month.

 

...and the scent will hit you like a stick of dynamite when you unwrap it the first time.

 

Clint, thanks for the well-wishes on the Arko. I'm already planning for MdC May, so that will be my light at the end of the tunnel. I hope @Bama Samurai , our very own Master of Two-Pass Smoothness, doesn't see this.

I look forward to tracking your progress with the Mongoose and the Feather Pro blades this month. That's a fantastic set up, and there's no telling how long a blade will last! I always felt like the blade could keep going even after a week in the Mongoose, but I never pushed it. I don't know much about GEM razors, so it will be fun to see how they work for you as well.

 

I've used MdC ever day this month and really enjoyed it. If you told me it was the only soap I could use, I would be just fine. I've already used 2 of the GEM razors JR loaned me but the carbon blades are just not working for me. I'm interested in how different blades perform. I'll be surprised if the feather blades don't make at least 10 shaves or more in the Mongoose.

 

I am just making sure that you get an entire month if the divinely-inspired, lemon scented Turkish gift to wet shavers and unsuspecting SO's everywhere!

Seriously though...Arko April is brought to you courtesy of our own @wristwatchb , who is sitting on approximately a 58 month supply of Arko!

I just piled on because, well, ARKO!!! I love Arko!!!

 

I think the Schick I have been using the last couple of rules is the easiest, closest cutting, most maneuverable shaver I own. I have only been traditional shaving about ~9months, but I wouldn't be surprised if I end up returning to the Schick later this year. It just may become my primary razor, gonna spend this year trying all my stuff though.

 

What blades are you going with?

 

He's down to a 58 month supply?!?!? Doesn't he consider that level as being "OUT" of ARKO?

 

My bad. Yeah, it's panic time!

 

I am going to continue to tryout the ATT plates I have and some different blades in search of the mighty razor/blade combo! My current goto blade is Astra SP and soap is Arko stick!

I used the M1, R1 and M2 plates so far and liked the R1 and really liked the M2 using a Voskhod even better than the Astra SP. The M1 felt too mild but will revisit it too! I also tried the Plat Lux but not sure about that one so I will have to try it again. I still have the R2, H1 and H2 plates to go through. For blades I have Ladas, Gillette 7 o'clock blacks and some Rapira Swedish Supersteels and I think a Rapira Stainless one.

For soaps, I have sampled a few in rotation that I may have traded to tryout or gotten from PIF's and friends or just purchased. I do have some I dont like including the Palmolive stick as well as some creams.

Thx.

 

For me this April i will being using my Schick Krona that i recently purchased, its been a great shaver so far but i really want to focus on it for a bit more before putting it down. I will also be using some TSD Acqua Di Gio soap and TSD SubZero soap that i won in a PIF provided by @elduderino914 <---- Thank you sir! As for the Arko i will be throwing it in every few shaves to celebrate Arko April!

1. Schick Krona
2. TSD SubZero, TSD Acqua Di Gio
3. ARKO STICK<---- mashed into my Old Spice Mug

 

This month's hardware:







Razors (L to R) Cadet OC 3pc, vintage Gillette Tech, the mighty mighty MTO (Weishi 9306)

I will start April 1 with the MTO for 2 blades worth of shaves, then Tech, then the Cadet. All of the above will be used with the divinely inspired, lemon scented goodness face lathered on a Plisson...the goal, as always, automatic 2 pass smoothness!

The blades are Gillette Platinum Plus, no idea when or were these were manufactured.

Calling @GDCarrington .... Any insight into these blades?

And if those three razors somehow don't take all of April... I will move on these...


(L to R) Synergy Double OC, Utopia, Feather Popular TTO.

 

I've used the Schick J1 Injector razor 5 times. I don't like it at all. I get multiple weepers and I don't feel like I've even shaved after each pass. I put a fresh blade in this morning and it was awful. I'm gonna have to figure out a different focus. This is not going to work. In order to keep with my thoughts of only using items I received for free, I will shift to my New LC and continue with my blade trials. I still have about a dozen blades in a homebrewed sampler that I need to get through. I will be shifting to straights for the weekends as I have a couple of Gold Dollars on the way and my grandpa's Palmer razor in the midst of restoration.

 

...or throwing it out, as the case may be!

I like your Schick Krona, and I have yet to try the TSD soaps. It will be fun to follow your progress this month!

 

Master, you have a great set-up! Looking forward to following your progress this month! It's comforting to know that the Rocky Mountain winds will knock down some of your residual Arko/Veg fragrance before you get to work. Make sure you shave downwind of your Bride!

 

Once you shave with a Weber PH, all your other razors compete for second place! That's my story, anyway!

Troy, I can't wait to see you grandpa's razor. What an honor it will be to have this in your rotation!

 

Well Charlie, the Weber is actually 2nd place behind my New SC, but its really close. Grandpa was given this razor by a widow lady in Northern New Mexico, after he stayed the night after a long day riding from somewhere to somewhere else back in the early 1900's. He offered to chop wood or fix fence to pay for his bed and supper. He asked the lady if he could clean up and she asked him if he would use her late husband's razor. She was impressed that he knew how to shave himself (he would have been a teenager or early 20's man at the time) and she asked if he would accept the razor and strop as a gift. He accepted. My mother remembers watching him shave with it in the late 1940's and 1950's.

 

Thanks! I love the Krona as well it simply shaves great! I have some TSD shave cream and love it, so the soaps should be nice as well. You definitely should get over to The Shave Den Shop and pick some samples up . Lol I enjoy Arko so I couldn't throw it out! The stuff can't get any better with how cheap it is and the way it performs