January 2015 30 Day Rule/30 Day Focus Pic and Discussion Thread- All are Welcome

Today's shave prep, and consumables were as per the other two days. This time, I only did the 3 passes, with no touch - ups. I thought the shave would be bordering on cccs / sas, but in fact was better than that. It was pretty much like the previous shaves. I did not even hand strop the blade before use. I think the difference today was that as others have stated, I got through the three not so good shaves with the Stainless Steel PTFE blades, and are now getting into the good shave groove. (Day 4 of 30) The neck feels better, and the AS did not burn nearly as much. HMMM.

 

Tha Maca Root tends to develop a thinner but quite slick lather, so I guess I also am used to a much "thinner" but more slick lather than back in my spray piffle goop days.

 

SOTD 1-2-14

My true challenge this month is to get the incredibly cantankerous Geo F Trumper's soap to produce a good shave. I have the coconut version. I've been having trouble with it since I got it Christmas day. First use was with my precious Omega 48 and produced a collapsing lather.

The next use I hit it again with my Whipped Dog silvertip and got better lather but damn the post shave was drying.

Today I'm tried my pattended "Williams soap prep". Which is soak the puck and brush in the same bowl together while showering. This seemed to soften the puck a bit. (I took this approach with new MWF and it worked like a charm). The shave was better today. My prep was hot shower, face wash with Shea Moisture African Black soap and let some almond and shea butter conditioner sit on my face for about 5 minutes. Applied some corn Huskers lotion as a pre shave treatment since I heard its properties is similar to that of GFT Skin Food I figured I'd try this prep to go with a GFT soap. Face lathered with the WD silvertip and chased the baby today with a luxury 4 pass shave. WTG/XTG/ATG/touch up pass. Achieved mostly BBS with the Merkur 24C with third use Astra SP. Finished with warm and cold water wipe down with face cloth, applied RazoRock alum stick, Thayer's Cucumer Witch Hazel, more CHL, Dove For Men Post Shave Balm and finally a splash of Pinaud Clubman.

The problems...

Even with applying my normal setup of winter moisturizers, my face was super dried out which is rare. Also, my neck had a bad rash for about an hour afterwards and then almost totally went away. I can normally do 4 passes no problem, the soap is my main suspect now.

Gonna switch up more variables with this soap for tomorrow's shave. I will master this beast. I promise.
Sorry for being long winded.

 

I still feel the drying effect and it's been hours. I'm not giving up on it but let's just say I want to toss this GFT puck across the room and pop in a new puck of my go to puck of VDH Deluxe and have a true comfortable, lubricating great shave.

Also I got a new tub of Cella I'm dying to try out...

 

Hi Justin!
I too like to soak the soap along with brush. It works very well for me, and it has been especially helpful
when using MWF, and Arko in the tub.

About the lather drying, and your dry skin...

I went through your post carefully, and it seems like there is ALOT of soap applications.
The longer soap stays on your face, the more it is going to dry your skin.
I would consider maybe doing a very brief face wash in the shower, and using warm water,
not hot. I would keep it gentle and brief because you are going to apply shave soap soon,
and all that soap adds up. Each application removes more natural skin oil and moisture.

I used to do this too, but I don't any more. Repeatedly wiping your face with a cloth can cause irritation,
especially considering that you've just dragged a steel razor blade across it multiple times.
Trying to remove soap with a damp cloth is not effective. In fact, what you are doing with each pass
of the cloth is diluting the soap, and then smearing it around on your face. True, the cloth is
absorbing some of the soap, but not all of it. So, you are likely leaving a thin layer on your face.
I would strongly encourage you to cup your hands and bring plenty of water to your face when rinsing.
A final pat or wipe down with a damp cloth should be ok, but rinsing first with plenty of water is best.

I hope this may help you remedy the dry skin trouble, and I wish you

Happy Shaving!!

 

SOTD
January 3, 2015

Prep: Hot shower. Axe Shield Face Wash
Razor: RazoRock Stealth Slant
Blade: Rapira Stainless
Brush: L'Occitane Plisson
Lather: B&M Latha
Post: Alum.Thayers Lavender WH.
Aftershave: B&M Latha
On a budget? Deep pockets? Want a great soap and aftershave for $16.50. Try B&M Latha. Awesome shave!
Go out and get it!

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm still trying different variables, I plan to do the warm water lather and even cold water shave with it soon. I wipe the soap off with a cloth with other soaps and never experience a drying effect. I will try the cupping splash of water. I do wonder however if this brief rash/dryness is due to a previously unknown allergy to coconut.

 

Day 3.

I kept it pretty low key today and went 1 WTG and a few touchups.

So far everything is going well. I think letting my face calm down seems to be working pretty well.

 

1/3/15 - BSG - Day 3

Prep - Hot Shower, towel soak
Brush - Omega 48
Soap - Proraso Green
Razor - 1918 Gillette Old Style
Blade - Voskhod (3)
Post - Truefitt & Hill West Indian Lime Shave Balm

Third day and progress. No blood today. Saw one tiny nick on the XTG on left cheek but when I rinsed it was gone and stayed gone.
WTG was great on both face and neck, XTG left a lot to be desired on the neck, especially left side. That is my usual trouble spot so no big surprise there.
ATG got my face nearly BBS but left the neck rough. Went back for a cleanup attempt and still didn't get it where I really want it but it's close and not bad.
This was the third day on the Voskhod. I didn't notice any dragging or pulling but do wonder if the issue on the neck might be related. Either way I had already decided to go three and out with the blades no matter their performance. That way there is no variable created by different ages on blades each time.
Finished with T&H West Indian Lime to calm down my neck after the extra clean up pass. Love that lime smell.

 

BSG day 3

• Prep: hot shower, hot washing cloth
• Brush: TGN a grade silvertip badger in Oscar11 handle
• Soap: Cella
• Razor: birth quarter Gillette Slim @ 4, 5, 6 & 7
• Blade: Derby #5
• Shave: 3-pass + touch-up
• Post: cold water rinse, Floyd AS

Days 1 & 2 had of course the same setup of course and provided great shaves!

One hades of a shave! BBS if there ever was one. I like the system of up-dialing the razor after each pass. The Cella lathered up great as usual, but I started with a dry brush. This badger sucks up so much water that the lather tends to get too thin. But boy, am I going to love this month's shaves!

 

I am dialing in My Slim this month...I have reviewed your SOTD musings on the Slim, am I am so glad to have someone else on a Slim this month too!

 

1/3/2015 BSG 30 Day - Shave # 3

Prep - Hot Shower
Razor - Mongoose Satin B2
Blade - Kai Mild (3)
Brush - Rubberset 400 with WSP HMW
Lather - Soap Commander Confidence
Post - Dove Aftershave Balm and Captain's Choice Bay Rum AS



Another great shave. The Soap Commander is a really easy soap to lather and provides great slickness and cushion. I borrowed the idea and used the left over lather on my face while I cleaned up as a post shave. I'm glad I learned that trick. Used my regular Dove balm and tried my sample of Captain's Choice Bay Rum AS. Jury is out on this one for me.

I am finding that the Mongoose is very similar to a SE version of the Gillette New Long OC that I have. At least it behaves that way with the Kai Mild blades for me. Nice 2 pass shave with a touch up around my chin. For the second pass, I did go ATG on the neck which made quick work of that area. I've read that many of the Mongoose and Cobra users start with the first pass on the neck being ATG to take advantage of the sharpness and rigidity of the blade. I might try this after I become more comfortable with the razor.

 

Day 2

Prep: Hot shower
Brush: Van Der Hagen (the one from the premium kit)
Soap: Van Der Hagen Deluxe
Blade: Hill Country (pretty sure rebranded Personna)
Razor: Edwin Jagger DE89
Post: Nivea Original

Well today was waaaaay better than yesterday. I might have nicked myself once but nothing major and definitely nothing like the hack job that happened yesterday. The only thing I'm really having trouble with is the damn lather. Neither bowl lather or face lathering has worked for me and it feels as if the blade is dragging across my skin rather than gliding. My quick fix is to keep painting with my brush after every couple passes but that gets old quick. I spent about an hour shaving my face and head and would have probably been in there longer if my wife didn't come and make a comment lol. Overall things progressed pretty quickly so hopefully I'll continue to make progress.

 

Day 1 of 30ish
BSG
30 Day Rule with a Slim​

J2 Gillette Slim Adjustable
Kroger Israeli Personna
TSD Lanolin Shave Stick - Barber Shoppe scent
VDH Kit Badger

My rule is being run under what I call the Burma Shave Guidelines. This is the kit until the exercise ends. I said 30ish because I will keep going until everybody is done... @NCoxSTL humorously noted my late start, but I anticipate going probably 32 days or so.

I used this razor in December set on 4. I found that to be too mild. Now with these blades, I plan to start on 4 and move more aggressive as time goes on. Will also play with adjusting between passes, ala @macaronus and his recent series of SOTD posts with his birth-year Slim.

Some objectives for now:

Find correct dial settings for me and the Slim.
Focus on precise and irritation-free shaving.
Make 30+ unique photos.
Write about it daily!

I am off to start. I plan to do a post tonight after I have had a few hours to see how my skin feels after a 4 shave with the Slim and the Personna blades. I know the TSD shave stick is great, no research going on there. They are on sale through tomorrow on the Forum store, pick one up for February!

 

Shave of the Day

Shave 2 of 30 Day Challenge



Music: Glitch Mob, "We Can Make The World Stop"
Prep: hot shower, homemade PSO
Razor: Morley 5/8
Brush: New Forest 2204 Badger
Lather: Whoos the Man - Commander
Shave: 3 passes; WTG, XTG, ATG + Cleanup
Post: Stetson

Another go at it with the straight for my 30 day challenge, trying to establish good shave technique with a straight, and work on lather building.

Shave went well, no cuts to speak of just a couple weepers. Still trying to figure out how to attack my neck, I have to go sideways toward the Adams apple and I am not able to so that with my straight. So until then... I can't be perfectly shaven and that's frustrating. I'm smooth just not perfectly smooth.

Anyways.

 

For general consumption:

Since RAD is taking a backseat in January, I plan on spending a little extra time looking around for Great Cheap AS...you know the classics...OS, AV, Brut, Clubman, and the like. I will be sure to notice if any local shops have any I have not tried yet.

 

How to attack the neck.

 

I had a bit of a go-round with the EJ my first few tries.
I just couldn't seem to find the correct hold and angle.
So, I borrowed an idea that others have discussed here.
I washed and lathered up as usual, but when I held the razor to my face,
I started with it completely riding on the top cap. That is, the handle was
90 degrees to my face. I very slowly started the razor down my cheek,
and began to decrease the angle as it moved. In this way, I was able to both
hear and feel when the blade began to make contact and start cutting whiskers.
It took a few shaves to finally get some muscle memory developed, but I finally
got the hold dialed in. You might give this a try and see if blade still feels like it
is dragging or scraping. If it is, you've either got a bad blade, or your brand of blade
just is not going to be compatible with your EJ.

Happy Shaves to you txskimo!!

 

Get some barbasol, original and pacific rush at dollar general. Just picked some up today and they smell good. If you have family dollar get their spice a/s, is just like vintage shulton old spice.

 

My Utopia is basically an EJ89. @Bristle Me had an experience similar to mine, and it took me a few tries to be able to "ride the cap" enough to get a consistently smooth glide. Work on quality lather and take your time. There is a steep learning curve right at first. Once you get the angles right, there will be no doubt for you! The eureka shave will likely feel like there is no blade in the razor, yet you will be smooth. You are still "unlearning" too. Give it some time.