February 2018 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

That is what teaching is all about. You are nailing it.

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Thank you, Chris, for the kind words.

 

Favorite February

February 15 - A week with Williams. Day 7

Razor - Gem MMOC
Blade - ASR Carbon - CVS (4)
Soap - Williams
Brush - Omega BoS 10066
Post - Alum

Well today was my one day off this week and I've had better. I woke up after running a fever during the night. Seems like the cold I've been putting off caught up a bit. I slept a bit more today than I would have liked but we still got out and got a few things done. I'm feeling some better tonight so that's a good thing.

Today is my final day of the Week with Williams! It also completes 16 shaves with the OCMM. I'm happy to report that the lather tonight was as good as the last two nights so I'm pretty sure I've got this Williams thing figured out. As I believe @John Ruschmeyer pointed out this morning, as the puck hydrates from daily use it definitely gets easier to work with. Same goes for Mitchell's. The more water you give it the better the lather gets. Two passes and touch ups and a near-BBS is the result with no blood or other issues. Alum slightly warm but the blade at 4 uses is starting to dull up just a bit. Carbon just doesn't go the distance that stainless does, but it does give you a great smooth shave and lessens the chance of those "oops" cuts.

My take on Williams after a solid week - I hereby promise to stop bashing it in public. At least quite as often. The truth is (and it so often is with any kind of shaving gear) that it isn't a terrible product. It's an old name, been around forever, they changed the formula at one point and that made it more difficult. However, it's slick, seems to provide protection when you finally figure it out and if it was the only soap on the planet I wouldn't stop shaving. I can see how it could be a good choice for that inexpensive back up or travel soap. My problem is that I don't need anything in that niche. That's what Arko is for me and it lathers much more easily. Williams, however, does give you the time as you work on it to hit that "zen" spot we all love.

Tomorrow I'm going back to the Favorite in FAVuary. 14 shaves remain with the MMOC but I'm going to one of my absolute favorite soaps - Mitchell's Wool Fat. Ill use it for 7 days, then finish with 7 dayd of Tabac to take the 30 days out in STYLE!

In honor of a grand old soap and a grand old razor with an old style blade - the picture for today got the antique treatment as well.

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Ok, so I am getting good lathers with Williams. You get it to lather. Several others have as well this month. My working theory is twofold. Fuzzy worked some of that Louisiana voodoo on this group and we're under some evil spell, or else Williams secretly slipped in the old formula on us. I'm hoping it's the latter because the idea of @wchnu having that kind of power kind of scares me a little bit.

 

As the official, unofficial herder of cats for this thread I really appreciate you posting that. I'm not going to add anything except to say nicely said and it's amazing that if you keep politics where it belongs it changes the dynamics totally. Thanks to everyone today for the posts that do acknowledge the outside world, but that don't destroy the unity that, if it could be bottled and sold, could probably solve about 99.8% of the issues. Shave on!

 

Neal, I hope you feel better soon. It was fun following your shaves with Williams. I wonder how it would work as a shave stick?

 

I actually meant to do one day with using it that way. I'll put that on my list to try in the near future.

 

Just now followed the story. That's real stuff.

 

I wholeheartedly recommend the menthol cream, Perry.

 

I actually did that in year one, and found that Williams worked best for me when used as a "stick."

 

That actually makes me wanna try.

 

February MMXVIII A.D.
Focused on Favorites


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Decided that day five of the Palmolive stick was the choice today. One ATG pass with a shavette...not my best day, but will take it. Looks clean and the Alum was cool. Automatic! The soap choice was generated by my intense like of forum shave projects. They are faves! Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a groovy Friday!
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Holy smokes, you miss a day in this barn and you are 125 posts behind!
A collection of great photos of cool set ups today, folks!

 

Thank you, Gentlemen.

 

Shoot, lately 125 is a small number!

 

A great batch of photos and reports and some excellent respectful commentary on events today, gentlemen! (Well, it's yesterday now as I am posting this.) This place just keeps on trucking along!

Neal @NCoxSTL, hope you feel better soon. A most interesting report as you manfully admitted that Williams is not a terrible product. Are you quite sure that Fuzzy didn’t get to your cold syrup before you wrote it?

Perry @PLAla, I liked reading about your positive experience with that student. Good job!

 

Thanks guys. I'm enjoying the experience thus far!

Thanks for the recommendation if the shea butter - will look into it when the time comes!

You have mentioned skin stretching... This is something that I want to start to look into in the future once I have had a little more experience 'riding the cap' WTG and XTG. I don't really want to be grating my face going ATG, and I am under the impression that stretching the skin done well can aid a closer shave. Are there any particularly good threads/videos/tutorials on this particular area of shaving?

I am also super inspired by the mention of sticks like Palmolive which is available for 50p here in the UK - something to look at when I have used up my Proraso. I think I am going to make it my goal in these early days to get the best possible daily shave for the lowest possible price. I managed to purchase 100 Astra SP blades for £8.68... Good enough for around 2 years I reckon. I am going to buy and Omega 49 after this 30 days, and can obtain Nivea for £2.50... No real need to swap my Merkur 34c (at least for the time being). I think I will be able to keep things relatively cheap!

Cheers,

James

 

Be afraid...veddy veddy afraid!!

Works great!!!

 

One of my favorite things is learning new skills or at least pushing what I know. Today will be the first shave with a real pain stick. Should be as much fun as the stivette..... With less blood...maybe....well see this afternoon.

 

The first couple of minutes of this video shows some various skin stretches. I do this whether I'm shaving with a DE razor or a shavette. Once you understand the direction of your beard growth, the idea is to gently stretch the skin so that the hairs will stand up for easier cutting. Rubbing some alum on your fingertips will allow you to grip wet skin better. I suggest trying it first on your cheeks to see how it works. Stretch gently, ride the cap as you have been doing, and use no pressure. I do this with most all my shaves, and I find it helps especially in trouble spots around my chin, lips, and lower neck. Let us know how it works for you. You're making great progress!


Here's another really good video showing how to stretch your skin.