July 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

You just made GOAT status on SOTD pic.

 

Well at least he's using his new brush from the raffle. One last time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

July Focus Day 5:

Stirling Synthetic Brush
Stirling Bay Rum SS
Injector Type J
Stirling Unscented PSB
Stirling Bay Rum AS

I let my dad try out my Barbasol razor this morning, so I took the Injector with me to the gym this morning. I got the shave I have come to expect from this razor. A quick and easy two pass DFS. The Stirling Bay Rum scent is great and provided a good base for this shave. I am looking forward to a good week, and I hope everyone has a great day!

 

Just wanted to let everyone know I am alright. Shave is done, will post details later. Short summary: Technique Trumps Tools. Have we heard from Brian, Neal, or Ray this morning?

 

Tuesday Shave

Brush- RazoRock Tri-Colored
Razor- Bomb Pop
Blade- Astra (1)
Soap- Route 66 Barbershop Hop
Post Care- Styptic Pen
Thayers Witch Hazel with grapefruit EO and M-Bomb
Nivea ASB
Osage Rub

Cinco de Julio shave! It did not go as horribly as I figured it would. I have never used a pain stick and I have 1/2 of a SR shave under my belt so I didn't expect the best. I told myself from the beginning I was limiting myself to 3 cuts. I loaded/stapled the Astra to the sticks, made my lather a little wet and started WTG. I had 2 full days of growth so it was a little rough. I think this pass took a half hour, I deployed the @Norcalnewb baseball pattern to avoid dry soap. I finished with only 1 cut and it wasn't too bad. Relathered and went XTG for the second pass, this one went much better, all was going good until I got under my nose, nicked myself but again not too badly. Third pass was also XTG just in the opposite direction, I chickened out on the ATG pass. Very first stroke I laid the blade down wrong and got another cut,a little worse than the first 2 but it closed up pretty quick. I threw my 3 cut rule out the window and finished the pass with no further bloodshed. A DFS shave today, not a chance I was chasing the baby. Followed up with witch hazel, lots of Nivea and Osage Rub. I definitely had some irritation due to a high blade angle but really nothing worse than when I used cartridges.

I learned a few things today. If I can make this work,I can conquer straights. I need to go ATG to get BBS. Technique definitely trumps tools. Blade angle means everything when it comes to irritation. I also answered my mother's age old question, "If all your friends jumped off a bridge would you?". Yes mother, yes I would. Have a great day folks!

 

I'm here, but no shave yet. Day off so it's going to be a bit later.

 

Yes I would think the popsicle shave would be a good indicator of how well you might do with straight razors. If nothing else it proves you can keep a steely eyed razor man steady hand and you aren't afraid of an early death!

 

Whoo Hoo! I would call that a very successful shave. I would also like to invite you to join the dark side. If you can shave with that, you can shave with a straight! I'm glad we didn't jump off the bridge alone!

 

Can I assume the pic will make this year's calendar then?

 

Nice write up. If you can do this, you will do fine with a straight.

 

Thank you Adam, I actually quite enjoyed it!

 

Thank you!

 

7/5/16 SOTD
Razor: Popsicle Sticks and staples
Blade: Rapira Swedish Supersteel
Brush: Omega Boar in a Dubl Duck M-2 handle
Soap: Route 66 Sweeny Todd
Post: Cold Water, Alum, Thayers’
Aftershave: Stephan Island Lime with stupid amounts of M-Bomb

So last night I put my razor together. I did use a hammer and an anvil to snug up the staples, because I wanted the blade as firmly held as possible. It’s one thing to dare everyone to use one of these bad boys, and another thing entirely to look at the one you just made, and question your level of commitment to the joke. Viva la Cinco de Julio!

I really didn’t do anything other than my normal prep. I laughed when I realized Sweeny Todd was up in the rotation. Made a wet lather, and picked up the popsicle sticks. One thing I would like to point out, this contraption weighed nothing. I think the heaviest part of my razor was the joke on the sticks. (Ba-dum-tiss.) I used the same grips I use for a pain stick, and a very light touch. Did my first pass, N/S which is mostly WTG. Found myself pushing down on the top of the sticks to get the blade to move, as the weight wasn’t enough to drive the razor. Lots of skin stretching and a very light touch. Just wiped the lather away. I kept the angle very shallow, about 10-15 degrees. Time for the one pass was about five minutes. As I was rinsing my face, I started laughing. My wife, whom I had shown the contraption I was shaving with earlier, came in to check on me to make sure I wasn’t bleeding out. I had a CCS/DFS shave on one pass, with one slight cut on my neck where the corner of the blade bit me. Doing the WTG pass, the blade didn’t flex any worse than in a DE. I added a little more water to my lather, and prepared for the next pass. My initial plan was to shave XTG for the second pass, and skip ATG. I had such a good first pass, I decided to go for ATG. What’s the worst that could happen?

Kept the very shallow angle, and used half inch long strokes. Switched hands in my normal manner. Left side of the neck, good. Right side of the neck, good. Left cheek, good. Right cheek, good. Chin. Hmm. The whiskers on my chin go in all directions, and are the most course. Normally I do three-four passes on my chin. Today, I used alum on my finger tips to get a good grip and really stretch the skin, kept the angle low, and did short strokes. These whiskers were enough to flex the blade quite a bit. I increased the angle to about 20 degrees. Short strokes, and done! Rinsed my face, and realized I had about nine small weepers, directly under my chin. One small shallow cut from the corner of the blade on the left side of my neck, and one piece of scar tissue removed and bleeding on my jaw. Did a second rinse, and put the alum on. Other than directly under my chin, and the two cuts, it wasn’t bad. Honestly, I have torn up my face a lot worse with DE razors. Splashed on the Thayers’ witch-hazel, and realized I wouldn’t even need a styptic pencil. Grabbed my overly mentholated Stephan’s Island Lime, and got my menthol on. Stephan’s is pretty much put straight alcohol, and it burns even after a good shave. It had some bite where all the weepers were. Thoroughly washed my hands, and cleaned up as my face went numb. I won’t call this shave a BBS, but it’s a pretty good DFS. I am honestly surprised at how well it went.

 

This morning's shave was a little anticlimactic. In other words, those of you that laugh @Mr. Freeze93 will be disappointed
I lathered up with Arko and did my first pass. The first thing I noticed was that there was definitely audible feedback. I kept just enough angle to hear the whiskers being cut and did a WTG pass. I used both hands, as I have learned to do with straights, and finished the first pass with no blood at all.
I lathered up again and did an XTG pass. This time around I got a very small weeper when trimming around my goatee.
At this point, I was DFS and decided to hang it up.
The biggest takeaway from this shave is that twelve months of focus threads has helped my technique enough that I am capable of shaving with something this crude.
A cold water rinse and some alum was all I needed to stop the minor weeper. I added some Thayers and then hit it with the Snake Bite, which was no more painful than usual.
SOTD
Arko
Oscar11 Brush
Outshine Western Grind Kamisori with black wrapped handle
Alum
Fine Snake Bite AS
Have a wonderful Tuesday!

 

Three of us with success now! 30 Day Crew rocks!

 

I'm going to shift up my focus for the rest of July. I recently took delivery of a Challenge Pack of http://elis-extracts.com/ head shaving creams. I used it for a head shave this morning and decided to go ahead and use it for my face as well. The head shaving cream is definitely different than anything that needs a brush. I take a large dollop and rub it around on my hands then rub it in to my wet scalp stubble. I added a little more water to my hands to get it slicker and used my Trac II to mow down 3 days of stubble. After 1 pass I felt a few strips and stubble that I missed so rubbed on some more cream and finished. Smooth and clean and cool. After the head shave I went ahead and rubbed some onto my face and used my Blackbird to take down the stubble. 2 passes and its as good as any shave I have. I'm not sure that this brushless cream is as slick or as cushioning as my lathers with a brush but it seems to get the job done. I'll continue using the creams for the rest of the month and let you all know how they are working. The scent I used this morning is Bahama. Pics to come.

 

This is definitely the place to hang out!