June 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

June 30, 2017
Colonial Razors “General”
Feather Super Pro
Simpson CH2 Synthetic
Dirty Deeds Arroyo Cactus

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Happy Friday Everyone. Another excellent shave this morning. The "Soap Destroyer" made short work of lathering up the soap. The crisp floral citrus type scent is very nice and adds to the shave. I went with a two pass shave, XTG and ATG. After minimal touch ups I ended up with my normal near BBS shave. Most mornings I just don't fight the spot on my neck to get it perfect. A splash of Floid Blue and I am ready for the day. I hope everyone has a great Friday.

 

Excellent picture to go with your excellent shave, Clint!

 

Jun 30 SOTD:

Razorock Plissoft Brush
Barbon SC
Phoenix Dbl OC
Rapira PL (5)
Stirling Unscented PSB
Barbon AS

Another DFS with the Rapira. A quick shave as I am heading off to get my Friday going. I hope everyone has a great day!

 

Great picture, Doug!

 

June 2017 30 Day Focus Recap

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It is hard to believe that another month has come and gone. During this month's focus on synthetic brushes I used ones with plisson type , tuxedo and simpson knots. Each brush brings a different feel just like badger brushes. The Romera with its plisson type knot is a real lather making machine but has very little backbone. Given the size of the brush and an its low density knot it makes a perfect travel brush and I was able to use it during a road trip. As expected the Romera worked just as well on the road as it does at home. The Brothers Bristles handle with the Tuxedo knot worked well also. The handle is larger and heavier which gives a nice change of pace. The Tuxedo knot is an excellent knot for face lathering since it has a bit more backbone and density than the plisson style knot. I used 2 different Simpson synthetic brushes. The ivory CH2 is a regular production item I purchased from Straight Razor Designs. The knot is super dense with tons of backbone. The brush is a lather making machine and literally destroys soaps. While the density makes face lathering more enjoyable for me, it also takes a very long time to dry out. The second Simpson CH2 synthetic is a Jade LE brush. Being handmade this knot is not quite as dense as the ivory brush. Don't get me wrong it is still extremely dense and only when used side by side does the difference become obvious. Of the two Simpson brushes this is my favorite. Overall if I had to pick one synthetic brush it would be the Jade CH2 Synthetic. It is the only synthetic brush I have that compares favorably to a high end badger brush.

One the razor front this month, I can tell that my technique continues to improve. My normal morning results are near perfect and almost ready inspection ready. I did enjoy following the other members through their posts. I am looking forward to participating next month as well.

 

Thank you Jim .

 

Great picture. That is one of the coolest looking razors. Hope you have a great Friday.

 

You have a great family there Brian. He is so cute.

 

Thank you, Clint! I hope your day is great as well!

 

Jim.

 

Congratulations Grandpa. Great to hear everything went well.
:rah::rah::rah:

 

June 30 - Success with Rt66!!

Merkur 34C/ Voskhod (Day 4 - Pass 1,2,3)
Rockwell 6C Pl#3, Rockwell SS(Pass 4)
30DC LE Brush (Thank you Jason!!)
DIY PSO
Rt66 The Black Pearl soap
Alum/Thayers/AOS PSB

Today I got a near BBS shave with Rt66. If you recall, I, for some reason, have a hard time getting a good lather with Rt66. I have no idea why but after having taken some time off from the pass around box samples, I found I have two Rt66 soaps left. Today was The Black Pearl. TO prevent over watering, I squeezed out my brush and shook it out. I only took half of the sample I took which turned out to be very helpful later. I went very slow with the water. a few sets of additions and I had a light lather that wasn't very dense but had good slickness. I tend to like a denser lather and I recalled someone mentioning that more soap might be needed. I grabbed the remaining soap from the sample and just whipped it in. The lather got super dense, rich and beautifully creamy. FINALLY!!! perfect lather. The scent was also great. Their website lists the site as

I would put it at a strong medium strength scent. I have a hard time describing the scent myself but suffice it to say that I really enjoyed it. To me, the scent had a richness not unlike the richness when comparing a Hersey's bar to a high end Swiss or European Chocolate. The Hersey smells like chocolate and is sweet but that's about it. A good chocolate has a buttery creaminess that Hersey's lacks. There is a richness and smoothness in the European chocolate. The Chocolate from Europe just melts in your mouth where as the Hersey's must be chewed. This is how I found The Black Pearl now. It was just rich, creamy, dense, slick and decadent. The Voskhod was showing wear and after 3 passes, I pulled out the Rockwell to do a touch up. Alum was quiet. The soap also has great post shave moisturizing properties. I again only PSB half my face and the wife could not tell a difference. In fact, she selected the PSB side as being dryer!

I will say I now love and hate the pass around box. I love it for the exposure but hate it because if you fail to grab enough soap or mess up a sample you can easily come off with a bad experience that has nothing to do with the soap. Being new, the exposure has helped my lathering skills. I will say that I was reluctant to take samples. I did not want to take too much in fear of depriving someone else down the road from experiencing something. When you take a small sample of a soap you are unfamiliar with, it is too easy to mess up the water quantity. For me, I am sure I ruined most of the RT66 soaps I tried. Today has shown me that they do produce an excellent lather. I always knew they have a wonderful scent. Once some room opens up in my den, Rt66 will definitely need to be added. The pass around box definitely helped me improve reading the lather and knowing what to do next not to mention broadened my exposure to so many great soap companies. I have Lavender Woods left and I am sure it too will produce a great lather. Looking forward to it!

 

Wow! What a fantastic keepsake! Nicely done, Brian.

 

That almost sounds like ol Merle and Willie!

 

Well, I'm not so sure about the Rte 66 Cavendish/Marshlands duet. The shave itself was fine, but I'm not getting much of an overall fragrance feel, as if the 66 cut off the fresh outdoorsy Marshlands scent. 66 Cavvy with Clubman Special Reserve is a real winner-I'd better stick to that come late fall/winter.

 

Super light razor increases the tendency of one wanting to apply more pressure then needed.

 

It's so nice when members compliment each other on their shave choices. That's one of the things that make this place great.

 

Congrats again, Brian!

 

June 30th
Gillette Aristocrat Jr w Voskhod (3)
B&M Reserve Cool SS & AS
30 DC LE/Tuxedo
Thayers

13th and last day of the Jr focus. Since I sent the last 4 of the 30DC brushes out yesterday, and now all are either in folk's dens or in transit, I'm going to use mine for the first time. This was made about half way through the brushes, and wasn't meant to be mine, but as I was reducing stock around a knot, I discovered a small crack. It isn't enough to compromise anything, but still, I didn't want anyone else to have to worry about it. The crack looks kind of like a smile. You can see it in the picture. I might call it 'Smiley'.

Anyway, the Tuxedo whipped up an excellent lather with not much of this fantastic soap in no time flat. I reduced the load to about 10 seconds after last time, and still ended up with plenty of soap. This takes more water than any other soap I've got. FWIW, to my untrained nose, the AS and SS smell exactly the same.

3 passes later, am super smooth and willing to say goodbye for a bit to the Jr. I've had pretty much great, routine shaves from the beginning with this razor, regardless which of the 4 blades I ran through it. Next up for July will be a focus with a NEW LC I picked up a month ago but saved for a focus.
Have a great day all!

 

The patina on the General is really maturing beautifully, Clint!

photo Jim!

You are going to love the New!