Thanks. I added it when I saw a few others do it. Makes the whole thing a little more relaxing now that I don't rush to get it over with.

That is a cool little razor. Nice blade bank too.

Herm, thank you for your kind words! My collection travels quite a bit, here, in Vancouver, but it has never left the city for a photo-shoot!

today's shave
hot shower prep with axe soap
rubberset custom two band finest
tiki con tiki
Gillette slim(I1)(7)
persona lab(3)
pinaud clubman original
tonight's shave went well. I used the second soap sample for the first time. again, I'll reserve thoughts about the soap until we review it. three passes made for a very nice shave. finished with clubman.
hope y'all did as well, or better.

Had a late shave today after my back allowed me to get up and about for a bit.
Used the Personna Injector for a second time in a row. Partially because I want to keep seeing if/how I can make it work better for me and in part because I wanted a really mild razor today.

Razor: Personna Injector
Blade: Schick
Brush: SOC Boar
Soap: Arko
A/S: Florida Water
Alum: Gentleman Jon

I have not seen that one for a while. Looks great with the better knot in it!

SOTD for January 16, 2015

I'm halfway into my 30-day adventure to improve my shaving skills using the Mongoose. Preshave consisted of a warm shower and face wash using Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser. I used my Kent BK4 brush and face lathered using MWF and a few drops of glycerin. I think the BK4 is a bit small for a daily brush, but it makes a great travel brush. After the adventure, I'm going to put my new Rudy Vey two-band silvertip into daily service.

This was the fifth shave on the Feather Pro blade on a three-pass shave. This blade would be fine for ten shaves, but I'm changing it after seven to stay consistent during the adventure. It was a pretty good shave, but I hurried a bit and had some minor irritation. I know better, but I need an occaisonal reminder! I finished with Thayer's Lavender Witch Hazel and unrefined shea butter.

I hope everyone had a blessed day! I look forward to a fun weekend with my Bride, some good friends, mild weather, and a couple of nice shaves!

Yes, it does. I haven't used it in a long while since getting addicted to synthetic brushes.

Never heard of the Gardette razor but that sure is a beauty

Day 14 - Thirty Days with Merkur 34c (Jan 1-Feb 4 [No shave on Saturdays]) BSG 1-16-2015

Another Great Shave

Hot Shower and Prep - Nivea Men Sensitive Skin Face Wash, & Wm. Neumann & Co. Peppermint Leaf Bar Soap
Razor Merkur 34c
Blade Astra SP (2)
Brush - Plisson Synthetic
Lather - Poraso Green
Post - Warm water rinse, Alum, wait 30 seconds then cool water rinse, Neutrogena Razor Defense Post Shave Lotion

Two Passes WTG & ATG plus a few touch ups. Achieved a great shave.

This was my second day using Alum. I assumed it was going to seem gritty but actually feels very smooth and clean.

Now that's a razor!!

Friday Shave


Prep: Warm shower, Anthony Logistics Glycolic Face Wash
Lather: Mike's Natural Peppermint & Rosemary and Mike's Natural Vetiver
Brush: Simpson Duke 3 Best Badger
Razor: Schick Krona
Blade: Astra Superior Platinum - #3
Post: Cold Rinse, Jack Black Double Duty Face Moisturizer

Cocktail hour started a little early today. Mostly Mike's Peppermint & Rosemary cut with a little Mike's Vetiver for some smokiness. Great shave from the Krona and Duke 3 is a real joy.

Enjoy the long weekend, gents.

Saturday's


Nivea Men's Face Wash
Col. Conk Bay Rum Shave Soap
Wild Cherry STB
My Dad's Schick E3
Schick Platinum Plus
CWR, Asma Alum Block
Thayers Lemon WH
Barbasol AS

The Col. Conk Bay Rum Shave Soap face-lathered well with my Wild Cherry Silver Tip Brush. Two passes with my Schick E3 and Schick Platinum Plus Injector blade gave me a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, alum block, and a final cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayers Rose Petal WH and then Barbasol after shave. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

Friday

Hot shower
Dermalogica Daily Face Scrub
Anthony Logistics for Men Pre Shave Oil
Bearded Jacks Shave Soap - Vanilla Tobacco Cherry
Semogue 1305
Voskhod
Weishi 9306
Every Man Jack's Post Shave Face Lotion

I tried the Voskhod + Weishi combo again for the 2nd time. The first time it wasn't cutting very well so I only did half of my face before putting the blade in my Merkur 34c. Today I decided to try the combo again as I have really been liking Voskhod in the 34c, but the results were the same. The first pass WTG just didn't cut that well and I found myself using too much pressure. It wasn't an uncomfortable shave, just too much tugging and not enough slicing. The second pass (XTG/ATG) and touch ups did get give a DFS, but I ended up with a couple of weepers from using too much pressure. Bad habits die hard. The Voskhod is probably the worst blade I've tried in the Weishi, which is funny, because it is probably my second favorite blade in the Merkur 34c.

I love the fragrance of the Bearded Jack's Vanilla Tobacco Cherry, but I just can't get it to lather very well. I worked it for several minutes and got mediocre results. Compared to TOBS, Proraso or Arko, it just doesn't lather as well and takes a lot more effort.

Single Image - Double Days - 16 January 2015 Shave and Plan for 17 January 2015

This photo serves for today's shave, and I will continue with the same setup tomorrow. The Blueness stick is a new soap for me. After testing several stick soaps over the years, and letting go of the sticks that I did not like, I retained only two sticks in my shaving den. These are the ones I use when I want to face lather. The first is the Palmolive Stick which provides excellent lather but tends to dry my skin slightly after the shave is complete. The other is the Wilkinson Sword Stick, which is my favorite stick soap. It provides excellent lather, but it does dry my skin out after the shave. The Blueness stick based on the first use provided a great three pass lather for both head and face. In this respect it is like both the Palmolive and Wilkinson sticks do with the Kent Infinity Synthetic Brush. The scent of the Blueness is somewhere between the Palmolive and the Wilkinson sticks which is very acceptable to me. It did tend to leave a little dryness like the Palmolive and reminded me of the Palmolive in performance. I will use the same setup tomorrow. Then I will decide whether I want to try the Blueness with a boar or badger brush on a following shave to see if Blueness becomes a "keeper."

​

Thank you Herm!

Old French Manufacturer.

SOTD - SATURDAY, JANUARY 17

After shaving with my custom fatty for a while now, I decided to go "old school". I absolutely love my vintage OC razors and this is one of my favorites.
By the way, although my setup is mostly always the same, I've got some new soap and blades on their way so I can change things up and just to make you guys jealous.

PREP: Hot shower
MUSIC: Nothing today - just the beautiful sound of blade "whacking" beard
RAZOR: Gillette New Standard (by far my best estate sale find)
BLADE: Astra SP
Brush: Omega 10049
SOAP: Proraso Green
AS: what else? Barbasol Pacific Rush, of course!

I'm not into SE razors, but I like the "minimalist" design of that Personna Injector!

Saturday's planned shave:

Neutrogena Men Facial Wash
Large Horsehair Barbershop
Super Speed/SuperMax Blue day 5
Stirling Glacial Lavender SS
Gold Bond Moisturizer
Stirling Glacial Wintergreen WH
Pour Un Homme de Caron EdT

I left the Glacial Lavender puck sitting out and uncovered for a few days because it seemed to need a bit of extra curing time in order to improve the lather, and sure enough - after doing a test lather just before I was very satisfied. What a nice difference it made - a bit of effort is still required, but the lather works up a lot easier and faster than before. The nice, refined lavender scent came out along with the icy menthol sensation and the moisturizing and relaxing properties of this soap are unbelievable. Yes indeed, I'm going to love my shave to the max in the morning. The Gold Bond/Glacial Wintergreen witch hazel will probably make my face feel so flipping cold that it'll almost be numb. Pour Un Homme de Caron is a very nice eau de toilette which I received as a birthday gift from my mother-in-law - it's lavender based in a very old-school way.