Nov 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus

Makes me wonder what you have planned for DECember, Doug! I sure have enjoyed seeing the wonderful photos of your set up this month, but I know you're ready to move on.

 

Lol

 

Wednesday night November 29 - @Vlasta Cream Challenge

My package finally arrived today containing @Vlasta's Mystery Shave Creams #A - L. So I am starting in today on the tests. I will use the same setup for each cream: Gillette Black Beauty on 4 loaded with a Topaz Platinum blade used for a maximum of two shaves, my 30DC LE brush with the Cashmere synthetic knot, sample bowl whipped in my horn quaich. I will not use postshave products to allow me to see what the creams' postshave feel is like.

Should be fun. I was planning to do some trials in December anyway with the dozen or so soap and cream samples I have lying around here, so I might just continue testing stuff through the entire month.

Tonight: mystery sample A...

Fragrance is a faint lemony smell, which I didn't particularly notice once it was on my face. It lathered quickly but took awhile to go from frothy bubbles to a smooth creamy lather. Once in that state, it hung around - the lather on my face stayed good for the entire pass, and the lather in the bowl was usable through both passes of the two I did. Slickness wasn't bad but cushion and protection didn't seem great. Postshave feel was a bit drying.

I think I will wait to try to rate this cream until tomorrow. I just took a fingerful tonight without exactly measuring it. There is a healthy amount left for a second shave and I want to be sure I didn't skimp on the cream tonight. @Vlasta included a small plastic spoon with the samples, and starting tomorrow, I will use it to measure out identical amounts of each cream so they all get assessed equally fairly (or unfairly) based on equal amounts being used.

 

Beautiful picture, Doug!

 

Thank you, Charlie!

 

Thursday shave

Ever product lived up to it's reputation, a very nice shave.

Irritation A+ Closeness A

Razor: Joris (GSB 2)
Brush: Romero silver tip
Pre: Nivea
Soap: Tabac
AS: Speick AS, Antaeus ASB
Scent: Chanel Antaeus

 

Beautiful SOTD photo, Keith! The Joris is a very pretty razor. How would you rate it, in terms of aggressiveness?

 

It is very aggressive, less aggressive than an Ikon Tech or 2011 R41 but similar to the 2013 R41.

 

NOVember MMXVII A.D.
No Variation -Day Twenty-Nine

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Day 134 of the Arko Stick Eternal. This kit has been good to me this month. Every day has been at least good, and many were very close and comfortable shaves. December coming up, just might go full on Decadent! Who knows......?! This month has flown by! Big thanks to Neal @NCoxSTL for the kind words on Thanksgiving. You guys, all of you, have made this recurrent thread one of the most special and approachable corners in all of the forums. You should all be very proud of that, as I see you accept and teach newbies all the time, just like the beginning. So basically, I am saying thanks. Thanks for keeping this going strong. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.
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Have a winner of a Thursday!
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@wristwatchb - geometry is Fatip if you wanna try cheap.

 

@NCoxSTL - Jagger and Peter Tosh, with two others, sitting on the steps of the building featured on LZ's Physical Graffiti.

Levels.....

 

Thanks guys. I thought there was some similarity between the Joris and the Fatip. For $20, I may give the Piccolo a try next time I order some stuff. Thanks!

 

NOVember!!!

November 29 - Warming up for DECember

Razor - Delta Echo NEW LC
Blade - (2)
Soap - Truefitt & Hill 1805
Brush - 30 DC LE
Post - Alum

Staying with the NEW LC and Kai for the remaining two shaves of NOVember. My, my, my but it's gone by fast. I switched it up to the T&H 1805 soap and 30 DC LE brush. Lots of water as this is a thirsty soap but it's very slick and nice once you have it right. Just using a product from a company that's been in business for 212 years is a nice way to spend the shave.

Two passes and touch ups and the baby is once again in the house. Alum was quiet and all is well. While I do like the Feathers I have always preferred Kai just a tad due to their smoothness and lack of harshness. A nice go to when you want a different Japanese blade. I find the same thing with AC blades. Feather Pros are sharper by a hair, but also a bit more likely to leave a reminder you were there than the Kai Captain Originals. Either way, DE or AC, you can't go wrong with either.

One more night and it's on to Decadent December!! That thread will be available soon for you early birds out there.

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Now that I've finished the mystery shave cream challenge, I reckon I ought to start posting again.

Razor was the Edwin Jagger Chatsworth with a new Personna Lab Blue blade.

The 30DC is what I reach for most every day now.

Today I also reached for my tub of Sudsy Soapery Lavender and Peppermint. I know they get knocked around for not having very creative scents, but I have to say that this is some of the easiest lathering soap I have ever used. I just got a tremendously good lather out of it and one heck of a smooth, easy shave. I highly recommend the stuff based on performance alone.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

Pretty razor, Keith!

 

November 30th
‘59 Flare Tip w Polsilver SI (3)
TGN Finest Fan
First Canadian Maximo Gomez Cuba
Thayers
Barrister’s Reserve Spice

Last shave of NOVember will be early in the morning.


My NOVember focus was to use a neglected/underused razor, soap and splash for a week at a time to figure out whether they were worth keeping. Brush and blade were unchanged weekly as well, but were not in danger. Used my own brushes and favourite blades. The idea was to determine whether these neglected products were to be binned, used more often, or something in between.

Here are my results:

Soaps
-Prohibition Style Triple Butter> Binned. Just couldn’t get lather without too much work
-TFS Masto Miche> Keeping, but not planning to dedicate any time to it
-Tabac> Keeping, but not focussing on it anytime soon
-TFS Farinik> Binned. Had some debate on this, but don’t enjoy the lanolin-less formula as much the Mastro Miche. As well, the scent is not wowing me and I got some irritation, which may not be its fault, but guilty by association.

Razors
-Edwin Jagger 89lbl> Keeping and need to use it more. Got great shaves
-‘59 Gillette Flare Tip> Keeping and loving it
-‘51 Gillette Ball End Tech> Keeping and will use as a travel razor
-Lux Razor> Binning the cheap head, Keeping the heavy, stainless knurled handle. Definite frankenrazor potential.

Splashes
-TFS Mastro Miche> Keeping, but barely. I enjoy the scent in the soap a little better. Decent performance but doesn’t wow me for scent.
-P&G Old Spice (used with Stirling Spice balm)> Keeping, but not planning on emphasizing it
-Stirling Clubman> Keeping but not planning on emphasizing it
-M&L Florida Water> Keeping, loving and buying more

Have to figure out my full plan for DEcadent December now...

 

Thank you, Charlie. As I can’t get alcohol splashes shipped to Canada, I haven’t purchased from the Chatillon Lux website directly. Luckily, there are a couple Canadian based retailers.

 

There’s that Romero again. I love that brush! Great stuff, Keith.

 

EARLY BIRD ALERT - DECember is ready HERE!!!

 

Nice photo to wrap up the month, Jason!