May 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix and Discussion

Nope. Being creative is an important part of wet shaving.

 

Thanks for the laugh!

 

Saturday Morning Focus Shave

No MAYhem today, just normal Mayhem. Took out my Vorpal straight for it's second shave. Four passes, no blood, no irritation and BBS. A nice way to start the weekend. Catch up with my friends at the Den then off to the gym.

 

May Focus Day 5:

Stirling Synthetic Brush
La Toja Shave Stick
Schick Adjustable
Stirling Unscented PSB
Clubman AS

This was basically a repeat of Wednesday's shave, so I repeated the picture. It was another DFS.

 

MAYhem 2016

May 6

Razor - Soviet 3pc, AKA the Soyuz 1
Blade - (1)
Brush - VDH Boar
Soap - Vie Long 12601 The Pony
Post - Cold Rinse, Alum, Nivea

It's the @mrchick shave and he picked a doozy. Between him and the shaving gods I got handed a fantastic soap (my favorite), a really good brush (my favorite horse) and.....one of the worst razors I've found and a blade with a bad reputation that I haven't tried. This should be fun.

I haven't used Mitchell's in awhile since we had Arko April and I have a brand new puck just waiting for some love. It got soaked overnight prior to this morning's shave and lathered up with a fantastic lather on the pony. Man oh man I love that scent and the slick feel is just unbeatable. Almost makes me forget what's coming.

The Soyuz 1 is my name for this razor. It's a beauty. Uneven blade gap from any angle and the small and short handle makes it hard to keep a grip on. It has hacked and maimed me before and I expect nothing less today. So, let's apply some technique and a bit of knowledge I've gained in the past 16 months. Due to the uneven blade exposure and the reputation the blade has for lacking sharpness, I think the wisest move is to limit exposure to avoid dragging and skipping, especially since the blade can grab due to uneven gap. So, what do we do to insure the right gap and avoid too much exposure? Why I say, let's ride the cap. First pass seemed to bear out my decision as I didn't feel the out of control horribleness that this razor has produced before. I got great audio feedback, and actually something resembling a smooth shave as long as I stayed well up on the cap. I did open a cut just beside my right ear, but this razor has done that before. In that same spot.

Second pass XTG seemed to go better as there were no additional cuts. Oh, wait....yep there's a nice on one my neck, just left of center. I felt it grab and bite. I came off the cap a bit and that ridiculous gap caught me. Nice blood flow. So, after two passes, two cuts and a CCS. Time to quit. Oh, wait a minute, it's MAYhem. We need an ATG pass. So, ATG with no further damage, and even did a Gillette Slide, though a very shallow angled one, to finish DFS. Not a great DFS but it's definitely over the line.

So, for the first time, I've managed to land the Soyuz with only two small cuts, though they will be waiting to be reopened in the morning, and I accomplished a pretty decent shave. I'd like to give the credit to the Dorco 300 and perhaps its mild nature I've heard about helped. But I think staying on the cap was the saving factor here.

One of the interesting things about the real Soyuz 1 failure was that its parachute never deployed. The drag chute did but the main chute was a frozen chunk stuck in the compartment. That ship failed due to too much angle and too much speed. Well, and 203 other known faults with the craft. Too bad they couldn't adjust the angle and ride the cap of that thing back then. Vladimir Komarov might still be with us to talk about it.

​

 

You know if you throw it into the ocean all the fish will smell like that. An Ivory shave. I like the concept!

 

Mystery May!!
FB Day 4, Seis de Mayo, 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
​

Fatboy, day four. Another decent shave via "riding the cap." I sensed a little blade degradation today, but the blade is only scheduled for five days, so all is good. Route 66 and Gillette supplied it, alum verified it, ISZ solidified it...DFS+ on two. 83f under a clear blue sky today, still warm tonight on the prairie ahead of a storm. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a great weekend!
​

 

Let me go make another cup of Yerba, I have not read this yet.... Soyuz, maybe popcorn too!

 

I would call it a technique yes. It seems that the Marvy soap may, in fact, be a defective product, at least the the standards of this group. So, by extension, if you can take a defective product and find a way to use it that actually works, then you have found a technique to overcome its failure. If that means making a superlather with the help of a cream then so be it. Well done, I say.

 

Love that razor, all business in appearance!

 

Nice to see the mystery blade still working.

 

Calling @Mr. Freeze93 your turn as Chosen Chooser is at hand for Sunday's shave. Numbers when you can sir.

 

Four more razors to come! Initial impressions are that it's as good as any of my faves, like GSB or Voskhod or Bolzano. I think I will try the Weishi 9306 next, pretty much the opposite of a FB on 9. That will give useful comparisons.

 

I like what I'm hearing. I don't think I've seen anyone else use that blade so the second opinion is helpful.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

@NCoxSTL

Is the tab of the DE blade exposed in the Soyuz? Is that what's getting you on the ear?

 

It isn't getting me ON the ear....next to it on the jawbone. It's actually a wave in the blade caused by the gap issue.

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Marvy! Marvy! Marvy!!!!

 

Oh. So in other words, there are no issues! Haha!

 

Love that lineup!

 

@NCoxSTL


Blade-6

Razor- 13

Soap 4

Brush 7