July 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Friday/Sunday and it's a sunny one. Talking about brutal heat building this week so there's that to look forward to. Off to try to make a buck. Great "day off" shave that I'll report later. Have a great day.

 

SOTN 7/11/16
Razor: Robeson Shuredge
Strop: Drygulch Leatherworks Horsehide/ Linen
Soap: Beaver Woodwright Phillip's Fougere
Brush: Dubl Duck M2 omega boar knot
Post: Cold water, alum, Thayers'
Aftershave: Beaver Woodwright Phillip's Fougere

Two pass DFS. Did a little more touch up, and smoothed this razor out a lot. First one using this soap and aftershave. Great performance, and I love the scent.

 

Still learning how to strop SE blades. A nice DFS today.

 

7-17-16
Shave Den Sunday and time for a brief break from my 30-Day Focus for a Sunday drive to do a first impression on a new (to me) piece of gear - a first shave with one of the few (three ?) present-day injector blades - a Schick from Japan.



2-day growth, 2-pass shave.

Oh my, this could be a game changer.
I paired the blade with a mild razor - Schick Type L. I will eventually have to test with other injectors - but first impressions are very positive.

On the first pass I did one side of my face WTG, the other XTG. Reduction was very good with both, slight edge to the XTG. Each stroke was very smooth, with the first few strokes being so quiet and smooth that I had to check the magnifying mirror to see if I was actually cutting anything - yes, that smooth and quiet.

Last pass ATG had more of the usual audio feedback. It was still very smooth. I knew that this was going to turn into a great shave. Even my usual tough spots that are difficult to do ATG were near flawless.

A fantastic shave with no cuts, nicks, weepers OR need for touch-ups. I cannot believe that I waited so long to try these blades. They leap well ahead of the other present-day injector blades that I use - Schick China. And I don’t care for present day Personna’s but only tried them when I first started out with injectors. I should revisit them as well.

I’ll take a while to try the Japanese in various razors before I consider a final in-depth assessment, but this first shave was an impressive start.

Even if they do hold to form in subsequent shaves, I will not necessarily discard my Chinese and shift to Japanese because the Japanese are pricey compared to other present day injector blades. A quick cruise of Amazon / Ebay (per blade price):

Schick China $.72
Ted Pella $.65
Supply Provisioners $.55
Japanese Single $1.26
Japanese Twin Blade $1.82

Number of shaves per blade and YMMV, of course.

Cheers!
RT

 

Sunday Shave

Brush- RazoRock Tri-Colored
Razor- GEM 1912
Blade- GEM (1)
Soap- Route 66 Twisted Tweed
Post Care- Crystal Alum
Thayers Witch Hazel
Osage Rub

First shave with the GEM 1912 and it was wonderful. I hadn't shaved since Wednesday and had a lot of growth. I haven't used my Twisted Tweed in a while so I grabbed it and lathered up a beautiful bowl. My first pass was WTG, very loud with significant reduction. Considering the about of hair it had to get through there was virtually zero hesitation. Second pass I went XTG, slightly less audible but very smooth. Final pass I went ATG and ended up dolphin smooth. I caught 1 tiny weeper on my neck which the alum closed up, the alum was barely noticeable on the rest of my face. Finished up with some Thayers and a liberal dose of Osage Rub. Short of the weeper this shave was perfection. I'm going to spend some time with this razor, the fact that something so beautiful works so well just amazes me.

I'm slightly changing my focus from injectors to also using SE razors. This was a fun shave. Have a great day folks!

 

17 07 16



All is going well with my non focus month. When I finish shaving I open Doug's Den and pick out what I'll shave with the next day. It's fun that way. YMMV.

 

Well Feathers are more expensive on the DE side as well. That Japanese quality and sharpness comes at a bit of a premium. But, if they're worth it they're worth it. Sounds promising.

 

Sometimes the more focused you stay on a non-focus the more focused the results are! Glad you're having a good month!

 

In the Good Old Shavertime!

July 17

Grand Blade Trial - Day Off

Razor - 1959 Gillette Super Speed
Blade - (1)
Soap - Tabac
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Post - Alum, Nivea, The Veg

With the first two blades done and in the books it's my Sunday Day Off Shave for the Grand Blade Trial. So, after a bit of thought, I grabbed the '59 SS and a Voskhod and the Tabac. And, of course, the Veg. I also kept the Nivea on board just to help recondition and keep things in shape for next week.

Not too many shaves that work better than this setup. The Aristocrat and Voskhod is really my favorite but the Flare Tip is an awesome setup as well. Two passes to a very fine DFS and the alum was absolutely silent. And......ahhhhhhh........Tabac. I've missed you. Got all nice and smooth with the Nivea and splashed on the Veg and absolutely slayed them today. Five customers, five sales. BAM!

Tomorrow the trials resume with the Dorco Prime in the Slim. And, of course, Arko back as the soap. Hope you had a great Sunday and that it was a bit cooler than here. Wouldn't take much.

 

Which reminds me...as the North American Representative for the Cartel, why have you not yet petitioned them to manufacture an injector blade line in the Motherland?!!

 

I've asked for Artist Club blades....I'll amend the request for injectors. I think my request is due for the next round of paper pushing early next year. Russian red tape and all that.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

Great!
Thanks so much for doing that, I'm sure that due to a petition from you, the process will speed up immensely!

(Good thing I've already stockpiled a blade cache to last the next ten years!)

 

Yea that should hold you until the next round of paper requests is due.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

Monday morning focus shave

So meetings today so I needed a good shave. My Hart Steel 6/8 delivered the goods. The edge was very smooth today, 4 passes and no blood and just a tingle from the Alum. Yup back in saddle again, BBS.

Irritation A Closeness A Smoothness A Sharpness A

 

Hey, What are you doing with my Razor! Hang on BRB, sorry never mind, mine is in the bathroom. LOL

 

SRS
7/17/16

Pre: shower, Nivea face wash
SR: Antoni Tadross
Brush: TGN synthetic
Soap: WSP Formula T Barbershop
Post: cold water rinse, alum, Aqua Velva Ice Blue

Well tonight ended up being an interesting but incomplete shave. Someone around here started shooting off fireworks half way through my shave tonight. I stopped after the second pass, and thought about grabbing a DE or SE but I was close enough. First pass was really good reduction WTG as I had not shaven for about 2 days. Second pass was XTG on my cheeks and WTG on my neck again. which produced somewhere between DFS and alittle better than DFS. I ran the alum over my neck and cheeks and it was silent. I decided on splashing on the Aqua Velva and calling it a night! Maybe tomorrow will be better shave, hope everyone had a Great shave today!

 

Rockwell 6S/R5 Base Plate/ Voskhod (5)
Stirling 24mm Finest 2 Band
Mike's Natural Soaps Barber Shop
Thayers
Fine American Blend


It happens to the best of us....


You ever just have one of those shave where you get flashbacks to your 1st, 2nd, or 3rd wet shave? You know back before it was enjoyable and you were learning the ropes and butchering yourself and just flat out hating the entire process (well ok maybe not hate it but you get what I am trying to say? Well I had one of those shaves today...the whole shave wasn't horrible but the lather department was...what's a family friendly word... a shhh.... catastrophic. Now I am by no way, shape, or form a shaving guru or a highly esteemed wet shaver (you know those guys who can shave with anything and make it look easy)... I mean for Pete's sake I shaved with a razor blade stapled to two corndog sticks just a few weeks ago. I must be doing something wrong, don't know this soap well enough, or this puck just flat out doesn't like me.

With most stuff I purchase I tend to do a fair amount of research on it so I know what I am working with and what to expect. I quickly learned that a fair amount of people had troubles getting Mike's to lather but those who can lather it say that the lather and post shave feel is second to none (The Fat 2.0? This sounds familiar...) and I wrote down some tips on how most people lathered it. Well it was up in the rotation for todays shave and I was pretty excited (the scent is out of this world outstanding by the way). Bloomed it with hot water while I took a shower. After my shower I got back at the sink and poured the bloom water off the puck into my hand and onto my face. Decided to try the Dry Method (Ring out brush so it is slightly damp and load with the brush like that and slowly add water while building a lather) and I start loading the puck like it owed me money. 30 second load and all I am getting is useless, airy, bubbly lather....loading for a minute now....same less the useful lather....a minute and a half of loading and I say forget it lets see how it looks on the face. Start face lather and Mike's decides to embrace it's inner Williams and pulls a Houdini...as I move around my face lathering sides that I have lathered up the lather is breaking down and disappearing from my face. Rinsed my face and decided I would try reloading with a very wet brush.... Deja Vu.... after almost 2 minutes of loadingI had the same bubbly lather I had from loading it with the damp brush.. Went to my face to lather up and while it didn't pull a magic trick like the first one did it was not a good lather at all. After a few choice words I rinsed off and grabbed my puck of Tabac and got a great lather in seconds. Not sure what I did wrong with the Mikes but I plan to revisit it eventually.

 

I did the Shave Den Sunday thing with my dad's Schick Revere Handle and China Blades.

Here's a pic from my desk..

 

Are you sure it's still there?!