30 Day Rule/Focus; May 2024. All Are Welcome!

thank you Joe.

 

fantastic weekend shaves gents.

 

Thanks very much, Gary!

 

Thanks Charlie. I will.

 

Thanks Gary.

 

5th May 2024.


​

Shaving Recipe for today.

Prep: Warm shower:/Bulldog Original Shower Gel.

Pre:
Cold wet flannel to my face.
Cien PURE Fragrance Free Sensitive Bar Soap.
Brush: Yaqi Sagrada Familia 24mm synthetic.
Face Lather
Lather: La Barbiera Classic Shaving Soap.
Blade: Dorco Prime Platinum. (D2)
Razor: Baili BD177 Rose Gold TTO.

Post:
Cold Water Face Rinse./Cold water face wash with brush squeezing's, /Alum Rub./Cold Water Rinse./Homemade (~Spring/Summer mix~) Lemon, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Essential Oils.5 Menthol Crystals Mixed Together With Care+Witch Hazel./Nivea Men Replenishing PSB./Milton Lloyd Essentials No 17 EdP.

Greetings,

A wonderful performance from the Chinese Gillette super speed clone & the Dorco Prime Platinum blade duo.

Carrying on with the 2nd of the La Barbiera shaving soap,I tried a face lather rubbing the soap directly into my stubble then building the lather on my face which like the Sweet Orange, the classic performed wonderfully. I prefer to face lather with hard soaps ,that's why I like shave sticks so much.The scent of the Classic soap to my nose has a pleasant woody/spice fragrance which will be great for the Autumn & Winter months.

I'll switch to face lathering with a boar brush in my next two shaves to see if I get the same lathering results as I have done with my synthetic brush.

Finishing the shave off with a few small squirts of Milton Lloyd Essentials No 17 EdP to the pulse points.

My face is feeling super smooth & smelling divine.

Keep safe and enjoy your Sunday ladies & gentlemen.

 

Saturday morning May 4 - Merely Shaving May

Prep: Hot shower with Aleppo olive oil soap with 20% bay laurel oil

Razor: Supply 2.0 matte black stainless steel injector with "SE" open comb plate; vintage US-made Schick Plus Platinum blade (4)

Soap: Arko stick

Brush: Supply Silvertip Synthetic 24mm

Lather Bowl: None

Post: rinse, alum, rinse - and nothing else

Last shave: Sunday April 28 - 6 days ago

The stuff:



This was my first shave for May. It was the quintessential stripped-down basic wetshave - water, commercial soap stick, synthetic brush, razor and alum block. Strictly "no frills".

Rub the Arko shavestick over the clean wet beard, work it into a lather with the damp brush, then do one pass all over with the razor (WTG on the face and ATG on the neck).

That got me back to decently cleanshaven with no visible patches of whiskers. The alum block (well, shards now actually) was silent. Rinsed that off and I was ready to go. No splash, balm or skin toner other than the alum rub itself. Good enough for social purposes.

Hope the weekend is treating everyone well.

 

I have one of those B-P travel razors. Neat little razor and definitely compact for travelling -- would have slipped into a vest pocket without a trace. That part of the design is great. The shave though -- I tried it a couple times and found it better to shave with than my Gem SE blade fitted into a paintscraper handle. And that's about the best I can say of it... No way am I doing 15 consecutive shaves with it...

 

Great pic and shave, Barry!

I expect you will find you have to soak the boar brushes thoroughly first, re-wet them while lathering, and maybe re-soap your face before each pass. The eventual result will be as good as face lathering with your synthetic brush but will take more time and preparation to achieve.

At least, that has been my experience with my boar brushes. Modern synthetics are much easier to use than any natural hair brushes.

 

I agree with you John, modern synthetics are much easier to use than any natural hair brushes, especially when using creams, some natural hair brushes tend to "hog the lather" pardon the pun.

 

05 MAY 2024
Days growth = 1



Prep = Warm water soak
Preshave = Bloomed soap water
Soap = Sterling Margaritas in the Arctic
Brush = 10049
Bowl = Timeless
Razor = Slim I4 @7
Blade = Shark super Chrome (2), binned
Passes = 2
Post = Usual CWR, Alum, CWR, Thayers
ASL = PR Barbe Dure with Agar oil
Damage = 2 ½ minor scrapes: adam’s apple and lower neck. Mea culpa

Set the Slim on 7, bit of a rush, rewarded with two and a bit scrapes, bailed out after 2nd pass. Shoot. It happens. Needed some styptic for the first time in a long time. There’s always tomorrow…

...I might revert to a different combo or give it a break
Either way I need better prep than a quick splash of bloom water

Have a great Sunday everyone, I feel sure your Sunday shaves went a bit better

 

Thanks Gary, have a great weekend

 

John, it is great to hear from you. All good here. I hope you are doing well also.

After 3 or 4 shaves with the B-P, I became used to the grip. The most challenging part is flipping the head around to use the other side of the blade. It requires both hands. It adds maybe 3 to 5 minutes to the shave, as I tend to exercise more caution with it. I'll give it a few more shaves (to make sure I secure a seat close to the buffet line at the B-P global meet-up) and then put it up for awhile.

 

Super Sunday shave Barry.

 

Fine simple shave John.

 

Yes, I am doing well too. I enjoyed your posts earlier in this thread about your friend who sends you those decorated inspirational daily Bible passages. And about the young man and his dog who volunteer at the hospital with you (the previously mentioned friend's son, I believe?).

You are so right about the importance of relationships and connections in bringing meaning into our lives. I suspect your volunteer work at the hospital adds years of youthfulness to your life.

I don't think you have any need to worry about getting a seat near the buffet table at the global B-P meetup though...

 

It happens to all of us Chris. Thankfully, it's a rare occurrence. However, you had a nice setup.

 

Thanks, Joe.

The one thing I noticed was that my skin felt a little dry afterwards. Which is not necessarily a bad thing as the hot weather sets in. In fact, this is a common comment about Arko on these shaving forums - that it tends to be a little drying. But thinking about it, Arko is made in Turkey where the climate is usually hotter than here. I wonder if that quality of the soap is considered to be a feature rather than a bug there?

Anyway, I will probably continue with this shaving setup for awhile this month, but add some assorted balms and splashes to it.

 

I really like that closeup "shaving still life" photo you posted today, Chris.

The shave? Well, it happens. Maybe just back the Slim down a notch. I prefer to use my Gillette adjustables on "4" myself.

A few years ago, I read a useful comment about adjustable razors (possibly originally from a Gillette manual even): an adjustable razor is not intended to be a test of manliness or machismo. There are no bonus points awarded for using the top settings. Instead, the best (or at least most comfortable) way to use an adjustable razor is to find the lowest possible setting at which you achieve a clean, efficient shave and then use that.

Worth considering, I think...

 

DE Shave # 531 & # 532

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Yaqi Traveler
Blade: Suneko Amorphous Diamond SS (4, 5)
Brush: Ever Ready 200T
Lather: Stache Soap Works E Barber
Aftershave: Floïd Genuine Vigoroso

Saturday and Sunday Shaves: Two extremely close and comfortable shaves with the Stache Soapworks Soap (Artisan no longer in production mode) and the Yagi razor with the Suneko blade. The blade was promptly binned following this shave as I customarily do upon completion of the fifth shave with a given DE blade.

Today is a travel day back to LI following a rather unsuccessful squid fishing adventure Friday night-Saturday morning. We caught a few squid however they were extremely uncooperative. Can’t shave I blame them. As they do up here in Massachusetts, “Ah Long Luuuuuung Breath”.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.