February 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Sunday's shave was doomed to mediocrity from the start. I managed to wake up late because I had a late night at work Saturday and had to throw all of my preparations into overdrive. I had maybe five minutes to make my face somewhat presentable. I grabbed the KMF cream and my Schick G1. I didn't have time to work the lather to where I like it, and managed one quick pass to presentability. I plan to make up for it today with as luxurious a shave as I can manage.

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Thank you Doug.

 

Thank you Jim.

 

Great picture, Jim. I have used a cart on some of my trips and found that the experience gained from DE shaving made the shave much better than I remembered.

 

Thank you Jared. I love the color and shape of the brush handle which amps up the already great performance of the brush.

 

Great setup and picture, Perry.

 

You know, I did too. A while back, in anticipation of some airline travel, I bought a vintage Trac II handle on the Bay and some Personna carts from Amazon. I have only used them a few of times, but I got some pretty nice shaves out of them. And the crazy part is, that you can buy those carts cheaper than a lot of DE blades.

If I would have known that some years back, I probably never would have bought my first DE.

 

Jason, your work on the brush handles is top notch. I enjoy seeing them in your photos.

 

At one time many years ago, I used a brush and real soap with carts on a regular basis. I still feel the soap and brush did the most to improve my shaves.

 

Me too. Same exact story. I could reluctantly go back to carts, but I would cry if I had to give up real soap.

The biggest improvement in my switch to DE came from always having a fresh blade. There was a time, when we were newly married, and poorer than church mice, that buying enough carts to always have a nice sharp one, just wasn't gonna happen. A fresh new cart was a treat, kind of like when we would buy more propane on payday, and turn the heat up to 70 for the night. I felt spoiled. Buying a hundred pack of DE's and always being able to shave with a sharp one was like winning the lottery.

 

Thank you very much, Clint. I really enjoyed getting the lathe out. It had been a few years.

 

I feel that way as well, Clint. I was using decent soaps/creams and a brush with carts for a few years. Ironically, it was checking out websites for soaps and maybe another brush to use with my carts that I starting looking at Safety Razor stuff. After a few months of reading online, including this website, I took the plunge about 6 months ago.

 

I like the new brush. Can't wait to see more of it.

 

February 27, 2017

Razor: F2 Gillette 195 Adjustable (4)
Blade: German Wilkie (1)
Brush: VdH Boar
Soap: Mineral Fusion + KMF fragrance-free cream

Almost the end of the month so time for a Superlather.

The Mineral Fusion soap and the KMF seem to make a nice combination and the VdH Boar seems to have settled down on its shedding. Last week's Wilkie was so good, I've brought out a new one for this week.

The results... A very nice DFS+ and a great start to the week.

 

Packing for another road trip this morning so I decided to get in one more shave with this baby before I leave. Very nice shave today.
Stubble Trubble Pirate Cowboy Soap
B-400 Brush by Tom
Portland Razor Company Siren
Lucky Tiger
Ogallala Bay Rum, Sage & Cedar AS
Have a great week!

 

-IBC Razor
-Kent BK12
-Stirling Electric Sheep
-Stirling Gin and Tonic Splash

So I got the BK12 today. I am not sure quite what to say. I mean, I knew it was a big brush, but I don't think I really understood just how big until I lathered it up.

I knew it was a very dense brush, so I wanted to make sure I really loaded it up good. I didn't want to end up with a ton of lather trapped inside that beaver pelt on a handle. So just for fun, I weighed the soap before and after loading the brush. I just did my usual working on top of the puck routine, adding dribbles of water. When I had the knot looking just right, I weighed the soap. I loaded 3.6 grams. LMAO! Easily double what I would consider a heavy load on a larger brush.

People talk about these brushes being floppy, and I was concerned about that, but the sheer density of the knot lends some help in the backbone department. It will give you a little bit of a scrub, but it really reminds me of driving your car through one of those old car washes, where the giant red white and blue felt flappers smack up against your car, and swish back and forth, engulfing you with soap. It is definitely a soft brush, every bit as soft as Thater 3 Band, or Simpson Super. I needn't have worried about it hogging my lather, on subsequent passes, every sideways paintstroke laid a perfect shaveable layer of lather behind its stroke.

This is a neat brush; certainly a curiosity. I can definitely say it would not be a brush I would want to use every day, but I could see this becoming a favorite for that luxurious warm lather shave, or my wife might really like it in the bath. I am going to have to figure out what I am going to do with it. It wont fit on my racks with the others, it is too deep. To put a little perspective, here it is next to a Chubby2 and a Chubby style 28mm badger:

 

You are going to need a bigger face for THAT brush. WOW, that thing is huge!!One pass of the brush does your entire face. A second pass and you've lathered the rest of your head!

 

That brush is huge. Certainly the brush to use to thin out the soap inventory.

 

You could burn a 4oz puck of soap every month with it if you wanted to. The thing is, it is a bugger to load. Even in the big Stirling tub, it was difficult. Maybe a guy should just press a tablespoon of soap into the bottom of a big salad bowl and have at it.

 

Com'on, If you're Italian, it would be a Pasta Bowl!!!