Desert Island Week 5/27 - 6/2

I'm hanging with Erik......

 

I've decided to hang with the Lady Eversharp & TSD Lanolin this week. I will be strong. My gear & I've relocated to this dessert isle.

 

I can only partially participate. I have just switched from Palmolive EU stick to Speick stick (which reminds me, I owe you guys a Palmolive review). I have committed to using the Speick over the next few weeks. In addition, I have recently acquired a Simpsons brush and a Semogue brush. One of these will likely be my eventual desert island brush but I don't know which yet.

I can say that, though I love my R89, my desert island razor would still be a Red Tip SS. My desert island blade would be Personna lab blue, and after shave would be witch hazel followed by AV Ice Blue (for desert climes, were it a cooler island it would be Clubman) so I will use those this week.

 

I'm doing that this week starting tomorrow... but only because I have to; not because I want to.

Prep: hot shower, TBS Face Wash.
Brush: TGN Grade A.
Razor: Gillette Aluminum Ball End Tech.
Blade: Personna Med Prep.
Soap: Palmolive stick.
Post: cold water rinse, Barbon AS.

 

My desert island set for this week :

pre - Shavegel "de Tuinen"
soap - de Vergulde Hand
brush - synthetic one from "Rituals"
razor - Gillette Slim
blade - Centwin Super Platinum
block of alum
aftershave - Arko Cool balm

The could be different next week... but I really could do with this nice set!

edit: forgot my blade...

 

As my desert island has no hot running water (like some folks, not to mention names but the initials are ERIK REDD ), I had a cold water shave today. (I showered last night since I had to be out the door this morning at 5:15 for an endoscopy (routine)) The shave was a little later than normal for me, but I got it in when I got home.

I was not really expecting a very comfortable shave, as past experience with cold water shaving many, many years ago (back with carts and canned goo) taught me that a hot shower and hot water gave me better shaves.

So I slathered on some AoS PSO and whipped up some TOBS Sandalwood soap. A bit of a surprise that the soap lathered up very well with cold water. Wet the face, lathered up, and went to town. hmmm.... very comfortable, very comfortable indeed. I finished up my usual three passes, cold water rinse, ice water splash and the result? BBS.

I still prefer a hot water shave, but now I know - a cold water shave isn't really all that bad!

 

Personally, I'd just get the professor to whip up a batch of hot water..

 

Steve, did you pick a desert island near Antarctica? Maybe a good choice since my desert island only seems to have lukewarm water.

 

Yeah, kinda strange. I checked his SOTD post and he listened to a CD and had coffee also, so I guess it's a desert isle with electricity for a CD player and freezer for ice. He can get hot water for coffee but not to shave with. Sounds like a strange place.

 

Just my own little world. But it's ok, they ( you) all know me here.

 

As promised, pic of the Deluxe Desert Island provisions:


Got me close to BBS today!

 

Hump Day: another smooooooth shave!

 

Not much to report. Same shave the last few days but I get to use my favorite combo of razor and blade that I've found so far. And lots of menthol to make up for not having ice.

 

Thirsday's shave: ditto!

But on a side note:

I dropped the razor when taking out the blade for a spin in the ol' Allegro. Since this part of the Desert Island has a rock hard floor in stead of sand, it scared the heebeejeebees out of me! No spare razor on this island... The razor landed on an open door which I had to pry loose. The doors now still open and close, bot not as smooth as before. I guess I'll have to find me a magnifying glass and check things out.

 

Oh noes! Wishing your flare tip rocket a speedy recovery

Had another enjoyable shave with the K1 injector. I forgot to bring any balm/lotion to the island, but my skin felt great just using TSD Lanolin & witch hazel.

I found a telescope in the wreckage of an old shipwreck & have been checking up on the rest of the islands in this archipelago...

 

That was a near disaster Mike. Glad to hear you're not left razorless until Monday. Somewhere I think I saw a thread about how to fix sticky TTO doors with a rock and piece of bamboo. I'll post a link as soon as I find it.

 

Desert Island Escapee

Like Papillon, I floated off on a homemade raft.

After 4 shaves with the same setup, I wasn't happy with the lather of the MWF and was getting some neck irritation (I know I'm a Texas Redneck, but this was on the front of my neck). I thought it might be the brush, which I restored with a TGN nylon knot set to provide a short loft. I switched to my TGN Silvertip and got a great face lather and smooth shave with the razor set at 6 (same as yesterday). I think I may need to re-knot the Ever-Ready 79, I love the handle but don't care for the knot performance.

 

Friday & saturday provided some more great shaves. This is -as I expected- a great combo. The Allegro keeps the blade sharp (almost every day close to BBS). I think I'm gonna use this blade and keep it sharp with the Allegro until the edge gives in. Or until the blade is so worn it doesn't extend anymore from the razor, thus not giving a shave anymore. See how far we get!

I'll try and get a look at the flare tip this weekend.

 

Well, I just did my final desert island shave. All week with one set of products. For my soap I used a superlather of Ogallala Bay Rum, Limes, and Peppercorns soap and The Body Shop Maca Root shave cream. For my razor I used my Union Cutlery 5/8 full hollow square point straight razor. For my brush I used my The Art of Shaving Fine Badger. Was it difficult? No, not really. I like variety, but I'm not a four year old, so I have the ability to not try to stuff handfuls of chips into my mouth, to reason with others, and to be OK with the fact that I am sticking to a routine that works. I got good results and if I could have endless varieties of scents without changing products then I would use this superlather forever and never bother with anything else. My brush was nice, I like it, but I was using my Comoy/Vulfix 376S Super Badger to do test lathers of stuff for the purposes of reviews and I have to admit that I have taken a real shine to that brush. My razor was reliable, but I am still a relative newbie with a straight razor. As of right now, I get much faster and easier shaves using a safety razor and even on my bad days I never walk away from a safety razor shave with anything less than a DFS. So, it wasn't difficult for me to stick with this set up, but I wouldn't say that it was my ideal set of gear.

Hopefully sometime tomorrow I will post the fictionalized version of my desert island experience. It should be entertaining. For those of you who successfully completed your desert island week I say, good on ya. For all of you others out there...I know who to keep an eye on if we're ever stranded in the Andes...

 

I made it through as well. It's not really that big a departure from my normal routine. I usually stick with a soap or cream for at least a week. I guess since I'm still sort of new, I sometimes need a day or two to get in the groove with a product and then I like to enjoy it for a while before trying to find a new groove. I also usually throw a blade in a razor and use it until it's done. So anyway, another pic of my setup for the week and all set for injector week. I think my Hydro-magic was getting lonely