May 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Way to keep hope alive!

I hope so. Because it's going to be a long couple of weeks at the Academy without any more spectacularly stupid stunts.

 

hah! What if the Jedi are just sandbagging it for Memorial Day?


The "original" idea behind MAYhem was to apply expert technique to maligned products, and think about the biases that we have when it comes to things like Barbasol (it's really good) and Derby (for the skilled). The intent was to prove that results are, and always will be, largely technique.

Things like Popsicle Shavettes are Cinco de Julio, and were probably just a cruel joke to test the hangover level of the crew after a big holiday. It was also during a time when many of the "Originals" and early members of the crew had finished learning straight razors. Every piece of advice I dispense about shaving is really about how to shave with a straight or shavette, though it applies to DE and whatever else. Many of us learned here, in public, and journaled the highs and the lows. The thread was smaller then, but it was still the same basic place. I created it as a place for a scientific approach and intellectually "gear agnostic" place for vets and newbies to talk. We honor the Weishi as much the Koraat, because we in this place know that results come from within. @NCoxSTL took over when I became a mod, and any evolution in style or tone has been positive to my eyes. Honestly, he's way more fun to read!

 

Welcome to the thirty day thread! That kit will do just fine! If you master that razor (it's a muhle r89 clone), you'll have the fundamentals to shave with any razor. Cut to the chase, get some Astra SP blades in a hundred pack. They're good in that style of razor and a killer value. Blade samplers just delay learning, you already have Astra incoming with the razor, you'll need fifteen blades to do a thirty day rule. Good luck to you!

 

I love my Dr. Jon's Hydra Soap.
I love my Maggard's Synthetic 24mm Brush
I love my Thayer's Lemon Witch Hazel
I REALLY LOVE my Energy Aftershave Milk

But my razor, the SP Injector... I'm just not loving it. Only four days worth of shaves with it. I want to love it. I want to get in on the Kickstarter for the Jet Black version with minor improvements. But I just can't get excited about this razor. It saddens me.

 

I just bore easily and start writing and where it goes it goes. You buy that, right? Speaking of MAYhem - my month of that continues on with a couple of nights without shaving leading to tonight's upcoming shave. I've decided that, given the start to the month for me, it only seems appropriate to do NOTHING as usual, unless actually forced. That said, I am still trying to prove that with the right technique, any gear can work. When I considered what to do after taking two days off.....well.....you'll see.
If I can't make it fun I can at least build some.........

 

Welcome to the thread!

 

I'll use the @Drygulch Spike point tonight. Maybe I will cut myself!

 

Yeah, I didn't think about that, gonna need more blades for 30 days. Thank you, sir!

 

You're welcome!
Astra are like $10 per 100, so changing daily at $36 per year is still only like buying one big cart refill annually. If you struggle with that soap, get some canned foam like Barbasol. When learning, consistency is better than absolute quality.

 

I don't have a spike point and.....I think I'm fine with that.

 

And I do full face shaves, so I have no need for a spike, and am just stupid.

We should team up and teach newbies.

 

That's a radical idea! Maybe a thread dedicated to technique and learning??

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

I'm not really having any trouble with the soap but I'm not sure if it'll last 30 days...I think it will...but not sure.

 

I'll give my new razor a spin in the morning
It's my first shave with it and should be interesting.

 

Very good. I didn't know anything about the soap. If you don't mind the way Ivory soap smells, I recommend Arko as the value soap.

 

Want one?

 

We used to have one

 

True, but if there is one thing we have learned, it is that one also has to have a minimum definition of "any gear". For instance the no-name Chinese SE blades I tried were so dull (i.e., unhoned) that even with all the technique in the world (short of blade sharpening skills), one could never successfully shave with them.

 

You are correct, sir, as usual. Let me correct that statement. "I am still trying to prove that with the right technique, any gear will work, as long as it isn't defective". Chinese blades are, as we have learned the painful way, largely defective. And that's being generous.

 

It has just expanded and grown to gargantuan proportions. It now has its own gravity that keeps sucking more and more people into its orbit.