July 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

I just completed head shave #6 with the Eli's Extracts Bahama cream I'm learning to rub it onto a wet scalp and then add a little water to my hands to slick it up nice. The Trac II razor is certainly getting the job done. I changed up my passes a bit from the normal 2 passes front to back and made the second pass a little more like from bottom to top to get a little more stubble in some of the creases and wrinkles on the back of my skull.

 

No Focus Focus
I had one of my best shaves in a long time today. I grabbed my Red Tip and one of my favorite blades and proceeded to have a very pleasant BBS shave. I forgot how much I like the Red Tip. Have a great day!
Mystery Soap Sample
Doug Korn Brush
Gillette Red Tip
Gillette Silver Blue (1)
Alum
Thayers WH
Fine American Blend AS

 

July 13, 2016

July Focus on two non-Schick injectors:

• PAL InjectoMatic
• Personna Floating Head

Razor: PAL InjectoMatic
Blade: Schick China (3)

One-day growth, two-pass shave - WTG, ATG

Probably only needed a one-pass shave today but still looking to get consistent with the optimum angle, so I added the WTG pass.

Today’s shave was a very good shave, one might say near-BBS without any touch-ups - just the two passes.

I will move to another blade type tomorrow. Perhaps a Dutch Schick. Friday I will do the same with the Personna FH. Another week of getting more familiar with both razors next week. I will then alternate razors each day of the last week of the month for side-by-side comparisons.

Cheers!
RT

 

July 2016 Blade Focus

July 11-12

Razor: Lord L6
Blade: Feather
Brush: VDH Boar
Soap: Stirling MITA
Post: Cold water rinse, Alum block

That last two shaves called for a very sharp blade after I used what, at least for me, seemed to be a very dull Dorco 300 blade. Of course the YMMV aspect is clearly on display as @Linuxguile enjoyed his use of the same blade.

The feather has never been accused of being a dull blade. It is without a doubt one of the sharpest blades and for the past two shaves has paired wonderfully with the L6. The first shave with the feather was not the smoothest shave I have ever had but it was a very good DFS near BBS shave.

Last night's shave found the blade smoother, as frequently is noticed with the feather blades, and my shave ended as a clear BBS. The alum was completely quiet. The last bit of my veg sample produced nary a whimper. Fortunately for me my wife approves of the veg so it is on the list of aftershaves to pick up in the near future along with several Fine aftershaves.

I think I may have to try this razor with the Bolzano superinox blades next. I found the Bolzano to be as sharp as a feather, but so very, very smooth right from the start. Will be interesting to compare the two one right after the other.

Looking forward to seeing how the feather does either tonight or tomorrow for shave 3.

 

The ST-300 will by no means unseat any of my top 5. But it doesn't fall into the category a bad blade either. I'd pick the Dorco over a Shark or Gillette Rubie any day.

Sent from my Galaxy S6 using Tapatalk

 

I love to see how different folks rank their preferences of the different scents! Variety is the spice of life

 

Wednesday Shave

Brush- RazoRock Tri-Colored
Razor- GEM MicroMatic
Blade- GEM (1)
Soap- Stirling Barbershop
Post Care- Crystal Alum
Thayers Witch Hazel
Bombed Florida Water

Oh no! I've fallen down yet another rabbit hole. @Linuxguile generously sent me the MicroMatic when I expressed an interest in trying a SE. I bought some GEM blades today and gave it a go. First, this razor has a lot of weight to it but it feels balanced in my hand. I had a few days growth to get through. I lathered the Stirling, love this soap, and made my first pass WTG. Very audible with significant reduction. It took me a few swipes to find the angle but there was zero tugging, I made sure to follow my friend Rob's advice and used very little pressure. Second pass was XTG, despite the large head it's maneuverable and I had a DFS. My third pass was ATG with zero hesitation by the razor, very smooth through my trouble spots. I don't know if I've ever had a closer shave. There was a little feedback from the alum but it settled quickly. I finished with Thayers and bombed Florida Water. I'm going to pay extra attention to my pressure next time but I'm very happy with the results. Have a great day folks!

 

Great photo brother! I need to get my self one of those razors.

 

I know it's only 1 shave with it but what a shave! Highly recommend it!

 

Very nice, glad it worked out for you!

Sent from my Galaxy S6 using Tapatalk

 

And down the rabbit hole goes another!
Good luck Alice!



Way to go Hare Linuxguile the Enabler!

 

In the Good Old Shavertime!

July 13

Grand Blade Trial

Razor - H1 Gillette Slim(9)
Blade - (3)
Soap - Arko
Brush - Vie-Long 12061
Post - Alum, Nivea, The Veg

Final day for the Sharp Star and we open the Slim all the way to 9. That makes the gap 0.45" and boys and girls that's noticeable. From the first day at mild, which produced an ok shave but nothing spectacular, the second day at mid-range and today.....this was by far the most uncomfortable of the three. That doesn't mean it was horrible, but yeah, it's aggressive at that setting and with this blade.

The first pass did remove a LOT of stubble. I will say that. Very effective at that gap but also a bit rough. You CAN feel the blade. I tried riding the cap a bit more than I have the first two days and that did help but didn't totally eliminate the feeling that disaster might be afoot.

Second pass was the final pass as I achieved a high level DFS with that setting but also got 4 nice weepers out of it on my neck. Yep, that was enough of that. High DFS and a little blood, that should end a shave.

Just to make sure it wasn't the blade dying on the third use that caused the harshness I did dial back to 2 again and did a bit of ATG and clean up. Smooth, no issues, and felt just like the first day. It was the aggressiveness of the razor that caused it.

Short conclusion - Sharp Star is an EXCELLENT blade. It may not work as well with aggressive razors so you might exercise some caution there, but again a different head geometry or slightly different angle could change that result. Tomorrow it's the Dorco ST-300 for its first trip through the Grand Blade Trial. I don't have high expectations but I may be surprised.

​

 

Blade Palooza, Sharp Star day 2
As I said I usually shave every other day, so my day 2 falls on Neal's day 3 and I'll do day 3 on Friday. So today was the Slim set on 6, and I didn't have any of the problems Neal had. I did a 3 pass shave, and it felt so good I decided to chase the baby. Did some blade buffing, J-hooking, and Gillette sliding. Went over some trouble spots multiple times, and ended up with a nice BBS. I did a cold water rinse and grabbed the alum and....crickets.... Nothing, Nada, Zip. At least for me, setting 6 is smooth and comfortable. Friday will be the test at setting 9

 

Rockwell 6S/ R6 Base Plate/Ladas (5)
Whipped Dog 30mm High Mountain
MdC
Thayers Lavender
The Veg



Went with the number 6 plate today (Most aggressive of the 6 plates 1-6). Holy efficiency batman!!! 1 pass plus minor touch up not ever being a half a pass and I am BBS. Determined that the 6 plate will be perfect on days where I have more then a 24 hour beard. On to plate 3 tomorrow and that will mark off me trying each plate. Going to usher in the closing shave with The Fat and The Veg. Stay tuned.

Here's the blade gap info and what not on each plate. I am neither smart nor understand any of the measurements so not sure what the 6 plate would be similar too in another razor but here they are.


R1: 0.008" (0.20 mm)
R2: 0.014” (0.35 mm)
R3: 0.019” (0.48 mm)
R4: 0.024” (0.61 mm)
R5: 0.027” (0.69 mm)
R6: 0.031” (0.79 mm)

 

Enabling after one shave! I love it.

 

He's coming along nicely isn't he?

 

The Sharp Star on 6 is a very fine shave. Maybe one of the best I've had. Glad you got the same as I did yesterday! Here's to hoping the higher setting works better than it did for me!

 

July Leopard Blade Trials
Cartel Week, Sharp Star, half two (1)



Ah yes, half two seemed much smoother than half one, leading me to believe that I may have damaged the first edge loading or breaking it in two. Two passes, some quiet alum, followed by the life affirming experience we call the Veg, and I was feeling like this:

Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a great Thursday!
​

 

The R6 gap falls between a Muhle R89 (also the EJ DE89L) and the Gillette Adjustable on 5. They are .o30 and .032 respectively. Honestly, the R1, R2 and R3 all have smaller gaps than the Schick Krona which is one of the mildest I've ever used. The only thing that matches up that I know of is the Merkur Progress at setting 1 which is 0.015.

Those gaps on the Rockwell are incredibly small in the first three. Clearly something else is at work for those who like them. Head geometry perhaps. The fact that R6 works so well is because it actually is in the range of most razors I would consider just slightly aggressive. Well, the DE89l I've always considered "mild but not as mild as a Super Speed".