June 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

I recent purchased the Zoologist Civet and was very impressed. How does the soap smell? Have years and years of soaps and creams but I'm tempted. Do you have the perfume? Do they smell similar? How strong is the scent of the soap?

I have tried a couple of the samples Zoologist scent and so far I've been impressed.

 

Just the thought of a Civet Cat scented _anything_ makes me want to run away, as fast as I can.

I do hope that's just a name. (How well do the soaps work compared to, say, Arko?)

 

It is a nice chypre and did not have much civet at all.

 

Love the color, Mark!

 

Tuesday night shave

Another social event so another evening shave. This shave is a homage to @Bama Samurai, that is a stick of Arko, a synthetic brush and a shavette. Since it was just 12 hours since my last shave I did just 2 passes.

Irritation A Closeness A-

Wednesday morning shave

Another round with the Persona twin injector blades. Just 3 passes given how much shaving I had to do in the last 24 hours. This shaves confirms I prefer these blades to the Chicks.

Irritation A- Closeness A-

 

The soap smells exactly like the perfume and it has a very strong scent. I actually went on their site today to get a full bottle of the perfume but they are sold out. Couldn't recommend this soap enough

 

Thank you, that is all the encouragement I needed. I have never tried Chiseled Face before too.

 

What a busy day! I did shave this morning and for the third time with the almost completely new setup. Only 2 passes again due to time constraints in the morning. I have to drive farther and be at my new job earlier than my old job. I might switch to night shaving just so I can enjoy it more. Another great shave with maybe one very little weeper and the only spot the alum spoke up was on the bottom of my neck.

The Octavia Noir plus a bit more water is leaving my face feeling soft and smooth. I am finding the smell much more subtle with a more proper lather as well. Still smells great! I'm also growing more accustomed to the lighter weight of the Gillette and the milder blade exposure. And as @Norcalnewb said(I'm pretty sure it was you, I'm sorry if it wasn't), it is a very easy going razor as long as I don't try to compensate for the lighter weight with more pressure. I'm thinking when I do give the Feather blades a try it will be with this razor.

I hope everyone had a great Tuesday and happy shaving!

 

June 13 - Pre de Provence

Merkur 34C
Gillette SB (day 3)
French Vanilla (JR #72)
DIY PSO
Pre de Provence cream
Alum/Thayers/ Pre de Provence PSBalm

I have trouble with the Gillette Silver Blue blades in that they tend to be a bit rough or lack sharpness. I have some of them and keep giving them a try. From the pass around box, I had the opportunity to grab some Pre de Provence shaving cream and post shave balm and decided to give it a go. The scent is a bit tough for me. It is a light scent that I find powdery and floral. there is a finish that reminds me of the smell of cream. Not sure if this is the shea butter or what. This scent of cream also is found in the PSB. Not knowing much about this cream, I squeezed it into the corner of a zip lock bag, cut a corner and piped it out like it was a piping bag. I recall many indicating that one should grab more soap whenever you are unfamiliar with a product and I found out that I grabbed a bit more than a good sized almond amount. As with the other creams I have tried, I started with a barely damp brush that was fully wrung out. I put a couple drops of water on the cream and proceeded to create lather. It took a couple more additions of water and I got a light and slick lather. I did whipped it like mad. What I had not known before now was that this was suppose to be a brushless cream. Well, it can be used with a brush ! It did not take a lot of water and the lather was good but did not fill the bowl. I think I got about 4.5 passes worth. With the scent ok and the quantity of lather enough, I applied it to my PSOed face. This stuff is slick!!! Some lather fell to the floor and I picked it up and my hand mashing it in my had looked like it was clear coated with automotive paint. It was super glossy. The GSB needed 3 passes and 2 runs of touch up to get a BBS. I did get alum burn but I felt the blade glided better than with most of the soaps I have used with this blade. for me, this blade is not a favorite and can be draggy and irritating. Today, It glided like a sharper blade. Also, even when the lather was removed, the face remained nice and slick. It was not greasy in the sense that it would not wash off. Instead, it rinsed easily off and left my face feels smoother than before. The PSB was similar in thickness to Nivea Sensitive PSB and other than the scent being different, it worked just as well.

In all, I love the slickness but am not sure on the scent. It is OK/good but I do not love powdery scents so that could be my issue with it. I will say that I might look for the soap instead of the cream and see if no.63 smells better. I do enjoy the post shave qualities very much. And all of this is from a vegan soap!

 

Excellent picture, Doug!

 

Super cool. Grab me one while you are in there.

 

Happy for you Charlie.

 

No argument there... Astra SP and GSB are my favorites.

IIRC, this started for me back in April with the idea of revisiting the one blade I absolutely hated (not counting absolutely useless blades like the Tiger and Tian Fu)- the Family Dollar Dorco STD-301. This led to excursions with the ST-301 and STP-301. The current excursion was something of a "Hail Mary" play- take a razor I don't really get along with but other people swear by (post-War English Tech) and a blade that I don't get along with but other people swear by (Family Dollar Dorco). The weird part is that they actually work pretty well together.

 

Fuzzy @wchnu no hurries on the Parker, but I'd be curious to try one. Many folks getting their shave on with them so they must be good. They are inexpensive enough that mailing one back and forth doesn't make sense. I'll start a penny jar and be an owner soon.

Tapatalk Via Kyocera

 

The one you have is virtually the same as Parker.

 

Sticking to It!
13 June 2017
@Keithmax Arko Edition


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Sticking to the same base setup, switching to day 48 for Arko. The Parker likes low angles, and the lather was great today, so I decided to try and hit the Grail Shave. Success! DFS on one precise hybrid pass with some chin touch up. Perfectly silent alum...and kept Osage within recommended tolerances. Will try a Derby blade again soon, but I really like the performance of the Shark SS in a shavette. Need to give the Magic a whirl again soon too! Long and productive day, and even had a great session with my bass teacher. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!
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Always just try to wipe the lather cleanly off your face with the blade bevel. Skin stretches are another way to make a razor cut more efficiently.

 

June 2017!!!

Trials and Tribulations

June 13

Razor - 1962 (H1) Gillette Slim (9)
Blade - (3)
Soap - Arko
Brush - Jayaruh #46
Post - Alum

Final shave for the Titanium. Wide open Slim and the JR46 and Arko for the lather following the head shave. That went off without a hitch with the 23c and Astra SP. Once again I thought about using the pain stick, but not until I was about halfway through. Don't want to do just half a job right, know what I mean? Maybe next week.
The SM Titanium was smooth just like the first two nights but was showing just a slight hint of harshness at the 9 setting. It may be a bit closer to the sharp side of the scale, but even with that it provided a very fine near-BBS with only a mild warming from the alum. No blood, no other issues, so this blade finishes with the same flying colors as its cousins I've used so far. No complaints at all, and the sensitivity I was worried about to the Titanium coating never appeared. That makes it even better.

I'm thinking that tomorrow night my synthetic brushes meet Marvy shave soap. It's tribulation night so we'll see if I can beat that soap into submission. I'll figure out the razor/blade combo when we get there.

I'm waiting on a few things at the moment, mostly due to the generosity of a few folks around here. A new brush and a couple of new soaps are on their way. And another 100 Sharp Stars I'm laying in to my stash. Those arrived on this side of the Atlantic yesterday and cleared US Customs today. No word if they're bugged by Putin or not.

Have a great night and a better tomorrow!

 

That's what I was thinking. Close enough for my purposes. The other variation in DE shavettes is one that holds a full blade. While my NoName has a blade width of 5/8+, the full blade type would be closer to 8/8 or more. I've used a SR with a wide blade and there are visibility issues.

Tapatalk Via Kyocera

 

Piccolo and Derby.