June 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Very good day to be Fuzzy!! Incredable lather catcher shave from the 1910 Gem Jr. Bar.

 

I tried to add this thread link and got whole message quoted instead. I guess I should stick to brushes...

 

Looks like your running on Clubman fumes. Got a back up bottle?

 

You do them well!!!!! Thank you for the information!

I do not. I gotta get to lafayette and stock up soon!! I am low on several of the pinauds...

 

y'know, I was wondering if he placed the County Club Hair Gel inside the aftershave bottle. Nice silvery color.

 

June 5 - Mystic Waters Adventures

Merkur 34C
Astra SP(day 2)
20mm AOS Pure Badger
DIY PSO
Mystic Waters Pompelmo e Fiori
Alum/Thayer/AOS PSB

Astra did very well yesterday so I was hoping for a repeat performance. I think this is my first grapefruit scented soap and my first Mystic Waters. I recall the scent being very strong and slightly bitter in the container. My sample from the pass around box must have weakened since I could not detect much other than a slight floral scent. Lathered it was mild in scent. The lather was good and had good slickness. I do not find it as slick as B&M or Stirling but still up there. 3.5 passes yielded BBS with even less alum bite than before. Face rinsed easily and skin felt fine. To me, I rate post shave as greasy, moisturized, clean or dry depending on how my face feels. I have yet to have a soap leave me greasy and my favorites tend to leave me feeling moisturizer. MW, I would say, leaves me between moisturizer and clean. Only if you have rather dry skin or it is winter would you need a post shave Balm.

In all, a soap I would recommend, especially if a newer tub has a stronger scent.

 

Only item besides samples I got from The Box - a slightly used tub of Mystic Waters Raspberry and Lemon soap. I've come to find out there's a Version #1 & #2. The difference being additional citric acid in newer soap for better hard water lathering. I think mine's V-1, but with soft water I have no issues with it. The scent? That's why I swapped for it. Very strong, just the way I like it. I would suspect the new tubbed units are all done with a good scent load. Having visited the MW site I saw several V-1 soaps at a discount price though the scent choices are limited to the few remaining.
I think I saw someone mention they had (received in a trade or lot purchase?) a couple tubs of scents they didn't like. Might be an opportunity to pick them up for a swap!

 

Well, I sat down and shaved off a weeks worth of face. I mean, of beard. Same antique clone of a Gillette OLD. Third shave on an Astra in it. Shaves amazingly well, but it is definitely noisy. When I do this, I do a modified three pass shave, because of having to deal with all the fuzz. (Straight might be better for this, but I'm not ready to break out the Henckels that @DaltonGang honed up for me - or the "India")

One pass WTG to remove the bulk of the hair, rinsing off in a steel bowl. Wipe off, lather up, then do a second WTG, and then a full North to South WTG to ATG pass. This razor let me do it with NO bouncing in the corrugated bottom section of the neck. One nick, but that was on a mole/bump on the face that periodically gets nicked anyway. No real way to avoid it. Only mild burn with the AV Blue.

Looking forward to finishing off the VDH, so I can go back to the Williams and Astra.

 

Good luck with the new boss.

That is very good for a second shave, it is a win.

 

That was me! I have Mystic Water Oakmoss and Vetiver and Brown Windsor. Both are scents that don't appeal to me. I'd be willing to trade or sell but I'm out of town right now. Plus I know this isn't the thread for that.

 

Tuesday Shave:

It is memorial day in Korea so I could take my time and go for an epic shave today. Broke out the monster BK12 and Castle Forbes, I had enough lather for a 4 pass full body shave but stuck to just my face. Today's razor was a Dovo Master's several shaves after being touched up with a Zulu Grey. The edge felt wonderful, silky smooth and very sharp. The lather was great, plenty of prep so I followed up my 4th pass with a final WTG pass. Finished with an epic shave.

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

 

Not very often do you give out A+'s across the board, Keith. Must have been a great shave!

 

June 2017!!!

Trials and Tribulations

June 5

Razor - 1959 (E4) Gillette Fatboy (6)
Blade - (2)
Soap - Arko
Brush - Semogue 620
Post - Alum

Well, today ended up with some good and bad to it. I worked an extra day today to cover for a sudden hospitalization of another manager last night. Worked a different store than my own and forgot there is no wifi available there. So my laptop was essentially worthless. However, I had a fantastic burger and onion rings for lunch, courtesy of the Area Manager I was helping out. A Hawaiian BBQ burger, cooked just short of medium, add sliced ham and pineapple, bacon and BBQ sauce all on a pretzel bun......it's amazing I stayed out of the hospital from the fat. Especially with the hand breaded onion rings. All from a place here called Dave and Tony's. So there's that.

Time to shave tonight and I remembered to soak the Semogue 620. That's a good thing. Then I lathered with it for the first pass and it did fine, but was a bit thin on the second lather. I wouldn't have gotten a third lather out of it if I had wanted. That's from face lathering the Arko stick. Quite disappointing, actually, as I always liked that brush. No difference in technique on the lathering from my synthetics or other boars and badger. Just not a high performance.

The good - two passes to DFS and no blood or other problems. Slight irritation from the blade, but with the performance improving at 6 on the Fatboy it bears out my impression that the blade isn't the sharpest. Still smooth, though.

Hope you had a good start to your week.

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June 2017 - Sticking with It



New lineup, same great Aust. Smooth two pass! I need more use to judge the scents or the brush, but this one definitely smelled nice and had a good feel. The jet lag has hit and I am out...catch you guys tomorrow for an update on the plan for June, and there will be shave sticks and SE (manufacturer defined) blades. Othre tha that...I am extra glad all is quiet in Colorado.


Have a terrific Tuesday!

 

It's been a busy few days at work, and this week and the next are gonna keep me on my toes.

Yesterday's shave:
Boker Straight
@Drygulch Strop
C.O. Bigelow Cream
Maggard Plissoft brush
Dickenson's witch hazel
Stirling Sandalwood Balm

The C.O. Bigelow cream is nice stuff. This is my third tube of it, and it always provides a nice lather. The Boker gave me great results yet again.

Today's shave:
Gem Micromatic
RazoRock Plissoft Big Bruce
Stirling Arkadia
RazoRock Puros AS

Once again, soft, smooth results. This razor really does demand a light touch, but if you respect it, it honors you with great results. I think this was the 5th shave with this blade in it and it is still going strong.

Thanks to a wonderfully kind gift from Jared (@PickledNorthern), I am studying up on using a finishing stone for the first time. I think I still have a few shaves before I need to use it, so it gives me an opportunity to watch plenty of technique. I'm excited to learn.

Keep an eye out. I plan to PIF a handful of soaps over the next couple of weeks. My den has become unwield and there's no room in the inn, so I plan to pay forward some kindnesses.





Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

Monday night June 5 - extra shave, new soap

Gillette Slim on 3 / Topaz Platinum ( 1 )
30DC LE brush with Cashmere knot
Valobra Unscented hard tallow soap
Alum and Thayers Witch Hazel Astringent Aftershave

My shave this morning wasn't as close as usual and I was sandpapery tonight, so I did a second shave today. I wanted to get back to evening shaves before my night shift anyway.

My second use of a Valobra hard soap went better than my first. Again, about 30 seconds of swirling a damp synthetic brush on the puck loaded plenty of soap without creating much mess. This time I trickled less water into my lather bowl to start and the lather ended up less soupy and more creamy, the way I like it.

Two passes gave me a BBS. I varied my normal single pass for each area more than usual and that seemed to make a difference. Instead of doing my normal diagonal pass everywhere, I went diagonal on my cheeks and moustache area, WTG on my chin, and ATG on my neck. That gave me a very near BBS. I then relathered and did a full second pass everywhere, this time a true straight XTG on all areas, and that left me dolphin smooth. Not a single peep anywhere from either the alum or the alcohol in the aftershave.

I think I will concentrate for the next few days on using this new modified pass pattern and see if I can replicate the stellar result consistently.

The Valobra Unscented hard soap clearly worked very well tonight. The puck has a clean tallow smell; the lather is almost totally scentless. A good choice for those with perfume sensitivities. I actually like it better than the Fougere version I used this morning. I guess Fern scents are just not my thing.

Tomorrow I am going to continue on with the first of two other new Italian soaps, both by Pannacrema. No, they're not the famous Nuavia Blu, Rossa or Verde vegan soaps in the expensive ceramic pots; they're the cheaper Nuavia Pure2O tallow soaps in the economy plastic tubs. They come in two versions, Vetiver and DFS (Damn Fine Shave), a complex scent with all sorts of citrus, floral and woods notes to it. Should be fun.

 

It was an excellent shave

 

Good setup and picture.

 

Thank you. I just use my phone camera. Never a real good picture like yours.

 

June 6, 2017
Colonial Razor “The General”
Feather Super Pro
Simpson CH2 Synthetic
Mystic Water Raspberry Lemon
Fine Italian Citrus

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Well we are in for another rainy messy day in Hotlanta. At least I got in an enjoyable shave. The CH2 Synthetic whipped up a wonderful lather and the scent of the MW brightened up the morning. I went with a two pass routine paying attention to trouble spots as I went. With some minor touch ups along my jawline I almost caught the baby. The Feather Super made me pay for a user error with a small nick. Overall I would still say it was a first rate shave. I finished off with a splash of Fine Italian Citrus. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday.