July 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Wednesday Shave

Brush- RazoRock Tri-Colored
Razor- Schick Fashion Razor aka the Hussy
Blade- Schick (1)
Soap- Stirling Barbershop
Post Care- Crystal Alum
Thayers Witch Hazel
Osage Rub
Bombed Florida Water

So so shave today. The highlights were the Stirling and the finish. It was my first try with the Hussy and while I'm completely smooth there was a lot of irritation. The grip was a little awkward at first but rather easy to find the angle. This razor is very light weight so I had to keep reminding myself not to use pressure. I'm not sure if that was the reason for the irritation or maybe I ruined the blade inserting it. I'll try a new blade next time to make sure. This razor does all angles well and it was easy switching to my left hand. I used two fingers with a firm grip and it followed all of the contours of my face. If it wasn't for the irritation it would have been a phenomenal shave. The alum burned like crazy, I almost reached for my Nivea balm but doubled down and grabbed the Osage Rub. A nice burn to seal everything up. The highlight was right when the burn/chill of the Osage Rub was at its peak I hit it with my bombed Florida Water. What a great feeling, lots of cold and at least I smell purdy. Have a great day folks!

 

SOTD July 20th


Merkur 34C
Baili Platinum Green
Stirling Executive Man
Satin tip the Purest

The Blade trials

I started this shave with a lot of trepidation fearing the worst from the Baili, I even had my G1 standing by at the ready. I'm happy to report that the shave was not nearly as bad as I had feared and I even managed to finish with the Baili. On the first couple of strokes I could tell that this blade is not sharp, noticed some tugging where there normally is none. Added a little bit of G-slide angle to the stroke and Ah, now its cutting more comfortably. A generous bit of buffing on the last pass and I was able to walk away with a very decent DFS. The alum was mostly quiet which was a nice surprise considering the buffing and as always the post shave feel of Stirling Soaps is amazing. My face feels smooth and hydrated and I am a happy shaver. Once again technique saves the day. Riding the cap + G-slide, now that is a powerful tool! One and done for the Baili, though not as bad as I expected it still did not rise to the level of something that I would want to use again. Have a great day my friends!

 

Focus free focus month.
Route 66 Sweeney Todd
Stirling Finest Badger
Millikin Stub Tail
Alum
Thayers WH
Fine Fresh Vetiver AS
My first shave with this 210 year old beauty and it was a great shave. Two pass DFS.
It was fun thinking about the history of this razor while using it. I wonder how it made it from Dublin Ireland in about 1805 to a Sacramento Antiques Fair in 2016? How many owners in that time? How much blood drawn?
This one is a keeper.

 

In the Good Old Shavertime!

July 20

Grand Blade Trial

Razor - 1962 (H1) Gillette Slim (9)
Blade - (3)
Soap - Arko
Brush - Vie Long 12601
Post - Alum, The Veg

Final day on the Dorco Prime and that is a good thing. I will have to say that the shaves with this blade have not been horrible. Not even bad, really. More just "meh" shaves. Nothing special but they tend to get the job done.

Today with the Slim wide open I felt basically the same thing as the ST-300. And, I got good reduction and did actually finish three passes with a BBS. I also had a lot of irritation, generally all over the neck but also the face and a few really hot spots with the alum around the goatee. I also noticed near cuts on both cheekbones. A sharper blade would have opened me up.

The shave was smooth enough, but again just not fantastic feeling. At least it did achieve the BBS even if it was at the expense of a bit of comfort.

Tomorrow - the Zorrik Stainless Steel. A blade I've never tried and have found only bad reviews on. We'll see.

​

 

July 3/3 Brush Focus

Arko & C.O.Bigelow / Suribachi bowl
TBS Synthetic brush
Gillette '59 195 @7, Israeli generic - Personna Red
Alum, AquaVelva Ice Blue & Cremo Moisturizer


Spent 10 days each visiting an Omega #248 & a Vulfix 660S. Today I got back to my newest brush. I must say I enjoy this particular synthetic. New-to-me handles may show up, but I'll be shopping for similar knots when I do any restores. That Rubberset 400 just thought it was going to get boar bristles.
A nice mix of Arko and C.O.B. for the start of a cooling shave. Thought I'd revisit Kroger's store brand Personna Red's since I've upped my FatBoy game. The shave wasn't as comfortable as a Voskhod, but plenty smooth on the finish. The Russian Cartel will still get my 100 blade purchase, but BigK works for the pinch hitter. One nice no blood nick on my chin followed by an overall low key chorus from the alum. After a chill down from the Ice Blue AS, I added a touch of moisturizer. Arko is an efficient soap and can be a little drying.
Next on my agenda; It's chainsaw time! A small mulberry encroaching on the neighbors garage needs to come down. Another neighbor has a fair sized pecan limb that fell during a recent storm. I've been saving pieces of the hardwoods & thinking @Jayaruh type thoughts.

 

Rockwell 6S/ Stainless Steel/ Voskhod (3)
Semogue 620
The Fat
Thayers
The Veg


Overall a great effortless BBS shave today. The Fat and The Veg are a perfect pair. Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday.

 

So what is the plan if the blade turns out to be awful? will you still perform 3 shaves with it ?

 

That's the plan, in order to see if aggressiveness changes it. I'm not doing any of the blades I already know are horrid. But for the unknown I'll give them the best shot to prove something.

Having said that, if they are Flying Eagle or Tiger bad I reserve the right to disqualify them and move on.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

It's going to be a No Shave day for me. The kids were busy with activities at the camp, so my bride and I got a little free time to do lunch and some shopping (not my idea) in Tyler. I took the ceu from my wife and skipped the shave after my shower this morning.

 

Today I tried out my new Ikon X3 Slant. I loaded up a new Gillette Silver Blue, lathered up with Soap Commander Purpose, using my Stirling Kong brush. I did three passes WTG XTG ATG. The razor is well built, nice fit and finish especially for the price point. The blade loaded with no alignment issues. Oddly the baseplate has small close scalloping on one bar and deeper, wider scalloping on the other. I'm not sure if this was designed to offer a different shaving feel, but I couldn't tell the difference between either side. I do like the feature that the blade tabs are completely enclosed. I have been poked and scratched by some razor designs. Overall I find this razor to be very mild, I don't think I could nick myself if I tried, at least with the GSB.. At first I thought it would wind up being too mild, but as it turns out, it's incredibly efficient. Usually after a 3 pass shave I have to do a good bit of touch up to get a BBS shave, but this time the touch up was very minimal. I did a cold rinse and applied the alum block and there was only a light tingle. I splashed on a little Witch Hazel and Aloe, as I do after all shaves, and when it had dried I applied some Myrsol Blue. It's been an hour now and I think this is one of the better shaves I've had. I think it might even be better than the shave I get from my ATT slant. This will definitely be a regular in my rotation.

 

July 2016 Blade Focus Bigfoot Focus

July 20

Razor: Bigfoot Shaves/Baili
Blade: GSB
Brush: VDH Boar
Soap: Stirling MITA
Post: Cold water rinse, Alum block


Well, my focus for the month took a turn when my L6 died, so I have decided to focus the rest of the month on the equipment that came in my recent Bigfoot Shaves acquisition. The razor and blades appear to be Baili branded with the Bigfoot shaves logo etc. This morning I decided to take the razor for a turn. I chickened out on using it for the first time with both the razor and blades included in the package and instead went with the GSB that I know and love.

The razor was a pleasant surprise. It has good weight to it, very similar to my Gillette Executive (a gold fat boy). The weight is also balanced very similar to the Executive so it was easy to use and allow it to do the work for me. The handle is slightly longer than the Executive, but not much. The knurling on the handle is nice and does not hurt when gripped. It also does seem to be effective and not slipping while holding the handle. My main concern was quality control. Quality control and whether the razor would hold the blade straight and even on both sides. Well, mine came with a random small piece of plastic in the head which kept it from closing properly and completely. I removed it and everything worked as it should. No idea where or how the plastic got there, but it was not a major hurdle. Fortunately, everything else worked as it should. The blade is held tight and straight when the TTO is closed. It also appeared to have even exposure on both sides.



During the shave, the mantra of "ride the cap" stayed in my head and worked wonderfully with this razor. I stayed on the cap and began the shave going WTG on the cheeks and XTG on the chin and neck as usual for my first pass. As I brought the razor down my right cheek, I could tell I was really using it just like I would the Executive with the angle and all. The first pass was very nice. Had good reduction and no irritation. The razor is mild but not ridiculously mild. I would give it a 4 or thereabouts on the Executive. After completing my ATG pass I felt around. It did a pretty good job. There was definitely some touch up to be done, but nothing terrible. I had to do some work on the chin and around my Adam's apple, my two trouble sports anyway. I give the shave a DFS, mainly because my chin never really got smooth. The alum was mostly quiet except for a tinge along the chin. All in all a good shave and I am sure a complete disappointment to @NCoxSTL.

Tomorrow I will probably try the razor with the included blades and see how things go. That could get much more interesting.

 

Nice comparison pic of the razors side by side. You can definitely see the lack of quality in the Baili but, just like the 3 piece Rimei, it works! Can't complain about that. Using a GSB for the first run instead of the included blade will disqualify you from using your man card for the rest of the day. Just don't let it happen again or we may have to impose a longer suspension on you.

 

This month I have also begun using cold water exclusively for my shaves. I really like it for everything, and have even gotten where I don't mind using cold to clean the razor of the soap residue. The cold water is really nice in Columbia where the temperature for my night shaves can still be 90+ outside. The morning shaves are usually not so bad with temperatures of only 85-88 usually. Either way, the cold water shaves are definitely here to stay during the summer months.

 

My common sense prevailed over my sense of "what's the worst that could happen." I will turn in my man card for today, but since I plan to try to Baili blade in the Baili razor tomorrow I assume it will be returned upon survival of the shave.

 

Unless your screams of agony are too high pitched, yes .

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

Nicely done!! Proving Technique Trumps Tools yet again! I'm thinking the Blue is the worst of the two Baili blades but I know neither of them inspired me to pick them up ever again. In fact, they aren't on my list of 109 for the Grand Blade Trial. Not many Chinese blades made the list.

 

SOTD
7/20/16

Pre: shower, Nivea Face wash
Razor: GEM Featherweight
Blade: Gem/Persona SE
Brush: VDH Badger
Soap: Haslinger
Post: Cold water rinse, alum, witch hazel, The Veg

I was given the other day a new brush to try, a Van Der Hagen Badger. It seemed pretty nice at fist glance but I noticed it was pretty soft. Once I soaked it to get it ready I noticed it was extremely floppy, so I grabbed an old hair band and tried to put around the base where the knot meets the handle. It improved it a little, but not to my liking. I went ahead and loaded the brush and it had a hard time loading soap. I spent two to three times longer trying to load it than I do any of my other brushes. I finally got it and tried to lather my face like I normally do but it was a no go. It was just too floppy to do it, I had to paint on the lather and it didn't hold enough for additional passes. First pass after fighting to get lathered was WTG and despite the problems lathering I got really good reduction. oh I failed to mention this was two days growth, I fell asleep last night before I had a chance to shave. Second pass was XTG and again getting really good reduction, at that point I was almost BBS. I decided to go ahead and see if I could catch it tonight, it was going so well. Third pass was ATG and it finished it off great I was dolphin smooth with some minor irritation on my neck as was told by the alum. I rinsed my face off again and rubbed on some witch hazel and let it dry before grabbing the Veg. The veg let me know where I had gotten some irritation but it wasn't bad. I cleaned everything up and called it a good shave. I hope everyone had a Great shave today, and well catch you tomorrow! I may get a different knot and replace it in the handle.

 

As you may have noticed I'm definitely more of a face latherer than mug. I bought an Old Spice mug a year or so ago and somewhere along the way it got commandeered by SWMBO for her use. She uses Arko for her shaves along with a '65 Lady Gillette, her birth year. So, my mug became her mug and I didn't think much of it. I have my "N" mug that I won in a PIF in March 2015 that I use to soak my brushes pre-shave. Well, I decided I'd like a mug of my own so went searching on the bay and Etsy to see what was around and not too expensive. Found this that I think will be a nice addition to my stuff.......



A Seaforth Heather 'n Fern mug. The graphics are a bit worn but this is from the '50's, so a perfect addition to my vintage themed den. I also ordered a Burma Shave Mug with logo but I'm thinking that will actually become my coffee cup.

 

July Leopard Blade Trials
Cartel Week Continued



Great shave, but, it's still Cartel Week. Packing to head to AL, TN, and KY solo for 8 days. Family and friend stuff. Will continue the trial on the road. Maybe not daily, but it goes on. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a great evening!

 

Having a Cartel week makes it tough to have a bad shave.