May 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Thank you Doug! The Stahly I picked up in one of the few auction lots I've ever bid. It was in the back of the pile photo, but I recognized it for what it was. Got lucky that the action still works, and the display box is in near mint condition. The brush handle came as a surprise from Tom. I'm amazed at his skills, and cheerlead any time he comes up with a new project. Those Tuxedo knots look good in shiny aluminum and photograph well with few direct reflections. Gotta thank Charlie for the soap. I might have tried other scents, but this one is perfect.
As to the photo its self? That's all @Shave Fu.

 

They are great, aren't they? I've got a screen shot of mine tucked away in a folder. One day my heirs will be going through my electronic estate and wonder why I kept it. Hope they do better selling my shave gear.

 

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Wolfman Guerrilla
Polsilver Super Iridium
Shavemac LE Silvertip D01 TwoBand Flat Top
Le Savon des Volcans Cedar Mandarin
CRSW Juniper
Aqua Di Parma Blu Mediterraneo Ginepro


​

 

Sounds like a fun razor. I've seen a couple online and always wanted to try one.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

So time to get around to my focus shave. I am on day 12 with the Ace synthetic knot. I was making up for missing Williams Wednesday, and tried something new that worked great. I just wet the very tips (never got most of the brush wet at all) of the brush then started to load the Williams from the scuttle. By adding very little water at a time I got a good paste going. This is an important part of my Williams lathering. I then went to the face lathering and build a great lather by just dipping the tips of the brush in water as I usually do. The lather was very slick and showed no signes of dissapearing. I put a NOS Schick plus platinum in a M1 I recently got from @jmudrick. Outstanding shave with my normal 2 lather passes and a witch hazel touch up.

 

I'm excited for mine to arrive.

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We are here for you. One day at a time Brother. You can do it.

 

MAYhem!!! - Finally!

May 12

Razor - '46-'47 Gillette Aristocrat
Blade - (2)
Soap - Route 66 Sweeney Todd
Brush - Jayaruh #46
Post - Alum

I have a plan of attack to catch up around here. Starting tomorrow I'll go through 15 pages as well as new stuff and, if I can keep at it, should be fully informed again in just a few days. I planned to start that today but we got two new beds in that had to be floored, priced, etc., so no chance. We're in that early summer stage at work where sales aren't quite popping like summer yet but the floor is in constant motion with new beds showing up and discontinued ones selling off floor models. Chaos reigns!

Second shave with the Aristocrat and Sharp Star and if I ever decided to go totally minimalist this would be a contender for the setup. Add the JR46 with the Maggard synthetic knot and there's little to complain about. Really nothing. The Route 66, of course, was thick and slick and I'm still trying to figure out which would be my "one" soap between Route 66, Stirling and Soap Commander. The Fat might still be the top contender there. I have no plans to go minimalist at any point in the near future.

Every time I use a Sharp Star it makes me just a bit sad they were only in production for one year. I need to reassess my supply, multiply by the number needed for 20 years of daily shaving, and buy to match. This is the one blade that I would put on top of the Voskhod. The best of the best. Top dog....or, in my world...........

Have a great weekend!!!!!​

 

I've read a lot about these, much of it negative. Seemed like something that I must try.

My impression after one shavette session...

Wouldn't be fair or honest to share. I changed two things today. Never used these blades or this particular soap formula before, so I might end up writing something ignorant and misattributed.

All that said....

Big thanks to @PickledNorthern for a most excellent choice in scent. As @Fly2High notes, and as I've written about before, Stirling produces a dense yet slick lather. It's a top tier soap and can handle water, and tends to leave a nice skin feel. I really love the intense citronella and the slick feel, even after a rinse. And now, some MAYhem....







Two pass dfs. Need another round with it. Might not be a great shavette blade. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a great evening!

 

Saturday shave

Today's razor is my Takehana Feon 172 it has allot shaves on the blade (for me) since it was last touched up on a Shapton glass 16k.

It is becoming summer so I broke out the P160 for some marzipan madness and it delivered the goods with great lather and I want to eat it too. The edge on this razor was still fantastic very smooth and scary sharp. As I started the shave I told myself as long as there is no operator error todays shave will be epic...... and epic it was.

Irritation A+ Closeness A+ Smoothness A+ Sharpness A+

 

Just wanted to mention that my total stock of Personna Injector II twin blades is now spoken for, packed up, and either already enroute or else waiting to hit the mail tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who expressed interest in trying them.

 

Thanks for sharing them!!

 

Thank you,
Very generous

 

"Hi, my name is Screwtape and I'm a wet shaver."
"Hi, Screwtape."
Make sure to reset your alarm to leave yourself time for a proper shave

 

Today is a no shave day. Yesterday I finished a week with the GEM Featherweight/Treet combo. So far it's looking like the blade. However, there is a tuck of PAL's and GEM Blue Stars inbound from Amazon. Should be here Monday. Sooo, back to blade auditions for my '52 Super Speed Black Tip for a week. Shark Super Chrome up to bat.
Happy Saturday!

 

I've been wanting to pull the trigger on that brush for a while. Gotta try some more Stirling samples and get an order together soon. The straight, in my unlearned opinion, is quite a "looker" as well. I give this shave "Two Unicorns", brother!

Assuming that your posts here are just the tip of the iceberg, I find it hard to believe that the most peculiar thing your heirs find in your electronic estate will be a unicorn. (These threads self destruct after 30 days like those Maxwell Smart messages, right).

OK, every time somebody knowledgeable starts talking straights, a whole new language and with numbers and words I don't know gets thrown out there. It's like being in a village in a remote part of Africa or something. At some point I will take the time to learn the language and speak with the natives of that land. In the meantime, if somebody wants to offer up a screaming deal on a straight with unique properties like this to compare/contrast with my new Dovo, let me know. The only "hollow" I'm familiar with is the tip of a bullet (dangerous), and the space between my two ears (also dangerous). Pretty sure neither is applicable to straights.

My whole life, I've almost never shaved on a Saturday. If you were a really close friend and I was in your wedding on Saturday, or a really hot babe and our first date was on a Saturday, I MIGHT have shaved for you, but very rarely did this occur. This was well documented over the years, and widely known amongst my friends (insert their eye rolls here). Since discovering DE shaving a few months ago, I've only missed a shave 1 day (early on I had a bad shave day that required a "day of rest" for my epidermis to recover). Like @Screwtape , I'm wondering if "not shaving on Saturday" is now heresy or blasphemy, or if I will ever go back to who I was. This is your deep thought to ponder for Saturday.

Shave report to come later if anything eventful happens.

 

OK, Something eventful happened. Now that I am getting really consistent, relatively effortless 3 pass DFS+ shaves in the Slim, I decided that Saturday is a good day to throw caution to the wind. The weekend potentially gives me two days to put scar cream on and start to heal before I have to show up at work Monday, so I decided to taunt the shave gods with a number of questionable decisions. First, I pulled out the Dovo for its second run, having spent almost zero time researching what I'm doing or how to do it correctly. Now you would think this would enough bad decision making for one day, but those who come to this conclusion this early in the post, have obviously not been taking note of my decision making choices in previous posts. Anyway, instead taking a shower, prepping/lubricating my face, etc. as I ALWAYS do for every shave, but I just wasn't feeling it this morning. Prep. and whisker lubrication can come later, right? Emboldened by yesterday's successful schizophrenic shave, I decided to further throw caution to the wind and try a new soap and bust out the Stirling finest brush that I hadn't used in 30 days or so. Why not, right? Let's just get the spoiler over with and say for all that, this shave could (and should) have gone a lot worse than it did. Basically, a decent shave on my cheeks, a few nicks elsewhere, and the necessity for a 3 pass shave with a new, untested brand of blade in the Slim to clean up. Today's learnings:
1. I need to do a lot more research to have the basics down for my next attempt at a straight razor shave (grip, blade angle, angles of attack, tips, etc). Although I am not (overly) intimidated by the razor anymore, I clearly don't know what I am doing yet. I am also anticipating that a good amount of time and practice lie ahead before I'm satisfied with the shave. I also need to have someone look a the blade and see if it has been honed, as I'm not sure if my admittedly crappy technique, lack of stropping, previous owners' stropping or a combination thereof needs to be improved upon.
2. If you nick yourself and relather, your brush and your lather will turn pink.
3. @Drygulch is apparently some sort of soothsayer. Another drop of blood appeared on my earlobe, yet I have no recollection of the blade being anywhere near that area.
4. Barrister & Mann has groups of folks who believe it is either "the best thing since sliced bread" or "dramatically overrated". Having limited exposures to the brand, all I can tell you is I am becoming a fan of their Latha line. Affordable at around $10, and the scents I've tried so far have been absolutely fantastic! (Oceana is one of my all time favorite scents, and today's Shave with a sample of Tiaga was my favorite "woodsy" scent I've tried by far). If someone wants to go all swapapalooza by offering up a trade on Latha Tiaga or Lemon, I'm probably all in.

Have a great Saturday, guys!

 

It is definitely the best badger I have ever bought at that pricetag, and better than many I have paid more for.

 

And thank you for offering them!

 

Beautiful picture and setup amigo.