August 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Yep, though the spirit is drug store stuff. I will use some Kroger Arctic Chill, Skin Bracer, Clubman and AV Musk.

 

Works for me!

 

I have AV, AV Musk, and Clubman. I'll probably grab some Old Spice and maybe a Brut. SWMBO has always said she likes Old Spice, I've just never gotten any. Used it when I was in High School. One of my earliest - Hai Karate! I won't be using that one, though, since it isn't available new and the vintage NOS bottles run $40 and up.

 

I'm down for SEptember, I have some injectors that haven't been getting enough love lately.I also have a couple of wedge razors waiting to be used. I'm afraid though if I use SEs for a month I may not want to go back to my DEs

Sent from my Galaxy S6 using Tapatalk

 

Sadly that was my experience. As I learned to shave with Schick G and then Straights, I started to feel like all DE was a bit mild for me. I like the ability to manipulate angle to an infinite degree. Interestingly, riding the cap is a gateway drug to Schick G. And when people master SE of any type, it's only a matter of time until they join the Darkside....

 

Just opened.

 

Thanks. Will be used for illustration later.

 

I have those as well. Florida Water from Walgreens, AquaVelva in Musk and Blue, The Veg is inexpensive but from a beauty supply store. Big Lots had Barbasol AS for a buck. This is starting to sound like my regular rotation.

 

Funny thing is...that's basically my rotation. Good enough for my grandfather, good enough for me.

 

August Focus Day 23:

Stirling Synthetic Brush
Stirling British Leather SS
Rolls Razor
Stirling Unscented PSB
Stirling British Leather AS

It was a nice shave this morning as I pulled out the Rolls Razor. It could use a fee passes on the hone before my next shave with it, but it still managed a DFS. I am about an hour post shave now, and I can detect just a bit of irritation, which I really put on the razor needing some touch up. I am considering excluding the Rolls from my den clean out, so it may get a sponsor's exemption even if it doesn't qualify before.

The Stirling British Leather seems to get better every time I use it. I really enjoy this scent, and it gives me a bit of a wake up in the morning. I hope everyone has a great day!

 

August 23, 2016- Underused razor focus

Razor: Standard 160 Goodwill (New LC-based)
Blade: German Wilkie (2)
Brush: VdH Boar
Soap: Cella

Continuing to adjust my technique and get away from excessive buffing and overshaving. The Goodwill and Wilkie make a pleasant combination and no complaints about the Cella. In the end, a very nice DFS with minimal touchup required and no irritation.

Oddly, I had to fight the siren song of my Schick J1 this morning. Tempting, but I'm probably going to do an Injector focus next month, so it can wait another week.

 

Day 9
AoS best badger brush (broken in)
Proraso Green Shaving Soap Jar
Gillette New Long Comb
Astra Superior Platinum Blade.
Alum
Pinaud Clubman Special Reserve

I'm getting great lather now out of the old badger & Prosaro green. Went for a two pass shave today 1st pass north to south second pass east to west. Completely unremarkable other than the cool menthol of the foam. No nicks, cuts or weepers. no feedback from the alum. I would call the resulting shave just barely DFS. It was my third shave on that blade. Will replace tomorrow. I shooting for a solid DFS out of my daily two pass routine.

 

August Straight Razor Focus
Today was interesting. I managed another shave without getting bit by the tip but had a couple of weepers. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I got a very nice close and comfortable shave and the weepers were small enough that the they stopped with the alum. Oh well, on with my day
TOBS Sandalwood Cream
Wolf Whiskers Brush
Otto Deutsch Hans
Alum
Thayers WH
Ogallala Bay Rum
Have fun!

 

Very good! Better then bloodletting and irritaion

 

Definitely. I'm going to continue with the same shaver and blade for 30 shaves. It's hard looking at all that beautiful hardware sitting there, but as @Bama Samurai has said, there is no sense in using all of those fine shaving tools without the skills.

 

I appreciate your confidence and kind words. I sometimes like to use the golf club conundrum to illustrate the point.

To a large degree, all else being equal, skill expressed as technique determines the outcome.

Golf clubs are a great example of the range of this effect. Is there a difference between A $300 of the rack set from a big box store and a $5000 dollar custom set? Absolutely! But that difference can only be fully brought to bear if the person swinging the club understands how to control it. I could play against a scratch golfer, using custom irons and club shafts and all that jazz, and it wouldn't matter what kind of clubs he used. He'd would achieve a far better outcome than me, simply because his relative level of experience and technical skill should allow him to achieve good results with almost any club I hand him.

When learning golf, it would be a bit much to collect club sets before being able to shoot 80 on a regular basis. Razors, albeit on a much smaller money scale, are much the same. Sticking to one club set allows the golfer to quickly adjust to a better set, and maximize the benefits inherent in the upgrade at the same time.

 

The corollary, of course, is the duffer who is constantly buying some new club or new ball, etc. in the hopes of curing his slice or adding a few more yards to his drive.

I suspect that a lot of us go through something similar in the name of chasing the perfect shave, buying different razors, blades, etc. all in the hopes of finding "the one" that makes everything right.

 

I've committed both sins. The realization was that I had delayed my own bliss by thinking switching tools was the faster way to great shaving. Some razors are definitely better than others, blades too, but those differences are not what's causing bad shaves in most cases.

 

My slice was cured when I had rotator cuff surgery. While recovering and attempting to baby my shoulder I quit swinging like a cave man trying to kill a wooly mammoth, and found the fairway more often than not. Of course I wouldn't recommend surgery just to improve your golf game.

 

This is exactly what happened with a friend of mine. He said the best thing he ever paid for related to golf was rotator cuff surgery. The best decision I ever made was to not even start down that rabbit hole. Of course now my father in law wants me to start playing so he and I can go out and play some. I am still doing all I can to get out of it!