March 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Job security can be a problem too for those who fail to make on time deliveries.

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March Madness & Spring Cleaning!!

March 3

Razor - CJB Greager
Blade - (1)
Soap - Stirling Bay Rum
Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip
Post - Cold compress, Alum, Styptic, Shame

Well I haven't bled in awhile. Kind of figured my best chance was on the Ides Shave. I was wrong. Switched to the CJB Greager tonight with a fresh Feather Pro blade. The Stirling and Wolf Whiskers gave a fantastic lather. Nice and slick and protective. Of course, protection only goes so far when an idiot is at the helm of the razor.

I was thinking of a few different things as I began my shave. First of all was the difference in how this razor feels compared to the Feather SS. the Greager has just a straight angle down to the blade without the lip of the Feather. Definitely a bit different feel and it is perhaps a bit easier to create a cut without that extra lip on the Feather. However, my right face shave went well, felt good, was effective, so I started on my neck. Seemed good until I went down the center and.....as I got right to the adam's apple.....my brain said out of nowhere "better add a little pressure to get over that". Well, if you're ever in that position and your brain says that.....do NOT listen. In fact, stop, put the razor down, and walk away. I felt the bite instantly and just waited for the blood. It wasn't quite as bad as I feared, though it was a nice steady drip. Not a fountain but a constant drip. Hmmmmmm.

Went ahead and switched to the left side with my left hand. Face was great, went down to the neck, good, no problem, went to the center next to where I cut myself and.....as I approached that area again.....my brain said......"DON'T PRESS". So, I pressed. Bam, another bite right beside the first one. And.....drip........drip.......drip. Only with two of them together it was almost rhythmic.

Said a few adult words, rinsed, relathered and went for the second pass and as I worked the right side I just started counting. One, two, three, four.....what the. Yep, by the time I was done with a second pass I had four minor nicks and two dripping cuts. A bloody mess, is how the British would say it....only quite literally in my case.

Cold compress on the adam's apple then alum then a nice dose of styptic to dance to. Alum over the whole thing and I felt every little nick. Burn baby burn.

The finish? It's a DFS but a bloody bad one. I'm not sure if the new Feather Pro was just too sharp for my over-confidence or if this razor actually is prone to this. Of course, it could be my brain that needs to be replaced as well. Hope your weekend starts off better than mine! And I still have two more days of work too!!

 

Mine was a little rough too...

March Madness
Day Three



Not my best day, a bit rushed. The alum and a couple of weepers reminded me to slow down next time. Osage calmed it down, but I did not get nuts with it. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado!

Have a superb Saturday!

 

So no snowballs on the prairie tonight?

 

It was 67f today.

 

March of the Soaps Focus

C.F. Summer Storm, JR #130
Schick Type J1 & Chick blade
Alum & Pinaud Clubman AS


Second sample from the Pass-around. Great scent & excellent lather from this one. Billed as moist earth, oak moss, cut grass, pine needles, orange, lemon, ozone, white jasmine, lily of the valley, geranium and musk. That's a lot of flavor in one tub & it all comes together well. Did I mention I like robust full flavored products? A soft soap with 4 veg oils plus tallow and it lathered easily with a Maggard's synthetic knot in Jim @Jayaruh's one of a kind cypress handle. Change up in hardware brought out an injector that I haven't used in too long. Chris @Bama Samurai set me up with this, my first Schick. Intuitive angle like riding a bike, I made my three passes. Plenty of lather in the suribachi so clean up passes happened. My chin hasn't been this smooth in many shaves. Alum was cool as it gets, and the Clubman went on without any sting. A DFS DoublePlusGood.
Good Shaves Y'all!

 

April 1st will be bladeless shaves.

 

Damn, I'm going to be travelling then. The popsicle stick would have been easily packed but it's so last year. I don't think I can fit a bolt and nuts in my luggage.

 

I'll be traveling as well. Mine will be packed in an Altoids tin. You can do it

 

March 3 (Friday) - light touch focus

Fatip Grande / Voskhod (5)
1980s drugstore boar brush
The Eternal Tub of TOBS Avocado Cream ( croap )
Alum and Thayers Witch Hazel Aftershave

My faithful old drugstore brush whipped up a perfect lather from The Eternal Tub. I then shaved while holding onto the end of the Fatip Grande with my fingertips. I rode the cap with absolutely no pressure and the result was a very mild-feeling shave by this aggressive razor. The only difficulty was that the Fatip's fairly smooth metal handle became slippery and a bit tricky to hold. However I not only managed to do so through my usual diagonal passes but also did a followup ATG pass. I normally skip that step due to excessive irritation. This time, I felt no scraping from the razor and the alum was virtually silent afterwards.

I wasn't even trying to chase the baby, but I believe I caught it tonight, possibly for the first time ever.

The more I use the Fatip Grande the better I like it, especially when paired with a Voskhod blade.

I'm not sure what razor and blade I will use tomorrow -- I'm completely off my rotation by now and am just grabbing at random from the testtube rack of razors. Whatever I use, I now expect it will be a good shave.

Later this month, I will start playing with a bunch of new soaps (new to me anyway). I blew up my NB'17 today and the results should be showing up in my mailbox over the next couple weeks -- stuff like Route 66, Soap Commander, Stirling, Reef Point and Jeeves of Hudson Street. If the names sound familiar, they should: you vicious Crew of enablers with all your pictures and great descriptions completely destroyed my weak will and I fell off the shaving product wagon . But if you were all telling the truth about these soaps it should absolutely be worth it .

Oh, and Jared @PickledNorthern ... I hope those Nathan Clark Envy White brushes are as nice as you seem to think, because I broke down and bought one...

Have a great Saturday everbody!

 

I'm not so much the type for posting daily SOTDs. But for fun, I have decided to only use Fatip razors this month, after having used the Mühle Rocca razor exclusively last month. So that's what I have been doing for the past few days.

So far my observation still is that the Fatip OC razors require a bit more skill, which makes the shaves enjoyable for me. They feel more aggressive, and can "bite" you when you are not careful. In comparison, with the Rocca you really have to try to draw blood. Whether that makes the Rocca better is up for debate. What I can say is that it is very well designed.

 

Happy Birthday @Drygulch

 

March 4, 2017​

AlumiGoose V1 with Triad SS​

Feather Pro (7)​

Rudy Vey Rover with TGN Finest​

Reef Point Dragon’s Blood​

Floid Blue​

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A wonderful this morning. The Rover easily whipped up the Dragon's Blood into a rich slick lather. Sticking with a traditional 3 pass shave, I paid particular attention to my trouble spots as I went. This resulted less touch ups needed to achieve a near perfect BBS with one small weeper. I hope everyone has a great Saturday.

 

Wow! I thought my Wusthof knives were expensive. That must be one fine blade.

 

They are. If you were going to break a NB, it was a great choice to go out on.

 

You should see what some of the new customs go for. Just for fun, go to the Koraat website and use their razor builder to make something super cool.

 

Love that black background. That is just an excellent photo.

 

So the picks are closed, and listed below. They have been locked in the vault with the prizes.


1.) mrchick - #8, 92/100
2.) keithmax - #16 Kent BK12 87/100
3.) hodge - #5, 88/100 (#5 was an obvious pick for me.....see avatar)
4.) jtspartan - #4, 82/100
5.) clint64 - #5, 88/100
6.) ryx - #22, 90/100
7.) norcalnewb - #9, 82/100
8.) Fly2High - #3. Rudy Vey 28 mm Shavemac, 88/100
9.) NCoxSTL - #13 Maggard Synth 82
10.) Ob1page - # 11 Manhandled Woods Ubersoft II, 64
11.) Bama Samurai - #8 Jayaruh synthetic, 86/100
12.) Screwtape - #4 Nathan Clark Envy White, 80/100
13.) PLAla - #21, 81.7/100
14.) Linuxguile - #5 92/100
15.) Cmorris357 - #8, 89/100
16.) wristwatchb - #8, 89/100

Thinking about the overall lineup for the month I notice that Simpson got snubbed hard, with zero picks out of six contestants. Considering there are two of their synthetics and offerings from both of their higher end hair types, this is kind of an interesting development.

The lone Thater also didn't get any love. Was that strategic choice because of the plain black handle, or simply overlooking one of the softest silvertip knots available today?

It will be fun to see the scores roll in.

 

Thank you Jared.