May 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix and Discussion

Come on man...I gave up the Marvy formula! We could make Neal live "Marvy's Law" all month!

 

I thought he was randomizing.

 

Mystery May!

1959 Gillette, Day One
Star Wars Day, 2016







1959 Gillette Adjustable
(mystery blade)
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Route 66 - Lumberjack
Alum
TSD ISZ AS Splash - A little every day...
Pinaud Lilac Vegetal
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Saturday, upon checking the mailbox at the Cartel's Kyoto safe-house, I received a first class letter from the man himself, Moscow Kingpin @NCoxSTL . Inside were five blades, and marching orders for the month. I told him we'd get right on it. Tonight maybe wasn't the best night to start a blade trial, but Moscow says these blades are a go in the FB. What's the worst that could happen? Had to be careful though, if I had ended up like @mrchick (feel better soon!), my crew would have never let me live it down....and do they look like they think anything is funny? You tell me:

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So anyhow, about the shave. I loaded the test blade up and proceeded to try to replicate the near perfection of GSB in the FB. I did the strict two pass, no touchup, and judged the results. I managed stay blood free, unlike so many others around here lately...so we need another cartel safety meeting? Alum felt good, and though it wasn't my best shave ever, no complaints either! Other product I used today were the Plisson and some TSD ISZ AS under the Veg.

Success. Doing it again tomorrow. I'll be around a little more, my friend is in town from Kentucky, but he leaves Friday morning. We're going out for BBQ lunch tomorrow, it's been a great visit! Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a triumphant Thursday!
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Exactly. We'd be "gaslighting".

 

The Kyoto contingent looks good. Haven't seen them smile that much in, ever. You must be keeping the Saki at the proper temperature. And yes, lots of blood spilling this MAYhem. Nice you survived the first shave with the blade. Cartel safety meeting might be a good idea. Let's see......how best to make it understandable.....oh yeah.......razor blades are sharp!!! There, that should help. Moscow out.

 

That may be what saves me from the horrors of MAYhem this month.....the randomizing is the only thing keeping the Chosen Choosers from piling on!

 

That's yet another example of how "strategy defeats tactics", or put another way "Techniques trump tools!"

 

His technique trumps us tools

 

Hate it when that happens.

 

That's a good one. I didn't know about the movie.

 

05/05/2016
Mongoose B2 with Triad Ti
Feather Super Pro (4)
Rubberset 400 #3 with WSP HMW
MdC Fougere
Witch Hazel
Fine Platinum
Whipped Shea Butter

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I truly enjoy using MdC. It is so easy to lather and the scents are so crisp. This morning was no exception as the big brush whipped up a mountain of lather quickly. Keeping a perfect weekly record, I ended up with another weeper this morning. After such a long period of not using the Mongoose, I might have to step back to the Feather for a few days to get fully accustomed to the weight. Finished off the bottle of Fine Platinum this morning. Not to worry the girls had given me back bottle for Christmas. I hope everyone has a great Thursday.

 

May Focus Day 4:

VDH Boar Brush
Pre de Provence SS
Ralf Aust 5/8
Stirling Unscented PSB
Aqua Velva AS

I had a great shave this morning with my Aust. Nice and smooth DFS. I really enjoy the PdP soap, and got the stage set. After a quiet alum application, I put the final wrap on this shave with some Aqua Velva. I am off to start my day, and I am looking forward to a great one. I hope everyone has the same.

 

SOTD May 5, 2016
Injector/SE Focus



Prep: Warm shower
Blade: Chinese Schick
Razor: Schick G1 Injector
Brush: Artisan-made badger with hand-turned maple handle
Lather: VDH Luxury
Post: Witch hazel splash, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, touch-up

Pretty smooth shave today in two quick passes. Yesterday's shave left some stubble spots. The lather was a little thin as well. I went with a different brush and loaded more dry to start with then added a few drops of water at a time. Then when face lathering I needed to dip the tips of the brush in the sink three or four times. Is VDH a normally thirsty soap like that? I ended up with a much better lather though.

I had one tiny pin-point weeper on my chin. An area I will continue to work on is right under the nose. Those hairs are a little difficult for me to get cleanly with the G1. I'll keep working at it and will have it down by the end of this month.

Have a great day!

 

May 5, 2016- Soap/Lather Focus

Razor: Standard 160 Goodwill (New LC-based)
Blade: GSB(1)
Brush: VdH Boar
Soap: Marvy + Castor Oil

Today's adventure with Marvy was intended to see whether some better lather could be coaxed out of it with the use of Castor Oil? Why Castor Oil? Mostly because of the references I had seen to it improving lather quality in soap making and its use in various home-made shave oils. Plus, this soap has been very bad and needs to be punished.

Going in, I assumed one of three possible outcomes:
a) Improved lather
b) Improved slickness
c) A gooey, sticky mess

And the answer is... d) None of the above.

I added the Castor Oil as part of the lather building process. There was not much obvious difference to the lather, though the real hope was for a longer-lasting lather. At first, I thought I could detect some additional slickness, but I wasn't so sure by the end of the shave. Worse, the lather dissipated as quickly as usual. Also, @NCoxSTL would probably totally hate the smell as the Castor Oil definitely adds a scent component- not unpleasant, but different.

To add injury to insult, my technique fell down someplace and I ended up with a couple of weepers.

At this point, I'd say that @DDuckyMark has come the closest to actually conquering this soap. It's a difficult beast- a soap which is presumably intended to be sold to barbers who either have a completely different idea as to how it should perform or who pass down the secrets of its use in cloaked ceremonies from which outsiders are banned.

I'm figuring on one last Marvy shave tomorrow. This time, I'm bringing out the Dove cream and trying for Superlather though, in the case of Marvy, that might be more like Adequatelather.

 

SOTD May 5th


Merkur 34C / Astra SP(2)
Satin Tip The Purest
La Toja (Grated and pressed into bowl)

Shave two of "riding the top cap". Had a very nice very comfortable shave this morning. The steep cutting angle of the blade when riding the top cap allows it to cut effortlessly. The only way I could tell that the blade was doing its job was the sound of whiskers being hewn from my face. After three passes I ended up with a DFS, not really the result I was after as I am attempting to reproduce a three pass BBS with a DE that I can achieve with my G1 injector. But I decided not to chase the baby this morning. Riding the top cap has however brought my shaves to a whole new level of comfort, there isn't a spot of irritation to be found anywhere on my face. Have a great day my friends!

 

You might try adding Glycerin instead of the castor oil.

 

I don't think adding the Castor Oil would make the scent much worse for me. Still puzzled as to what it really smells like and why it turned my nose up like it did. I'm sure I'll be handed another shot or two with it this month.

 

Gotta run this morning but the shave is done and I'll give you the full details on the @English expat shave tonight. But, I wanted to go ahead and lay out the @mrchick shave for Friday.

Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat. I like where this is going.
Brush - Vie Long 12601. I really like where this is going.
Blade - Dorco 300. I'm not quite as thrilled as I was.
Razor - "Soyuz 1". Wow. That turned south fast. Remember the Soyuz 1? I named it that because the engineering on it is as bad as the real Soyuz 1 that failed in its first mission and came flaming back to earth with the cosmonaut still inside. Vladimir Komarov was reduced to a lump of carbon between the free fall and the full bore impact.

Now that my fate for Friday is set another Chosen Chooser is up for Saturday. Hey @Norcalnewb you're up! 1-15 for blade, 1-15 for razor, 1-6 for soap, 1-7 for brush.

 

We had a good start