July 2019 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

The driver appears to possess a cold.

 

Thanks, Jim!

 

Still being married to my High School Sweetheart presents an issue with my viability in the marketplace.

I had never thought of the library, excellent! One must wonder if the internet age has damaged the volume there.

 

But that's pretty great to be "married to your history" .

 

I remember that episode. Lol!

 

July Focus

Decided to take the MT soap to task, so I gave it a shower-length bloom, and let the soaked Rubberset
have its way with the soap.
Bowl-lathered it with my Aesop SS and added copious amounts of H2O.
Most of you might find this a ridiculous waste of time, but not I. I spent close to 3-4 minutes
whipping this mixture into a frenzy. While MT will never achieve the glistening appearance of,
say Stirling, or Mystic Water, or even tallow AoS, it did transform into a bountiful product.
Application to the face was only "dabbing" the lather on. No working it into the beard whatsoever.
(This is my litmus test for a soap)
The CrOx/Linen strop received some quick laps of my straight, followed by 40 on my SRD 3" strop.
Keeping the blade in contact with my skin, I proceeded to make short WTG strokes.
The well-hydrated lather rinsed easily from the blade.
I was impressed with the slickness of the MT. I must also say that the lavender is very nice and
reminds me a lot of Czech & Speake Oxford & Cambridge.
Second pass was a XTG and I finished up with a few "clean-up" strokes ATG.
Results were DFS++
Post shave was my usual routine: Alum (quiet), Thayer's Medicated Witch Hazel and finally
a nice splash of Fine's Lavender Pour Homme AS.
Excellent juice, indeed.​

 

Williams is the one of the world's greatest soaps that I have never experienced the economic requirement to even try.

And that is before you arrive at the stigma that will be attached to you by The One Soap Thingydingers for not 'using it right'

 

Use care in the discussion of how you choose use this product too.

I noted that I liked to squirt some in a bowl, dilute with a little water, and apply with a brush.

I was viciously attacked by the Goo Blue Ming and the other CT zealots.

 

Awesome fence climbers you got there.

 

Excellent picture, Joseph!

 

Awesome shave, Joseph!

 

What I have learned about lathering with shaving soaps is that they react differently to the water, the brush and beard growth. I have hard water so Williams is difficult to get a nice lather like Stirling or Proraso. I need to bloom this soap and swirl a boar brush on it to get a workable lather that gives me an excellent shave. It is very inexpensive and I use it to clear the smell of artisan soaps on a brush so that I don't get cross contamination when I use a different scented soap.

 

July 25th

Proraso PS Red
PAA CK6 SS - Doppelgänger Black Label (Homage to Sauvage)
2019 30DC Synthetic (@jtspartan made)
New Azuma - Yasuki Steel Kamisori
PAA AS - Doppelgänger Black Label (Homage to Sauvage)

Yesterday....after my afternoon shave and post, a blur. Can't remember much. I woke up downstairs on the floor with my daughter staring at me, the dogs barking at the front door. My daughter, earlier in her room, vaguely remembers the dogs barking once, a helicopter 'way too close for comfort', and electronics weirding out, going dark. Total eery silence encompassed the house (it's never quiet in our house). 3 seconds later she saw a flash of light under her door. Then, it's was as if nothing happened. Electronics back to normal, but dogs barking excitedly. She let a couple minutes pass and bravely went downstairs to find me shaking my head, blearily blinking my eyes and trying to stand up from 'The Experience'.

Still dizzy, I found a package. In it, a fresh @jtspartan 2019 30dc brush, and a note that read....

'No Buy July' violated. Cartel disposition rectified, support of 'The Cause' justified. Enjoy.

Whew!

3 pass DFS shave today. The jtspartan 30DC brush is really nice! Made an incredible lather out of the PAA CK6. The New Azuma has a very sharp tip, and I didn't give it respect. So....it rewarded me with a couple of weepers....nothing worth getting in a fuss over, but gotta report it. A quick splash of the matching PAA AS cleared them up....I'm smelling fine and ready for the day.

One last note....finally found my phone this morning. Apparently, I dropped it during 'The Deal'. It's toast. Gotta go to the Genius Bar now. I did however, find one image uploaded into my cloud images. It managed one shot and upload before the Cartel visit fried it. See below.

 

Thanks Charlie! Having this quality of gear almost makes me want to knock on neighbors doors and share the news. There was a guy doing that after 11PM couple nights ago. One Sheriff and six City police cars showed up. They politely strapped him to a gurney and loaded his drug addled self into an ambulance. The little ones have been off to their grandmothers for some summer time fun. School starts mid-August (?) so they'll be back soon. I'll be sure to share their thoughts. They react well to phrases like "blood on steel". I teach Situational Awareness and kitchen knife handling to my granddaughters. They are almost responsible enough for pocket knives, and already want to shave their legs.

 

I'll stand firmly by your side on this one Bill. Barbasol in a can is an acceptable shave product. Like you I prefer it deflated and over hydrated by way of a bowl and brush. Can't we all just get a lawn?

 

Water is such a key to good lather.

Your chemistry knowledge easily surpasses my own however I'll expound for those who may have interest.

I have a well. Ground water here low pH, medium minerals, lathers poorly.

Engage the neutralizer to protect metal plumbing components and it becomes even harder yet due to the calcite media in the tank. pH is near neutral or slightly higher. Lather is really crummy at this point.

Engaging the water softener makes a welcome improvement in lather for just about all soap. When freshly regenerated pH is near neutral and total dissolved solids is low. As the softener resin media moves closer to regeneration time small changes in lathering occur.

I've read of individuals who use distilled water for lather making. Care is advised not to just buy bottled water. Some bottled waters are processed by reverse osmosis, which is good, but re-mineralized to enhance flavor. Re-mineralization degrades lather.

Be well.

 

I've decided on a title for my weekly shave commentary, beginning tomorrow: Friday Files.

 

Soap wants to grab a hold of water and oil. Along the way it collects up particles of other matter. If it has to "clean" the minerals out of the water, there's the need for more soap? Usual advice to New Shavers with poor lather is Use More Product. Later they catch on to Joseph's @Primotenore idea to watch how it rinses off the blade for proper hydration levels. That's my layman's view until our 30DC Chemists set me straight.

 

Paul, will you be keeping your musings here in 30DC land or starting a new thread to share with the rest of TSD?
If you've not heard the full version ...