SoS: December 9, 2013 - December 15, 2013

Thanks Mike, I may have to get one soon.

 

Every once in a while I use this setup just to remind me of times gone past. Back to my roots if you will. With the exception of the Astra SP and the Wen styling cream this is the exact setup I first started with several years ago. I think within the same week of the first use I had a few razors on the way But, I used this soap and brush for quite a while after because I had used it for nearly a decade before with carts.
~ VDH Deluxe shaving soap with a VDH boar bristle brush bowl lathered in a vintage (garage sale find) soup bowl.
~ My Grand Father's 1953 Gillette Super Speed using an Astra SP.
~ Clinique moisturizer and Wen styling cream.

Every time I use this setup, I wonder why it takes me so long before I use it again. DFS near BBS in 3, leaving the moustache whiskers

 

Today's date is 11.12.13 and I got one of the best shaves ever :

Prep : hot shower
Blade : Gillette Platinum
Razor : Gillette Tech
Lather : Mem Olive + Mike's Orange,Cedarwood
Brush : Omega Pro 48
Scuttle : Yoresh

I was kind of bored of my last latherings and decided to try an uber-lather today, Mem Olive + Mike's Orange,Cedarwood. Now, this combination is purely fantastic, the best lather and possibly the best shave I had ever . The Gillette Platinum are very good but expensive. I did 3 passes, 2 WTG and one ATG, with a 2 days grow. Resulted in a super-BBS which will last 2 days

 

12-11-2013​

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Dove Men's Face Wash​

Kiss My Face Cool Mint Moisture Shave​

Parker Pure Badger​

Gillette Fat-handled Tech​

Bluebird Hi-Stainless Platinum (6)​

CWR​

Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel​

Pinaud Clubman AS​

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I did a two pass shave with the KMF Cool Mint Moisture Shave. I face-lathered with the Parker pure badger brush. This was shave number six with the Bluebird Hi-Stainless Platinum blade. The Gillette Fat-handled Tech came through again. It is such an easy razor to use. I finished off this near BBS shave with Thayers Cucumber WH and Pinaud Clubman AS.​

 

Nice smooth DFS today. The TSD products really work well together for me. My face feels ready to tackle single digit wind chills this morning. I seem to be going through the AS milk pretty fast - I sometime like to put more on afterwork because it makes my skin feel so good.

 

Wednesday

Arko soap face lathered with Merchant Rhoades best badger
EJ DE89 with Personna blue (4)
3 passes and finish with Floid Blue

 

Gillette New LC
7OC Indian Green
Omega Baby Pro
CO Bigelow SC
Nivea ASB

Feeling like winter today. Woke up to 20F . -7C and it is chilly.

 

Wednesday:

L'Oreal Men Expert Facial Wash
#6 Horsehair
Super Speed/Shark day 3
Stirling Margaritas in the Arctic SS
Svoboda AS Balm
Alcolado Glacial Menthol Splash
Aramis Stick Deodorant
Aramis EdT

It's thanks to my dear friend Ryan that I have this lovely soap, and let me say that I really enjoyed my shave with it today. It's not quite as thirsty as the Glacial, and it lathers so easily, it smells great, and it has an awesome menthol effect with good moisturizing and blade glide. It's hard to beat this Svoboda balm for post-shave care, and the Penguin is about as frigid as the Rubby Dubby Doo.

 

Wednesday



Shavecraft 101
Personna Plat.
Manchurian Colonel
XXX
Lucido Splash
Proraso Balm

I used the Shavecraft 101 this morning. Talk about a fantastic razor. It is much milder than I expected it to be, both the OC and SB sides. I used the OC for the initial beard reduction, followed by an XTG pass with the SB side to finish up the shave. I may have had the angle wrong, but the SB side didn't reduce my beard to where it normally is after the second pass. That being said though, it was a very pleasant shave and most welcome after using the Cobra for 2 days.

 

7/8 W&B "for barbers use"
LA Shaving Topanga Fougere
homemade brush
Nice shave this morning. -2o, with wind chill it's really cold, lol. Have a good one.

 

WEDNESDAY
Prep: Hot shower, Shea Moisture Face Scrub, Citrus PSO
Razor: H. J. Herskovitz Sheffield 6/8
Strop: 3" Whipped Dog
Brush: Whipped Dog 30mm Silvertip
Lather: L'Occitane Cade , scuttle-warmed
Shave: Two passes, plus DE touch-up
Post: Rinse, Alum block, Ogallala Bay rum & Shea Butter balm

Tried another 'new' razor this morning, this Herskovitz is a bit larger (6/8 vs 5/8) than the other straights I've used in my limited SR experiences. It could also benefit from a light sanding & polishing, but after a good stropping, the blade had a keen edge. It felt really good in my hands and gave me a VERY close shave, with no unwanted weepers or nicks. Still doing final touch-up with the DE razor until my competency with SRs improves.

Happy HumpDay all! Stay warm!

 

Wednesday

Prep: Hot Shower-Stirling Sharp Dressed Man Bath Soap
Soap: Palmira Cube
Razor: ’59 Gillette Super Speed Flare Red Tip
Blade: Personna Med Prep (4)
Brush: Whipped Dog Silvertip
Aftershave: Figaro

WTG-XTG-ATG (adjusted angle for my beard a bit)

I used the Palmira Cube soap from Serbia today. It is similar in consistency and scent to Cella. It has gotten a bad rap, but supposedly has been reformulated. I hope this cube was not the reformulation. It lathered easily, but the lather broke down. I paired it with my Red Tip and a Personna Med Prep. The shave was still good though: smooth, close, nick & burn free. I finished up with Figaro for a little menthol touch.

Bob

 

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Prep: Warm shower, Cornhuskers Lotion
Razor: Edwin Jagger DE89L
Blade: Voskhod (4)
Cream: Arko Ice Mint & C.O. Bigelow
Brush: Vie-Long Horse Hair 12705
Post: Witch Hazel, Cornhuskers Lotion
Aftershave: Floid Amber

For some reason I decided to use a very small dab of Arko and C.O. Bigelow this morning. The mixture made a fantastic lather that would have been enough for 10 passes. Due to a micro-emergency, I didn't have time to shave yesterday. My beard grows fast enough and thick enough that I have to shave every day. I hate having stubble and couldn't wait to shave. I received a terrific DFS++ shave this morning. It feels great to be clean shaven! I feel like a new man.

Have a great day!

 

SOTD Dec 11
Prep: hot shower
Razor: Weishi 9306
Blade: Astra SP (day 4)
Brush: Wilkinson Sword
Cream: Musgo Real Classic
Passes: 2 (WTG x2, XTG)
Post: cold water, Proraso blue
Back to the original tools today, and a good shave. Yet again I left more water in the brush then seem required, and was rewarded with more then great lather. All that "extra" water in the brush happened to be hot water, so I got a nice warm lather for the first pass. I might have ruined that extra pampering trying to chase a BBS...

 

Wednesday:

Prep: Healthy Accents Daily Renewal Cleanser, Hot Shower, Crown Shaving Co. Preshave Lotion
Brush: Simpson 56 Best Badger
Soap: VDH Unscented
Razor: FaTip Piccolo Nickel
Blade: Bolzano (3)
Passes: WTG, XTG (5, 6)
Post: Cold water splash, Dickinson's WH, Aveeno Active Naturals ASB
Cologne: Jasmin et Cigarette by ELdO

I combined the Simpson 56 with the VDH soap for the first time (I think) today, and got stupid amounts of lather in no time. The Simpson does such a good job prepping my stubble, in conjunction with the preshave and the other tools, that I got a fundamentally BBS in just two passes. This was fortunate, because the Bolzano blade was starting to noticeably degrade midway through the XTG pass. I may have been blade buffing more than necessary, but it was tugging and stinging a bit, including opening up weepers in the same spots as yesterday. Back to a Bic blade tomorrow.

 

Can you compare the Shavecraft 101 to a Gillette Tech regarding aggressiveness ?

 

Wednesday, December 11th, 2013



H. Henry Hill "Favorite"​

• Pre-shave: Myrsol Emulsión
• Soap: Valobra Almond Shaving Cream
• Brush: Omega Badger Brush 63167
• Bowl: Old Italian Barber Brass-Nickel Bowl
• Strop: Mastro Livi Loom Strop and Hand Palm Stropping
• Razor: H. Henry Hill "Favorite", 5/8 Half Hollow, Spike Point
• Post-Shave: Umbria Extravirgin Olive Oil
• After Shave: Myrsol Agua de Limón

 

I haven't used a regular tech before, but I can compare it to the Canada 1932 fat handled tech that I own.

The Shavecraft 101 has the two different sides, the open comb and tooth comb sides. The open comb side shaves better than the FH Tech as it is much smoother and cuts closer to the skin. It isn't aggressive at all, not like a New Standard, as I didn't feel the blade on my face at all. It was very smooth and very effective, yet not aggressive. I am sure if I had used the OC side for my entire shave, I would have had a very close cut shave similar to, if not better than my Muhle R106 can give me. As for the tooth comb side, This seems to resemble the mildness of a blue tip. It, once again, went very smoothly but I couldn't get the shave as close as I normally like. I think a good reason for this though was user error. The reason being, I go ATG on my neck (on the second pass) and one side is smoother than the other. Anyway, when comparing this side to the FH Tech, it is less aggressive.

One thing to note, on the FH Tech I have a gift of catching a bad angle and feeling the blade on my face (dragging), but on the Shavecraft 101, I didn't have the dragging effect with a bad angle. The razor just didn't cut if the angle was off. Now after a few more uses, I am sure using either side will be no problem, as the first shaves on any razor (for me) are always a bit wonky.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll try to answer.