OCtober 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

I have been unfocused this month but finally found some focus in my shaving life. I have allot of soaps and creams, too many, and I change everyday. While I like change I am going to stick with a soap for 4 to 5 days trying different brush, lathering techniques and in a hot scuttle. I will likely take this focus through November.

Up first is my first soap, Tabac. Actually my first was Col Conk but it was failure quickly replaced with Tabac. Today was a big boar, Omega Pro 49 and face lathering. The lather was awesome but as a four passes shaver I had to hit the puck a couple times during the shave.

Tabac produces good wet slick lather for SR shaving and it was a good match for Feon 172 Jwest. Zero irritation and I was surprised that I just missed the baby.

Irritation A+ Closeness A- Smoothness A+ Sharpness A

 

Changing things up around here. I skipped shaving this morning due to yesterday's great finish with the Fatip. I've been debating switching to night shaves in order to save some time in the mornings and to allow for better time management with the shaving stuff as well. (Almost sounds like work). So, the skip this morning gives me the opportunity to shave tonight and start following that schedule to see if it will make life easier etc. So, why not eh? I'll be shaving in a bit for OCtober with the 1918 and then moving on tomorrow night back to the Grand Blade Trials. Nothing changes except the time I'll be shaving. I know some of you are night shavers so we'll see if you are smarter than the rest of us!

 

Well that would explain why Grandma kept walking to the left and also why the refrigerator magnets kept sticking to her.

 

First shave with a Super Pro. Head still on shoulders......check. Carotid artery still sealed........check. Nose still on face........check. Two ears?.......check. WIN!

 

It's easy, have total blind luck. Works for me

 

Where do I sign up? I need to take a 6 hour drive and visit him on his next outing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Come on up!

 

I will. That would make for a nice weekend.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

One thing about stropping... It's important to get the vector right with the pressure, making sure the spine bears more force than the edge. When done correctly you'll hear some sweet sounds, and you'll feel the spine glide over the leather barely dragging the bevel. This may result in singing blades and happy shaves.

Ymmv, but probably not.

 

OCtober-een!

October 12

Grand Blade Trials - OCtober shave

Razor - 1918 Gillette Old Style
Blade - (1)
Soap - Tabac
Brush - Semogue 620
Post - Witch Hazel, Nivea

You can tell me I'm wrong, but I don't think there are many razors more aggressive than the Old Style. Mine is from 1918 and it hasn't lost a bit of its aggressive tendencies. That incredible blade exposure, those small and spaced out teeth and the feel of that thin head working its way across.....add pressure and just remove layers of skin with the beard. Every time I use this razor I'm reminded of how shaving was in the early days of the Gillette Safety razors. Better (safety wise) than a straight, but still plenty of blade feel and opportunity to draw blood.

Tabac courtesy of the Semogue 620 was very slick and cushy tonight which was good. I needed every bit of it. I focused on absolutely no pressure, just as I approached the Fatip yesterday. Let the razor do all of the work. Stay on the cap and hit that angle that keeps it from having a chance to bite. And feel and hear that reduction with each pass. Three passes, WTG, XTG, ATG and a very shallow angle Gillette Slide on the neck to finish with a BBS. No question the baby made it but he is quite irritable as well. And, as usual with this razor. Even the normally smooth Sharp Star can't stop the burn. I avoided the alum altogether in favor of the milder witch hazel. Then, Nivea original to calm it down. And yet, that burn remains to a degree and I LIKE it.......it reminds me I'm alive, and that I just did something very cool. I took a razor that was made when my Grandpa was in World War I and I used it to shave just like the first dude did 98 years ago. That's amazing.

Tomorrow it's back to the Grand Blade Trial. The Treet Falcon is up for three days. Carbon blade so we'll see how it fares. I've used it before and if memory serves wasn't overly impressed. More time for it to do its thing this time.

Speaking of the 1918 here's a blast from the past. Taken on January 5, 2015.....the fifth day of the inaugural 30 Day Thread. I had just been shaving about 2 months maybe, less than three weeks on TSD and decided to use the 1918 as my Rule razor in the setup depicted. I did the first shave as planned on January 1, then on through the 5th and then.........modified my setup by switching to the Gillette Aristocrat . As a newbie I was absolutely destroying my face with the 1918. I mean serious irritation and cuts, weepers, nicks, you name it I managed to go 5 days before throwing in the towel. I nearly called it quits, but with the Aristocrat I finished the month strong and headed forward to this very day when I can now pick up the 1918 and, yes it's still a beast, perform a BBS shave in three with nary a scar. A little Nivea and all is well. There's proof that the 30 Day Rules and Focuses work!

 

When i get it can I sing Barber of Seville?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

You can do that now if you like.

Life is a matter of taste.

Choose wisely.

 

Please tell that to my wife.





Shoot did I just post that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

File under:

Unwise Conversations

 

12 October 2016



If I must shave with DE, Fatip and Fat Boy at nine are my best tools. Two pass. Auto DFS. Veg. Killing it with no irritation on a day 5 blade. 42 and raining, the hay is in the barn and other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a terrific Tuesday!
☺

 

@NCoxSTL

But even then, all destruction was being done via Voskhod. Nothing but the best, And when it comes to best, a 1918 at high angle with a Voskhod is newbie destruction par excellence.



Play the fight song.

 

And I remember where those Voskhods I was using came from. Russia, of course, by way of Colorado.

​

 

Or Russia via Kyoto.

 

That may become my grail shave - performing a NIBS (non-irritable baby smooth shave) with the 1918.

 

The Cartel boys were just knee high to a MiG back then. So cute yet already so drunk.