April 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix&Discussion Thread

You must be very hungry

 

Sunday April 17, 2016

The One Blade
Aqua Di Parma
Simpson Chubby 2 Synthetic
Mystic Water Whipped Shea Butter
Floid Blue

A close, comfortable and efficient near BBS shave with the One Blade loaded with a Feather FHS-10. Chubby 2 Synthetic, super soft with plenty of backbone, is still the top synthetic in my den. It had no problem lathering the sweet smelling ADP into a shiny & slick yogurt. Finished off with a refreshing splash of chilled Floid Blue. Have a blessed Sunday folks.

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04/17/2016
Gem 1912 Damaskeene
GEM PTFE (5)
Simpson CH2 Synthetic
TSD Yin Yang
Witch Hazel
Myrsol F/ Extra
Whipped Shea Butter

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A very relaxing Sunday morning shave. The CH2 synthetic whipped up the TSD Yin Yang in no time flat. Since I had the time, I kept with a 3 pass shave but went XTG, ATG, and ATG. My neck, jaw line and cheeks are super smooth. Still fighting the area above my lips so I would rate the overall shave as a near BBS. I finished off with a splash of Myrsol F/Extra which provided excellent skin care with just a touch of menthol. I need to use this aftershave more often. I hope everyone has a blessed Sunday.

 

Another great photo Mark.

 

Clint you are nailing those black & white pics.

 

Thanks Mark. Now that you have a stash of Gem Blades for the One Blade, I need to get you to use a Gem SE Razor as well. I have one you can test drive.

 

I was.

 

SOTD
April 17, 2016
Prep: Hot Shower. Noxzema
Razor: Fine Superlite Slant
Blade: Personna Lab Blue
Lather: Fine American Blend
Brush: RazoRock Boar 26x64mm
Post: Thayers Rose Petal WH. Gold Bond Ultimate
Aftershave: Fine American Blend
This is the place you come when you want to be honest about a product, Fine American Blend soap smells amazing! Lathers very well, IMO it all stops there. Maybe I'm spoiled by the likes of Route 66 and such? I don't find Fine American Blend to be slick, and definitely not have a great post-shave feel. Sure YMMV but I've used/owned 100's of soaps/creams I know what works for me. The Slant, again because of the lack of quality soap I don't have a great feel for it. It's a good razor, efficient, lite! I like it. I do love my RazoRock boar. Love!
What defines us is how well we rise after falling.

 

2 pass disposable shave.

I've left my focus due to injury but since I'm still focused on using up my samples one at a time I'll continue posting here.


Bargain single blade disposable
WD synthetic
Route 66 Sweeny Todd
Nivea Sensitive cooling balm

I managed to disappear the last of my Sweeny Todd this morning. I am sad that it is gone but very glad that I get to try a different scent. I started with a WTG pass and the found that the blade wasn't nearly as sharp as I remembered it being. It was tuggy but not irritating. I finished the pass with no injury and about a 50% reduction. I relathered and did a XTG pass to finish with a very low grade DFS. Any more stubble on the faceterbation test and I would not have given it that. I decided against the ATG pass since the blade felt so rough and tuggy. Nivea because I was afraid of an alcohol splash around my broken burn blister. The kids were in bed and I didn't want to wake them with any screaming or cussing.


I'm not going to be able to stay away from my decent razors so I'll be going through all of them and finding out which ones are lightweight that I can grip with different parts of my thumb. I'm thinking it may be a Schick injector shave week until I can use my thumb normally again. The Gtype is light weight with a handle shape that gives me a good grip without pressing into the burnt part of my thumb.Its also an automatic BBS more often then not.

 

I agree. My perspectives on products have changed as my experience has increased. Route 66 and Mystic Water soaps have set a pretty high bar for me. I am quickly coming to the conclusion that I don't want to suffer through using stuff I don't enjoy. I can see some PIF coming along in the near future.

 

Razor: Gillette Gold Tech 1940's
Blade: Derby Extra (1)
Brush: WDC-7 Olivewood Silvertip
Soap: TSD Coconut
A/S: TSD Coconut
Bowl: 3D printed

First time use with this Tech and blade. Time will tell.

 

April 17, 2016

SHAVE DEN SUNDAY

Hot Shower
Razor: Schick Adjustable
Blade: Schick Plus Platinum (1)
Soap: TSD Unscented
Brush: Rooney 3/3 - Super Silvertip
TSD Witch Hazel
TSD Aftershave Milk
TSD Yin Ying



Just a smooth Sunday drive for my first shave with this razor, delivered to me from another TSD pal @Troy M

Two-pass shave - WTG (4 setting), XTG (7)

DFS for this first shave. Looking forward to spending more time with it.

Cheers!
RT

 

Nice setup. Thanks for your post.

 

Shave number 5 & 6

I'm not shaving every day, and I have a weird work schedule, so my take on the 30-day rule is going to be "30-SHAVE rule"

Prep - soak brush while showering. Wash face with Neutrogena soap.
Razor - Edwinn-Jagger DE89bl
Blade - Derby (came with razor)
Brush - Parker Safety Razor Silvertip
Soap - DR Harris (Arlington)
After - Aftershave (Mary Kay Domain)

Shave #5 was a cold-water shave. Gotta say, I'm hooked. Can't really say how I'll feel about it come December/January/February/March next year, but time will tell. Until then, I'm in - feels great! Also went to a 2-pass shave with touchups. But, I think my touch-ups about equaled an entire 3rd pass...

Shave 6: Again, cold water. I love the refreshing cold that the razor holds onto. Again, a 2-pass with touchups (again, a lot of them). I did bloom the soap today - seems a bit easier. Not necessary, but perhaps easier? I'm going to go shaves 7-10 without blooming for sure.

Have a work trip coming up - thinking of just going back to old hat (canned "shave cream" and a Trac II), but haven't decided for sure.

Lastly, I've got my wife converted now. Gotta find her a lady razor (she doesn't like my DE89, as she finds the handle slippery).

 

Woke up late and wanted to get to church on time so I broke out my New LC instead of using a Straight.


Gillette New LC/Voskhod (1)
JR #23 Silvertip
The Fat
Maggard Alum Block
The Veg


Quickest 4 pass shave I have ever done and I walked away BBS with no nicks or irritation. MWF (The Fat) lathered up easily and I had enough lather for a good 8-10 pass shave if needed. 4 passes today (WTG, XTG, XTG, ATG) and I am preteen smooth.

Added bonus? After the service while talking to a few people I was told by the most adorable lady that I smell so good and it is nice to smell a young man smelling like a man and not smelling like the bug spray her grandkids call cologne...yeah go ahead and laugh I got complimented by a 87 year old women on the Veg. I talked to her Husband a bit and sure enough he remembered the scent and use to wear it himself but hasn't been able to find any in the past 25 years and thought they stopped making it. I went out to the car where I keep my travel bag where I have back up shave gear and all that in it and gave him a brand new 12.5 oz bottle of the green gold.

 

Shave Den Sunday!!!
Planned 17 April 2016





Got day three on the Derby Extra planned with a little preshave menthol blast. Digging out and doing emergency tree removal today (only work on Sunday if unavoidable to life), but the temps are in the mid thirties and the melt is in full effect. Planning a quiet afternoon of NBA and food with Mrs. Samurai. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Arko, Derby Extra, TSD ISZ AS Splash and ISZ PreShave Balm are available at:

www.theshavedenshop.com

Have a Super Sunday!!
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Cold water shaves -alright!! Welcome to the club. Check the link in my signature or the signatures of others concerning Fellowship of Cold Water Shavers. It's a refreshing and invigorating way to shave!

 

No shave for me today. My family and I were driving home from a nice little trip. I'll be back tomorrow with a new Russian blade to go with my focus, probably Astra SP.

 

Outstanding!!

 

ArkoApril in Russia!

April 17


Razor - 1959 Gillette Super Speed
Blade - (3)
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Soap - Arko
Post - Cold water rinse, Alum, The Veg

Happy Friday everyone. Well, ok, so Sunday. Friday sounds better to me. This crazy schedule. Today's shave was the last day for the Rapira Chrome which has performed well like all of its cohorts. It's been smoother than the Swedish Supersteel, and not quite as smooth as the Rapira Super Stainless (pink) and Sharp Star. The Platinum Lux was very similar to this one in feel. First shave was a BBS, second was yesterday's two pass due to bad lather on my part that ended near BBS and would have been with a third pass. One more day to determine its standing.

The lather today was flawless. The boar brush really whips Arko into shape off of the face lather. The difference in water in the boar isn't as critical as in a horse so no issues at all. The first pass felt like it has both days so far. Not the smoothest but far from rough. Second pass the same and the third pass with ATG and slides also gave that same feeling. The result was another near BBS. Now, given that yesterday I had this at the end of two passes tells me that this blade may be weakening a tad. I should have had BBS at the end of three if it was holding perfectly.

I'm going to go ahead and place this blade in the top 3 so far this month. Rapira SS, Sharp Star and Rapira Chrome. The differences are tiny, however, and even the Rapira PL is a close fourth. The Swedish is a bit further behind in fifth. But, all of these blades are way ahead of most blades I have used. Not all, but the vast majority.

Tomorrow we play the fight song and remove our hats with our hands over our hearts when the most sacred and glorious Voskhod takes center stage. I'm feeling shivers of anticipation and joy already. Boy, it better not disappoint.

Good news on the misfit crew. I was able to arrange a release from the Chelyabinsk detention and daycare center. It only cost me a case of vodka for the warden and the promise to get those guys as far away as fast as possible. I'm trying to arrange transportation back to the safety of the Lou for them but they're pushing for the Russian Air Force to bring them. I was a bit confused by that until I discovered the best kept secret in the Russian military!

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