You're obviously a very intelligent person. You knew when to ignore the crowd and stay away from the MAYhem! I'm thrilled at the month you had and look forward to seeing you continue getting fantastic shaves in June as well. Nice to see someone focus on SE shaving too. And the VDH soap - proof you don't need to spend a bunch of money to get great lather.

Come on guys we need to cost Bama Samurai some Russian steal we only need 9 more over on Neal's PIF!

May Focus Day 30:

VDH Boar Brush
Cella
H. Diamond 120
Stirling Unscented PSB
Clubman AS

Today was my first shave with this razor, and let me just say Wow! It is fantastic, at least early on. It was a very smooth one pass shave for a DFS. If this is any indication of how Japanese blades are, I may have to invest in some more.

I managed to shave with 7 different straights this month, but I won't count this last one in my evaluation.

I started with my Aust, which is a nice, nimble razor. It is easily maneuvered around and I can get consistently good shaves from it. Being hollow ground, it provides lots of audible feedback. It is also my only modern straight. I consider this my baseline razor.

The next razor was my Frederick's Celebrated, and it is quite a bit different from the Aust. It is a bit heavier grind, so it does not have as much audible feedback. I feel it is a bit smoother shaving than the Aust, and almost feels softer. I really enjoy the extra weight of the blade, which just seems to get through whiskers with very little effort.

Next was the Henry Sears and Son Queen. I am honestly not sure where this blade comes from as I have seen anywhere from Prussia to Germany to Britain. This blade is also heavier, but it is not quite as smooth as the Frederick's. Being heavier than the Aust, it also just mows through my beard. It is a great shaver just no quite as good as my Frederick's.

I then got a few shaves in with a Robeson ShurEdge, and American blade. This blade needs a little touch up on the edge, so I am going to hold off on it just yet.

A J Wiss & Sons was next, and this was a great surprise. It was a great shaver (which I got for less than $25). It was a bit lighter blade, but that didn't prevent it from cutting through my beard like nothing. A little bit more audible feedback back than other razors, which was welcome. I really noticed the hollow grind, as it definitely seems to make for a keen edge.

The last razor I will touch on was a W&B wedge. This was almost too different to compare. My experience with wedges is they don't feel quite as sharp, this one was not too different in that, but the weight of the blades seems to overcome this issue. There is almost no audible feedback on this razor, and it sounds completely different on the strop. It does give some good shaves, even if I can't seem to get quite as close with a wedge. This is the inspiration for next month, as I want to improve my technique with wedges.

It has been a great month, and I am looking forward to next month.

Nice looking Razor there!

Alright Guys, I just got to show it off because it's getting honed tonight by (Glen) gssixgun.

It's an old Antoni Tadross Straight, My first straight razor. It's not the most pristine razor out there, but I think it will be good enough for me. I still need to get a strop but hey one thing at a time. I'm very grateful to Glen for honing it. I think it's around 100 years old, because he died in 1917 at age 52!

For a cheap learning strop you can't beat Whipped Dog's poorman's strop. For better quality @Drygulch has beautiful strops that everyone raves about. (I don't have one yet).

Happy birthday!

Thank you! It is a better shaver.

Yea I've already been talking to Drygulch about a strop, just got to save up some money! I've looked at whipped dog's but even his poor mans is $29 shipped, and I can get one of Drygulch's for about $35-$36 shipped and his would be better quality! Of course I can spend much more on one of Drygulch's strops.
I just need something to get me through till I can get one of his, and yes I've been looking at alternative strops, everything from newspaper to denim.

May 31, 2016- Soap/Lather Focus

Razor: 48-49 Milord
Blade: GSB(5)
Brush: VdH Boar
Soap: Marvy

I had said there would be no shenanigans for this last day of MAYhem, but then I decided to try the Marvy soap one last time. After yesterday's success with Williams, I wondered if the same approach (wet brush, bowl lather like it owed me money) would work for Marvy. The bottom line- not really. Like the Williams, we started off with a thin lather that built to something that looked decent and started to overflow the bowl. The lather applied to the face with no issues, but was definitely dissipating by the end of the pass.

Ultimately, technique will only go so far with the Marvy soap. In the end, the only thing that really helps it is to add another soap (or cream, at least).

In the end a DFS was achieved, though part of the credit for that has to go with shaving late yesterday.

All in all, it's been an interesting month. I've definitely learned a few things about lather, developed a respect for Arko, and even learned a bit about my floppy badger brush. I'm not sure yet about a June focus, though.

Finally, my sincerest apologies go to @NCoxSTL for introducing him to the Marvy soap and brush. I never figured on the Shave Gods cursing him with those two so many times this month.

I would say I'd like to try it too, but after hearing how bad this soap performs. Not a Chance in, well you know.

Well the gods are fickle, and vicious at times apparently. Like you I declared Marvy a defective product. Can it be used in a pinch? Yes, but not in a way that would ever make it reliable and a daily use product. At least his barber poles are solid and legendary. There is a bright side to the company.

I like the looks of that razor. Great potential in a fine vintage!

Great month for you! And, you were smart enough to go completely around MAYhem. Well played, sir, well played.

Thanks I'm kind of proud of it, will be sweet to shave with a 100+ year old razor!
Be back in a while, going to go get a shower and do my last focus shave for Mayhem.

How do you feel about Route 66?

Hey a big shout out to @John Ruschmeyer for nominating me in the Memorial Day soap PIF. I have four samples on the way! I bet they're all better than Marvy.
And seriously.....thanks for the Marvy soap and brush last month. It made MAYhem better to have them, and it gave me a soap to work on. Since I'm usually trying to figure out blades it was actually fun to have something else to drive me insane for a month.

I don't want to make a final judgement on just 1 use. Based on this one use I would put in the top class of soaps. I do not think there is one soap that is better but I break them into classes by performance. My top tier soaps include QCS creams, AoS tallow, Castle Forbes, Tabac and SMN V3. The scent is very nice too.

Thank you for your bravery this month.

Tonight's shave I would like to dedicate to two people that helped me out in this thread with shaving gear. Clint64 and NCoxSTL thanks for helping a new wet shaver out! I used 2 items from each of them to do a Mayhem shave tonight on the last night!

SOTD
5/31/16

Pre: warm shower, Nivea face wash, cold water rinse, Noxzema w/tea tree oil
Razor: Gillette Fat handle Tech ( Thanks to Neal)
Blade: Ladas (Thanks to Neal)
Brush: TGN Finest in Olivewood handle (Thanks to Clint)
Soap: Soap Commander Passion (Thanks to Clint)

Post: cold water rinse, Maggard Alum block, witch hazel, Nivea sensitive cooling after shave balm

As I said I wanted to honor two people tonight by doing a Mayhem shave tonight to end up May. These two people sent me some gear when I had very little and for that I want to thank them. Before my shower I mixed in a small jar some Noxzema and about 5 drops of tea tree oil, and put the brush in to soak while I showered. When I got out I put some of the Noxzema on my face and gave it a little bit to work in. I rinsed my face off with cold water and then began to use the soap commander stick on my face. I got the brush out of the mug I let it soak in and started lathering my face until I got a nice thick lather built up. I didn't know what to expect out of the Tech and Ladas blade but it's the last day of Mayhem so I went for it. First pass riding the cap WTG, I might should have thought this threw a little bit but what the heck. I now know what it means that a blade is rough on the skin, it was sharp enough but wasn't comfortable with that razor on the first pass. I braced myself for the Second pass XTG riding the cap again making sure I lathered well. It was a bit less rough than the first pass but I wouldn't say it was comfortable. The third pass was better still and was easier on my neck than the first two passes. I rinsed my face off again and grabbed for the alum when I noticed just one little weeper but the alum took care of that. A slight burning on my neck but the rest of my face was cool. I let that dry and splashed on some witch hazel, followed by the Nivea cooling After shave, and I guess that ones in the books.
Thanks to all for having me here for the thread and to all that gave advice to help me get better shaves for this month of may!