May 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Jason, you've made great progress on the injectors this month.

 

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Varlet Ranger Alpine Grade
iColoniali Mango
Wolfman Guerrilla
Polsilver Super Iridium
iColoniali Aftershave Balm
ADP Blu Mediterraneo Ginepro


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Thank you, Clint!

 

Great picture, Mark! Are the fireworks a comment on the quality of the shave?

 

May 31, 2017

Razor: M3 Schick Adjustable (5)
Blade: Personna Twin Injector (1)
Brush: Razorock Plissoft 22
Cream: KMF fragrance-free
Post: Alum, Listerine, WH

The Personna Twin blades were a very generous PIF from @Screwtape. I've been wanting to try twins for a while, especially in the Schick Adjustable. This was definitely the best shave I've gotten from this razor; a definite BBS except for the area on my jaw which seems to reject most efforts beyond a DFS. The twin blades really bring out something in this razor. It's not just the close cutting, but it seems like the thicker blade changes the head geometry for the better. (One of my complaints with the M3 has been the big, flat face which seems to trip me up oddly. With the Twin blade, the feel is more like my J1.)

I'm going to at least finish out the week with this razor and then figure out what to do for June. I'm thinking about a SuperSpeed focus as I haven't had the Milord out in a while and I have a recently acquired '58 TV Special which I want to get to know better.

And with that, another month comes to a close. This was a relatively tame month, for me, compared to last May; if nothing else, there were no Marvy products involved. My few attempts at risking bloodshed were all non-events as the unbranded Chinese SE was so unsharpened that it was effectively harmless and my first-ever shaves with a Feather just drew some minor irritation. I had hoped to build a flashlight razor, but haven't been able to locally source some 10-32 threaded standoffs. In the end, I tried a few new things (Gem Blue Star, Dorco ST-301 and STP-301, vintage Twin Injector blades, Feather, TV Special) and spent some good time with old favorites (Slim Adjustable, Tech, German Wilkies). My horizons are a bit broader, my shaves are a bit better, and isn't that what matters in the end?

 

I think so, Clint. Ironically, I think starting off with some dull blades made me really focus on technique.

 

Another great photo Mark.

 

31 May 2017 Blade Focus Shave

Pre: Hot water and a hot towel with soap from the puck
Razor: '50's era GEM Featherweight
Blade: PAL SE
Brush: JR#161 NY Mets Special Edition
Soap: Catie's Bubbles "Tonsorial Parlour"
Post: Hot/Cold rinse, cold towelx2, Dominello Vitali Calming Post Shave Moisturizer
After Shave: the Clubman

Decided on an old school barbershop shave this morning. So I broke out the Catie's Bubbles "Tonsorial Parlour". JR#161 whipped up a great lathering and the GEM Featherweight/PAL combo again mowed down the weekday stubble. 2.5 passes of shaving excellence! Another near BBS shave.
Finished up with Clubman A/S. And redolent of said Clubman, it was off to sit in my metal box for the day
Stay frosty y'all.

 

I added a few more nominations in the Shavey Thread.

 

SOTD May 31, 2017

Blade: GEM carbon
Razor: Ever Ready 1914 SE
Brush: Semogue 1520 boar
Lather: Williams Mug Soap
Post: Witch hazel, Aqua Velva aftershave
WTG, touch up

Williams Wednesday and a nice shave. I loaded the Williams slowly and added bits of water at the top of the knot and let it drip through. Vigorous face lathering brought up good lather. The 1914 worked very well and it all came together nicely.

Have a great day!

 

This photo would look great under a strobe light.

 

You could set off a seizure with that bad boy!

 

My last MAYhem shave was uneventful. It's been a great month. Thanks guys!
Omega Shaving Cream
B-400 Brush by Tom
Dubl Duck Dwarf
Lucky Tiger
Pinaud Clubman After Shave
Happy Wednesday!

 

Yes, and I've had those......not fun.

 

Absolutely! A great shave. Thanks Jim.

Thanks Clint!

 

May 31 (Wednesday ) - an injector success and a brush off

Supply Provision Single Edge injector / Personna (4?)
Kent woodhandled boar brush
Rescue brush: Muhle small silvertip fibre synthetic
Arko
Alum and Thayers Witch Hazel Astringent Aftershave

Well, the Kent woodhandled boar brush provided me with a new and frankly unbelievable experience today -- a brush that wouldn't / couldn't face lather Arko. After dumping it in the garbage, I picked up the little Muhle synthetic, dampened it slightly, picked up where the Kent left off, and soon had lather flying everywhere.

After a couple days of stellar shaves with the Schick E2, I returned to the SP Single Edge injector, carefully copied my Schick technique, and got an excellent shave. With the added weight of the SP stainless razor, the trick seems to be for me to visualize negative pressure as I'm using it, so that I almost hold the weight of the razor off the skin rather than the normal "let the weight do the work". Anyway, a pass and a cleanup got me an excellent DFS with almost no warmth from the alum or the alcohol aftershave. Much improved from my earlier weepers with the SP.

May was an interesting month:

I tried the 60-year-old PAL carbon blades again in my DEs and found that, without using the vintage bladesaver hone on it this time, I could push one to 10 shaves before it got too rough to be comfortable.

I created a frankensoap from four kinds of Italian almond soft soap and used it for the month. I found the soap seemed better than the individual makes, as the blend enhanced their good points and muted the bad. Good thing too as I made a pound of the stuff.

I took my new Gillette Slim for a spin and compared it to my Fatboy and Black Beauty. (I think it's the best of the three by a nose.) A big thank you to Chris @SharptoothC for a fabulous swap.

I had my first ever straight razor or shavette shave with the Little Lily kamisori. I was one of the ones who found it should be translated as "Gutless Lily" --I didn't cut myself but neither did I cut any whiskers. However, having got up my nerve to use a shavette, I decided to do it properly and finished the shave with a Magic shavette loaded with a GSB. I managed a WTG pass on both my cheeks and my neck without any cuts or weepers. The shave on my neck was also the first time I ever shaved using my non-dominant hand.

(I think I also confirmed for myself that shavettes / SR is a rabbithole I am NOT going down anytime in the foreseeable future.)

Finally, I ended the month revisiting my injectors and finally getting blood-free shaves from my Supply Provision Single Edge.

I also enjoyed watching other people's MayHem from a safe distance and tossing words of encouragement and the occasional peanut from high up in the gallery.

Thanks to everyone for a great month on the Crew, and I hope to see you all in June. (I haven't figured out yet what my Focus will be but I still have a day to work it out.)

Edit:. I picked the Kent woodhandled boar brush out of the garbage again -- I realized the wood handle itself is not a bad piece of work. I am going to remove the wretched boar knot and replace it with a spare Maggards 24mm plissoft I just found in my cupboard.

 

May wrap-up

I stayed away from Mayhem and decided to focus on SE razors for the month. I used a Black Hawk, Featherweight, Pushbutton, GEM 1912, Ever Ready 1912 and Ever Ready 1914. All of the razors performed beautifully. I am feeling more confident in my technique with an SE razor and look forward to visiting them again.

 

It sounds like it may work better, so what's the fun in that?

Another very cool shot!

 

I worked on a blade Focus for my GEM Featherweight. Using PAL's this week. Blue Stars next week.

 

Today was my first day of a week with Pannacrema Nuavia soaps from a B&B passaround. The instructions on the soap tell you to soak the brush for 10 or 15 minutes, remove the excess water from the brush and then add a tad of water back in and load the soap for a full 40 seconds. Then leave it on your face for a couple of minutes before you start to shave. OK, seems extreme, but hey they went to all the work of including a fancy instruction card with each soap so that's what I did. Although my face lather ended up being more thick and dense than what I am used to with a bowl lather, the results were absolutely out of this world. Great 3 pass shave. The soap is kind of sweet and spicy at the same time. The scent was nice and fragrant - not sure if it's my thing enough to pay the price of entry for this soap, but I've got 3 and will try them all a couple of times before worrying about that. It's also making me wonder if I should be using a lot more soap and/or face lathering to get a richer, denser lather than what I'm used to getting. Not sure how much of this is the soap and how much of it is the technique.