30 Day Rule/Focus; December 2023. All Are Welcome!

Dec 17 SOTA

Good afternoon.

1955 Gillette RedTip
Gillette Wilkinson Sword DE Blade (5th and final use)
Semogue Super Badger Brush
TSD Irish Spring SS and AS
Stirling Alum Block
Modessa Witch Hazel
Beard Growth: 24 hrs



I picked the Gillette RedTip because I haven't used it in weeks and it is an easy, no brainer shave for me. I picked the TSD set because it is mild and I don't want anyone getting sick from fragrances at church. There is one member who has fragrance allergies so I try to use scents that lose their sillage rapidly.
In the past, I have bowl lathered TSD soaps and quite honestly it's a pain in the butt because the soaps are difficult to press down into the bowl due to their slipperiness and thus, it doesn't always stay put in the bowl. Because the TSD scents are mild, I don't care if I lose it due to water retainage in the tub and airing the soap to dry for 24 hrs. Hence, I will load TSD soaps from the tub to facelather.

I did a 3 pass shave for an inerrant BBS shave. However, the alum gave me some heavy feedback on the neck and I figured it was due to the blade because it was getting just a bit tuggy. Therefore, the blade was binned after the shave.
Witch hazel and the matching aftershave were splashed on my face and neck to end this session. Oh yes, I felt the burn from the aftershave. Take care.

 

fine sunday redtip shave and pic Joe.

 

Thanks Gary.

 

Just like you always do…excellent list of the hardware and software.

 

Wonderful shave and as always, beautiful photos Gary…

 

Excellent TSD shave Joe!

 

Thanks Scott.

 

thank you Scott.

 

18 Dec 2023

48 hours

Same as 16th December except for 2nd use of the blade = Muhle Razurkultur day 2

Very surprised with how easily this removed most of my scruff in the first pass @JACarbone, still needed my usual 3+ to get to super smooth. I retract my earlier opinions about this blade and might go digging around in my Muhle razor boxes looking for more samples. If I can find these cheap enough somewhere, well who knows I might get some more, seems an ideal match with the Flare tip

Buffing at the back of the neck turned out fine: the only way I know to map the growth here is by feel. Just need to cover my one raised lesion in the hairline with one finger and go around that to avoid the red stuff

Have a lovely week ahead one and all

 

n

Great shaves, gents!

It's been quite awhile since I shaved with a DE. What do the two of you (and anyone else who wants to chime in) expect for average DE blade longevity? How many shaves before you bin a blade?

I know that several years ago, I joined the Excalibur Club on B&B and tried to eke out as many shaves as possible on each blade. But as I recall, it was actually a case of getting used to crappy shaves as a norm -- when I would switch to a new blade, the difference was immediately noticeable. Once I noticed that, I quit.

On average, an injector blade is good for between 8 and 12 shaves, depending on make. What do you find for DEs?

 

i got 20 ish from a personna 74 tungsten blade,approx 10 from a gillette spoiler ,3-4 for most other gillettes.after these amounts i noticed irritation after the final pass,so i didn't go any further with them and binned the blades.

 

Thanks John, I had a quick peek at that thread....lot's of variables and opinions

Pinch of salt, only been wet shaving for a year now, but since you asked here is a newbie perspective. The whole thing is starting to come together for me about now, prep, lather preparation, mapping, technique etc, but my own preference atm is to use a blade for 2 days, sometimes one or sometimes I go to 3. Previously I may have thought that a particular blade was bad or draggy but on reflection I am wondering if this was just poor lather and technique. Recently I revisited a blade I had thought pretty average last year, but now found it pretty good. Maybe I will get cynical enough and reach the point where a blade is a blade is a blade is a blade......?

I have ordered more blades and more to come in the New Year to keep me going for another 20 years God willing and if I don't get to use them they will find a good home somewhere

Reading some folk go on to 5 or 6 or 10 or 70+ shaves per blade leaves me curious (mesmerised , what am I missing Lol!)

Anyway Gillette's model was based on selling blades so they don't want you getting 100,000 miles out of a set of tyres if you know what I mean.

Maybe in the New Year I will settle down and see if I can have the discipline to use some identical set ups to go to 4 or more shaves but honestly if they get draggy why bother?

Also my definition of a "first pass" may be different to yours and his and hers etc, number of strokes per pass will differ, beard prep will differ, hair strength and density will differ, lather will differ, razors and settings will differ, lot's of lovely variables for the marketing teams to get their teeth into.

And then if your shaving technique is more geared to skin abrasion than hair cutting this might dull the blade. Leaving the blade in the razor or removing cleaning and drying it: another variable?

Too much bother! As you said why put up with a crappy shave?

Part of me enjoys adapting on-the-fly to the different hardware and software and going with the flow, remove that and the joy of shaving will be gone. For the moment I still want to enjoy this hobby: now, if I was on a desert island with only a handful of blades left....well then I might (hmm maybe not) grow a beard and put up with the interminable itching Lol!

You will hear better opinions than mine soon

 

ischiapp.blogspot.com​

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Thanks.

 

Personna 74 tungsten, 20 shaves sounds impressive

 

yes sir .20 shaves like the first without change.many folks get double that.

 

Unobtanium then?

 

I get an average of 5 shaves per blade. However, I double that when I use DE blades in my shavettes. I believe this is due to the shallower angle needed to shave with a shavette.

 

they appear on ebay,rarely,usually $50 or more per tuck..

 

-Menthol-Monday-
60's rocket/parat
rubberset
osp
stirling



good morning gents
bit o menthol to start the week
lovely stuff.
smooth 2 passer in the usual manner
minor pick ups
stirling mountain man to finish
awesome
have a fine day everyone.
​

 

Wonderful shave Gary! Is that the original knot in the Rubberset brush?