January 2020 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

That sure is a purdy razor Tim. Great shave.

 

..... I feel the same way.

 

yes sir ,i still have my fancier gael laoch set.if it goes the same way that will be the end of it..i really like this scent..

 

January 19, 2020
OneBlade Genesis
Elite Razor Desert Ironwood
A&E Dirty Ginger
Shave Soap & Aftershave

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Another lazy morning. Mocha actually had the energy to finish our 1 1/2 mile walk. The A&E Dirty Ginger has an ingredient that makes my skin tingle. The scent opens with a touch of the familiar rum scent but quickly the floral notes of tobacco and the ginger spice are front and center. The entire blend is really something special. My guess is either the tobacco flower or the ginger is causing the reaction. Either way the tingle is not bad enough for me to give-up on this intoxicating scent. Three passes and touch ups ended in another drama free BBS shave. A splash of the matching aftershave kept the scent going and left my skin feeling fantastic. I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday.

 

Terrific shave, Paul!

Very nice, Myles!

Nice shave and lineup, Tim!

Awesome shave, Clint!

 

Jan 19th

Razor: Gillette RedTip
Blade: Voskhod (2)
Brush: Omega 10098
PS: Proraso Red
SS: Razorock Blue Label
AS: Osage Rub

With all this talk about hot lather I had to give this a try. So, I snagged the electric kettle and some distilled water from the kitchen and headed to the shave den. Before getting in the shower I preheated my qshave scuttle with hot tap water put the omega in to soak and started heating .5 liters of distilled water.

By the time I finished my shower the kettle was at a hard boil. I dumped and refilled the scuttle, dipped my brush in hot water and started loading the Blue Label. Instantly I could tell the lather was different. Far denser and runnier than normal. With the brush loaded I transitioned to my face and started building lather. This felt wonderful and as the lather cooled the consistency normalized. The initial lather was dry but dipping my brush in hot water a few times did the trick without burning my face.

The shave itself was pretty normal. Heating the razor in the hot water felt nice but it was easy to get the razor uncomfortably hot.

Storing the brush in the hot scuttle worked well, but the lather dried out in between passes requiring me to add water with each pass. Not a big deal but different.

In the end it was fun and felt great. I ended up with a near BBS shave with little feedback from my alum block. There was a little extra work involved and if we had space for storing a kettle in the bathroom I would do this more often. It might just be a Sunday morning thing.

The Blue Lable did perform differently hot but still great. I'll have to try a few other soaps and see how they do.

 

fine shave and pic Clint.now my murky and mcgoo is gone i have room for another a and e..this scent sounds really nice..

 

awesome red tip shave Evan..

 

We're just misunderstood...

Super picture, Clint! That brush is awesome!
The scent of that soap sounds like a must have.

 

Great shave and report, Evan!
I keep waffling on an electric kettle. Hot lather sounds great and I have room under my sink but I still haven't committed.

 

I do the same thing in the kitchen and in my shop. I have dropped a Safety razor or two and never had a hard time remembering to stay clear. The most I have done with my SRs is knock them off into the sink, which is bad enough.

 

Sounds like a great soap to me Clint. Probably the ginger giving you the tingle . Nice pic too.

Very interesting Evan. Great shave!

 

We already had the kettle for other reasons, otherwise I would experiment using our microwave. Most have a boil water setting these days which automatically stops when the water is at temperature. I've used the microwave to prepare hot towels. Just have to shake them for a second or two to cool them before wrapping your face.

 

SOTD 01/19/20

Well, after the first of several shaves to come, the score stands, Rex Ambassador 1, Jeff 0! I can’t seem to dial this razor in. One weeper on the face and three nicks on the dome requiring styptic intervention with some serious irritation on the front of my neck and under my right jawline. I just shouldn’t have to work so hard. I’ve yet to have a comfortable shave with this razor. Three passes on the face and one and a half on the dome left me with an unsatisfactory rough shave. The caffeinated shave cream whipped up into a nice thick protective lather, but to no avail! I’ve only had one other razor treat me this way, and that was the OneBlade Hybrid, but for totally different reasons. That razor was designed for cart shavers transitioning to the single blade world, and since I never shaved with carts did not get the pressure part of that technique that went counter to every instinct developed over 50 yrs of wet shaving. In the Rex’s case I have no such excuse. I did notice that the razor did not glide smoothly through the lather. I know it was the razor because I picked up the Gibbs and tried a few strokes through the lather, and did not have the same issue. I’ll be trying one more shave, and if the issue continues, it’s off to RE for a checkup. And if things continue someone will get a great deal on a Rex. I feel like my neck and head are sore from the depredations of this razor. Hopefully, tomorrow’s shave will be an improvement.

RAZOR: Rex Ambassador
BLADE: Suneko
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Charcoal-Menthol Cube Preshave Soap
BRUSH: Jayaruh Custom Silvertip Badger
CREAM: Pacific Shaving Company’s Caffeinated Shave Cream
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Pacific Shaving Company’s Caffeinated AS Balm

 

sorry to hear about the rex.cool gear and pic Jeff..

 

Sorry the Ambassador isn't working out for you, Jeff. Sounds to me like it has an issue.

 

Thank you Joe.

Thank you Gary. The Dirty Ginger is a great scent. L'Orange Verte is another great scent from A&E

Thank you Jim. Mark, Doug and I designed the brush together to celebrate our friendship on TSD. We had Bob at Elite Razor make the handle and Envy Shave provide the knots so that each of us would have a matching custom brush.

I thought Dirty Ginger would be a take on a Bay Rum but it is not that at all.

Thank you Patrick. Ginger is my guess as well.

 

Excellent shave recap and photo Evan.

 

Sorry about the rough shave Jeff. Keep us updated if you have the RE checkup.

 

Thanks for your response, Danny. Milled soaps definitely are more stable and have the absolute longest shelf-life. I am using and enjoying soaps that are at least 50 years old. Try that with a croap! Now, some of the scents are surely going to dissipate. My vintage Williams soaps have zero scent, but my Old Spice and Figaro soaps do. Go figure. I have a 250g bar of Boellis Panama, which I paid $48 and it's scent is 95% gone. Same goes for a bottle of KMF Peaceful Patchouli. Paid $20 on Ebay for this and it literally has no scent at all. Disappointing. I may unload the Murphy & McNeil because Dr. Mrs. Primo absolutely HATES the scent. Told me so multiple times yesterday and today.