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

Straights Focus March 13:

Stirling Synthetic Brush
TSD Lanolin Iced Sub-zero
Ralf Aust 5/8
Stirling Unscented PSB -- Mentholated
The Veg

A very nice shave this morning. A little baseball pattern lathering, two passes, and I ended with a BBS. I am still feeling nice and smooth 6 or so hours later. Hope everyone has a good Sunday.

 

03/13/2016
Gillette New LC
Feather (3)
BSB-2
TSD Yin Yang
Witch Hazel
Folsom & Co Shambala
Whipped Shea Butter

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This mornings shave was better than the shave yesterday but far below the normal for the rest of this month. Finished up with a splash of F&C Shambala. Hope everyone has a great Sunday.

 

Sunday Shave

Cold water
Pso-Homemade mint oil
Razor-Gillette Flair Tip SS
Blade- Rapira Platinum Lux (2)
Brush- RazoRock Plissoft
Soap- Kiss my Face mint
Thayers Witch Hazel
ASB-Nivea Sensitive

Another day of enjoyable shaving. I love this Flair Tip and brush. The Rapira worked pretty good but it's not the "one". Three passes today, WTG, left to right then right to left like yesterday. Still need to find which directions work best at what time. The Kiss my Face protected better than the Arko yesterday, I love this stuff.
I think that I need to go ATG to really get a close shave. I'm switching to hot water shaves next week for the focus to see if it makes a difference. I like the feel of the cold water but my hair is coarse so maybe the hot water will help. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

 

March 13 - Straight Shave 14
Wade & Butcher French Point
PSO, hot shower
Jayaruh #40 Synthetic
Route 66 Sweent Todd soap
Alum, Nivea balm, Clubman

I was bust the last couple days, didn't get to post the last two shaves. But they were both good, used my Henckels Twin works.

Yesterday I got my Wade & Butcher honed up, so I tried it today. It really shaves great, DFS, almost BBS. Still can't quite get a little patch over my Adam's apple perfect. Really comfortable on my cheeks now, and getting the goatee line. Neck isn't bad, just hard to get angles other than north-south and south-north. Have to go look for some advanced techniques on straights...

Happy Sunday all!

 

The clubman is pretty good. I'm telling you if EJ made a Stainless Steel 89 this community would go nuts over it! The 89 already is a great shaver, add in the SS cool factor. Wow!

 

Clint, is the BSB the same bush Mark has? The Vie-Long?

 

Nice! I remember those days. Many many moons ago.

 

Kerry, yes Mark got the same brush. I'm not sure if he has used his yet since the knot smelled pretty funky and took a lot of cleaning. Mine is at last not smelling like a barn yard.

Juan made a limited run of 2 different brushes. One with a Vie-Long silvertip bulb and one with a Vie-Ling 2 band fan bulb. This was the first fan shaped knot ever made by Vie-Long. The knot on this one is very dense and soft. I think I will really enjoy this one once I have it dialed in. You can see in the picture it is a really big knot in such a small handle.

 

Congrats! It's a fantastic looking brush. I like the larger knot, more soap and coverage. Wow! Beautiful.

 

Not only did I fall off the NB 2016 wagon. I was run over by the wagon as well.

 

March into Artist Club Blades

March 13

Razor - Feather SS
Blade - (6)
Brush - Vie-Long 12601
Soap - Tabac
Post - Cold Rinse, Alum, Nivea Original Balm, The Veg

My Friday has finally arrived. And, the next to the last day on the Captain Original blade. The one thing I hadn't commented on yet is the feel after almost a week. Honestly I can't tell that there's really been a change in the quality of the blade. It is still as smooth as it was on day one from what I can tell. The only blood has been from the first day changeover to the blade from the mild blade and my technique error two days ago. No drag, no additional irritation, no sign of the blade wearing out at all yet. I know some have used the AC blades for 10 or more days so this blade seems to be handling the wear quite well.

No issues today as I did a full three pass for a DFS. I thought I had nicked myself near the goatee line but nothing bled so a close call but all was good. One more day with it before moving to the Feather Pro. Have to be up and off to sign a lease on a new place tomorrow then start packing in earnest. I hate moving. Hopefully the final shave on this blade won't add any extra pain to the process.

 

So instead of going a week I should go until the blade dulls and report back with how long it takes. This Focus of mine might take much longer than I expected if my results are anything like everyone elses.

 

Back to the blade focus after the short diversion with my newly Delta Echo Razorworks coated NEW LC. The Blackbird has tried out several blades this month. GSB offered a good smooth shave, Feather was a little rough and ran out of edge during shave #4. The newest candidate is the Derby Extra blade. Today was smooth and effective with a simple 3 pass shave providing near BBS results. Lets see if it lasts a week.

I also rebooted my blog. Visit it if you want a little boredom or are having a hard time going to sleep.

 

Well I've never been one to push a blade just to see its total longevity. Maybe on one or two occasions but usually I stop when I feel it start to lose the edge. On the other hand, I know that Voskhod will last a good 5-7 shaves without a problem, but I always toss the blade after three shaves. Same with Bic and a few others. No reason to risk a bad shave when the price of blades is so low. Granted, with the AC blades you pay more, but I've always found a week on them is very easily done. Over that you are risking finding that day when the blade went south and it's a whole new level of pain when one of those blades dulls up as compared to a DE blade.

 

Well I don't push a blade either but they usually let me know when to stop by having a steadyish decline right before they kick it. If I toss it at the first sign of degradation I should be fine.

 

What's the worst that could happen?

 

The key to easy bbs for me, using a moderate aggressive razor like yours, is skin stretching. You should use the temperature that you find most comfortable. The science behind hot water is dubious, at best.

Pull up any straight razor video instructional, and watch how the person will use their off hand to tighten the skin for every stroke. This maneuver occurs behind the razor and opposes the stroke. This action flattens the skin surface while exposing the follicles to the blade bevel, allowing the razor to shear the hair shafts at skin level.

Techniques...

 

I picked the worst year ever to do No Buy. Apologies are being issued now for lack of self control come January 2017.

Straight RAD is gonna be stupid, I already know.

 

Derby. Troy's technique trumps tools! I don't think you can have a bad shave with the Blackbird.

 

Get your popcorn ready!

Best wishes on your move, and I hope your new home is filled with love, peace and comfort!