April 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix&Discussion Thread

Classic Calvin and Hobbes, and I know that Rich will love this one too!

 

Waddle, Opus! Waddle for your life!

"This isn't really very funny or particularly legal"!!!

 

Razor: Gillette Goodwill 1930's
Blade: Astra Platinum (6)
Brush: WDC-6 TGN Silvertip Premium
Soap: Razo Rock XXX
A/S: Razo Rock XXX
Bowl: Michael Stanley P.E.I.
Pressed into bowl and whipped up an excellent lather. DFS

 

Great looking knot and picture.

 

Thank you Doug. I really like this brush.

 

For me I find the extra weight in the handle makes all the difference. That combined with a good knot and shave soap makes it a real winner. IMHO.

 

So I was sort of in to the Artisan April thing, mainly because my soaps are 99% artisan anyway... But @BamaSamurai 's SOTD with the new Fatip kind of motivated me to dig out some Arko, and chase the shave, wherever it goes. SOTD:

-Fatip Grande
-Nacet (1)
-Simpson Duke 3 in Pure
-Arko
-Stirling Gin and Tonic, Glacierized by me....

Great BBS, except for those two little spots by my Adam's Apple I seldom chase. Arko is such a great soap. I find it a bit drying, so I seldom use it in the winter, but look at these pics:

Loaded brush, ready to go to the face:



After the third pass:



Did a fourth cleanup, and still had this left:



Some of the credit has to go to the Duke for being such a bad-ass, but Arko gets the Blue Ribbon here...

 

SOTD April 2, 2016

Prep: Warm shower with Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood Grapefruit soap
Blade: Chinese Schick
Razor: Schick G1 injector
Brush: Badger
Lather: Arko
Post: Witch hazel splash, Pinaud Citrus Musk, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, touch-up



This is not really a focus shave since I'm using the injector and Chinese blades. But I'll post here nonetheless.

This shave was mainly made possible through generous PIFs by kind TSD members. The blades and razor were courtesy of @clint64, the brush is from a PIF by @Drygulch, and the aftershave came via @DDuckyMark and his contributions to the Nationwide Tour Box. I am very thankful to these folks for supporting me in this hobby and to the TSD community at large for being so generous.

Now, on to the shave. I went with Arko to keep the theme going. I won't be using Arko all of April, but I'll sprinkle it in every now and then. It's a good soap - lathers really easily and provides pretty good comfort. It's not the best soap in the world, of course, but you can't beat it for the price. It seems to last forever too.

The G1 injector behaved very well today and I got a nice, close shave. The brush from Adam is a fantastic face latherer. It is so much better than the Trader Joes brush I have been using the past week. It works quite well and I'm really pleased to have it.

Nice shave with one big pass and considerable touch-up. The Pinaud Citrus Musk was a first for me. It stung as it went on but cooled off quickly. I like the scent pretty well.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

 

You have really gotten the hang of the Injector. Be careful, SE Razors are a slippery slope.

 

I have a GEM featherweight (I believe) that also came from DDuckyMark. I haven't tried it yet but am looking forward to it. I found some blades for it in the drug store but they are the carbon steel blades that need to be taken out and dried between uses. That might get annoying. Maybe I'll just use it once and go ahead and toss it. I'll need some GEM stainless blades down the road.

The G1 has been a pleasant surprise!

 

I really like Citrus Musk but I like the Lime Sec better. The samples I tossed in for the Box Tour came from Garry's Sample shop from his eBay listing. I kept some of them. His site is a good way to try things without blowing a ton of cash. TSD shop also offers samples of some major aftershaves.

 

Thanks! I was wondering where those little bottles came from. They are a great size for sampling. I have a lot of samples to keep using. I don't wear a splash every day, but I do use balm.

 

High praise indeed! Thank you

 

Great product, thank you!

 

Congrats on your first straight shave! Sounds like it was quite a bit more successful than my first shave.

 

Thanks buddy! Besides almost piercing my ear I think it went quite well!

 

Saturday Shower/Shave

In Shower Prep- Noxzema for face, Old Spice Classic shower gel
Pso-Homemade mint oil
Brush- RazoRock Plissoft
Razor-Gillette Slim on 9
Blade- Gillette Silver Blue (3)
Soap- Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Gondolier
Thayers Witch Hazel
AS- Old Spice Classic

I bumped the Slim up to 9 today with excellent results. I went slower than usual today and just let the blade work. I altered my usual passes and I went right to left across my face and then ATG. This left me with a DFS but since I had plenty of lather left I went left to right and finished with a BBS shave. I tried hot water to build the lather again and my brush exploded with thick lather. It may be this soap but I'm getting more lather than ever before. I'm going to test my theory tomorrow and use cold water for lather building and see if there is a difference. Once the lather was built it was cold water for everything else, I love the way my face feels with cold water. The Thayers felt great and although there was a little sting from the Old Spice, it only lasted a few seconds. This was possibly my best shave to date.

For my rule this month I used the left hand a little more today than yesterday with good success. Face stretching is going good with my only issue being my neck but I'm getting better at it thanks to advice from @Bama Samurai. Have a great day folks!

 

To the cartel people here......are Astra blades Russian? What about Gillette Platinum? I have Gillette Silver Blues as well as 7 O'clock (two varieties). But I can't tell about the Platinum blades, or Astra.

 

Welcome aboard! Much better than my first SR shave. I didn't pick one up again for two years.