SoS: December 8, 2014 - December 14, 2014

Beautiful! Love the blue M&F!

 

Awesome pic celestino!

 

SOTD
Thursday, December 11, 2014

Hot-Warm Shower, Mike's Naturel Bath Soap - Pumpkin Spice, Neutrogena Face Wash
Mergress LH - #2, Sheraphin Straight
Ladas
B&B Omega Essential Boar
Barrister and Mann - Lime, Lavender, and Cedarwood
Crystal Alum Stick, Dickinson's+, Aloe Vera Toner, Gold Bond Gold Lotion
HTGAM Aftershave/Cologne - Gondolier


​

 

Mongoose B2 / Cobra Classic
Feather Pro
Simpson M6
CRSW - Fall LE
Ebano & Ebano A/S Balm

Masque - Russian Tea

 

all right- so I guess if I'm gonna do this- I gotta remember to include some shave porn...

switched to the Lord platinum SS blade this morning for a trial with my EJ De89 - proraso pre shave, white tub cream, alum block, witch hazel and nivea balm.

I think I'm ready to start my 30 day clock here... best shave I've had yet.

 

Thursday 11th December



Warm shower
Hot towel
B&M Bay Rum scuttle lathered
Finest Badger brush made by myself
Gillette ABC shell pattern (1914)
Personna Lab blue (3)
Cold rinse
Thayers Lavender witch hazel
DR Harris Bay Rum aftershave

 

TSD Shave Sticks are the best for face lathering and great for travel, eh?

 

Maybe I should try that cream some day =P

 

My undergrad work was completed at CSU in Fort Collins. Go Rams! Big bball game last night in Boulder won by the Rams!

 

11 Dec 2014
Pre- Corn Huskers
Soap - Arko!
Brush - Vulfix 660S Medium
Razor - L3 Slim Adj (4)
Blade - Voskhod (3)
AS - Pinaud Clubman

First time using razor blade combo. Close shave with a little zing from Alum block still where the Red Personna did a number on me yesterday, but would say a DFS overall. Of course the Arko/Clubman scent combo is fantastic as usual.

 

Good on ya! Keep on going!

 

SOTD December 11, 2014

Prep: Hot shower. Neutrogena face wash. Noxzema as a pre-shave.

Brush: TAoS mini badger brush.

Lather: Maggard Razors London Barbershop.

Razor: Maggard Razors MR6B black handle 3-piece.

Blade: Voskhod.

Post: Cold water; Razorock Alum Block.

After: Home-brewed "Michigan Morning" spruce, cedarwood and menthol aftershave.

Great shave this morning. Being very careful this week and not experimenting too much because I have a big sales call coming up tomorrow and don't want to look like I came from a battlefield hospital. The Noxzema pre-shave routine seems to be helping me keep mishaps to a minimum, and going slowly and letting the weight of the razor do most of the work has been rewarding. (It's especially easy with a razor this heavy.)

For some reason, I didn't notice the London Barbershop scent as much as I remember. Maybe the month of Arko has dulled my sense of smell.

My home-brewed "Michigan Morning" aftershave is definitely something I plan to do again once this little trial batch runs out. It's a blend of essential oils, including pine, fir, spruce, and cedarwood along with some witch hazel, alum, a tiny bit of glycerine, and a few drops of jojoba oil (shake well before using) all in a Tanqueray Rangpur gin base. Feels great on the skin and doesn't have a booze smell at all. Maybe it should be Michigan Morning. I've thought about PIF'ing a sample or two to other TSD'ers who enjoy a pine/Christmas tree scent, to see what others think of it. Doubt I'll ever do this commercially but it feels nice to be able to make something with your own hands that you enjoy, you know?

 

SoTD for Wednesday, Dec. 10, or SoTD lite (now gluten free!)



I was running a bit behind yesterday. When I finished my shave and cleanup, I stepped out of the bathroom to grab my tablet to take the picture. My son quickly dashed into the bathroom and did not come back out before I had to get going to work... so, no scintillating daily entry. When I got home, I realized that the day's supplies were still posed and ready, so I took the picture for posterity. So here's it is. As it is a day later, and another shave has taken place, my feelings of the day are mostly lost, so I will not attempt to recapture them. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I like to ramble and attach an extra thousand or so words for good measure, but today we are going with simplicity for this entry.

 

Kevin, thank you for your kind words!

 

Thank you for your kind words, sir!

 

SoTD for Thursday, Dec. 11, or, I really need to start earlier.

Pre- homemade clove and balsam fir PSO
Water- very hot, soap/ cold, shave
Soap- Bearded Jack's barbershop
Brush- Anchorset
Razor- Schick I2 hydro-magic
Blade- Personna barber
Rinse- Osage
Aftershave- vintage Woodbury
Lotion- score
Cologne- Ho Hang Club
Extra points- Vitalis hair tonic



A good shave. I love the hydro Schick razors. BBS in two passes. Also, this brush is creeping up to number one. I really like it. I don't know if it will supplant my faves, but it is going to be close. It was in near perfect shape with the exception that it was missing the cap on its base. Looks like it used to have a green disc that matched it's collar. I drilled it out and set a coin in the space, something I have seen @GDCarrington do on his refinished brushes. I respectfully decided to steal the idea create a tribute. I happened to have a Czech coin that was the right size. There is no reason for it, it just t looks good. This may be the first brush I redo as customization rather than necessity. We will see after I finish the twenty or so in line ahead of it!
The soap came with the batch of other Bearded Jack's soaps I ordered. This is one of two that I had yet to try. Good action, as is common with all the BJs soaps that I have used. But the scent was not so much. I am a little stuffed up, maybe that explains it, but I could detect no fragrance. Just a quite subtle soapy smell. Will try again soon to reevaluate.
The final piece of the shave that was new, was the aftershave. It's vintage and called 'Woodbury'. I know nothing about it. To me, it smells like an even mix of Brut and Old Spice. Seriously. So much, that I plan on mixing Brut and OS and comparing.
So all in all a good shave. Although I really have to start about 30 minutes earlier than I have been. There is a point about 2/3 of the way through my shave process, when I invariably realize that I have goofed around and should be done. This takes some fun out of the rest of my time.

 

SOTD

Pre - CWS

Razor - ATT Kronos S1

Blade - Rapira PL

Brush - Plisson

Soap - Cade

Shave #2 with S1 was even better than #1. Smooth 3 pass BBS. No irritation. Still loving the Plisson and the Cade.

 

Thor's Day:

Prep: Hot shower, Healthy Accents Daily Renewal cleanser, TSD Jasmine Sambac Preshave balm
Brush: Simpsons 56 Best Badger
Soap: Stirling Bay Rum
Razor: Merkur 41c 1904 OC
Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum (4)
Passes: WTG, XTG (9, 41 )
Post: Cold water rinse, Bloc Osma Alum, Dickinson's WH, Captain's Choice Cat o' Nine Tails AS splash
Cologne: Gigember Estragone by Dr. Vranjes

I spent roughly 2 minutes swirling the 56 on the Stirling Puck, and approximately 4 minutes building lather on my face for each pass. It didn't help. The lather would appear fully formed and thick enough, only to destabilize halfway through each pass. On the XTG pass, this resulted in a nice little nick in the area of a soul patch, which let me know it was time to call the shave good enough at DFS and 2 passes. In case the age of the blade had anything to do with the nick, I retired it. Because I am apparently crazy or stupid, I decided to follow up a shave with a noticeable nick by loading the FaTip with a Baili for tomorrow.

 

My first shave with the Mongoose was the perfect occasion to break out the Martin de Candre soap sample graciously given to me by @markjnewcomb.

Mongoose - I realized I am not very good at finding the correct shaving angle on new razors. I found myself trying different angles throughout the shave and didn't end up with a BBS shave. I did enjoy the shave, however. Man this thing covers a lot of face real estate quickly.

MdC - the performance of this soap lived up to the reputation. Creamy dense lather exploded effortlessly. At the risk of angering many, I wasn't impressed with the scent. It was okay, but a bit faint. I much prefer B&M Fougere Aromatique.

Pre de Provence balm - this is the best performing balm I have ever used. Any artisan soap makers that don't offer a balm but are considering it, use this shea butter gold as the basis for your formulation.

 

SOTD Thursday 12-11-2014

Merkur 41C w/Astra SP
Noxema
Prairie Creations Royal Water Creed SS
GP Scuttle
Lijun Finest Badger
Dickinson's WH
GB Body Lotion
English Leather Cologne

Found this bottle of English Leather a few days ago and can't get enough of this stuff. It's definately Old School and brings back many nice memories. The Merkur 41c is a great little razor; still can't beat the old 1904 design for simplicity and effectiveness. The EL goes great with the Royal Water Creed!