March 2019 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Discussion in 'Shower or Shave of the Day' started by NCoxSTL, Feb 28, 2019.

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What Madness is March bringing to your shave?

  1. I'm going to use gear I rarely or never use for the month.

    11 vote(s)
    26.8%
  2. I'm going to do a Rule.

    3 vote(s)
    7.3%
  3. It's Focus time!

    13 vote(s)
    31.7%
  4. Soap Madness for me....gotta make room for more!

    17 vote(s)
    41.5%
  5. I'm going to eat cookies AND donuts for breakfast.

    13 vote(s)
    31.7%
  6. I'm going to shave completely in the dark....oh wait....that's MAYhem.

    3 vote(s)
    7.3%
Multiple votes are allowed.
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  1. jluc

    jluc smelling pretty

    Thank you, Charlie!
    We went to the daughter's house this afternoon to pick up the grandogs for a morning grooming appointment. Once out of the neighborhood the roads are clear and dry. What a difference a day makes.

    Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
     
  2. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    Thank you Charlie & Terry!

    Sounds like it's made for open blade shaving! Congrats on reaching a comfort level with the SRX!

    Without doing a side by side, I'd judge a Fatip with the handle of your choice in the same efficiency/aggression class as a Gillette NEW LC. I'm happy with the Piccolo option for the somewhat short but heavy solid handle. Some folks complain about the quality of the finish. It's acceptable considering it's not polished stainless steel. It's brass like the Gillette and not much over thirty bucks.
     
  3. wristwatchb

    wristwatchb wristwatch "danger" b

    John, I've really enjoyed following your exploits with your collection of Techs. I'm ready to get my three Techs in the rotation.
    Beautiful shave, Joseph. You've come quite a long way with your straight shaves. The Burley cologne and aftershave just looks plain cool.
    Nice shave, Gary. No drama is good in shaves...and life in general. :)
    Randy, you have some beautiful gear. Always nice to see your photos.
    Very cool, Rick! It paid off for me to send you to photography school. Once you pay your parking tickets, the school will release your transcripts.
    Wow...Superb straight shave and a Cognac and Cuban Cigar finish. That's a mighty uptown shave for a Thursday, Robert!
    Back to straights today, Keith. All is right in the world. I hope you are feeling better. Sorry about the bad set down. It's not often that you report a nick or cut. I'm sure you'll be back to your straight A+ shaves tomorrow.
    Sweet setup and great shave, as usual, Gary. Love the models you include in your daily posts.
    Great job, Bruce. You're killin' it with the Parker SRX, and your photos make it look like a $200 razor. :)
     
  4. wristwatchb

    wristwatchb wristwatch "danger" b

    Great shave, Terry. A pre war Tech is one that I don't have yet...maybe some day. Get some rest...gotta broadcast tomorrow. :)
     
  5. brit

    brit in a box

    thank you Charlie, ..
     
  6. Moose

    Moose Well-Known Member

    20190314_060228-1620x1620.jpg 20190314_061829-1620x1620.jpg

    Round 1, Match 3: Barrister and Mann - Cool vs Ballenclaugh - Old Barber Menthe

    Shave 2: Ballenclaugh - Old Barber Menthe

    The Setup:
    Razor: Merkur 34C
    Blade: Feather Stainless
    Brush: Perfecto Pure Badger
    Mug: Henry Cavendish
    Post Shave: Witch Hazel and Cetaphil

    First, I don't know if my sample is just old, but this is a pretty hard soap.

    The lather for Ballenclaugh never really thickened up. I added water a little at the time. The soap was almost there so I lathered my face. After my first pass, I looked in the mug and the lather had settled. The lather was unstable. Slickness was only ok. Post shave fell was only ok.

    I think it's safe to say that whichever soap wins this March Madness tournament is the best soap for beginners. I'm ready for a soap that whips up easily.

    WTG and XTG and touchup for a DFS.

    Ballenclaugh - Old Barber Menthe
    Slickness: 5
    Ease of Lather: 6
    Post shave feel: 5
    Scent strength: Medium

    Ballenclaugh - Old Barber Menthe smells similar to Barrister and Mann - Cool as they are both barbershop scents. I enjoyed the menthol in OBM and was disappointed to see that there was no menthol in this B&M soap. No wonder it left me wanting more. Overall, I have to give this one to B&M because it was slightly slicker and the lather was stable.

    Round 1 concludes with Wholly Kaw - King of Oud vs Captain's Choice - Venture. In this round I will focus on giving the soap enough water to work.

    Have a great Friday!
     
    Trigger, Paul76, clint64 and 16 others like this.
  7. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    Thanks Charlie! Hope you don't get caught up in that FBI / University fracas. Did you just pay the tuition? The extra payola should have covered the parking indiscretions. Neal ought to be able to send out several of the Boys, or Natalia to straighten it all out.
    parking fine.jpg
     
    Trigger, Paul76, clint64 and 13 others like this.
  8. NCoxSTL

    NCoxSTL AAACK!

    March Madness!!

    March 14

    Razor - Luxor Pro Shavette
    Blade - zorrik-stainless.jpg (1)
    Soap - Soap Commander Courage
    Brush - Omega 10060
    Post - Alum

    Time to test a theory. Given the way the Zorrik didn't treat me all that well, Charlie @wristwatchb questioned how it would do in a shavette. Reasonable question, given that the commonly held wisdom is that nearly any blade works just fine in a shavette, even if it doesn't do so well in a DE. I'm not sure I'd think the Tiger would do well (and I have no plan to prove that theory at the moment - I DO have standards) but maybe, just perhaps, the Zorrik will follow the pattern. So, here we go. I did start with a fresh blade and chose the Luxor Pro for the first shave. As I have three shavettes I'll use one each night of this test. The Luxor is a very nice shaver and offers the added benefit of having the corners hidden on the blade. I like it a lot.

    I chose Soap Commander Courage to make sure the slickness was right the Omega boar. My first moment of "wow" was the load on the brush. I use synthetics a lot, normally, when it's not March Madness. I know that boars take longer to load and lather than synthetics. Well, apparently not with Soap Commander. I know I've talked about the quality of this soap as have others, but this is the brush after only about 20 seconds of lathering. I counted the seconds just to keep myself entertained, and at 20 seconds - this is what I had.

    Soap Commander Lather Porn.jpg

    I didn't add anything more to the brush and the entire three pass shave was done with more than enough lather left over to do at least 2 more passes. See what I mean? Why in the world don't I have more of this stuff? Well, anyway.

    Lather was magnificent and slick and cushy and the first pass was underway. Smooth is the word. Now, the Zorrik wasn't horrible on the first pass in the DE so I was expecting this first shave to go well. First pass was uneventful, second pass the same, third the same and a nice DFS was the result. Not uncomfortable at all, but I can say that I sense this blade is definitely not one of the sharpest in my stash. That may explain its lack of performance in the DE. "Not sharp" blade (as opposed to "dull" which is an entirely different problem) in a mild razor often leaves little if any room to adjust the gap to get an efficient cut. With a shavette you have the full 180 degrees to rotate around until you find a suitable feel and result. What will be interesting is to see how it feels tomorrow. If it holds its sharpness from day to day, or at least reasonably so, then the feel and result shouldn't change much. If it dulls too fast, well THERE'S your problem. It will be fun to see.

    Happy Friday Eve to everyone! Hope the upcoming weekend is a good one for you.

    March 14 2019.jpg
     
    Trigger, Paul76, jtspartan and 14 others like this.
  9. NCoxSTL

    NCoxSTL AAACK!

    The boys may be delayed a day or two but I can send them if you need them. They're currently out hunting for a girlie pink shaving mug. Some of you will understand that.
     
    Trigger, clint64, Hembree and 10 others like this.
  10. wristwatchb

    wristwatchb wristwatch "danger" b

    Cool beans, Neal, and thanks for trying the Zorrik in the Luxor Pro. It will be interesting to see if its performance holds for the second shave.
     
    Trigger, clint64, Hembree and 10 others like this.
  11. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    No necessary. I gained the skills. Don't need a diploma hanging on the wall. Thanks for the reminder about the light red mug!
     
    Trigger, Keithmax, clint64 and 11 others like this.
  12. Edison Carter

    Edison Carter Well-Known Member

    First time out with the new Dovo 'en vogue'. I was attracted to this razor for; stainless steel, micarta scales, reputation for edge duration, weight, and overall appearance.

    I was made even more enthusiastic by comments from some of the straight fans here.

    So here we go....

    Shower, small dab of Proraso menthol pre-shave, 20/40 strop - linen/leather, Stirling boar,Stirling Blu SS, alum, rinse, dab of Proraso Menthol A/S balm, Stirling Blu A/S, 20/40 on the strop before storage.

    First thing I noticed was the heft of this razor seems to make stropping easier. It is the only razor I have, that I don't feel like it could fly right out of my fingers. Nice.

    Much quieter on the strop and shaving than anything but my half hollow. (note: half is my thickest)

    Did my normal 3 pass above the jaw, and 4 pass below. The razor felt very sure in my hand andvery smooth. Like I said above,relatively quiet. Jarrod's reputation for honing is rock solid.

    I can't say I've ever gotten a 'better' straight shave. It felt wonderful. So much so, that I think I was enjoying so much that I must have been careless with the 'splash-on'.

    [​IMG]

    One of the fellows at workcommented that I smelled like a female employee of a French House of ill-repute. My first response was to say something about my aftershave. In retrospect, I should have inquired how he knew what these people smell like.

    You Dark Sliders don't think Darth Vader.........? Nah fuggettaboutit!
    :scared003:
    But, I bet he's wearing that helmet/mask/breathing getup because he's got that Stirling Blu thing going on underneath. Yeah man. Great shave.
    :kar:

    Be well!
    :cool:
     
    Trigger, Paul76, RyX and 13 others like this.
  13. Screwtape

    Screwtape A Shaving Butterfly

    Thursday evening March 14 - falling way way off the wagon

    Phillips Aquatec Wet-Dry electric shaver
    Polar Ice Booster splash

    That's right folks! After 2 1/2 years of faithful traditional wetshaving, I picked up the electric shaver tonight and gave myself a quick going over. And it was awful! The splash burned all over. I was thinking I could keep the electric shaver to use as a travel razor. Not a chance! A Trac II with a good soap and brush prep is a much better choice.

    It does make me wonder though what the heck Col. Schick was thinking, going from the near perfection of inventing the injector razor to the atrocity of inventing the electric shaver. I know electricity was the high tech toy of that era, but still...
     
    Trigger, Paul76, RyX and 13 others like this.
  14. jtface

    jtface Well-Known Member

    Razor - Ever-Ready 1912 (USA)
    Blade - GEM Stainless (?)
    Brush - Bluebeard Doubloon
    Soap - TOBS Peppermint
    Post Shave - Dior Sauvage

    Third shave with the GEMs, second with the 1912. Another outstanding shave in just 2 passes. My skin feels and looks fantastic - there was hardly any burn for the Sauvage... That is highly unusual for me! I have dumped the blade and put a fresh one in for my next shave as it was starting to lose its effectiveness (I have no idea how many shaves were on it... 5 or 6 maybe).

    I hope you are all enjoying your shaves gents.
     
    Trigger, Paul76, FaceScraper and 13 others like this.
  15. wchnu

    wchnu Duck Season!

    Good man....
     
    Trigger, RyX, clint64 and 7 others like this.
  16. matthewoli98

    matthewoli98 Well-Known Member

    You definitely wont regret the piccolo! When i do a blade change I'll be switching to a feather in my aristocrat for the first shave or two just to get used to the sharpness and then ill pop the feather in the piccolo and let you guys know how it goes.

    Sent from my Redmi S2 using Tapatalk
     
    Trigger, RyX, jtspartan and 9 others like this.
  17. wchnu

    wchnu Duck Season!

    Must be the lighting. The mug is a light wood color. Jump in on 9!!
     
    Trigger, RyX, clint64 and 8 others like this.
  18. wchnu

    wchnu Duck Season!

    I do. I refill my glass bottle from the plastic.
     
    Trigger, RyX, clint64 and 7 others like this.
  19. Keithmax

    Keithmax Breeds Pet Rocks

    That is a cool looking razor, congratulations. Every i recieved from Jarrod had a great edge.
     
  20. Norcalnewb

    Norcalnewb Magnanimous Moos

    Nice picture, Gary!
     
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