August 2018 30 Day Rule/focus Pix & Discussion

Work

 

Wednesday Shave

I have always wanted to try a Personna 74 blade and after a year and 1/2 of putting in low losing bids, I won! Some other vintage blades were included too. There are 4 packs of 74s and the seller said the blade were stuck together so he was not certain how many blades were in each but estimated 2-3 per pack. Yup the blades were stuck so I pried one open and separated the blades, there are 5 blades.

In keeping with the August theme, I went with my trusty Futur and set it wide open and then down 2 notches for the final pass. The blade was very nice and it's inaugural shave was epic. In the picture, the setting is on 1 because that is how I load and unload the Futur. I will be using this blade in-between straight shaves to see how long it lasts.

Irritation A+ Closeness A+

Razor: Merkur Futur Persona 74 (1)
Brush: Omega Pro
Soap: SMN
AS: Fine Snake Bite AS, Stirling ASB
Scent: Creed GIT

 

It’s always nice when there is a decent restaurant within walking distance.
The downside is a yellow jack decided I looked tasty on the way back. Ouch!

 

Adjustable (Arko) Anything Goes and whatever else we decide AUGUST!!!!

August 7


Razor - Soviet Consul (9)
Blade - (7)
Soap - Oleo Soapworks El Caballero
Brush - Stirling Two Banded Synthetic
Post - Alum

Tonight's shave finishes off a full week on the same Personna 74 blade. And, it also features the third adjustable razor of the month. From the scariest gap of any of my adjustables, the 6 on the Qshave, I brought it down to the 9 setting on the Soviet Consul. A Consul on 9 is still quite a bit more aggressive than a Gillette on 9, so I'm working my way back down the line. I figured I'd give this blade the biggest challenges back to back.

El Caballero soap for the lather along with the Stirling brush. I was doing a bit of research on the soap and discovered that Oleo Soapworks uses two different bases for their shaving soaps. The Canard base features Duck Fat as the main fatty ingredient for saponification. The vegan base lacks any animal product, obviously. The tub that I have that was a gift from @Douglas Carey is the vegan base. I'm going to have to order in a tub of the Canard base soap to compare. This version is definitely slick, protective, and not at all a bad choice. The scent is a cross between bay rum and men's cologne (that's Oleo's description) and is very nice. I've never had any issues with its performance either.

Only one problem tonight. One minor nick along my goatee near my chin. This is a problem that surfaces occasionally and I think I discovered the cause. I tend to stand the razor on its corner just a bit as I work around my goatee onto my neck. The nature of the nick matches a corner puncture wound very nicely, so it's just a technique error I occasionally make. I never feel it. Just notice the spot of blood.

Two passes, touch ups. Smooth blade. Seriously - 7 shaves and it hasn't tried to tug or drag at all. And that's in three different razors and several different soaps. The quest for the lifespan of this blade continues. Oh, and the finish? Yeah. Baby in the house smooth. Like clockwork. It's almost boring. Now, I need to knock on some wood to avoid slicing my nose off tomorrow from saying that.

​

 

Any wife who still comments on anyone who has been in this group over a year taking pictures just hasn't been paying attention!

 

Now that's good eating right there. Feel free to overnight me the same thing. A little dry ice and it should be fine.

 

The pack I have is also all stuck together. Took some doing to get the top blade out. But....it doesn't seem to have any effect on the blades at all. I'll be interested to see how long you get that one to last.

 

On its way

 

I know what I will eat for lunch tomorrow

 

So here goes my first ever SOTD photograph (apologies that it is not up to the standards of so many on here - I have just gotten a GoPro, and as such am trying to make use of it)!

Pre Shave - Hot towel
Razor - Merkur 34c HD
Blade - Feather (1st use)
Brush - Bluebeard Doubloon
Soap - Palmolive mashed in mug
Post Shave - Nivea Sensitive
Scent - Dior Sauvage

First pass was WTG, the second was an XTG/ATG hybrid, finished with a little touch-up pass. The result was a DFS with little/no irritation!

 

Great lineup for the 30 day rule. An excellent SOTD Photo.

 

It must be nice to be an executive. When I was on the road for work, this was my typical dinner:


If I was entertaining a customer, however, we ate much better:

 

A good, crisp in-focus photo of some excellent gear for daily shaving. You can easily do a 30-Day Rule with that ... Or you could even be totally radical and adopt that as a daily shaving rig for life...

I tend to limit myself to two-pass shaves too, because I get too much irritation for the minimal extra gain from doing three. My usual pattern is the first pass is diagonally With/Across the grain on my face and ATG on my neck. The second pass is then XTG everywhere. It seems to work.

 

When someone discovers my stash of vintage Feather blades, they will slip easily from the tuck since they're individually wrapped and hermetically sealed. Oh, what a day that will be for our great grand children in the 30DC.

 

A great inaugural SOTD photo and a nice kickoff to your focus!

 

SOTD August 8, 2018

Prep: Cold water and Stirling mentholated pre-shave soap
Blade: Schick
Razor: Schick M1 injector
Brush: Restored Surrey badger
Soap: Wickham 1912 Cashmere
Post: Witch hazel, Epsilon Blue Mediterranean aftershave

Nice shave this morning. Been quite a while since I used the Wickham soap. It's good stuff. Nice lather, easy to produce, slick, good post-shave....everything you want. Nice shave overall.

Have a great day!

 

Nice photo and setup, James!

 

Wednesday morning August 8 - trucking along

I haven't been posting comments for the last couple days, but I have managed to keep up with the thread once more. A general thank you for everyone who posted kind thoughts and prayers for me and my family this past week. Things are now getting back to their new, stable balance.

Schick E2 / Personna (unknown)
JR #276 white ash and boar brush
Vi - John shaving cream
Alum and Lucky Tiger (and styptic pencil)

An excellent shave today. My usual two passes resulted in a DFS. Vi-John is an Asian drugstore cream that is one of those cheap products that performs as well as the fancy artisan ones for a fraction of the price. It doesn't have the complex layered scent of the top brands but otherwise has all of the performance -- much like Arko in soaps. A dab of it squeezed onto the boar brush easily face lathered into enough suds for multiple passes.

The only problem today was that I ran over a small skin blemish at the base of my neck. It didn't sting at all until I applied the styptic pencil as the only way to get it to stop bleeding. I am not sure if part of the problem was the blade, so I junked it after the shave.

I have decided to spend the next while with my injectors. In keeping with the monthly theme, I will use the Pal adjustable and the Supply Co V.2 interchangeable injectors. I find they use similar shaving angles anyway, which are somewhat steeper than the hold required with the more common Schick injectors.

 

Excellent picture, Perry!

 

August 8 SOTD:

Razor: Gillette Fat Handle Tech
Blade: Polsilver
Brush: Razorock Plissoft
Lather: Arko
Aftershave: Stirling Glacial Lemon Chill
Additional Care:
Osage Rub
Stirling Unscented PSB

I went for a full three pass shave this morning, as we have some corporate representatives in today. I have a meeting with them, so I need to make an attempt to look good (at least as good as an ugly might like mine can look). A nice BBS was the result. I hope everyone has a great day!