April 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Sounds like a good plan for the month. Just watch out for that soap. First, you get a good soap that works well (like TOBS), then you start playing around with samples of all the soaps you've read people praising, and the next thing you know, you have a fullblown case of Soap Acquisition Disorder and you're trying to figure out where you can store several dozen tubes and tubs of the stuff...

 

April 2, 2017...Day 2...

So this evening was my second shave with the Feather Popular TTO, and well still learning it.

- Feather Popular TTO with Polsilver Super Iridium
- Simpson Case Best Badger travel brush
- Maggard's Orange Pre-Shave Oil
- Dr. Jon's Savannah Sunrise soap
- Alum + Stirling Margarita's in the Arctic Balm

So the prep was a shower. I shower relatively quickly. 10 minutes or less. While I do enjoy a nice hot shower, only rarely do I take the time to enjoy it (usually with a pretty lady). Otherwise I'm efficient. While I was showering my brush was soaking in the styrofoam cup of hot water. After the shower, I took the brush and gave it several shakes in the sink, 4..5...6 even I think. And then went to work on the soap. Lather wise, it didn't disappointment with suds coming up quickly before I had some nice lather. Scent wise... I'm unsure. I really don't smell anything during the shave. But as I sit here writing this, I'm not sure if I'm catching a whiff of it or if it is just my imagination.

So anyhoo... I splashed water on my face, applied the pre-shave oil, and took the brush and went to work. I Got a nice coating, and took hold of the razor. For the cheeks, I am doing the "Gillette slide" which I feel does a good first pass, better than just downward WTG pass. All other areas of the face were standard WTG, though for the first pass the upper lip I go between a WTG/XTG. Two more passes, plenty of lather left in the brush, but still some spots. I tend to use just hot water for touch ups, as I feel everything is still nice and slick. Though for some patches, I did apply a thin coat of lather. After some work, I got what I felt was a good enough shave. No DFS here, just a shave. Afterwards came the alum, which set fire to my face (expected), and then the balm which also did the fire thing.

So about the razor...

it is different. And getting the angle right I find it different, especially the neck and under the chin. Also, I never noticed it before, but when I try and go sideways under the nose, I feel like the ends of the blade are sticking out further than my V3A, leading to some stragglers right under the nose.

So for those who have experience with the Feather Popular, or maybe the Schick Krona, do you apply a bit more pressure? Do you hold it down at the bottom? Or do you just let the razor weight do all the work? I'm holding at the bottom, and let the razor do the work which I guess does a decent enough job. But when it comes to the touchups, I find myself needing to apply some pressure to really get those patches gone. Which leads to irritation. Though I don't apply soap, so maybe soap + more pressure won't be as bad. But I could feel the irritation, and the alum only confirmed it. I also don't know how much blade type matters, so I'm not going to give up on it just yet. It will just have to wait until I get home. Until then I'm stuck with the Polsilver.

 

My first shave for April

Gillette Tech (triangle slots) Bulldog Handle
Polsilver Super Iridium (2)
Arko SS
Semogue BC Texugo
Alum
Superior 70

Took care of 3 days of growth in a 2 pass near bbs shave. I had a little irritation on the neck where I was sloppy, but overall it was a nice shave.

 

I think the Popular does best with a Feather blade. Do you have any at home? If not, I would mail you a tuck if you want to try them.

 

Love the razor.

I have never gotten my lather that glossy. I came shinier today but it was more airy and stuff than what you show and only after a few dips in the water and hand lathering did I get it somewhat shiny.

Is it possible to over aerate?

 

I do actually. Another member was kind enough to send me a tuck.

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He's not kidding. I was perfectly happy with a couple of soaps then the enablers around here sent me a freebie of another one, then suggested another and....bam....sent another freebie. Now I'm finding myself a little shaky and nervous when seeing soaps I haven't tried. SAD is real.

 

Mmmmmmmm......lather porn.

 

Not trying to blow your routine but..... Have you tried witch hazel for your clean up pass? Just dry your face off and splash some on. It does wonders for me. I know someothers have tried it with success.

 

April 2 - Astra SS day 2

Merkur 34C
Astra SS
23 mm AOS Pure Badger Brush
DIY PSO
Stirling Sandalwood
Alum/Thayers WH/ Nivea S-PSB

Today I was all caught up in lather. Stirling Sandalwood hasn't seen some love in a while so it was called up from the bullpen. I decided to use less water and more soap and see what I got. It was nicely dense. Stirling Sandalwood is a great scent and oddly after 3 passes got a nice BBS shave. Alum was dead quiet. With all my concentration on lather I ended up pulling off a super soft application of the razor yielding an irritation free shave. The Astra SS also were not as sharp as my beard required and seemed noisier than sharper blades in my 34C. I had to use shorter strokes to get the shave today. As I write this nearly half a day later, I am surprisingly close. For a blade that has more drag than I like when shaving, it produced a very close shave and was irritation free.

As for the lather, it did not photograph well. After the shave I applied the abundance of lather to my hand for further lathering. I dipped the brush in the water in the sink and worked it some more. 3 dips later and it was definitely shiner than when I started. I think I lost some cushion though to get there.

 

Arko Adjustable April!!!!!

April 2

Razor - Soviet Consul (6)
Blade - (2)
Soap - Arko
Brush - Semogue 620
Post - Alum

Dial the Consul up to 6 and let's go shaving!! With the extra aggession on this razor compared to Gillette I'd say the equivalent setting on the Slim would be 8-9. I can see and feel the difference but it's all good. Well, mostly good. The blade tends to get a bit wonky as the gap increases on this razor and I can see just a hint of a drop in on corner of the blade on one side.

Arko and Semogue for the face lather win and three full passes tonight, just to see if I could get that much out of the brush after the initial face lather. I did, but it was close. The baby showed up at the end and the alum made me rethink the third pass just a bit, but overall it wasn't as hot as I've had it before. This razor will let you get too confident and increase that irritation though.

Next stop tomorrow is wide open at 9. Not sure that's as bad as setting Neal on the Futur but I'll be ready for some serious gap and a bit more wonk! Have a great Monday everyone!

​

 

So use WH as a cushion? I use it as part of my post shave at home, but never during a shave

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Yup. I find it does great for my clean up or touch up pass. When you rub it on can feel the rough spots. It makes the skin slick for the blade. Even if a little buffing is in order.

 

Wow

 

Yes, I suppose it is. I guess I never really whip my lather, and if you did you would get a more voluminous result. I have always preferred it to be thinner, and especially now with open blades, I want to be able to see what I am doing.

My only real advice about the whole thing is to never finish hydrating in the bowl, but on your face. That is how you can tell if it is truly right, and you can never dork up more than one passes worth.

Another trick is to watch your razor when you rinse it between strokes. (Under stream, not swished) That lather should fly off that razor the second water runs on it. If it sticks or takes any time coming off, it is too dry.

 

Love the burma shave mug. I have one as a coffee cup. I worked into one of my shaving videos.

 

I'll have to try that when I get home. Thanks.

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Hope it works out for you.

 

@Fly2High - it was mandatory that someone send you some Arko. It's something that everyone is supposed to try, preferably early on after converting. It's perfectly great to use a soap that's easier for you to lather. We all have faves, and as long as some minimum performance quality is met, any soap will do. I honestly choose soap based on how easy it is for me to work in a face lathering application. I've settled on Arko as my mass market, and R66 as my nice soap. Barbasol too, the brand has a couple of fabulous scents, though it doesn't appeal to everyone.


My ideal lather:

Looks like yogurt and thick like egg white.

That's how I make it, but I am using very hard water and an open blade. For DE I actually like quite it a bit thinner, almost like latex paint. My SR preferred lather clogs all but injectors and OC Fatip.

The key to lather is glide. Some of that is actually, again, blade angle. But, soap provides a lubricating barrier, and if done correctly, steel never directly touches skin, as it rides on a "soap slick".

 

Instead of dipping, drip a little water into thick brush lather by adding the water to the knot itself. I drip it "above the soap", near the handle and then turn the bristles downward, allowing gravity to pull the water down the fibers into the middle of the lamp of lather; then blend it directly on the beard. This method works really well if you lose the bowl for lather building, and heavily load a brush from the bowl. Adding water a tiny but at a time builds the most slick lather for me. I found as a newbie that having a lather vessel was causing me to overshoot the water constantly. And fwiw, when you load a brush, there's no such thing as too much soap.

To bowl load:

Shake your soaked brush fully. Squeeze.
Place teaspoon of water on soap.
Work it until the water is gone.
Do it again.
When you see tiny stiff peaks, stop.
Wet face thoroughly.
Lather your face, dripping water a couple of times into the knot to bring up the water level as you work air into the mix.
When you see fun looking lather, wipe it off with a blade.

This will yield 2-3 passes worth of lather.

If using synthetic, increase water to one tablespoon initially, and load like it owes you money, per our expert in East Asia- Sir @Keithmax.