February 2020 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

SOTD February 1, 2020

Prep: Cold water and PAA Cube pre-shave soap
Blade: vintage Schick Plus Platinum
Razor: Schick M1
Brush: JR #377 badger
Soap: Stirling Dirty South Shavers
Post: Witch hazel, Speick aftershave

Easy shave with the Dirty South Shavers soap. This is the one I'll use at least twice a week until finished. Also trying to finish off the bottle of Speick aftershave, so it'll get some good use here in the interim. Everything worked together quite well.

Enjoy the weekend!

 

Feb 1
Good afternoon guys!
This morning I did a headshave and this afternoon I did a face shave. I figured that I open up the month with both shaved. Also, have to have a Fatboy February theme of the day as well.
Head shave:
1961 Fatboy 1st Qtr (7)
Polsilver Iridium DE (5?)
Cremo SC
Old Spice aftershave
Nivea ASB not pictured.
I just like using Cremo for my headshaves because it gives me an easier shave without using a brush and the performance is great. Why waste scented soaps on a headshave when it is far from your smeller so that you can't fully experience the soap's scent! Three passes with touchups with out bloodsheed or irritation gave me a BBS shave. Surprisingly, I had the FB on 7 instead of my usual 9 and still got a nice shave, but I had to work harder to get to the Promised Land. Applied the Old Spice and Nivea to top (pun intended) the shave.

Face Shave:
Shavette Shave #131
Dovo Shavette
Polsilver Iridium 1/2 DE (5)
C-Mon Heritage Super Badger HD Brush
Stirling Spice SS and AS
Nivea ASB
In keeping with the February Favorites theme, I chose my Dovo shavette because it was my very first open blade razor. Although I just recently received my C-Mon brush, it is my favorite. I choose Stirling SS and AS because it is a favorite and it goes with the Old Spice that I used for my headshave.
Ok, let me get to the review.
Bloomed the soap to get a nice pre-shave. The C-Mon loads so easily and it gave me an awesome face lather. I have to say that the brush makes a lather like the famous You-Tubers quite handily. My trusty Dovo shavette's performance was outstanding! Attacking a 34 hr stubble, I got a BBS shave above the jawline and an IBSS ++ below it. I could feel some invisible stubble ATG, hence the IBSS++ designation for the neck. The face shave was also bloodless and free of irritation. I liberally applied the Spice aftershave. There wasn't any stinging so my light touch was perfect. Have a great afternoon, guys!

 

Heavens to Murgatroyd! The middle of day 1 and already 218 messages behind--I'll post, then start catching up...

Feb. 1
Happy February, everybody! Today begins my ‘Dead Is Dead’ focus: slooooow this train down. Hopefully this will decrease bloodshed and increase comfort. I’m also using this focus to decrease my (by TSD standards) modest stable of razors—I’m supposed to have three, but now have seven…



…this cannot be.

Memory Lane
For the first week, I’ve decided to walk down memory lane by using my razors in order of acquisition. Each week thereafter, I will randomly select razors through the highly scientific process of drawing slips of paper placed inside the Super Dad mug I got as a Christmas Gift from a deluded child who thought she could buy my love (she already had it ).

To keep everything the same for each razor, I will use the same set up this week…



Blade: This is hell week. All of my DE’s have brand new Personna Blues in them, and historically that first shave with a Personna blade is the one that draws blood
Brush: Stirling Kong
Soap: Soap Commander “Drive”
AS: Clubman Original
Balm: Nivea Cooling for Sensitive Skin

My first-ever DE razor was the Ebony Edwin Jagger DE89…



I shaved for two years straight with this beauty, and was kind of looking forward to the reunion after a 5-year separation. Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that the relationship was a bit strained. We were still on good terms, but were no longer finishing each other’s sentences. Kind of makes me sad--it's a beautiful razor.

The WTG pass was easy, and I let gravity do all the work for me. XTG went fairly well, but on my ATG pass I noticed something: this razor is heavier than the MMOC and Flare Tip that I’d been shaving with for the past month. The 1912 that I'd been shaving with 2 months before that isn't much heavier than the other two. I wasn’t dialed in to how much force I needed to exert in order to get through an ATG pass gently. How much of this pressure is me compensating for gravity, and how much is just too much pressure? On my 3rd pass on the neck and lower chin, I finally quit trying to go ATG, and did another XTG rather than risk a cut.

The results were pretty good, though, and that led to my 2nd surprise: the DE89 is not as mild as I originally thought--certainly not like the Flare Tip. BBS on cheeks and much of my jaw, DFS on much of my neck and most of the goat-zone. However, there is a patch on my chin (south pole to be precise) that is barely CCS. Maybe not even that. Overall I’d call it a DFS, but that annoying patch bothers me so much I’m going to say DFS/CCS. Closeness score: 2

3rd surprise: the application of Clubman gave me… wait for it… a slight burn. It never did that before, and the only thing I’m doing differently these last few shaves is removing menthol from the equation. Interesting. The burn died away as quickly as the traditional sting does, and I was feeling pretty good, with some very light irritation on part of my upper lip. Comfort score: 4

I’ve added an additional one-time score for the end of the month: ease of use. How easy is it to find the sweet spot? How easy is it to handle and shave with? How easy are blade changes, etc?

Overall, not bad for a reunion shave. Have an amazing weekend, all! Now to start catching up...

 

ARRRGH!
tp

 

Excellent first shave of the focus. Looking forward to seeing your reports all month.

 

Terrific shaves, Joe!

 

Fantastic!
tp

 

Great shave, Perry!

 

Thank you, Joe!

 

Great shave, pic, lineup and review, Tim! Your prose is very fluid.

 

Thank you very much, Perry! I try to make the 1st shave of the month extra special.

 

Thank you for the kind words Clint! Had a little PS fun this morning.

I've not gotten menthol with my version of La Fougère Parfaite AS....not listed in the current ingredients either. Earlier/different batch maybe?

Thank you so much Jim!

Appreciate the kind words Patrick!

Very nice Jim! Look forward to a comparison with the Evo!

Thank you so much Jim!

Sincerely appreciated Gary!

Thanks Perry! Sincerely appreciated!

squared Jim! Interested in one or the other someday.....

Aw...Thank You Joe! Sincerely appreciate the kind words! I got very lucky in a BST with this razor....it had been listed for a good while, the seller wanted to move it, was like Black Friday pricing compared to 'new custom razor' when I ran across the listing.

 

Thanks, Gentlemen. It was a good run while it lasted.

 

Just...

Seriously, Gary. There is literally not one thing in that photo that is not

 

And the winner of this month's alliteration award goes to... Jeff! Nicely done, sir

 

Thanks Joe!
tp

 

Great report, Tim!
Congrats on the new CT! You got off easy.

 

Arrrgh ye matey!
tp

 

Dang Terry! 'Tis May-hem every month wi' ye! It's awesome that (a) you can that, and (b) it works! Fantastic work, pic, shave, and accent

 

Beautiful family you got there, Gary