January 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Green is great? Does that help?

 

Big help for me on the jaw area is to pull my cheek up, then take my blade from my chin to ear, but angling the blade at 45 degrees. Basically, a Gillette slide, but sideways.

 

Williams and Marvy - they aren't in the same drawer are they?!?!?! The chemical reaction could cause an implosion that would suck your entire house into a singularity!! RUN!!!!!

 

I was also going to suggest shave then shower. My wife has a few areas where the thought of something will make her sick, whether it happened or not. The problem isn't so much that she is exposed to something, as that she thinks about it and feels ill. It sounds like something similar might be happening at your house with shave scents. Do you have a different bathroom you can shave and shower in? Just thinking that if you can do it elsewhere, it might not trigger a reaction for her. Good luck @John Ruschmeyer, I hope you figure out a way to make you both happy. You are a good husband to try different things. When the situation isn't so raw, you might also try some floral soaps. I have a Lilly of the Valley sample from Mama Bear I would be happy to send you if you want it.

 

Golly...you have me blushing!

 

Wow. Don't read a thread for four days and it takes forever to get caught up. Continuing my soap testing. Finished one and started a new one. Will do more in depth on the soaps when I have time. Here are my last three shaves.

 

Adam @Drygulch what's under the yellow caution tape? Does that blade have a naughty etching?

 

I don't know, do you consider bullfighters naughty? It takes higher resolution to get a good picture of the gold etching on that blade.

 

Ahh, I went and looked at the previous photos again. What I took for yellow electrical tape is gold. My bad!

 

I'm on my first business trip with a straight razor kit. Didn't even bring an alternative. I'm committed
I found a great place to hang my @Drygulch strop.

 

January 9 - focus and Duke Cannon Day

Shower: Duke Cannon "Productivity" Soap in mesh soapholder
Duke Cannon 2-in-1 Menthol + Tea Tree Oil Shampoo and Conditioner
Duke Cannon Shaving Cream
Gillette Black Beauty on 3
PAL Gold Thin Hollow Ground carbon blade (6)
Muhle black synthetic brush
Alum and Thayers Witch Hazel Original

First, the short version on the shave itself: at shave 6, the old PAL blade has settled into giving very smooth, sharp shaves. One diagonal ("Gillette") pass and a bit of touchup gave a DFS+ with zero irritation. The alum had no work to do.

The gory details: I read a thread on TSD yesterday where someone couldn't get Duke Cannon shaving cream to perform. I was curious, so I pulled out my unused tube of it to try today. And then decided that if I was going to use it, I might as well go full Duke Cannon for everything else, so I pulled the soap and shampoo out too.

("Captain! I'm giving her all she's got! But the Duke Cannon crystals canna' take much more! If we go any more Duke Cannon, she'll blow!")

The "Productivity" bar is white and smells pepperminty and gives a mild tingle as you wash. The box did say it had a hint of menthol in it for a morning wakeup. It does leave you feeling minty fresh from tip to toe.

The shampoo might have some menthol in it but the overwhelming scent is tea tree. It does get the hair squeaky clean though.

I then turned to the shave. The Duke Cannon shaving cream ... worked perfectly fine for me. I put my normal amount for a cream on my brush - an amount between a large pea and a small almond in size - and whipped it in my bowl. I spent an extra minute or so longer whipping than I did using the Kaloderma cream I recently tried, but the end result was enough yogurty lather for several passes that stayed stable both on my face throughout my shave and in the bowl waiting. Cushion and glide was excellent and post shave feel was smooth and hydrated. Which isn't too surprising since the cream has aloe vera, shea butter and all the other usual good stuff in it.

Scent? Well, apparently scent in shave creams is for wusses; Duke Cannon doesn't do scents. The cream mainly has whatever scent it picks up from the aloe vera and various oils -- sort of non-descript clean, herbal, I guess.

Overall I would say Duke Cannon sent me on my way well-prepared to face the day: clean, closely shaved and wide awake. As the girl used to say in the old Irish Spring ads:. "Manly, yes, but I like it too."

Would I buy the shaving cream again? Quite possibly -- if I hadn't just done an inventory and discovered that after I finish off this full tube of Duke Cannon, I will still have 4 samples, 19 other creams and 20 soaps (counting the carton of 12 Arko sticks as 1 soap...) between me and destitution...

 

Happy Anniversary January!!

January 9

Mostly Shavettes

Razor - Fatip Piccolo
Blade - (2)
Soap - Arko
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Post - Alum

Second shave on the Racer in the Fatip to check results and get ready to switch to the shavette tomorrow. Pretty much the same result as last night. Nice smooth feel with that hint of danger and a near-BBS after two passes. Alum about the same. A bit warm, a couple of hot spots and that was it. The Magic comes out tomorrow night with the Racer shavette blade in it. As long as I don't do something stupid I predict it will also be a very nice shave. I suppose what I'm interested in mostly is the irritation level, assuming I don't just cut my throat. That would not be a good result.

Well, the Tide got beat in the 4th quarter. I'll say this for Clemson - I loved them back in the early 80's when they beat Nebraska in the Oraange Bowl. I was an Oklahoma fan back then (lived closer to them than anyone else and I was in Kansas - Kansas does not play football - well, they do but not really) and hated Nebraska. So it's hard for me to be too mad even though I'm a Bama fan. Great game and that finish........one of the best.

​

 

Great tip - I mean counting the 12 pack of Arko as 1 soap. Thanks! I just reduced my inventory by a huge amount with that trick!

 

Wow, that is hard core. I am impressed. The Dark Side on the road.

 

And just think, if a guy applied the same approach to blades - counting by brands rather than blades - a stash the size of Vegas can look halfway reasonable.

 

The call is strong

 

A Journey Down Route 66
9 January 2017

​

Long night of watching the tide get unrolled. FSU labor Day weekend! Other than that all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a great evening!
☺​

 

Maybe it's just me but somehow the idea of a housekeeper walking in and seeing a leather strap hanging in the bathroom and a straight razor on the sink might raise some other, ummmmm, interesting questions. But again, maybe it's just me.

 

Nah. It's when she walks in and sees the leather strap hanging in the bedroom next to the whip and the portable St Andrew's cross that the eyebrows really get raised...