Since the December 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion thread is closed. I wanted to post up some observations from my focus. My focus was: Using my '47 Aristocrat with feather blades I would focus on the technique of Riding The Safety Bar. My reasoning for this is that the theme was DECedent December and my Aristocrat is one of my most decedent razors. Feathers are know to be the sharpest blades and I wanted an aggressive razor blade combo to test out Riding the Safety Bar. From my first days on this forum, the ever wise @Bama Samurai suggested that I work on Riding the Cap. If you are not familiar with this technique, I encourage you to read THIS THREAD as a 30 day focus on this technique turned my wet shaving experience from rough & bloody to smooth and enjoyable. After several more 30day foci, I read an thread about Riding the Safety Bar (which I cannot seem to locate, but maybe someone can help) that made a compelling case for riding the safety bar. My observations: - After about 1 week I was able to get the correct angle while riding the safety bar. - It takes much concentration to maintain this angle. - If you do not maintain the correct angle while riding the safety bar, at best you'll get razor burn. I did get a nick and a few weepers while not concentrating. - The combination of razor, blade & technique is very aggressive. - I did not get a better shave riding the safety bar. Most shaves were on par with my normal ride the cap shaves except for when I lost concentration and got a nick & some weepers. After completing this focus, I switched to a Schick Krona with an Astra blade riding the cap and it felt like riding a bicycle with training wheels. I'll stick to riding the cap.
Very nice. Find what works for you and go with it. I have long ago stopped thinking angles etc, muscle memory just takes over and I get fantastic shaves most days. You will get to this point as well, which will make razor and blade selection less important. You will be able to get a good shave from just about any razor blade combination. The reason I am saying this is because I don't want you to overlook prep. Without good lather, your shave will suffer. A few years ago, I made a mistake (dropped my brush in the sink fully loaded when I was late for work) and had to go with it because of time constraints. I had a lot more water in my lather than normal and ended up with my best shave to date (at that time). After that I experimented making my lather a little thinner and it has paid off for me. If you can, do a focus concentrating on making a good lather. I think you would see another marked improvement in the quality of the shaves over the month. Sorry for offering my unsolicited opinion. Enjoy your shaves.
All opinions are welcome and it is funny that you mentioned that. My next focus will be on getting good lather from difficult soaps. I have Mitchell's Wool Fat and Mystic Water soap that are known in some circles to be excellent soaps that I have had difficulty lathering. I will stick to those two for my next focus.
That was a good write up, and it seemed like you figured out what is going to work best for you. The 30 day thread rocks.
I used Mystic Water Sandalwood Rose today and didn't get a very good lather. That one gives me issues. I still had an alright shave, but the lather wasn't very good.
When you are searching for the right angle, when riding the cap or not, do you use sound to help you find it? That's been he biggest help for me in getting consistent shaves. I find the angle in my cheeks, then use that sound to help me get the angle on the rest.
To get the most from Riding the Safety bar, as our razors were intended. Just look at the patent and box information. A person needs to get a razor blade that works with the razor in question. For example, my fat boy, set on three, with a Gillette platinum plus from brazil, gives a better closer smoother less irritating shave when I ride the bar. then I get when riding the cap, ON ANY SETTING> In fact when riding the cap, there is no change in shaving effectiveness between 1 to 9 on the dial, UNTIL I go against the grain. I would suggest trying again with perhaps a Big Ben or a Treet Classic. My no notch pre ww2 heads LOVE them.
