April 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Razor burn is almost always angle, not blade. Find a blade you're confident in, and stick with it. Master your tools.

 

This was day 3 on the blade with no shower as prep, so I'm sure there were several factors at work here. On shave 1 with the Personna I noticed almost no difference. I guess this experience just made me less excited about straying from the blade I'm comfortable with at the moment. (Not necessarily a bad thing).

 

Razor: Gillette Black Beauty (R-2) 1971
Blade: Personna 74 Tungsten Plus (12)
Brush: El Druida Barberpole w/Manchurian
Soap: Eufros Brisa da Oriente
Aftershave: Stirling Executive Man Balm.

Very successful 3 passes with a minor touch up for a near BBS. The Eufros soap performs better each time I use it. I very much like the Stirling Executive Man Balm.

 

Great pic Doug! I really like the brush too.

 

Thanks very much. The brush is great! I really like using it.

 

Beautiful, Doug! Just beautiful!

 

Great picture, Mark!

 

Nice picture, Andrew! That razor does like like the Futur. I may have to look at one at some point!

 

Great brush, Perry! Looks like a great shave today!

 

Another wonderful photo Doug. Simply a stunning brush. Druida posts up many gorgeous brushes but this one might be his best work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

April 11 - Catie's Bubbles Un Jour Gris

Merkur 3C
Treet Platinum(day 1)
23 mm AOS Pure Badger
Catie's Bubbles Un Joy Gris soap
Alum/Thayers/Nivea SPSB


Today was my second use of a Catie's Bubbles soap. I have tried Celtic Knot and now it was Un Jour Gris (UJG). This time, I walked the water in rather slowly and heavily utilized the 'wet the fingers and dip them in the lather' to see if more water could be added. I feel that I got a nice thick lather that was as slick as I could get with UJG. It was better than with Celtic Knot but I feel that it was still less than Wheat State, Castle Forbes and Stirling. I do though find it to be in the upper tier of slickness, say a 8.5 or 9 /10. The demitasse spoon amount yielded enough lather to fill my 4.5" bowl and cover my brush. It applied nice and thick. I was more pleased with this resulting lather.

The scent was to me a perfect match to what one smells after a springtime rain. the floral and grassy scents awaken and there is a clean watery fresh scent. For a day that is grey and cloudy, I think it was a perfect scent to use. CB posts this as the scent: 'A fresh, clean blend of citrus, spice, vetiver and sandalwood that reminds me of the smell after a chaotic storm. A scent truly suited for a grey day.' I would agree with that statement. Unfortunately, I am not sure I would use a grey day scent regularly. I am more of an upbeat positive kind of guy. I would prefer a sunny or citrusy scent instead. It is a good scent but not sure it is a great scent. I think it matches what it is designed to be quite well.

In addition, I ended up using a new Treet blade in the 34C and performed nearly 4 passes (WTG, XTG, ATG, ATG) since there were a few spots missed. I ended up with a DFS+. I was expecting the alum to be quiet since I had a very light touch and I thought UJG was slick enough to prevent irritation. Unfortunately, the alum did sting. I believe it was more due to all the passes. The Treet blade felt smooth and I thought it was similar to my favorites, the Astra SP. Will need to see a few more shaves before I add it to my preferred list. Right now, it is a candidate.

Finally, I flooded the lather with water and checked the slickness again and it was as I said earlier, very good in slickness but was still less than those mentioned before.

In all, this scent was very nice and was a very good soap. The only issue I have with Catie's Bubbles is that their names do not entice me to purchase and I am not wowed into buying by their descriptions. Most of their soaps sound too complex to go on description. I would say they should have a few basic simple scents that self define their scents so that shavers can sample in confidence. At this point, I would say that UJG might be added to my den but it is not a must have. I have enough confidence that I will buy some smaller pucks or samples if available from Catie's Bubbles in the future.

 

Jim.

 

Thanks so much Clint. It is a beauty in my opinion.

 

Prep, two open blade passes and cleanup:

 

Thank you Jim!

Simply gorgeous photo amigo!

 

Kung Fu!

 

Thursday shave:

Fresh of the Zulu Grey is a Koraat 7/8, 1/4 grind. I am almost to the end of this tub of Zi Peppino so you may see it repeated for the next couple of days. The Elk Antler brush is made by @gssixgun and is my coolest looking brush.

The edge was very smooooth and plenty sharp. Four passes and zero feedback from the alum and no blood on my face. Finished with a smooth face too!

Irritation A+ Closeness A Smoothness A+ Sharpness A

 

Thanks very much Mark.

 

Awesome April
11-12 April 2017
Days Eleven and Twelve - The Arko Challenge



Two passes, clocked at 10'30"...Hero Finish. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a Terrific Thursday!
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