February 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

I didn't fully appreciate how good the brush looked until this close up. It really is something special.

 

Yes. Raffle Prize #17. Otherwise known as Rise Aftershave Cooling Balm.

 

Fantastic line up. Hard not to love Fine Platinum times 2.

 

:hooray: Congratulations!

 

Day 2 Omega boar

Gave the Omega a hard soap, MdC Fougère and add a little liquid lanolin and the results were as expected. Today's razor was a PRC Chimera just of a touch up on Zulu Grey. I am still trying to figure out this stone so I was curious to see how it would perform. The edge was very very smooth but did not feel as sharp as when touch up with my synthetic 16k. Four passes and zero blood and no irritation. Just a hair short of BBS.

Irritation A+ Closeness A- Smoothness A+ Sharpness A

 

Beautiful razor.

 

Thank you all so much! We are overjoyed!

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Chinese DE? *shudder*

Besides, I thought you joined the Dark Side?

 

Some of the Chinese razors are actually not too bad. Usually very mild but they can be usable. See the Rimei, as an example. Now the blades.....yeah, we all know about those.

 

Fatboy February!!!!!

Playing in the soap

February 17
Razor - 1959 (E4) Gillette Fatboy (6)
Blade - (1)
Soap - Stirling Bay Rum
Brush - Semogue 620
Post - Nothing to check the lanolin effect from the soap

One blade into the return of the Grand Blade Trial and it's break time again. I got my Stirling soap samples yesterday so I have to give them some love. Never tried Stirling before and apparently that's a bad thing, so I'll correct the error of my ways tonight. I chose the Bay Rum to start with and I do have to say I like this particular Bay Rum scent. Very nice.

Semogue 620 and I went with a touch of extra water since it's a Tallow soap. Loaded the brush very easily. It's a soft soap but didn't seem to have difficulty handling the boar. Lather was thick and slick. Nothing to complain about at all.

Two passes with the Fatboy on 6 with a Voskie. Two passes and a touch up, no blood, and I didn't detect any irritation. I skipped the alum, though, to let the feel of the soap come through in the end. Since it has lanolin in it I want to compare to my other lanolin soaps. I have to say I like the scent, I like the lather, and the after-shave feel is quite nice. Perhaps not quite as smooth a feel as Route 66, but definitely no slouch. On par with Mitchell's for sure. The shave was a near-BBS and was quite a nice one overall.

Good first experience with this soap. I'll lather another one up tomorrow. Probably Sandalwood. Have a great weekend!

 

Andrew! Congratulations! Such a blessing to read happy news, thank you for posting this here. I hope you and Mom get some needed rest, and May God bless your home.

 

Oh this could be bad. Very bad. I received my latest order from tryablade.com today. Nothing spectacular. A new Derby Premium blade I hadn't seen before and Zaza had a new one out. I also added a couple of Astor Silver NOS blades to try at some point. And a couple of Kai Captain AC blades for the pain stick. Jason, because he's a great guy, threw in a couple of extra blades including the one circled in the picture below. I added the other two for comparison. I'll warn you .......some of you will recoil in horror.




I added the arrows to compare the pictures of the Tiger. Looks the same to me. It isn't the same as the "original" Tiger but it does match the Quick Tiger, that Chinese knock off of the Tiger. As if having the Czech and Chinese Tigers weren't enough, now we have another entry, apparently. The name Solina means nothing to me and I haven't discovered anything about it yet. But that Tiger and cover gives it away. I may not sleep tonight from the sheer terror of what's in my possession.

 

Value Focused February
Day 17



Pulled out the Spanish drugstore staple, La Toja, from the Secret Santa stash Great shave with a fresh Shark ensued! Much like any aggressive razor, angle is the key to Shavettes. This Parker is heavier than most straights, and the extra mass lets it glide at super low, like 15deg angles. It's essential to focus on simply guiding the blade over the skin, this mindset keeps me from using to much pressure. And besides, an extra pass is better than razor burn, right? The downside to the Parker is the same heft that is its strength. Lose control--it's heavy and it will cut skin in an instant. About to relax and try to catch up on reading a bit. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a great weekend!

 

I am a full time Darksider now. Doesn't mean I can't play with the safety razors once in a while

 

You can do one any time, jump on in! We have highly suggested guidelines, but really it's all informal and up to the individual as to schedule, focus, topic, etc. Welcome aboard!

 

La Toja is such great stuff.

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Oh wow. I cannot properly put into words how happy I am for you. Congratulations!

 

Well, since I cannot seem to maintain focus this month, I am shifting my focus towards being consistently inconsistent in hope that I will lose my focus on this as well and gravitate back to being consistently consistent in my intentional focus. I had mentioned that I was considering letting go of a couple of my DE razors. I always like to revisit something before letting it go, just to be sure.

Today's shave:

The razor - Gillette Slim (set on 4)
The blade - Astra SP
The brush - RazoRock Plissoft Big Bruce
The soap - Stirling Baker St
Aftercare - witch hazel, Stirling Sandalwood Balm, Proraso Green AS

I had been a bit unsure about the Baker Street from a scent perspective at first use, not because I disliked it but because it was so faint. I bloomed it a bit today with hot water while showering, and whoah! The scent exploded, and I was able to appreciate the full depth of it. The lather was typical Stirling goodness. I put a new Astra SP blade in the Slim to give it the best possible chance. Something clicked regarding angle and pressure, and I ended up getting a great shave out of it. So much so that I decided to go ahead and shave my head with it as well. This is my 3rd head shave with a blade, as I usually do it with clippers. The first was with the Merkur 34c, which I thought was good at the time. The 2nd was with a Schick G1. It was a much closer shave, but left me bloody on the back of the head. I think because it is so light I was pressing in a bit. The Slim was every bit as close as the G1, and completely blood and irritation free. The weight of it really helped to do the work. After I finished shaving, my wife commented that I smelled good and that the totally shaved head was "sexy". So the Baker Street stays, and the Slim remains to keep my head fully shaved. I will be offloading the newer, easier to replace DE razors and holding on to the vintage. Good shaves y'all, and God shave the Queen.


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Or maybe switch to a 3pc? They usually have a slimmer head profile (which I prefer).

 

I didn't feel like switching the blade again, so today was another Fatip shave. Different feel from the Rocca, but the final shave results are the same.

I notice that the heavier weight of the Rocca has grown on me; the Fatip Wood feels very light in comparison.