SoS: January 27, 2014 - February 2, 2014

Prep: Shower
Razor: GEM Junior
Blade: Treet Carbon
Lather: Cella (Face lathered)
Brush: Omega 10810
Post: Pinaud Clubman

I actually started to shave with the EJ and a Personna Lab today but it was so horrible I just switched to the GEM after half a first pass. Not sure if it was a bad blade or my DE technique has been forgotten. I'm really loving the Cella. Initially I was put off by the scent because I felt like eating it. Not anymore I'm getting used to it. This was my second shave on the Treet. I found dipping it in mineral oil before to be more effective in preserving than dipping it in alcohol after the shave. Still I discarded it. Its cheap enough to discard after two shaves.

 

Menthol Monday

Hot Shower
Stirling Pig trail soap
homemade PSO
Stirling Glacial
merkur 23c
Astra blade 5th shave and still good shave
vdh brush
Cold water rinse
Stirling Lemon Chill WHAS

Frigid shave. Felt great.

Love the Lemon Chill, makes me think of a lemon head.

 

RazoRock Don Marco
Merkur 37C
Repira Blade
4417 Lotion
Semogue LE IT.

 

Gillette LC New Bulldog
Iridium Super
Semogue 1800
Arko SS
Alum
Superior 70

 

iKon Shavecraft 101
Feather
M&F L7
HTGAM Cherry Sandalwood Vanilla
Gentleman Jon Alum
Barbasol Pacific Rush A/S

Dior - Leather Oud

 

Tyr's Day:

Prep: Hot shower, Crown Shaving Co. Supreme Glide Preshave lotion
Brush: Simpson 56 Best Badger
Soap: RazoRock Cumba Cheech Orange Blossom & Jasmine
Razor: FaTip Piccolo Nickel
Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum (1)
Passes: WTG, XTG (1, 2)
Post: Cold water splash, Dickinson's WH, RazoRock Cumba Cheech Orange Blossom & Jasmine Balm
Cologne: Vintage Xeryus by Givenchy

Once more into the brink with the FaTip. With two passes and a very shallow angle, I got a DFS without a hint of irritation or nicks, which has not been typical of my experience when pairing this razor with this blade - especially not on the first day with the blade. This was my first time using the Cumba Cheech, and its performance is impressive, though the scent is weighted much more toward the orange blossom than the jasmine. Between the Cumba Cheech soap and ASB, the Xeryus, and the Jasmine Mint Marvis toothpaste, I'm decked out in white florals today.

 

Tuesday:
hot shower w/Yardley Jasmine Pearl bar soap
ShaveSecret PSO
StickSchick 2+ passes
Personna Platinum Chrome (2)
Omega boar
Gold Dachs Macho soap (face lathered)
Thayer's unscented with aloe
Pinaud Clubman Musk AS

Absolutely terrific shave today and my face feels great! Running through the gears on a StickSchick is a great way to jumpstart a morning. The Gold Dachs easily produces a great lather and is an excellent soap for face lathering. It develops into a smooth buttery consistency and has a very nice yet mild scent.

 

Tuesday

Prep: Hot Shower-Stirling Bath Soap
Soap: RazoRock San Valentino
Razor: Gillette Slim on 6
Blade: Rapira Swedish Supersteel (2)
Brush: Whipped Dog Silvertip 22mm x 48mm
Aftershave: Speick

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

I went back to try the RR San Valentino again. The SV seems to pick up a few small chunks of soap when loading. I was face lathering and just loading the brush as normal. I still had a great smooth, close, and nick free shave. The Rapira SS is keeping up with the Voskod again through 2 shaves. I finished today with Speick.

Bob

 

Engstrom frame back
Haslinger Marigold
homemade brush
The Engstrom has always been a reliable razor and a very good shaver. Nice shave this morning. The 24mm knot is a TGN Super Finest, excellent knot, dense with nice backbone and I think the hairs will probably hook on this one. Have a good one.

 

SOTD Jan 28

Prep: hot shower
Razor: WW2 Gillette Khaki
Blade: Feather (day 4)
Brush: Vie-Long
Soap: Arko stick
Passes: 3 (2x WTG, XTG)
Post: cold water, Nivea Men cool kick AS balm

Slight change up from yesterday's shave. I went back to the Arko shave stick for face lather week. This is the second time using the Arko shave stick and it went much better then the first, glad I gave it another chance.

I've been experimenting with my stokes trying to get a closer shave and ended up with some irritation spots. The Nivea Men Cool Kick really brought them some attention.

 

Tuesday:

I'm as sick as a dog but I still managed a nice shave with:

L'Oreal Men Expert Facial Wash
#6 Horsehair
Super Speed/Permasharp day 2
Tet-a-tet SC
Tet-a-tet AS Balm
Mennen Skin Bracer AS

You can't keep a good guy like me down - no matter how I lousy I feel I still have to have my shower and shave, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The Tet-a-tet cream and balm are some of the best stuff to come out of Russia. The cream has such a nice, classic scent with awesome lather and a nice cooling effect. The matching balm has the exact same scent and is even more cooling, with a lot of moisturizing and soothing to it. The Skin Bracer gave me a great icy slap which felt so good.

 

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Prep: Warm shower, Cetaphil Lotion
Razor: EJ DE89L
Blade: Voskhod (5)
Cream: Gada Original
Brush: Semogue 830
Post: Witch Hazel, Cetaphil Lotion
Aftershave: Brut

I seem to be on a roll of excellent shaves and today's shave was no exception. I used Gada Original cream; a cream that is new to me. Gada is a cream from Lebanon that Jeff (Crackstar) sent to me. It has a very nice, manly scent to it. I put a small amount in my lathering bowl and started mixing. I immediately realized that I had too much water. However, I continued to work the lather and got a very wet, but creamy lather. I could have added more product to compensate for too much water, but the Gada had already produced so much lather that it was overflowing my bowl. Once I applied it to my face, however, the lather turned into a wonderful, creamy lather that was very slick. I had a fantastic, near BBS shave. The Gada was everything I hoped it would be. I can't wait to give it another go tomorrow, and maybe I'll be able to perform as well as the cream!

Have a great day!

 

Dove Men's Face Wash
Van Der Hagen Luxury Shave Soap
Parker Pure Badger
'62 Gillette Slim
Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Stainless
CWR
Thayers Cucumber WH
Aqua Velva Ice Blue

Today was a great shave after two days of OUCH!... I may revisit the ER24 later, but today was amazing. The VDH Luxury Shave Soap face lathered almost effortlessly with the Parker Black Badger brush. Two passes and touch ups with the Gillette Slim loaded with a Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Stainless blade provided a smooth, irritation-free, near BBS shave. A cold water rinse followed by Thayers Cucumber WH and Aqua Velva Ice Blue AS left me feeling clean and refreshed. Nice...

 

Sorry you are not feeling well. I hope you get to feeling better very soon.

BTW, I loved the Gada! Thanks again for sending it.

 

Thanks, Scott. It was my pleasure - enjoy it and I'll be glad to send it to you any time!

 

The benefits of great advice
Today was day three with my Old Type, and what a difference! I got two pieces of excellent advice from Facebook friends... The Old Type needs a very shallow angle - thanks Zach! And that I would get better shaves from the Gillette Silver Blue after the first unimpressive effort. Both were spot on. I practiced the angle on my wrist after I loaded up with yesterday's blade. What a huge difference!

I got a DFS+ after two passes (WTG/ATG) and some touch up along the jawline. The razor was smooth and easy, still not aggressive to me, which is not a bad thing at all, I prefer a razor that won't slash me when I make a rookie mistake. I've gotten some burn and small weepers from it, but not any major punishment. No burn or weepers this time. My face feels great!

I used HTGAM Synergy Meta Nectar again today to make a better comparison to Tabac, and I gotta say that the Nectar is winning me over. In a side by side smell test, the scents are similar, but the nectar adds a depth and warmth, if that makes any sense. The performance is also on par, both lather immediately with lush, slick lather, but with less product needed with the Synergy soap. I would be happy to use either of these stellar products exclusively. I finished up with Krampert's Finest Frostbite, even though it's -9°F today. Why do I do it? It just leaves my face feeling great. Simple as that.

Prep: warm face wash with Shea Moisture TBS
Soap: HTGAM Meta Nectar
Brush: HIS Synthetic
Razor: Gillette Old Type Pocket Edition
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (2)
AS: Krampert's Finest Frostbite

 

Tuesday
Face Latherers' Week

Pre: Hot shower, homemade vanilla-orange PSO
Razor: Ikon Slant, with custom stainless handle
Blade:: Feather Hi-Stainless (day 2)
Brush: Simpson Chubby 1 (2-band)
Lather: Arko Ice Mint Cream
Shave: Two passes (WTG,XTG), some touch-up
Post: Cold water rinse, Alum block, 444 menthol balm

A 'Menthol Morning' for day 2 of both Face Latherers' theme and my use of two loaners, the Simpson Chubby & Ikon slant. Very light stubble this morning following yesterday's 3-pass extra close shave. I could have probably skipped shaving, but for the sake of investigative journalism and market research, I carried on.
A 2-pass BBS shave was the result. The Simpson brush provided generous amounts of 'ice-cold' menthol lather, and what whiskers that dared appear since yesterday were soon history, thanks to the slant. I am truly enjoying using these two fine products!

Have a blessed Tuesday, everyone!

 

Gillette New LC
Voskhod (1)
Palmolive Stick/MWF- Face Lather
Vulfix 404
Clubman Special Reserve

 

1/28/14 Face Lathering Week

Prep: Hot shower with Shea Moisture Shave face wash & scrub

Razor: Gillette Fat Boy gold D3 (7), Dubl Duck Gold Edge straight razor

Blade: Astra (1)

Brush: Vie Long Horse Hair

Soap: La Toja shave stick

After: Home made ASB (1/2 Witch hazel and 1/2Aloe with vitamin E)

After Shave: Captains Choice Bay Rum

Today was the first time I have used La Toja shave stick and it performed well. The face lathering with the La Toja went well. After using the R41 a few times I wondered why I had not cranked up the Fat Boy. I moved the Fat Boy from 3 to 7 and ended up with a Darn Fine Shave +. I will continue with the higher numbers on the Fat Boy in the near future.

 

RAZOR: 1969 Gillette long handle super adjustable.

BLADE: Gillette Silver Blue

BRUSH: VDH badger, soaked in hot water while I shower.

MUG: Vintage Old Spice mug.

SOAP: Edwin Jagger sea buckthorn.

AFTER SHAVE: Aqua Velva Ice Blue.

Nice hot shower, A dab of Suave Coconut conditioner on my mug, then a nice leisurely 3 pass shave.
The EJ Buckthorn smells good and the GSB glides across my mug. A finishing of AV, no burn or sting. I smell good and am slick as a babys butt.