August 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Beautiful picture, Clint! Enjoy your ride!

 

Aug 26 SOTD:

Stirling Synthetic Brush
Wholly Kaw Monaco Royale
Parker Variant
Wholly Kaw Monaco Royale AS

Thanks to a little enabling by @entropy1049, I sought out some Wholly Kaw donkey milk soap, and found this one. The scent is terrific, and it is complex. I get some lavender and a little bergamot, some definite oakmoss, and cedar. It all comes together very nicely. The lather is nice and slick, like the other Wholly Kaw soaps I have tried. I find these soaps to be easy to dial in and I can add plenty of water to get thinner, runny lather the way I like it. This soap has all of that. Where it is different is on the post shave feel. Wholly Kaw soaps already do a decent job of this, but this soap seems to be outstanding. After rinsing and toweling off my face, my skin felt as if I had just applied a balm. It was soft and smooth. I am very impressed. I can see lots of potential in these soaps, and this one will get a quick turn in the rotation to confirm this initial impression. I capped the shave with the matching splash, which works well with the soap.

I am off to work for a bit, as even it doesn't look like Harvey is expected to impact us too badly now, I don't want to get caught with my pants down. Our main generator is out of service, so I am still working on contigency plans in case of a power loss. I hope everyone has a great day!

 

Tell me that isn't a pretty razor.

 

August 26, 2017

Paladin El Dorado
CRSW Juniper
Wolfman WR1-OC with Darwin Ti
Polsilver Super Iridium
CRSW Juniper
ADP Blu Mediterraneo Ginepro

​

 

I am glad to hear you maybe aren't going to get pummeled too badly. The soap sounds good.

 

Saturday August 26

Rockwell 6s on plate #3 / Topaz Platinum ( 1 )
Omega B+B Essential Boar
KMF Lavender Shea cream in pump bottle
Alum and TSD Aftershave Milk - Lavender

Inspired by a thread I just read on TSD praising KMF Lavender Shea cream, I hauled out my pump bottle of it, blew about three months worth of dust off it, and activated the pump. Which actually worked this time! I rubbed a squirt of cream over my face to start the lather (it can be a brushless cream), then used my damp boar brush to work the remnants still smeared on my palm into my brush as a thick lather base. I added a quick sprinkle of water to the brush, then went to work on my face. The KMF face lathered beautifully and left the brush loaded with enough for at least two more passes than I needed.

Two passes with the razor and a bit of cleanup under my chin and I am left with a workable BBS. I am not quite dolphin smooth but there don't seem to be any real stubble patches anywhere either. So I'll take it as a BBS. The alum was a bit warm under my chin where I did the extra buffing but no real sting or sparks. I used the TSD Aftershave Milk mainly to extend the lavender scent a little longer.

KMF is a drugstore product at a drugstore price, not an artisan craftwork or exotic foreign soap, but it just plain flat works. In the excitement of trying out complex artisan offerings or fancy foreign luxury soaps, I tend to forget how good KMF is. If someone took away my toybox and just left me KMF to use every day, I really wouldn't be hard done by in the least.

Hope everyone has a good weekend and a relatively calm, dry and safe one for those in Harvey's path.

 

Some people might say I resemble that pic!

 

Excellent picture, Mark!

 

Big decision! Praying that clarity comes to you. Best wishes.

 

I'm in a Chicago hotel room preparing to go to a friends funeral. It's nice to be able to start my day with a nice relaxing shave. I'm ready to take on a difficult day
Travel SOTD
Palmolive Shave Stick
AoS Pure Badger Brush
Tuckmar Razor
Mennen Skin Bracer After Shave
Have a great weekend!

 

Condolences on the loss of your friend, Brian.

 

Wishing you the best.

 

August 26th

Head & Face shave

Gem G-bar w/ carbon steel Gem blade
Simpson's Commodore best x1
Arko
Thayers Original

It's a pre-season for single edge September and open comb October( the open comb I plan to use is also an SE). It was a great shave. I enjoy SEs like nothing else and for me the shave is like nothing else I've tried. The G -bar in particular is the smoothest ;but still efficient. I get all the benefits of an SE on a coarse beard, but none of the harshness the OCMM can have. I can shave in long strokes or blade buff like a DE without any negative effects.

Great Shaves Everybody!! And Happy Saturday!!

 

Sweet setup and photograph Jim.

 

Deepest sympathy for the loss of your friend Brian.

 

Excellent picture and line up amigo.

 

Condolences on the loss of your friend, Brian. Prayers offered for comfort and healing for both you and for the family and other friends.

I'm glad you find your daily shave a relaxing ritual at times like these. I am starting to find the same, particularly since I joined the 30DC and improved my game.

 

August 26, 2017

Razor: Schick J1 Injector
Blade: Schick Proline B
Brush: Razorock Plissoft 22
Cream: Dove Hydrating+
Post: Alum, Listerine, WH

Back to the J1 and Proline. After the first couple of strokes, though, I realized something that I suspected the last time I used this razor- the blade had gone south. So, a mid-pass blade change and we were back to the races for two passes and a issue-free near-BBS.

I'm starting to get mildly concerned about the Proline B blades. I'm wondering if they don't hold up as well as regular Injector blades or, at least, rest as well in the razor. That... or I need to rethink how I rest my razors.

 

Best wishes on a tough day, Brian.

 

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.