Isn't it great to discover that when it comes to traditional wet shaving, "low budget" does not have to mean, "low quality"?
It's only as expensive as you want it to be.

Saturday - it's the weekend! Time for the SEs.

Prep: Hone and strop str8, hot shower, Dirigo Blue Cedarwood PSO
Coffee: Dirigo Blue Java Sunda Candra Wulan, BLACK
Tunes: 98.1 WOGL replay of AT40 from August 1, 1981
Hone: Duro Electric
Strop: VB 2" black latigo/linen
Soap: TSD Egyptian Spice
Brush: The Dridecker
Str8: Boker Red Injun, 3 passes
SE: Schick Injector E, touch up
Post: Cold water rinse, RazoRock rub down, ice water splash, L'Oreal Comfort Max ASB, Pinaud Clubman
'Stache Wax: Dirigo Blue

Not bad. The Injun seems to give me a bit of a scalping (just a small nick or two, really) more often than not.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Chubby 2, Black Beauty, Sunrise, All Speick Everything



Short and sweet 1-pass shave with touch ups. As crazy as I am about the Speick cream and AS, the body wash, cologne and deodorant stick don't quite measure up. They're good products and I have no complaints, but they're not outstanding like the cream and AS.

SATURDAY
Adding a bit of France to this morning's shave

1. Pre: hot shower, Lucky Tiger Lemon wash, home-made PSO
2. Razor: Merkur 39c Slant with Astra Sp (day 2)
3. Soap: L'Occitane Cade Savon Á Barbe
4. Brush: Semogue 830
5. Shave: Two passes (WTG & XTG) & some touch-up
6. Post: Cold water rinse & dry, Osage Rub aftershave, Pre De Provence balm

Using an NEW soap his morning— an $11 puck of L'Occitane shaving soap. Really a pleasant fragrance to both the puck and the lather.
Day two on the slant-bar razor; another CLOSE shave with just two passes. A near-BBS!


The L'Occitane formed a nice, creamy lather with a light floral aroma. Not a dense as MWF, but the soap/lather still provided a glossy surface for the blade to glide upon. Nice stuff! Un produit de qualité!

Saturday morning, July 27, 2013

Schick E2 Injector w/ Schick NOS blade (5)
Omega 20102 Pro boar w/ Arko
Hot water and bowl lather for a DFS—
Finish w/ Captain's Choice Lime!

Wow, a great shave with the Arko and Omega boar!

Aces!

Yeah, as long as you don't get addicted to RAD ;-)

Leo, how do you like the Captain's Choice? I have some Lime myself. I won it on the Nook as an Independence Day Veteran's PIF. It was waiting for me when I got back from firing artillery and will have to give it a shot.

A double post today since I've been away fro the forum for quite a while

Wedensday 24th
Shavette loaded with a Bolzano (1)
Semogue 2000
Tabac
Pitralon Polar

The Semogue has seen little use lately, I've been reaching for my smaller brushes more often lately. I don't know, maybe it's time for a sell or a trade. although I can say it's fully broken now, and is soft as silk. Blood has been shed this day, probably me just putting my guard down and not giving the shavette the respect it deserves (it wouldn't be the first time ).
The Pitralon Polar is quite good, smells nice but disappoints a bit on the cooling field (I expected more cooling than with Pitralon Classic) I had my eye on it for quite some time, but money is tight lately so it had to wait. A friend of mine bought it but to my luck He didn't like it so...monkey got him some new AS

Saturday 27th
Mem Supersilver (rimei rebrand) loaded with a Bolazano blade (2)
Niveta supercheap brush
Palmolive Cool
Pitralon Classic

Now this was a nice shave. Cooling and reinvigorating 2 pass (1 wtg and 1 XTG). The blade/razor combo is fantastic, the Mem is a surprisingly forgiving, any which way you pull it around your face or press it down it has never asked for a blood sacrifice and it shaves great. A razor I would recommend anyone to try

SOTD Saturday 7-27-2013

'59 Gillette SS Red Tip
Astra SP Blade
Al's SC - Boheme
GT G4 Scuttle
Semogue 820 Boar
Dickinson's Witch Hazel
Nivea replenishing ASB
Pinaud Clubman Special Reserve ASL/Cologne

Very nice shave to start the weekend.

Tamara.....Ich bin mit dieser Creme sehr vertraut weil mein Freund es kauft, wenn er seine Familie in Ägypten besucht. Es gibt eine andere Creme aus Ägypten die Five Fives genannt. Beide Cremes haben tollen Schaum und Hautpflege. Wenn ich nicht verwechselt werde, ist die Tamara Creme am preiswertesten.

(which means)

Tamara....I'm very familiar with that cream because my friend buys when he visits his family in Egypt. There's another cream from Egypt called Five Fives. Both creams have great lather and skincare. If I'm not mistaken, the Tamara cream is the cheapest.

Ich mag die Tamara Rasiercreme sehr gern, aufgrund ihres wunderbaren, leicht blumigen Dufts, den ich als "orientalisch" bezeichnen würde. Ich erinnere mich nicht mehr, was sie kostet, aber sie ist sehr sehr günstig.

(-- approx. in English)

I like the Tamara shaving cream a lot on account of its amazing (slightly floral) scent which I would say is somehow "oriental". I can't remember how much it costs, but it is an extremely sensibly priced one.

Razor: Newly Revamped Rhodium Plated Fat Boy
Blade: Super Iridium
Brush: 30mm Super Silvertip
Pre: Musgo Real Lime Basil Oil Soap
Soap: Tabac
Post: Monster Alum Block
Aftershave: Tabac

Saturday

Wash TSD unscented soap
Lather TSD unscented lanolin soap
Mühle hjm black fiber synthetic brush
Gillette fat handled Tech
Astra SP blade
TSD unscented aftershave milk

Outstanding, comfortable shave! Three passes, smooth results.

Genau - ich stimme mit Dir überein. Der Duft ist sehr angenehm. Es scheint auch meinen Nasenlöchern irgendwie, eine kleine "minze" Spur zu haben.

Translation:

Exactly - I agree with you. The scent is very pleasant. It also seems to my nostrils anyway, to have a small minty trace.

Guys.... If Semogue charged two times their price, would you still buy? It sure looks so. I would! I cant get over the respect this board has for this brush, and the price VS some very heavy hitters out there. What a product!

July 27, 2013 Saturday evening shave:

Prep: Hot water rinse/Somerset oil rub
Brush: Restored Made Rite Finest Badger
Cream: Proraso Green
Razor: Weck & Sons Sexto Blade
Blade: Personna SE
Three pass shave WTG, XTG and ATG with touch ups.
Post: Rinse and Ice cube rub
Aftershave: Floid Blue

Second attempt with a straight tonight. I just used it to shave my face and chin WTG. I finished the shave with my DE Merkur and a Gillette 7 O' clock Yellow DE blade. Not real impressed with the Gillette Yellows.
Not really a bad shave. I learned more about the Weck and about another blade (Gillette Yellow). I simply need more practice with the straight razor that I have here. No big deal.

Frank

Sunday:

L'Oreal Men Expert Facial Wash
#6 Horsehair
Dovo Bismarck 5/8
Mama Bear Lemon Ice SS
Gillette Series Intense Cooling AS Balsam
Aqua Velva Ice Blue AS
Chabrawichi 555 Cologne

Mission accomplished - smoother than silk, feeling nice and cool and comfortable. My Dovo Bismarck cleaned me up beautifully as it always does, and this time I shaved slowly so I could really enjoy the experience. The Lemon Ice soap (Veli inspired me to use it today!) smells so nice and it gives such great lather with an amazing cooling sensation. The Gillette Series balsam is very moisturizing and frigid also, and the Aqua Velva is an aftershave which my wife hates to smell on me, but I LOVE it!

5/8 Bismarck
Mundus Bay Rum SS
22mm TGN Grade A fan @ 44/45mm
Stephan Bay Rum
Stinky brush this morning (new) but very good shave. IMO, Mundus is a pretty good shaving soap, I like it. I have a couple of Bismarcks, this one is a 3 pin bone handle the other is a 2 pin plastic handle or whatever, both are good shavers. Have a good one.

Sunday:

Prep: Hot shower, AoS Unscented PSO
Brush: VDH Boar
Soap: Ginger's Garden Coffee Jasmine
Razor: Merkur 41c 1904 OC
Blade: Astra SP (2)
Passes: WTG, XTG, ATG
Post: Cold water rinse, Alum, rinse, Nivea for Men Energy ASB
Cologne: Herod by Parfums de Marly

Day 2 with the Astra produced no weepers and a BBS shave, but I did get a bunch of irritation again, even before I'd finished the XTG pass. For me, thus far, that puts it roughly on par with the Shark, ahead of the 7AM, well ahead of the Sharp, but behind the Bic Chrome Platinum.

​

​

Dove Men's Face Wash​

TOBS Lavender Shaving Cream​

Parker Pure Badger​

Gillette NEW LC Made in England with Bar Handle​

Shark Super Chrome SS (7)​

CWR​

Dickinson's Witch hazel​

Pinaud Clubman AS​

This Shark is holding up very nicely. No tugging, still cutting smoothly, near BBS with two passes and neck clean up.