July 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Missed this before! Keep it up. Sounds like your doing great!! Have a BULLY!!!!!

 

SOTD July 21, 2017

Blade: Feather Pro
Razor: RazoRock Black Hawk
Brush: Omega 10049 boar
Lather: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post: Witch hazel, Fine American Blend aftershave
WTG, touch-up

Fat Friday! Mitchell's was terrific today as usual. I am down to the very dregs of the soap. Thankfully I have a new puck on order (with the ceramic dish). Today's load wasn't as good as I can get with Mitchell's due to the fact there's so little soap remaining. But still got good lather. The Black Hawk performed well but it might be time for a new blade. There was just a bit of tugginess that it unusual. No worries overall and a fine shave in the end.

Hope you have a great Friday!

 

Wonderful picture, Perry!

 

Great photo Perry. After thinning down the soap inventory, I am seriously considering some MWF.

 

Jul 21 SOTD:

Razorock Plissoft Brush
CO Bigelow SC
Gillette Red Tip
Rapira PL (20)
Stirling Unscented PSB
Proraso Green AS

Shave 20 on this blade, and I think I will call it done. I managed a near DFS, but it was a bit tuggy and took quite a bit more clean up on my neck to get me close. If absolutely required, I could get another shave or two but I think 20 is enough. I hope everyone has a great day!

 

I really enjoy it. It's probably not the best or greatest soap ever made but certainly a classic that has stood the test of time. The post shave is terrific.

 

Thank you, Jim!

 

Great Picture Jim. Well done on getting 20 shaves from the blade.

 

Thank you, Clint! I almost let out a "Woo-hoo" in the locker room, but decided against it.

 

I did decide to take the day off work. Even though I couldn't help myself and logged on remotely for an hour this morning. I am going to do some morning PT, walk the dog and try to get some work done on the house before it gets too hot. So it will be an afternoon shave for me.

 

Well the straight learning continues as 2 WTG passes with the JR108 boar whipping up the Stirling Orange Chill into a nice lather. I'm getting comfortable enough with the angles, grip and blade movement on the WTG passes that I decided to try an XTG pass, but the angles seemed too weird, so I went with an ATG pass instead. It ended up fine, but having to figure out new angles and the lack of muscle memory was almost like starting over again. I think I'm gonna pull out the shavette @RyX sent me for MAYhem and start figuring out angles and strokes for XTG and ATG sans blade. Tips and suggestions from those more leaned than me in the dark ways are always welcome.

 

21 July 2017 R E D Friday OLD
Blade Focus Shave

Pre: Hot water, some soap from the container and a hot towel
Razor: 1911 Gillette OLD type
Blade: Shark Super Chrome
Brush: JJ#1 CVL-24 tribute brush
Soap: Route 66 "Rum Runner" by @Salty Belle
Post: Hot/Cold water rinse, alum block, iced down cold towelx2, Dominello Vitali Calming Post Shave Moisturizer
After Shave: Clubman Virgin Island Bay Rum

Last shave of the week and it was a good 'un.
Whipped up a great lather on my "Rum Runner" using JJ#1. Slathered the rummy goodness all over my face and breathed in that great scent. The OLD/Shark duo's swan song was 2.5 passes of shaving excellence. DFS+.
Here in the Great Garden State it's been Congo hot and today is not gonna be any different. So I splashed on that cooling elixir, Clubman VIBR and headed out the door for the last day of the work week.
Stay Hydrated My Friends!!

 

Hi Gang,
Been a while. Work and home have been busy and I haven't caught up. Still have been DE and a little SR shaving. Basic rundown is as follows

July 15 - Stirling Piacenza; Straight WTG pass / Rockwell 6C / SS
July 16 - Stirling Tuscany / Merkur 34C SharpStar
July 17 - Wheat State Soap Vanilla Sandalwood / Merkur 34C SharpStar
July 18 - Stirling Vanilla Sandalwood / Merkur 34C SharpStar
July 19 - TOBS Sandalwood / Rockwell 6C / SS
July 20 - Stirling Iced Pineapple / Rockwell 6C / SS
July 21 - Stirling Executive Man / Rockwell 6C / SS

Overall, DFS+ to BBS for the week. The SR shave was great except I have a bad habit of placing the blade at too sharp an angle and getting a cut from it. Nothing bad, just a mark of stupidity. I am so use to a perpendicular placement of the DE that I catch the mistake just as the skin is broken. I have enjoyed the SR shaves too. Only slightly more irritation than with a DE. Soaps - all great. Lather has not been a problem and since the SR, I have moved towards a goopier less stiff lather that tends to be slicker. The Rockwell continues to outperform the 34C even with lesser blades. Since I take even longer with SR, I have been forced to relegate them to the weekend shaves where I can take my time. Alum is still finding a sting at times and mostly better than a tingle. Angle might be off or I have not given myself time to heal enough so I am just re-irritating my face. Whole family is still shaving together and now my daughter is picking out the scent. New soaps, other than pass around, have been exhausted and have returned to the beginning of the rotation and boy has it been pleasurable.

Purchased some sharpening stones but kept the grit below what a SR needs so that I will get practice on our kitchen knives first. Once I am proficient, who knows....

I feel SR shaving is far less daunting and fearful a task than before. I feel it has also made my DE shaving better.

Thank you all for sharing and helping me to enjoy this hobby.

Sincerely,
Frank

 

It's been a while since I've shaved with the same razor two days in a row. This is definitely the Razor to break that streak. Another wonderful shave
Route 66 Sweeney Todd Soap
TSD 30DC LE Brush
RigaRazor
Lucky Tiger
Ogallala Bay Rum
Happy Friday!

 

Awesome photo Doug, the Orange menthol sounds awesome!

Nice photo Perry, and congrats on bringing a puck of The Fat to an end! How many shaves did you or will you get out of it ?

Great photo and great run, Jim!

Looks like you are getting more comfortable with the straight, Randy!

Wicked looking razor, Brian!

 

Thanks, Andrew. I will get either 62 or 63 shaves from it. I'm at 61 right now and it has one or two left in it.

 

You are really making great progress. The shavette without a blade is fantastic idea.

 

Thank you, Andrew!

 

Some times you only have to work half of the day. Just pick which 12 hours...

If you decide to use a blade in the Weck, muting the corners helps to keep the blood off the steel. Using a sharpening stone or a bit of concrete you could take the edge off the entire blade for lather scraping practice and muscle memory training. Those long Personna blades are closer in format to a SR than DE type shavettes. Glad you're making progress!

 

July 21, 2017
OneBlade Genesis V2
Feather FHS-10 (4)
30 DC LE with Omega Boar
Reef Point Test Depth
Witch Hazel
Captain's Choice Bay Rum with Menthol

​

I finished the outside "honey do" list before it got too hot. A nice relaxing shave seemed like a great way to start enjoying the rest of my day off. I was very tempted to ignore the picture and go use Reef Point Tranquility for its cooling effect but stuck with the plan and used Test Depth. The light aquatic scent feels like a cool breeze of the ocean which was perfect for the shave this morning. I have found that the OneBlade like most of my modern SE razors works better for me with a slicker thinner lather. The 30DC Boar easily whipped up a slick lather and allowed me to dial in the water ratio to thin it down perfectly. The first XTG with skin stretching really reduced the whiskers. I followed with the second pass ATG with skin stretching which left me with a near perfect shave. I decided to go for broke and buffed my lower neck. Just Wow! One super close BBS shave. A cold rinse and a splash of witch hazel with menthol cooled things down. Looking in the aftershave drawer I saw a neglected bottle of Captain's Choice Bay Rum with menthol crystals added. A splash gave the burn followed by the nice icy cool down. Overall a perfect start to the afternoon. I hope everyone has a great Friday.