October 2018 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Finished a soap today! So it was a Stirling sample, but I have it in a tin since December of 2016. That makes six soaps finished this year, five of which were full sized ones. My next soap on the kill list is another Stirling sample. I'm trying to end at least as many soaps as I have purchased this year, so I need to up my game. Shave was great. I grabbed my "I'm late for work and don't have time to do a shave with the SE I wanted to use" razor, a Schick G with an unknown number of shaves on the vintage blade. Three passes with slick lather, and just a few whiskers short of a BBS. No blood, and the alum was quiet. Finished it up with Master's Lilac Vegetol, which is kind of like Pinaud's Lilac Vegetal, minus the cat urine smell. Its good stuff that has a much better skin feel than VEG, and the scent lasts for hours, but in a good way.

 

Nice going, Adam!

 

Congrats on finishing the soap. Hope you have a great day.

 

Thursday October 11

Gillette Ball End Old Type / Astra SP ( 4 )
APShaveCo U - Brush with 24mm Flat Top knot
Hendrix Classics Barbershop soap
Alum and Hendrix Classics Barbershop balm test jar

Today I took my "new" 1918-dated Old Type out for a spin. I made it by combining the parts of my two nickel-plated 1918s into one really good razor and one disaster of a parts donor razor (or a MayHEM bolthead razorblade equivalent...). Today I shaved with the good one.

Using the same brush and soap I have used while trying all my OC razors, I got the same consistently excellent face lather I have come to expect from this combo. I then shaved... and achieved a one pass DFS, only prevented from being BBS by the usual little patch of roughness on the left underside of my jaw.

I would say this 1918 Old Type is another excellent razor. Can bite like all Old Types but capable of giving a great shave. It might be a suitable candidate for replating..

I did actually draw some blood today -- a small weeper in the lower left corner of my mouth where I often draw blood if I am careless. I knew I was going to have a weeper there even as I took the stroke that created it. Pure carelessness. However, at least today, I didn't scream, wail in horror, and faint dead away at the sight of the blood. Instead I merely kept a stiff upper lip (and slightly bloodied lower one) and finished the pass. Then rinsed, sealed it with the alum rub, and finished with the final rinse and the balm. If I then required a stiff medicinal shot of booze to recover my shattered nerves, that's nobody's business but my own. Maybe I am getting the hang of this shaving business...

.

 

Disagree. That sounds exactly like cartel business. The cartel does however, encourage you to carry on.

 

Nice shave, Adam! Congrats knocking out a soap.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

Another great report, John!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

Good point. My apologies to Boris and Yuri if my fatuous comment nearly got them sent on an enforcement trip to the Frozen North... Although some of the Canadian brands of vodka are half-decent...

Thanks, Jim.

 

Today was a first. I forgot to pack my strop. I did have some denim in my bag, so I used that as a strop and still got a nice shave. Then I realized I forgot my after shave. I should not pack when I’m tired

TSD Bourbon Vanilla Soap
AoS Pure Badger Brush
Portland Razor Company Siren
Have fun!

 

Sounds like a Google search and some local shopping is now on the agenda.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

Nope. I’ll be home tonight. Nice enabling effort though

 

I tried.
Safe travels.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

Thanks Jason. Have a nice day, my friend. As you said, the Sharp Stars are great blades. I made an offer on 500 of them on eBay yesterday, and I'm waiting for the seller's response. I don't really need them, so I'm OK either way.

 

Thank you Jason, the infant months are definitely the hardest.

Sent from my Galaxy using Tapatalk

 

Excellent photos and shave reports this morning Gentlemen. I had a rough night last night with Logan who was sick all night. I'm home with him today as mom and Declan are visiting Grandma and Grandpa. Hopefully both of us can get a couple of naps in today.

Sent from my Galaxy using Tapatalk

 

Thanks Clint. We are fine. We returned to our condo yesterday afternoon. Everything is good. The weather is beautiful and a little cooler today. Our friends to the west and north have not fared so well. It's a very serious situation. I know it is impacting Georgia as well. Hopefully, you'll see nothing more than rain in Atlanta.

 

Thanks, Andrew! Good luck with Logan and hope you both get some rest today.

 

Thanks Jim. Yes, we made it back yesterday. All good here. We were very blessed.

 

It is official Cartel dogma that when suffering cuts/nicks/weepers while shaving, the application of alcohol is recommended in order to properly sterilize the area to avoid infection. Our research has indicated that while using the alcohol externally provides perhaps superior disinfection, using it internally provides for less pain, less concern that you are bleeding, and you no longer care at all about the whole infection thing. Therefore, our full recommendation is to apply alcohol - internally. You did the right thing.

 

If you have a rental car, you don't need a strop. Skip to 0:45 in the video. Some of these EDC / survival videos are quite interesting.