April 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

The seed has been planted.
Continue to water.
Await the bountiful harvest.
Science.

 

...the beginnings of the next 30 Day Crew LE brush? Where do we sign up?

 

...and apparently "spoiled" to boot...

 

A ha! Now resorting to forgery of my quotes, i see! Your under the belt tricks won't do you any good! I have enough scary memories of shavettes from my barber when i was a kid that won't go near them again!

 

As Instigator-in-Chief of the 30 Day Crew, I have full authority to edit 'wall of text' posts for clarity.

 

I see you noticed me trying to expand the skill set.

 

So, the instigator in chief, thinks he can live with a gadfly going after him. Very well!

 

I have the same bowl!!! Great daughter shot!! Too cute. My daughter comes in and asks to smell the soap and grab some to feel it squish in her hands. Already she is bugging to shave. Being Italian, I said in due time!!

 

April 24 - Broke Down on Rt66 (with additions)

Merkur 34C
Personna Blue (day 1)
The Phoenix brush
DIY PSO
Route 66 Cranberry Citrus

Today was my first use of a Route 66 soap. I chose Rt66 Cranberry Citrus. With all the usage of Rt66 by other members, I was excited to use it.

I did my usual - press a demitasse spoon amount thinly into the bottom of my bowl and put about a teaspoon of hot water on it to soften it (or just enough to cover the soap). Today I used my Phoenix SilverTip badger brush. I showered first. I soaked The Phoenix and squeezed out as much water as possible. It was still damp and stuck together but no extra water was in it. The bloom water was poured into the center of the knot and I began to work the lather. The soap dissolved immediately. Lather was a bit of a challenge for my soft water. Not sure if it was difficult to create lather because I started with warm water or what. It just would not increase in volume. Now, I did use hot water at the start of the shower but I use a stainless steel bowl and it should have sucked all the heat out by the time I finished showering. I must have been room temp at best.

The lather was very shiny but had no loft. It barely covered the bottom of the bowl and some on the brush. I continued to whip the lather but it would not grow. My first application of the lather was thin and watery. I left it on my face and decided to grab whatever extra soap I grabbed from the sample box. Someone on the pass around thread suggested to grab a bit extra than one would think they need for soaps they are unfamiliar with. I am glad I did. While I was adding more soap, the lather on my face was dissipating. The addition helped make the lather stable but the quantity did not increase greatly. It helped improve loft slightly. I reapplied and this time the lather was a bit thicker and did not dissipate. I ended up having enough lather for 3 and a half passes. It had very little cushion. All see to be signs, to me that I over watered.

Got a DFS using my Merkur 34C with a Personna Blues blade (day 1) for today's shave. The blade glided well on my face I am sure due in no small part to the very good slickness of the soap. 3 passes and some touch up were needed for this DFS. Alum was very quiet with only warm spot here or there but nothing to write home about. I was well protected even for such light lather.

What really shined from this soap was that it was very slick and the scent lasted a good hour after shaving. I also found the scent to be sweet and very pleasing. I expect my lack of experience with Rt66 is what caused this failure. Since I have other Rt66 soaps, this will be possible. I will withhold my decision on this soap until further investigation is done. I highly feel I over watered this soap and will need to try a much drier approach. The cranberry citrus was a very nice combination.

The Personna blue did a very good job but they were not as close a shave as I would have liked. Not sure if the blade was skipping over hair or, and more likely, my technique needs tuning still. The Personna felt pretty smooth although I think I have felt smoother. The difference is kind of like the difference between satin and good silk. Both are smooth but still there is a difference between them. Will need to see how subsequent shaves result.

 

Routte 66 is great when you are able to get a decent load. Slickness is awesome and post shave feel is excellent! I have Cranberry Citrus too and love the scent and how it fills the bathroom with its wonderful aroma too!

 

You guys crack me up! It's kinda nuts me not being the "outlier" of a group. Pretty sure it has my wife frightened of potential things to come.

Well done @shavefu. I'm just disappointed that my poorly composed photo, that others have been so kind to complement, wasn't met with appropriate lambasting,. Feel free to chime in on the next one. I'm sure it will be equally as crappy.

[/QUOTE]@mrchick, if you had only left the straight razor out of the picture... It breaks the geometry of the photo...[/QUOTE]

To further instigate (and more importantly to make sure and not miss out on the opportunity to follow a straight razor totin' tough guy with the nickname snowballs @Drygulch), I found a virtually new Dovo at a not so new price, and pulled the trigger. I'm sure it will sit on the shelf for a while before I do anything with it other than use it for inspiration for further stupidity and wonder what my compel me to drag sharp steel across my jugular voluntarily.

Finally, today's bonus happy thought (aside from my girls) comes in the form of my newly transplanted synth. Voila!

 

The problem is, when i quote photos, most of them, don't show in my quote and there are so many, that i forget which is what. Sometimes i can't even remember why i quoted one and can't see it and just remove it, cause i don't remember which one it was. A few photos, like Clint's show even when i quote and it's easy to...comment them. But since now it's only yours at hand it's easy! Nice photo, but when i look down the bluriness of the brush handle + the blurriness of the table, kill my eyes. Otherwise it was very good concept.

 

In general you really don't need to soak Route 66 before using even loading off of the puck. This is even more true with you method. Next time try it without soaking the soap.

 

Shavette Fu is not only a photo critic, but he also takes a nice photo. That's him on the right.

I'm diggin' his spiffy Italian style. Too bad you can't see his elevator shoes, though.

 

Will do. thanks. My brushes seem to feel lacking in backbone so I got into the habit of soaking what I press in the bowl to soften it. Just made dissolving so much easier with the harder soaps. I will try next with a dry batch of soap.

 

Problem solved. If you want me to sign that bad boy so you can slap it up on your wall, I'll give you my PayPal info and a limited edition @Shave Fu price.

Leave it to Charlie to instantly provide inspiration to drag sharp steel across my jugular area. Hubba hubba, shavette fu!

 

Nice handle! Now it's the blurry loft and the blurry table that kill my eyes!