September 2018 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

That's a good idea, I'm going to give it a try.

 

The soap is the only thing that I have changed in the last 20 days. I shaved twice with Hendrix Classics and several times with the Almond TOBS. The rest (and best) have been with the Peppermint TOBS. My neck has already calmed down substantially over night after being back with the Peppermint last shave!

 

SEptember 10th Travel SOTD
Schick G4
Stirling Gentleman SS
Semogue Boar
Thayers
Chatillon Lux Unconditional Surrender AS

I am in Vancouver for some meetings and training for the next few days. Had a fantastic shave earlier today. To keep the SE focus going, I brought the G4 with an unknown blade. I packed an extra injector cartridge, but no need as the existing blade (either Personna or Chick, probably) still felt great. For today’s Stirling product, I packed the Gentleman, because, well, you know. Excellent shave, finished with the super CL splash. Very smooth, event free shave with great products.
I consider the two (female) colleagues who I shared a cab with to the meeting to be blessed to experience the Gentleman/CL combo for the first time...

After the meetings, I had an hour or so to walk a few around the area. Found a Winners, which is sort of the Canadian equivalent of Ross’s or TJ Maxx. Had a few things in the Men’s section which immediately caught my eye. A few of you may remember me talking about sampling the D.R. Harris Arlington in a barbershop. I had planned to make a Connaught Shaving order to get it much cheaper from the UK. Well, the shaving gods must have been smiling down on me, because there it was. Half the price it usually is for a tub of the cream. I would have preferred the hard soap, but for the price beggars can’t be choosers. There was also a bunch of Omega boars, some Art of Shaving stuff, and some Elvado balms. The boars were not in sizes I wanted but I did pull the trigger on one of the balms for all of $7.
All in all, a very pleasant surprise to end the day.

 

SEptember is a Stirling month!

September 10

Razor - Gem Micromatic Open Comb - OCMM
Blade - (3)
Soap - Stirling Gatlinburg
Brush - Stirling Pro Style Synthetic
Finish - Alum

Beating the time line by minutes! But no warping required tonight. This marks the fifth shave with the OCMM and the third on the Treet blade. The blade is still very smooth and performing well. the OCMM, well, it's still a beast. It managed to bite me just as I started the first pass. I have no idea what really happened. I think I was holding a bit too much angle on the set down but whatever it was the blood showed up long enough to allow my shame to be evident. Actually, with this razor, there's no shame in a little blood every now and then. It just seems to come with the territory. Even total SE pros like @wchnu have said as much.

The Gatlinburg soap is a different scent and one that I have gone back and forth on. The soap itself, of course, is just plain Stirling excellent in performance. The scent is rather complicated, at least to me, and I thought it was a hint of pine that might be bothering me. It does include Cedar, which normally works very well for me, but no pine. Hmmmmm. Oh well. It's not a horrible scent, just probably not one I'll buy more than a sample of. Speaking of samples - I need to pick out a few more of his scents I haven't tried and give them a go.

Monday is in the books! It's been relatively quiet here but that's ok. Tuesday is nearly here. I can count the minutes! Have a great night and a better tomorrow!

​

 

That one or the 48. Brothers in lather. Huge but very nice brushes. I still have my Pro 48. Why don't I use it more? Good question. I'll blame it on the individual who preached synthetic at me for two years until I buckled.

 

I know everyone here will be shocked by my answer. Ready? Get some Russian steel. The Moscow blades. Voskhod, Rapira (several varieties), Ladas, Sharp Star if you can find them (or talk me out of a few). In fact, if you'd like a sampler I'd be happy to help out. PM me with your mailing info and I'll get you covered!

 

The Darlins. Great part of the Andy Griffith universe. The mandolin player was still performing back around 2002 or so when I lived in Southwest Missouri. He was part of a band on a small tourist boat on Table Rock Lake and had some great stories to tell about being a part of the show. Quite an enjoyable evening was had on that particular tour.

Side note - I'm currently well into season 6 of watching the entire Andy Griffith Show from beginning to end. This is the first season without Barney where they put Aunt Bea in a larger role and actually credited her in the intro. They also increased Goober's role and added Warren, the new deputy. To me the show feels a lot more "gimmicky" at this point than in the first five seasons as they tried to adjust to the loss of Don Knotts in the cast. Also - season six was another big first for the Andy Griffith Show. Anyone care to guess what that was? The first one to get it right might just receive a few blades from the Cartel just for knowing some trivia!

 

Glad to see you found us! Starting with a shavette. That's impressive! I know someone has already pointed you to @Bama Samurai if you really want the expert's help. He is as devoted to shavettes as any one man can be. A lot of guys have used shavettes so there's always help available if you need it!

 

Craftsman razor and a Sears & Roebuck strop. It doesn't get much more classic American vintage than that! Love it!

 

That's a fine description of this place. I may copy that and work it into discussions or intros from time to time if you don't mind.

 

When @Yehuda D releases the menthol fairies the shaving world shivers. Literally.

 

The third guy from the left in the top photo - I think he stole my leisure suit from high school!

 

Well, Derbys are supposed to be smooth but at the lower end of the sharpness scale, relatively speaking - they're still very usably sharp razor blades. Feathers are of course universally considered to be the sharpest blades out there (but not necessarily the smoothest). Personnas and Crystals are somewhere in between. Crystal, by the way, is a Personna house brand used on blades it makes for various store chains, so you likely won't notice much difference between them.

You may want to take Neal @NCoxSTL up on his offer of a Russian blade sampler.

 

The shaving performance of TOBS Almond and TOBS Peppermint should be identical, so if you are noticing a difference in irritation when switching between the two, it is almost certainly a reaction to a fragrance oil in one of them.

 

Nice photos and an entertaining report, Jason. And a very nice score! There is a Winners in town here. I had never even thought of looking in it for shaving gear. And it's right next door to Staples, where I have to go tomorrow to pick up some pen refills... Hmmmm...

Actually, I bought my first shave soap in nearly a year today (now that I am off the NB'18 wagon). In my case it was a 6oz tub of @Pete123's Hendrix Classics & Co. Barbershop soap. I also threw in a few bars of his bath soap in the same scent. The ingredients looked good and I thought that scent would be very nice in the shower or tub.

 

Nice picture and great score, Jason!

 

I've got plenty of blades, but I'll play. I'm guessing season six was the first season shot in color? I remember one scene, when Andy and Goober were supposed to be in Raleigh, and a Coors beer truck rolls by in the background. That would have been impossible in North Carolina in the sixties.

 

Very yes, Neal. That's why God invented control /c - control /v.

Tapatalk Via Kyocera

 

SOTD September 11, 2018
A Stirling SEptember

Prep: Cold water and Stirling mentholated pre-shave soap
Blade: vintage Personna twin
Razor: eBarbershop Type O clone
Brush: Stirling Kong synthetic
Soap: Stirling The Lounge
Post: Witch hazel, Jeeves of Hudson Street Tobacco Bay Leaf aftershave

Nice shave with The Lounge soap. Bright, verdant tobacco scent. Fresh and invigorating. The O clone works well, too, and is fairly mild but does just fine with the twin blade. Wonderful finish from the Jeeves splash and all came together quite well. I'm enjoying this month of Stirling.

Have a great day!

 

Nice photo and shave, Jason! Congrats on finding those products in the wild.