February 2018 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Thank you, Andrew!

 

Thank you, Charlie, and I agree. He's certainly been a blessing to me. He was a drum major for me for two years and is now studying to be an educator. He wants to teach and eventually be a school administrator. He has worked band camp for me the past two years and I'll continue to bring him in for as long as he wants to do it. He's a great kid.

 

I don't want to take us too far into the weeds, but I agree with what Kentucky's Governor said recently after the tragic incident in my state. I think he said what many people know and are just afraid to say.

OK...back to shaving.

 

Something about me seems to be contrarian when it comes to certain Injectors. The conventional wisdom is that the E2 is aggressive and the G1 is milder. Personally, I've never really gotten into the G1 (I much prefer the G8) but find the E2 to be smooth and efficient. There's some definite differences in the safety bar geometry between the two which, I suspect, makes the E2 work better on my face (chubby cheeks and all that ).

 

SOTD February 15th


RazoRock Game Changer
GSB(2)
Blackship Grooming "Wassail"
Yaqi Mysterious Space (24mm Silvertip, Frigate Class)

Second shave with the GC was as good as the first. Normally I don't shave every day, but I want to get in as many shaves with this razor as I can before I have to send it on. Since I only had one days worth of stubble I went with a 2 pass XTG & ATG shave. The shave was very smooth and irritation free and I ended up with a nice DFS.

Using a somewhat lightly scented soap with a new badger brush probably wasn't a good idea though. Even though I shampooed the knot and did a test lather with the brush and let the lather sit in it overnight it still had some funk to it which was detectable even through the scent of the lather. The brush bloomed out quite a bit and though the knot is dense it really doesn't have much backbone to it, I'm thinking I should have gone with the two band option. Have a great day my friends!

 

Williams Wednesday on a Thursday

Today’s shave was brought to me by the following:

Razor: Gillette Slim
Brush: Simpson Duke 3
Soap: Williams Mug Shaving Soap
Blade: Feather
A/S: Clubman Classic Vanilla


Oh Fuzzy @wchnu !! This one is for you!

I was partially inspired by Neal @NCoxSTL and his use of Williams. Since I’m a masochist, I decided to have another run at Williams. Why not? What’s the worst that can happen? A crappy lather once again?

Well - I must’ve messed up big time. I got a lather that, not only was it really good, but it didn’t pull the ol’ disappearing act. Not even on the second pass. I don’t recall selling my soul to Satan. Nor did I have to beat it like a rented mule.

I admit to watching Fuzzy’s video where he shaved with the Bunny. That was my template.

I soaked my brush. However, I didn’t soak the Williams - or even put any water in with it. Once I shook my brush out, I began loading it the way I would any other soap. I added a few drops of water to the brush occasionally as I loaded. Once some lather began forming, I went to the face. Bam! There is was - and it stayed. A few more drops of water on the brush while face lathering to bring out the slickness. It wasn’t a super duper thick lather, nor was it the thin bubbly runny stuff. Just a nice slick lather that worked beautifully.

Two passes (and a little touch up), a splash of Clubman, and I was good to go! Heck, not even a weeper!




Have a wonderful Thursday everyone!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Fantastic photo, Bruce!

 

Thank you Andrew.

Fantastic photo Andrew. Another gorgeous brush.

 

Great photo Bruce.

 

Thank you, Clint!

 

Good morning, guys. A lot of cool setups and shaves going on this month!

Rick, that is one pretty Schick E-3. I'm not an injector shaver, but that one just looks plain cool. Glad you were able to score one in the box.

Keith, that is an awesome looking straight razor! The scales almost look like they are made of carbon fiber.

I'm also trying to finish up a tub of CF Lavender. I can see the bottom of the container, but I probably have another 2 or 3 weeks of shaves left. This is my first CF shaving cream, and I really like it.

Congrats Neal! You're on the way toward mastery on both the Gem OCMM and the Williams soap. You are inspiring me to grab a puck of Williams sometime and experiment with it.

I've been a bum this week too, but it's fun to conquer a few days of growth with the SRX! I'm a long way from getting a one-pass ATG BBS shave with it, but it would be fun to try.

Clint, that's simply a gorgeous razor and brush combo. Your photos are consistently awesome!

Oh my goodness, Jim. I'm not tempted by too many razors these days, but I really like your Timeless Bronze OC. It will be fun to see how it shaves for you over the next few days.

You always have a cool lineup, Perry, and today is no exception. Great photo! I finished my first tube of Palmolive shave cream last year, and it was a great performer. I have a Palmolive shave stick in the stockpile, and you and @Bama Samurai are tempting me to start using it. I picked up some Palmolive sticks off the shelf in England last year for about $1.4o each. I think the cream was about $3. I should have grabbed a few more while I had the chance.

Awesome set up, Mark! Blue is my favorite color, so today's lineup really catches my eye!

John, congrats on another great shave. Your SOTD reports always remind me to use my KMF. It is a fantastic shaving cream, and I can buy it locally.

Andrew, it will be fun following along as you evaluate the GC. razor. It looks like a well-made tool. Your brush is a looker too. You can always replace the knot with a two-bander if this one doesn't work out for you. I'm actually a fan of bloomed out, pillow soft badger brushes though. That's why I like my Kent brushes so much, particularly with shave creams.

Beautiful classic set up, Bruce! It's hard to be a Gillette Slim paired with a Simpson badger brush. (I looked hard at the Duke 3 before I finally picked up the Chubby 2. If I was gonna get another Simpson brush, this might be the one). Cool photo and congrats on a fantastic shave!

 

Thank you, Charlie! The brush is very nice in the bloomed out pillow soft regards. I just generally prefer something with a little more backbone, but is doesn't hurt to keep a big ole pillow soft brush or two in the rotation.

 

KMF shave cream and SRX razor combo - I need to try that. I bet it will be a winner!

 

Thank you, Clint!

 

Thank you Charlie. I admit I am really enjoying this brush/razor combo.

 

Thank you, Andrew!

 

I'd like to try the Palmolive menthol cream some day. I've heard the creams work well. Thanks for the kind words, Charlie! The shave stick works really well.

 

After my shave this morning, I might disagree slightly. My mug of Williams sits open all the time, and it seldom ever sees any use. I've tried all the hoodoo voodoo tricks that people have posted, normally using a metric ton of water. It wasn't until I tried it "Fuzzy's way" this morning that I ever had real luck with it.



I hope Fuzzy @wchnu is OK with me posting this here. If not, I'll gladly remove it.

 

Great photo Andrew!! The handle of the brush is beautiful. Sorry to hear is doesn't have much backbone though. Loving the shiny razor!