Well done Pierpaolo.

Excellent Bay Rum shave Terry.

Sweet looking shave Barry.

Thank you Joe.

30 Oct 2023

72 hours



Prep = Cold Water Prep and shave, Proraso Blue Pre shave
Soap / Cream = Arko got the call
Brush = Ever Ready
Bowl = Timeless
Razor = Gillette OC New 1930s
Blade = Voskhod (2)
Passes = 3 + liberal touch ups, almost 4 full passes
Post = Usual post with alum and Thayers, followed by Stirling Bay Rum ASL
Damage = none

Score = 9.5 / 10
Comments = Hard work on 3 days stubble. Decided the OC needed some slickness (hence the Arko) and blade that was not new. Placed two scoops of Arko into the timeless bowl and it lathered up really easily. But I still found the first pass a bit draggy, next time I will use only one scoop and add more water. The 2nd and 3rd passes were better, much slicker

BBS around 60%, DFS around 30% plus a few rough areas I didn’t want to pursue

The scent of the Bay Rum did battle with the scent of the Arko for the first part of the day, but later on it faded and the Arko took the upper hand

Next time, more water in the Arko and more Bay Rum!

Have a lovely Monday one and all

Undecided on the scents for tomorrow, since I have a dental appointment….

Monday, Monday, so good to me........ as the song goes.
Good Monday morning all!

I had an absolutely wonderful 2 pass face, 1 pass head shave this morning.
Yesterday's shave with PAA Atomic Bay Rum was also as good as it gets.
I didn't mention one fact, and that's the reason I'm posting today.



In case it was just a fluke, I kept quiet.
But no, so I've got to post....
Distilled water.
Yes, plain old Distilled water.
Now I've posted a few times that I use it but haven't included it in my shave posts.
I've got to now.
I haven't used PAA soap in some time for reasons posted Sunday, but I've got a long day ahead of me.
When I used it for yesterday's shave I actually got my lather to thick.
To thick??? Surely not!
I had to add more (Distilled) water to thin it out a little to my liking.
I've never, never, ever had that happen.
My tap water isn't hard, it's unbelievably hard.
On a scale of 1 to 10 of hardness it's off the scale.
Using Distilled water made the soaps and creams I have worked up significantly better.
The PAA soap went beyond anything I've whipped up.
So I included my pump bottle I use to add water to my selected goo.
About 4 pumps is what it takes to make enough lather to do a full shave.

Now I know that Distilled water can let nasties grow in it.
I put 3 or 4 drops of normal bleach in it to keep it sanitized each time I refill it.


Using my DEvette with a new Feather blade, it's was a great shave to say the least.

Enjoy

tp

Terrific shave and setup John. One pass doesn't get it done for me on my 24 hr stubble. I can't imagine how many passes that I would need to clear my 7 day stubble. Lol! Take care.

Thanks Joe. The Dovo shavette sometimes gets a bad rap. The reason is that some shavers don't give it a chance. I believe that once they improve their technique, then they would see the light.

Awesome setup and shave Chris.

Super shave Terry. It is an excellent reminder on using distilled water if one has a difficult time lathering their soaps because of hard water.

Super tip about the distilled water, Terry! I have had something similar for years for use with my electric steam iron to prevent scale from building up in it and ruining the iron's inner workings -- a "de-mineralizing" bottle. You put tap water in it and the filter softens the water. Probably an older version of the Brita filter I have on my kitchen tap to filter my drinking water...

I wonder if I would have had better luck with my MWF lathers if I had used filtered tap water from the kitchen?

Oct 30 SOTA

Good afternoon.

Shavette Shave #502
Parker SRB
Gillette Wilkinson Sword 1/2 DE Blade (5)
Rockwell Synthetic Brush
Van der Hagen Select SS
Pinaud-Clubman Classic AS
Stirling Alum
Block Modessa Witch Hazel
Beard Growth: 23.5 hrs



I went with my other shavette for today's shave. I know that I am repeating myself, but the Wilkinson Sword blades are great imo. I get a nice shave with them 99% of the time. Sorry guys but no lather pic today because I decided to load the brush from the mug and face lather. This soap really doesn't need a heavy load to give a nice, slick, rich and creamy lather. It's a fine budget soap.

Did an error-free 3 pass BBS shave. The alum feedback was there, but it was not a big deal. Splashed on the witch hazel and the Pinaud-Clubman Classic aftershave to finish the shave. Take care.

I'm not familiar with that product for your iron.
The on tap water filters are normally just carbon filters, their small size dictates they won't soften the water.

A carbon filter will take out a lot of organic compounds, but not soften water.

A water softner takes out the minerals but leaves sme organic compounds.

A Revers Osmosis system can do both.

But most pour in filters do a few things but don't explain how.
Britta seems to be just a carbon filter, not a water softner.
I saw a zero water filter using a hardness meter.
That does soften the water through ion exchange.
I assume it uses resin beads that work like a home water softner or deionizer.

The issue with that kind of unit is it wears out or stops working when the beads get "full" and won't do their job anymore.
Also the harder the water, the faster they wear out.
Some can be recharged but, unless they use a salt solution to recharge, you're not able to do it easily.
Others require a strong acid (hydrochloric acid) and a strong base (lye) to regenerate them.
Then others are a "mixed bed" type that can't be recharge.
You also need either a hardness meter or a test kit to tell when they wear out.
So instead of buying a system like RO and all that jazz.
I just buy distilled water for what little I use.
But yeah, it would work.

tp

SE Shave # 356 - DECLARATION GROOMING MONDAY- Darkfall

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Ever-Ready 1912 SE
Blade: GEM Stainless
Brush: Hembree Derlin Paragon Boar 25 mm
Lather: Declaration Grooming Darkfall
Aftershave: Declaration Grooming Darkfall
Additional Care:
Omega Alum
Dickenson’s Original Witch Hazel
Declaration Grooming Aftershave Liniment - Darkfall

I decided to go with one of my other SE razors that has not had much love lately in place of the Micromatics. The end result was the same with a super close and comfortable shave.

Dreary day here on LI which is a significant change when compared to the dummy like weather we had on Saturday. This shave with the Darkfall sent epitomizes the Fall season. As a result the fireplace is now on duty to heat the house.

Hope you all have a great day.

Very nice Shavette shave Joe.

Surprised that the Arko scent outlasted the Stirling Bay Rum scent. Very nice shave Chris.

Outstanding g shave Terry. Interesting use of the distilled water.

Excellent Ever-Ready shave Joe.

Thanks Joe.

Thank you Joe.