January 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

I'm in the South. Everything is fried.

 

That picture looks a lot better than winter in the Lou at the moment. You have snow and sun. Ours is more.....


Well, maybe not quite that bad yet but we have a definite glaze on with more on the way, so they say.

 

Including Snickers bars.

 

Face lathering will improve the consistency but you're well on your way. Nice job!

 

Whiskey bottles fly in Canada?!

 

That's a good thing for us, The Chosen. Imagine the price would go up as the supply tightened if everybody wanted our Heroic Veg.

 

Musette bag.

 

Musette bag!

 

Another round with the Schick F yesterday. Still doing a beta test on a cream. I like how mild this razor is. Going to go with a straight tomorrow. Looking forward to freezing rain with an inch accumulation forecast over the weekend.

 

January 13

Gillette Black Beauty on 3
PAL Gold Thin Hollow Ground carbon (10)
Nameless Chinese hardwood handle refitted with 24mm Maggard plissoft knot
The Eternal Tub of TOBS Avocado Cream ( croap )
Alum and cold water
Clubman VI Bay Rum splash

The Maggard 24mm plissoft knot makes for a very nice brush of the ideal Goldilocks size for bowl lathering and face scrubbing. I suspect this is another brush I will keep in my rotation. So far, I like all 6 of my synthetics and my 3 surviving boars and am rather ho-hum about all 3 of my badgers. I may end up just de-badgering myself completely.

The PAL blade puzzled me today, because it was back to smooth and sharp on outing 10 after being a bit rough and tuggy on shave 9. I guess I will just have to wait and see what shave 11 is like.

The alum was totally quiet so I didn't bother with my normal Thayers Witch Hazel. However, I then decided I wouldn't mind a hint of tropical warmth on my face, so I went with a splash of bay rum.

After yesterday's -40, today's temperature got all the way up to -12C with no wind, so it was quite balmy outside again. It's supposed to stay like that through the weekend. Here's hoping the weather forecasters are right for once.

 

Beautiful picture, Mark!

 

Neal's Cartel goons tell you what I was wearing at supper tonight?
Could be that fella Justin is such a classy guy that he takes after me. It was an informal supper, no tie required.

The frog legs were decent, not too muddy. Mussels, sashimi, and sushi were right on. General Tso chicken, walnut shrimp, hot n sour soup as good as hoped.
Baked salmon was dry but it's a buffet. I didn't take or waste much.

 

I fixing to move a couple vintage brushes out of my den somewhat to the east of me.
Down to 2 synthetics (and one misplaced...) & 3 boars I like. The two badgers I'm trying to like. Could be I haven't spent high enough up the food chain for mine. Are Vulfix knots just not a good example?

 

Justin used to say that he was originally a safety engineer, that's why he wore suspenders and a belt.

 

GSB is way smoother than Feather, marginally less sharp. Good baseline choice.

 

Veg gets better mileage.

 

Well, I'm not a great brush aficionado and particularly not a great connoisseur of badger brushes, but I did research them a bit when I was first buying DE shaving gear a few years ago. My understanding was that Vulfix was considered to be a good solid mid-grade company. Its brushes weren't "top tier" but were considered to be excellent value and quality - not as fancy or expensive as Simpsons or Rooney but good brushes that would give satisfaction for a lifetime. Vulfix was one of the makes I was looking at when first looking for a badger brush in fact.

Whether that has changed or not in the last 5 years or so, I don't know.

 

Thank you sensei.

 

It's a pleasure to read your impressions. I notice the same things about GSB, and coincidentally, used one today myself.

A Journey Down Route 66
Friday - 13 January 2016



Smooth. That's what happens when GSB hooks up with the Magic. R66 excellent lather perusual and two passes yielded the DFS I was seeking! Must have scraped (attack too high) just a bit in the chin area, alum was hot only in that spot. Put in one of the longest days in a long time. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a great weekend!
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Happy Anniversary January!!

January 13

Mostly Shavettes - But today not so much

Razor - Fatip Piccolo
Blade - (1)
Soap - Route 66 Sweeney Todd
Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip
Post - Alum

By request, I wanted to spend a few days comparing two blades in the Fatip. The Astra SP and the Feather. @wristwatchb requested the comparison and who am I to say no? The Fatip is aggressive and wonderfully so, the Feather, of course, is sharp with a capital "S", and the Astra is sharp and one of the smoothest out there from St. Pete. So, Russia vs. Japan in the Fatip.

I'll do two days on each blade, two passes per shave and I'm looking forward to how they handle. Ok, so maybe the Feather has me a bit on edge knowing how fierce it can be in an aggressive razor but hey.....that Technique Trumps Tools thing still works. I hope.

The Astra is up first. I'm using the Route 66 for all of these shaves so lather won't be an issue. The Astra is exceptionally smooth, effective, sharp in its own right, and a favorite blade for newbies as well as more experienced shavers who just like something that works every time. The blade was smooth in the Fatip but very effective and you could tell it was there, but without any sense of harshness. The first pass was fantastic, the second was a bit less so, mostly because I got a bit heavy handed on my neck. In the end I suspected I created some irritation by adding a bit too much pressure. With this razor, any pressure is too much. Alum proved my theory correct as my neck lit up pretty good and still is in a couple of spots. However, the finish is near BBS. Very near. So that is a success.

I'll give it another go tomorrow before switching to the Feather on Sunday and Monday. And, future programming note here - I plan to break out the Junjie and Tian Fu blade on Tuesday. You may want to stock on on popcorn is you aren't icy like we are.

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