OCtober 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Yes had a very near BBS shave today Brian.

 

Thank you

 

Tom you are doing great for just 12 shaves in, expect 90-100 to for consistently excellent shaves. You will experience big jumps in the quality of your shaves along your way to the mythical 100th shave.

 

Yes I m very happy with my progress. I figure it will be many more than 100. That is fine by me. I can see there are so many things to learn.

Tom


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'm just giving you a hard time. Your pictures this week have been stunning, and I am enjoying them a lot.

 

Soviet Razor- Raketa. Actually more of a Soviet Letter Opener. Made post 1972 of soft steel, this razor wouldn’t hold an edge and had to be touched up four times during a two pass shave. On the plus side I got to use my Great,Great Grandfather's barbers horn with lather.

 

OCtober Distraction - it's so shiny!

Cella and B-400 Tuxedo
MÜHLE R89G / Voskhod
Alum and Canoe AS


While trying to decide which soap for today's shave I kept seeing that big shiny new cap looking at me. So I choose the Cella and the Reproduction 400 Tom @twhite crafted, lathered up, and took a Russian blade for a face tour in a German razor. It may be considered mild, but with the regular three passes, and a little clean up I like the results. The R89 Grande could be my heaviest DE, it's certainly the latest manufactured, and it has a flawless chrome finish. Alum was warm on my neck where I went back for that fourth pass. Applied Canoe AS and knew I'd gotten smooth all over.
Counting down the last 1/3 of this month but I haven't heard plans for next. Surely it won't be NoShavember?

 

OCtober-een!

October 21

Grand Blade Trials
Razor - 1962 (H1) Gillette Slim (2)
Blade -
Soap - Arko
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Post - Alum

The Grand Blade Trial moves to a new Gillette blade discovered at Walgreen. A few on the boards have tried them and they have gotten pretty much universal praise. The above picture is taken from Gillette's website where they are promoting this blade. Whaaattt?!?!?!?! Yes, Gillette is promoting this blade so they apparently have decided to do something to attract the traditional shaving movement and try to recapture some market share.

The blade comes in a tuck of 3, and the price when I purchased them was $7.69 for three tucks so 9 total blades. Others have paid more, a few I've seen were less. There's also information showing up that CVS is carrying the blade in some locations as is Walgreens, and perhaps a few others. So it's a locally sourced option that may become universal.

The blade is manufactured in Brazil. Surprised me but didn't worry me as I've tried Gillettes from Vietnam and Thailand that were very high quality. They do appear to protect their reputation through quality control wherever they're made.

First shave on the mild Slim was more or less what I expected. It's a very nice DFS after three. The blade is sharp, but not as sharp as some, and very smooth. I expect that tomorrow on 6 it will shine. And 9 will probably be a great shave too. Whichever setting it does best on I plan to go back to on the 4th day and keep shaving with it to determine how many days it will last. Some have reported over a week. I'm just curious about longevity. If you pay what I did for the blade and only get three shaves per blade the cost per shave is 28 cents. A Voskhod, shipped from Russia, is 3 cents per shave if you use it three times. So, in order to compete in price this one would need to go 28 shaves. I don't expect that many but I would like to see how economical they are as a local choice. And, comparing them to the Generic Personnas they are sold next to in Walgreens would be a good bit of data too as far as performance and cost.

Hope your weekend is off to a great start! I'll be posting a few notes about NOVember in a bit so you can look forward to that.....or grit your teeth and swear NOT AGAIN!!

Still considering a Russian themed Halloween? This might work though the method for checking out the fake gun.....wait....it's not a fake?!?!?!

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20 October 2016



Fatip Grande
Gillette Silver Blue
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Arko!!!!!
Alum
Pinaud Lilac Vegetal



Aggressive. Efficient. Still keeping the faith. Alum was cool and the face was smooth. Riding the cap is the best approach for this razor, as it's pretty high on the aggressive scale. Frost finally set in on the prairie this week. It was the end of a fabulous season. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a great weekend!
☺

 

Good photo Adam. Have a good weekend.

 

October 22, 2016
Wolfman WR-01 OC with Triad SS
Feather (2)
Doug Korn DK7 with Druida Manchurian
Route 66 Rum Runner
Witch Hazel
Captain’s Choice Bay Rum

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After reading description of Route 66 Rum Runner by @Douglas Carey late yesterday, I decided to pull it out of the cabinet and give it a go this morning. The performance of Route 66 is top notch and Rum Runner is no exception. The scent reminds me a wonderful hot rum cocktail which is perfect for a cool college football Saturday morning. With a wonderful slick lather, I went with a traditional 3 pass shave was very close to a perfect BBS. A few touch ups later and I am happy to report the baby is caught. A cold water rinse followed by witch hazel with menthol left my face feeling smooth and fantastic. I finished off the shave with a splash of Captain's Choice Bay Rum with menthol. I hope everyone has a fantastic Saturday.

 

SOTD October 22, 2016

Blade: Chinese Schick
Razor: Schick L1 injector
Brush: Semogue 1520 boar
Lather: Stirling Barbershop
Post: Witch hazel splash, Mennen Skin Bracer, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, XTG

What more to say? Stirling continues to provide great lather for a nice shave. I really enjoy the Schick L1. Skin Bracer followed the witch hazel today as a little change-up from the Stirling aftershave. Two passes and I'm feeling smooth.

Have a great day!

 

Saturday OCtober 22, 2016

Simpson M-7 Manchurian
Savonniere du Bon Berger - Cedar Mandarin
Gillette Aristocrat
Personna 74 #18
Fine L'Orange


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Jim, I've been AWOL for a few days to my work schedule. I hope you are well! I have a lot of catching up also.

 

Competing with Neal, eh?

 

Well he'll have to do better than that. I can do one shave with a Russian straight and double that. Actually, I do have one major scar from abdominal surgery. Starts about an inch below the breastbone and extends to the belt line. 25 staples in that one when I woke up. Surgeon had said he'd make a 4" incision. I think 11" is closer to reality. But, as we so often like to say......chicks dig scars!

 

Good morning, Neal. I'm scarred mostly from the neck up. Big scars. Very big. Only one scar from surgery is, however, visible.

 

It's definitely a pleasant surprise from Gillette, though their idea of promotion is a bit strange. I'm not sure of your experience, but trying to find the page for the Platinum Plus on their website is a definite challenge.

I like the bullet points on the image, too. It looks like they couldn't remember how to sell a DE blade in the US anymore so they pulled some ad copy from the 50's. (Designed for wet environments???? I would certainly hope so. And what shaver in 2016 would even consider the idea of sharpening a blade?)

Walgreens' pricing seems to be very much a localized thing. I think the pack I bought was $5.99 (in Central NJ), but I've seen some variance even between local stores. Their own Personna blades also vary by location.

It surprises me more in that the actual blade packaging doesn't really seem suited to the US market. The Brazil plant has apparently been in operation for years, though, so this is probably a blade originally intended for something like the Mexican market and comes to us by way of NAFTA.

I thought you would like them.

It would be interesting to see a price/performance comparison to the Personna. The problem is, again, the price variances between Walgreens locations on both blades, particularly when you factor in that the generic Personna blades can often be had for much less at the supermarket. Still, even with the extra price, I suspect they are a much nicer blade than the VdH. Hopefully, Gillette will eventually get this blade out into more locations.