The Feathers are good but I don't get them same millage or smoothness out of them. Besides with the Kai I can shave half drunk with my eyes closed and walk away fine, whereas with the Feather I need to watch what I am doing or its back to MAYhem.

Well I kind of miss Mayhem. Seems like my day just doesn't start right unless I know you're bleeding and cussing somewhere.

I didn't post yesterdays efforts. My day ran long and I tend to enjoy a late evening shave session. Here it is almost 24 hours later and I'm just now getting that 5 O'clock shadow feeling. As much as I enjoyed testing the B-V3 holding a straight feels right!

Working with a synthetic brush has had me face lathering rather than using my suribachi bowl. I'm OK with that. too. Anyone have opinions about their synthetic brushes & bowl lathering VS. face lathering?

I had a conversation with the owner of a nearby antique store. After I sold her several vintage wooden window sashes she mentioned Saturday there will be an outdoor / parking lot event. This is for her booth renters to show items that are too large for their spaces or just to haul in new items Garage Sale style. I haven't put my name on her waiting list to open my own booth. Still she offered to grant me a "boothless" status. Tomorrow I'll gather a truck load of odds and ends I've picked up from my various exploits. She asked me what I might be offering for sale. As my products didn't seem to conflict or overlap any of her Renters weather permitting I'll be there. I might bring a few razors I haven't used for a bit

Rest assured my blood thirsty friend their is still plenty of cussing and bleeding in the house hold. For example when my wife noticed this morning that I spent $75 on a jar of MDC... or when I was prepping dinner and went to fillet a salmon and managed to stab myself in the palm.

The jar of MDC I get. But, stabbing yourself in the palm...and you are a chef? Second rule of the kitchen escape you already? You know, the one that says don't touch the pointy ends. The first rule, of course, is don't touch the hot parts.

Yeah well my training and hours of culinary school got thrown out the window when a 40lb toddler runs full speed into your legs.

Excuses...

Thursday Shower/Shave

Shower- Noxzema facial cleaner, Dr. Bronner's All-One Hemp Citrus bar soap
Brush- RazoRock Tri-Colored
Razor- The Bunny
Blade- Schick (1)
Soap- Route 66 Barbershop Hop
Post Care- Thayers Witch Hazel with grapefruit EO and M-Bomb
Nivea Sensitive AS balm

Wow! What a fantastic shave! This was my first ever injector shave and the Bunny left me dolphin smooth. I used the Mild comb and three passes and I don't know if I've ever had a closer shave. The Route 66 as usual offered up a wonderful, slick and protective lather and The Bunny mowed through two days of growth like it was nothing. The only bad part was one small weeper on the corner of my mouth but if I have a problem, it usually shows up there. I love this razor and I'm looking forward to more shaves with it. Have a great day folks!

So you took one for the team. That's your story & you're sticking with it?

Focus.....it's all about balance.......focus..........find your zen spot. You can do it!

June Focus Day 9:

Stirling Synthetic Brush
MdC
J Baker & Co
Stirling Unscented PSB
Aqua Velva AS

My first shave with this razor. It was smooth, but not too close. I am going to rate this a SAS. I will need to some work with this razor to get it down, I think. Have a great day.

Jolly Good June!

June 10

Razor - Feather SS
Blade - (4)
Soap - Tabac
Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip
Post - Cold rinse, Alum, The Veg

Well that was a fast night. This week is speeding by for some reason. Up a bit early this morning so went ahead and knocked out the shave. Fourth day on the Kai Mild and have absolutely no complaints. With my angle down on the Feather SS it was a two pass and touch up to the baby! Nice way to go into the weekend. A little more burn from the alum, especially on the neck where I worked it down on touch up. Had a bit of grip confusion for a few seconds and nearly set down wrong for a cut but I felt the awkwardness in time to back off and reset. I think with pain sticks you have to let your instinct guide a bit. If it doesn' t feel quite right don't do it! Just back off, take a breath and start over. No dishonor in taking a mulligan.

The Veg for the big win and hopefully another huge day today. I feel lucky! It's warming up big time around here so if it's the same where you are.....stay cool!

​

If you didn't cut the toddler, I call that a win. Last time mine did that, I threw the knife at the wall, and it went straight into the drywall. Wife was not impressed, but the bundle of energy wasn't hurt.

MWF and Stirling brush focus
I have tried every water ratio I can think of from almost a paste to airy foam and have had difficulty getting this soap to perform. Today I took @NCoxSTL advice and face lathered with it. This was my best performing lather yet. Thanks Neal! I'm going to set the bowl aside for a while and see how it goes. I'm starting to wonder if this soap is picky about water hardness. I can't believe this is all operator error

Mitchell's Wool Fat
Stirling Finest Badger
Gillette Big Fellow
Gillette Rubie (2)
Alum
Fine Clean Vetiver AS

Rub the puck on your face! (even if you have to cut it out of the tub)

Last spring/summer there was a whole lot of discussion on this thread about this soap. Great reviews, etc. As usual, it tempted me into buying some. However, there was also all sorts of comments on how finicky it was and as a result much advice on how to best develop lather with it.

Being a "path of least resistance" kind of guy, I didn't want to go through all the blooming, pre-shave stuff that many were saying helped with that soap. Luckily around that time, I was chuckling about something I saw in a post on here. (which happens every day of course.) @CyanideMetal signature line was "rub the puck on your face!"

So I did that with my first use of MWF - bam! Lathered as good as any other.
Ever since then, anytime I have soap in puck form I do exactly that. I've even taken to buying DIY twist-up deodorant containers to make rub-on shave soap containers. I take the soap puck against a cheese grater and grate enough to stuff and mold into the containers for travel or use at home.

As I recall now, I think I even remember @Bama Samurai doing a 30-day focus with Williams and after all sorts of gyrations, I think he found that the rub-the-puck-on-face-method worked best.

anyway, just my two cents.
Good luck MrC!

(edit - we have no problem with water hardness here in Seattle. My folks do in NC so I can imagine that that can affect lathering.)

June 10, 2016
Focusing on my Schick Type L (L1 and L7) this month using a variety of blades.


One-day growth, one-pass shave - ATG
Near perfect shave again with this combo with just one pass!
Fourth shave with the NOS Dutch Schick. Better than the Chinese Schick last week. With a razor that’s considered “mild” by many, the shaves with the Dutch appear to bolster the theory of using a sharp blade in a mild razor.

Next week I’ll go further down the sharpness path and try a FergieFeather (a cut-to-fit AC Feather Pro blade).

Spoiler Alert - I’m saving a NOS Schick Twin blade for my final week of trials.

Cheers!
RT

Thank you Mr. Firefly. I think I will try putting the puck in a tube and doing the face rub thing. Now to look for the empty deodorant tube I threw away Wednesday.
All I'm learning from this focus is that I won't buy MWF again, even if I figure it out. Why do I need a finicky soap when soaps like Route 66, among others, explode into a thick cushiony lather with better scents?
The only reason this soap hasn't been relegated to the shower is that I'm not a quitter. I'll figure this out, dang it
Today's performance was acceptable, not outstanding. If my first shave with MWF was today, I wouldn't dislike the soap as much as I do. Tomorrow's another day and I'll keep face lathering.
Thanks again for the advice. Between you and Neal, I'm making progress.

that's a fair point you make MrC!

After this first year of all things AD, I've come to the conclusion that having achieved so much with all the "experimenting" I've done with soooo many products, the bottom line is that with so many that I really like - will I ever even have the time to get to those that I just find to be meh?

Might as well PIF them.

Heh, thanks for the brainstorm MrC - anyone want a once-used tub of Proraso Red (Sandlewood)?

Me!!!

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