March '16 - 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix and Discussion Thread

I have two synthetics now - the Satin Tip Purest and the Trader Joe's nylon. I like them both. You can get away with more water without sacrificing the lather. I don't think I've made a runny or overly wet lather with a synthetic. I'm glad for your tip because I didn't realize how much water they could take with such good success. Thanks again.

 

March 2nd SOTD, Shave 1 of this focus
Pre: Hot shower
Razor: ACME 6/8 full hollow imported by F. Westpfal of NY
Brush: Dubl Duck w/ Omega 10066 knot
Soap: Barrister & Mann Seville
Post: Cold Water Rinse, Alum, Thayers’ Rose Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Fine All American Blend

First shave for my two pass and touch up focus. The other part of my focus this month will be trying out a bunch of razors that I sent out for honing and clean up. This razor was honed and cleaned up by Bryan at Mathis Restorations. For the price and quick turnaround time, he did a great job. The razor only needed the plastic scales sanded, as someone had scratched a W into one side. It is a German made full hollow ground, and is just a hair over 6/8 in width. Because it isn’t a big name, I found it on the bay for less than $15 shipped. The tip has some hone wear, so isn’t quite a spike, which is nice. It was finished on a Nakayam J-Nat stone, which is supposed to be a very smooth finish. Used the Dubl Duck 10066 brush with the Seville soap. The brush has stopped shedding since the transplant, and works amazing! I have about a 2 inch circle of the bottom of the container of this soap, and am working on using it up. I will buy this soap again when I get my stock of soap down, great performance and scent. Did a N/S pass, then a S/N pass, then did XTG on my neck and chin. I don’t quite use the baseball pattern, as I lather up all at once for each pass. Razor was extremely smooth, but not quite as keen as I would like. Have some pastes on the way that should really make this razor sing. Ended up with a DFS, with a few rough patches on my neck in my trouble spots. Going to focus this month on adjusting the angle of the passes to see if I can make this better without doing more than 2 passes and touch ups.

 

Last day on the road and so ready to go home tonight. I think I have found my new travel razor. I found it in an antique store on Sunday and have had three wonderful shaves since.
SOTD
Arko
AoS Pure Badger
Schick E-2
Chick (3)
MK Sport cologne
Have fun!

 

A memorable purchase in a market I'll visit again. I had a ten spot & a couple of two dollar bills in my wallet when I spotted it. The vendor looked like she might have a meth habit, didn't think twice when I countered her $20 asking price.
You are close to the place, ought to check it out. Along side I-10, east of Beaumont on the south side of the highway. There's a cafe in the center with a very settled look to the buildings where lots of dusty stalls are full of other peoples junk. You'll have to find the $12 Gillette DE dealer for yourself. If he has any left.

 

Where is that place? I haven't seen it before. Are you in the Beaumont area?

 

I am a bit late with my 30 Day Focus...I had to give this some serious thought! So...I think the verdict is in and I am going to spend my month trying to carefully pair my brushes to the soaps and creams in my common rotation. I believe it is worth the effort to finally determine if, for example, the Semogue 1305 works better with MWF or if I should use the Proraso Omega brush...or the Simpsons Special? And which brush works best with the Haslinger Schafmilch??? Important questions! My typical pattern is to pick my soap and grab any brush...but I believe some will pair better than others. I have a number of favourite soaps and creams (and a couple more on the way...which reminds me, I should check the tracking numbers), so I have lots to keep me busy. Here is my humble brush collection.

 

I'm in Lake Charles, but I have an aunt with a cattle ranch near Sour Lake. I visit her for ten days to two week spells to do handyman work around the farm. On my ride home with a pocket full of coin I like to shop bargains at the antique stores.
I haven't been to the Winnie flea market since starting wet shaving... Isn't there a market in Kountz? They are open on alternating weekends. Good luck shopping!

 

They shut down the Kountze flea market. The Winnie market is challenging to make, as it is only 1 weekend a month. If there is another one open near BMT, then I need to try it out.

 

Razor: Gillette Super Speed Flare Tip 1955
Blade: Wilkinson (3)
Brush: WDC-4 Silvertip Butterscotch Handle 24/67
Soap: Eufros Brisa de Oriente (Oriental Breeze)
A/S: Pinuad Lime
I'll try a different brush tomorrow with this soap.

 

First day with the evahs razor.

evahs
Astra SP(1)
Proraso White
Semogue 1438
Pinaud Clubman

I lathered up a textbook lather with the pig and Proraso. This razor has a long heavy handle and the head has some weight to it too. It outweighs all my other razors. The blade loaded with very little play and the alignment looked great. First pass, no pressure, ease into what felt like the right angle, Velcro sound. I finished the first pass and the weight was lovely. Probably a good CCS. Relather and repeat XTG, same Velcro sound, amazing reduction, still looking good. Third pass ATG, now the weight of the razor is working against me and I had to work to hold it firmly enough to not chatter without pressing it into my face and getting hurt. I ended up with 3 weepers, one to the right of M Adams apple and one on each end of my mustache area. With a new sharp blade and an attempt to do ATG on M neck and above my lip where I normally don't explains those. So, time for the Alum but, I chickened out. Clubman is the happy medium between the firey pain of alum and knowing how well I did with this new razor. It hurt some. Mostly on the places I normally don't shave ATG but did today. Once I narror down the angle of attack on this new razor I think it will be great as long as I don't try anything out of the ordinary. Today I rate it a 9out of 10. The point off was because of the weight fighting me on the bot to to top strokes that make up my ATG strokes

 

What, no picture...

 

Maybe after I'm done babysitting the neighbor's kid.

 

Day 2 of my 30 day rule.

Overall I cant really complain about todays shave. Lather was easier to work up today. BBS on the cheeks and DFS approaching BBS on the neck. Thanks @Bama Samurai for the collarbone tip...it helped tons.

 

Never mind now I understand.

 

Nice! Enjoy that shave this afternoon!

 

Planned Day 62 - 90 Day intro to SR
2 March 2016



Have a great afternoon!
​

 

Today:
GSB (3)
Tech with heavy handle
Stirling MITA
Stirling synthetic

I gave face lathering an honest attempt today, but No cigar. I need more practice with a good soap...lather seems to be where my main trouble is. The rest of the shave went very well. I even discovered a secret! Stop scraping on ATG!! I just lowered my angle a little built and voila! No more weepers or nicks. Although somehow I completely forgot to shave ATG on one cheek. Probably because I was fighting with the lather. Very impressed with the GSB as it's still holding it's own on shave 3. I thought my whiskers being wire would have destroyed the blade by now, but I'm very happily surprised. Still loving my synthetic brush too. I don't think I need a boar or a badger now. Awesome start to my Friday

 

Very nice! It will just take a bit of practice with the lather. Happy Friday!

 

I had a fantastic head shave yesterday with a Gillette Artra and The Strop Shoppe LE Solsetio soap. I went from a 6 pass head shave to a 5 pass head shave with some buffing, reducing my head shave by 1 pass was a big accomplishment. My ultimate goal would be a 3 or 4 pass shave.

 

Very Good! 4 sounds like an attainable goal.