September 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

I guess that's why they call it Labor Day. Good to hear you had such a great sales day in your store!

And now enquiring minds want to know: what is African Black Organic soap and how is it?

 

Is that a Semogue badger brush? How is it?

 

Great photo Jared! Love the brush!

 

SEptember 5, 2017
Cobra Classic
Schick Proline (3)
BSB-2 with Vie Long 2 Band Fan
Reef Point Tranquility
Fine Lavender

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Another fantastic shave this morning. Since this lineup of hardware and software works really well together, the shaves are even more enjoyable. Three passes, XTG, ATG, and XTG followed by minimal touch ups ended in a near perfect shave. A splash of Fine Lavender and I am ready for my dentist appointment this morning. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

 

SOTD September 5, 2017
A Stirling SEptember

Blade: Schick
Razor: Schick E2
Brush: Semogue 1520 boar
Lather: Stirling The Lounge
Post: Witch hazel, Stirling Baker Street aftershave
WTG, touch-up

Good way to start the day and work week. The Lounge is a soapy tobacco scent that's pretty strong. Lathered up nicely and the Schick E took care of the whiskers easily. Smooth shave in the end. Finished with Baker Street splash for an interesting scent combination. Enjoyable shave!

Have a great day!

 

5 SEptember 2017 Blade Focus Shave

Pre: Hot water, soap off the puck and a hot towel
Razor: GEM MicroMatic Open Comb
Blade: PAL
Brush: JR#161 NY Mets Special Edition by @Jayaruh
Soap: Barberia Toscana Sapone Da Barba
Post: Hot/Cold water rinse, alum block, cold towelx2
After Shave: Cella Lozione Dopobarba

A new workweek begins. I am really impressed by the MMOC/PAL combo. Against workweek stubble, I am getting outstanding performance. It reminds me of the shaves I get from my NEW SC(which I will be using for all of OCtober).
The Barberia Toscana Sapone Da Barba provided a fantastic lather that after the shave left my face very soft. Splashed on some Cella Lozione Dopobarba and I had one of my best shaves ever.
It's gonna be a great day!

 

Still a focus free month. I'm having trouble coming up with a new focus.
Route 66 Sweeney Todd Soap
Wolf Whiskers Brush
Craftsman Wedge Razor
Lucky Tiger
Pinaud Lilac Vegetal After Shave
Have a great day!

 

SEptember 5th
Schick G4 w Chick (1)
TGN Finest Fan
Stirling Gentleman
Thayers
Chatillon Lux Unconditional Surrender AS

SEptember continues with the Schick '66'. Some of you will probably remember that I didn't have a very good experience with my last cartridge of Chinese Schicks. Opened a new pack this morning and they performed as they should, with a weeper to prove it... There has been a bit of talk about Gentleman over the past few days, and I used that as inspiration to pull it out today. I'll also try to stick to the mini-focus this month by using Stirling products quite often. I'll also have to swing by the drug store today for some el cheapo stinko for the 3rd 'focus'.

What a great scent and lather with the Gentleman. Face-lathered with the Fan and had 3 nice passes plus a little extra on my lower neck. I am near BBS, and finished with Unconditional Surrender, which is another great product.

The fire situation is not a whole lot better. One fire close to town is contained and the families who were evacuated from near it have returned home, but the other fire that is close to town(in the other direction) is now well over 400 hectares. Most of those evacuees are in hotels here in town or at the evacuation centre. Many of those properties are resort properties, so people do have the ability to go elsewhere as well. The air quality is very poor, but that is to be expected. My own home doesn't appear to be under any immediate danger.

Have a great day all!

 

Fantastic, Clint! You had me until the dentist part...

 

Cool pic, Perry. What is your take on the tobacco scent in Lounge?

 

Face feels good and soft today with the Marshlands A.S.. I'm quite anxious see how the A.S. feels in chillier weather.

 

Nice pic, Jared. I think I'll have to pick up a sample of Glastonbury.

 

I usually don't comment on a pic that's a few day old as I'm trying to catch up after the weekend, but this one is breathtaking!

 

Here's a good description:

African traditional black soap is one of the most beneficial yet unheard of soaps you will ever find. Made from dried plantain skins, palm leaves, cocoa pod powder, and kernel oil for an all-natural cleansing process. Plantains skins are largely what make this soap so effective. Plantain is a fruit that grows in Africa & South America that looks similar to a banana, except it is much larger and tastes altogether different. You can find plantains at many ethnic or international grocery stores. It is a natural source of vitamins A, E and iron oxides. When black soap is made, the skin of the plantain is gingerly dried to a precise texture under the sun. Afterwards it is roasted in a clay oven. The heat must be constant in order to achieve the perfect brownish black color, texture & smell. Afterwards, cocoa pod powder is added. Cocoa pod is the shell of the cocoa fruit and also has natural healing properties.

African black soap is soft with an organic shape. It has a delicate texture and a natural, earthy smell. It is not oily, and can be used for hands, face, body and hair. It is most commonly found in Ghana, however other countries have their versions of black soap as well. Other words for black soap are Alata Samina, Anago Samina which comes from the Two languages in northern Ghana.

With my somewhat oily skin I have found that this soap does the best job of keeping it clean. It can be a bit harsh as it contains bits of ash that can sometimes give you a Lava soap feel, but it definitely cleanses well. I've thought about giving it a go as a shaving soap but I think that would end up as a fail. It doesn't produce lather like some soaps so I'm pretty sure it wouldn't even with the help of a brush.

 

Quick shave this morning with the Schick G with a new Chick blade. First time using a badger in at least three months. I will be using this soap every other shave until it's gone, as I keep rotating through my 25 soaps. Did three passes and some buffing for a DFS shave.

 

Sorry guys, it's been a crazy few days over here. My car broke down on sunday, yesterday on my way back home from work my bike got a flat tyre, also had to fix some things around the house ... no shaving for me 'til tomorrow or even thursday

 

Since my first experience with Midnight and Two was really only half a shave, I decided to give it a full run this morning with The Cabin scent. My experience with the full shave was similar to the partial shave. This is a good soap. I'd say this soap performed well in all areas: scent, slickness, cushion, scent, etc. As in my first pass, the attempt to get thicker lather held back any residual slickness, so I wet my whole face and the brush and face lathered for the second and third pass. The lather needs more water than you think in order to get residual slickness, but thinning out the lather definitely gets it there. The only thing this soap didn't have for me is comeback sauce. If it were in my den it would make the rotation for sure, but right now I'm looking for upgrades, and I didn't find anything here that blew me away enough to part with $25 for another soap. I'm going to create a category called honorable mention that this one will go in. There are several soaps I already own that are honorable mentions; I'll use and enjoy them while I've got them but they don't have enough "comeback sauce" for me to go back for a second tub (in the theoretical world where I actually finish a tub of something). If this had been one of my early SAD acquisition soaps, it definitely would have been a keeper. (For a running soap summary which will eventually cover 30+ soaps, feel free to check out my thread here: http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/reviews-of-30-soaps.57343/ ).

In unrelated news, we are now in the 5 day "cone of error" for a Category 5 Hurricane. Not terribly comforting. Some days running an ice cream plant is a lot less fun than others.

 

Thank you Sir!

 

Nice photo Jim, I hope you and your family are doing well. I pray that the recovery efforts in your area continue at an expeditious pace.

 

Jason , I pray that they get the fires under control and out soon. We are getting a lot of smoke here in Colorado from a fire burning in Montana. I cant imagine what its like with a fire burning 12 miles out of town.