April 2020 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix and Discussion

very cool..

 

April 14
Shavette Shave #41

Gear

• Razor: Max Headroom Focus R21 Shavette
• Blade: Personna Blue (2)
• Brush: Semogue Boar
• Soap: Stirling Texas on Fire
• Menthol: Stirling Frost Drops
• AS: Avon Wild Country (1 Frost Drop)
• Balm: Stirling Glacial Unscented

The Shave...
Sorry folks! After a wonderful Easter vacation with the family (I didn't even look at anything work related); it’s finally time to pay the piper. I've got to get 3 week’s worth of curriculum compiled and distributed to each of my students. I shaved at 5:00 this morning, but have not been able to write the report till now. It saddens me to think of all the reports that I will miss reading this week--221 posts behind already and no foreseeable time for the next few days to catch up. So far behind...

It was a groggy 1+ shave this morning, but I managed to keep from cutting myself, got presentably close (just slightly above a CCS), and kept things incredibly comfortable--no irritation

Time to go home and save the Missus from the young’uns!

41 down, 59 to go!

 

Thanks very much, Jason!

 

fine shave and pic Tim..

 

Tuesday and Wednesday shaves:

Tuesday: A always wickedly sharp Riga Razor delivered the goods along with Arlington DR Harris cream. Very smooth but a tickle from the alum left me just short of epic.


Wednesday: This shave is dedicated to Evan @MrEE in hopes he will replicate the shave. This Rasurpur western grind kami was descibed as a prison shiv made out of a bed spring by Mr Fancy Pants @BaylorGator . I am curious what Evan will use to shave with . A tip for the watch is the movement is Japanese. The shave was very nice and now I get to enjoy the day off because is election day in Korea.

 

cool shaves and pics Keith..love the tabac cologne..

 

Thank you, Blair.

 

Thank you, Joe.

 

The only genres I've personally experienced are Horror, Drama, and Comedy--not holding my breath on the RomCom any time soon

 

Nice shaves Keith! Alex Reiger from the TV sitcom Taxi would be proud of the first shave.

 

Thanks, Gary--always!

 

Thank you, Jason--you speak the wisest of words

 

Awesome. Curious to see how many shaves you can pull out of those Feathers.

 

Awesome photo and shave, Jim--gave the neck a break today, I see

 

Oh come on! I thought this was an almost romantic but more awkwardly creepy in a almost comic kind of way, video

But you'd need to get that Gillette Lady back from your daughter.

 

Arko Adjustable April

April 14
Razor - Soviet Consul
Blade -
Soap - Russian Shave Cream - "Apple Blossom"
Brush - Stirling Two Band Synthetic
Post - Alum

Let's have some fun, shall we? Last night I gave the Russian Shave Cream from @Keithmax a quick run. Wasn't bad but wasn't spectacular. However, a quick run really isn't fair. I can do better than that. I've seen me do it. So, day two with the gear is going to be a full run down of this cream. I have had little luck in getting my usual translators to work on the tube, so I went old school and contacted some Russian blade contacts. One pointed me to the following description of the cream.

Shaving cream "Apple blossom", 40 grams
The cream provides a gentle and thorough shaving while also caring for the skin.
Contains extract of St. John's wort, natural glycerin.
The cream creates an abundant, firm and fragrant foam, provides a gentle and effective shave.
The cream has a soothing and anti-inflammatory effect on the skin, relieves irritation.
Recommended for sensitive skin.
Perfume composition of a fantasy direction with a pronounced flavor of an apple.
​

Well, that helps a bit. Good description in bad English but it adds some knowledge. However, the name still won't pull up in a translator for me so I got sneaky and typed "Apple blossom" into Google translate to Russian and.....that's the name.

​

The three green words under the main lettering translate as "cream for shaving". That much I knew as every tube of Russian shave cream I've seen has those and my translator tools will convert that. So....Apple Blossom Shaving Cream. From the Motherland. I'm sure someone will ask, does the scent really smell like apple blossoms? Since I've never been around apple blossoms I have no idea. I tried to figure out the scent and even had my wife take a shot at it. I decided it was definitely a floral type scent. She thought a bit baby powderish - but.....she wasn't really trying. (Don't tell her I said that). A floral type scent and it's called Apple Blossom with pictures of blossoms. Works for me.

So, let's give it a full test. I stayed with the Stirling synthetic brush so I'd have better control over the water etc. Here is the amount I put in the bowl to work with, along with the brush after trying to work it into a lather.

​

The cream is about almond sized if it wasn't spiraled, and you can see that I got a really decent load in the brush. The cream was starting to lather up a bit in the bowl too. For size reference, that's a VDH bowl which I know many of you have. Well, with that kind of a decent load let's finish it up with a face lather.

​

Not bad at all. It's not really peaky here but it does provide that "snowman" effect that I like to go for. Very good coverage, plenty of cushion and it's persistent. Didn't dissipate any while I tried to take that pic and until I started the shave. So, let's start the shave. The gear again is the Soviet Consul on 9. Much more aggressive than the Slim it is based on. It's a Voskhod blade so the full Russian shave is in effect. I did three passes, with a fresh lather each pass. Here's what I will say about this cream. Not only does the lather provide a great slick surface and a cushion, it also gets better with each pass. I always wet my face for each pass and each time the lather was thicker and added peaks. Clearly some extra water didn't hurt it. In fact, it definitely improved it for each pass. I'm thinking that adding some extra water in the first lather attempt in the bowl would probably pop up a nice bowl full of lather. Something to try at some point. Honestly, I was quite surprised at how well it performed and how much I enjoyed using it. I'm a soap guy through and through, so not that experienced with creams, but this one could easily stay in my den to compete with the soaps.

One final item to share. After three passes, how much was left in the brush? Well, here you go. I squeezed the brush and scraped it into the bowl from my hand.

​

I would say I could have turned that into at least two more passes if not three. That's a lot of lather from such a small amount of cream. I'm a happy camper and quite impressed. The finish on the shave - three passes with no blood, quiet alum and BBS. Yep. A winner for sure. Hope you had a good day and here comes Wednesday!! Make it a great one!

​

 

I lived in a part of the city where gunshots were a fairly common occurrence. Our first night in our first home, I had just fallen asleep when... BLAM! Blam, blam! Bla-a-a-a-aaam! Someone had their rifle going off on full-auto. Don't know about other states, but in CA that's a no-no.

But then again, you aren't really supposed to shoot them around the neighborhood either

 

Blackhawk + MITA = Awesome!

 

Just cant keep up lately. Awesome reports gents!