SoS: January 26, 2015 - February 1, 2015

SOTD 1-26-15

Shower

• Soap: Dr. Bronner's Almond Bar Soap
• Shampoo: Head & Shoulders Clinical Strength
• Conditioner: Suave Almond & Shea Butter

Shave

• Prep: Hot shower, Dove For Men Clean Comfort Body/Face Wash, Suave Almond & Shea Butter Conditioner
• Brush: Van Der Hagen Pure Badger
• Lather: Cella
• Razor: Micro Touch One
• Blade: Personna Lab Blue (1)
• Passes: WTG/XTG/ATG
• Post: Warm water rinse, Cold water rinse, RazoRock Alum Stick, Thayer's Cucumber Witch Hazel, Jojoba Oil, Pinaud Clubman

Terrible shave today. This is my second run with the Lab blues and I got to tell ya, absolutely chewed my neck up. I will have to put these blades on the Hall of Shame

 

SOTD - Menthol Monday, Jan. 26, 2015

Hot shower
Prep: Peppermint PSO
Brush: Simpsons Duke 3
Soap: Stirling Glacial Lemon Chill
Razor: Merkur 38C
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (3)
Post: Stirling Lemon Chill WH
Aftershave: Homemade Snowball Fight splash

 

Very nice!

 

I wish someone would do a recreation of the Woodland scent. My wife loves the cologne on me, but I have to ration it out for special occasions due to the scarcity.

 

Sample pack Monday doesn't roll of the tongue as well as menthol Monday does it?
Prep: hot shower and a splash
Razor: ikon 102
Blade: Gillette 7 o'clock (yellow)
Cream: proraso aloe and vitamin e
Growth: 1.5 days
Passes: 3 plus touch up wtg, xtg, atg.

My sample packs from the shave den store came in and had to get one of the Gillette blades into the ikon. BEST SHAVE EVER! More because I'm learning the trouble spots on my face and neck but the Gillette glided gently across my skin without cuts nicks or irritation! Great combo found.

Finished it off with some original TSD milk and frozen dreams baby!

 

Had my first shave with the Swedish Eterna razor and found it to be an incredible razor.
Rather aggressive and it gave one of the best two pass shaves I've ever had.

Razor: Eterna
Blade: Astra SP
Brush: L'Occitane Plisson
Soap: RazoRock Classic
A/S: The Veg
Hair: Anchor's Teddy Boy Matte

 

Love lathercatchers!
I should use one of mine this week...

 

Great to hear that the Pils is working for you.
It's one of those razors I've always wanted to try/own

 

SoTD for Monday, January 26 or SINGLEMANIA! Strike up the band...

Pre- Clove balsam pso
Soap- Bearded Jack's cherry vanilla tobacco
Brush- Ever Ready with synthetic knot
Razor- schick Band razor
Blade- schick
Rinse- Osage
Aftershave- Clubman vanilla
Lotion- Kiehl's
Cologne- Tonga



Today I wanted to start week three (of my one week celebration) of SINGLEMANIA with something different. So I was sorting through my collection overflow, looking for the right thing. While doing this, I was sort of shocked to realize just how many band razors I have. I have bought some intentionally, but most just came with other stuff. And I realized, "hey, band razors have a single edge!". Boom. Plan is in effect.
I was a little leery of the whole thing. The band razors look a little cheap, and frankly, the concept is weird. But a plan is a plan and I will try anything once. So I picked one out, a Schick, cranked the edge to the next number and shaved. Let me tell you something... something shocking. The band razor? It was flat out amazing. I got the best shave today. Two passes, total BBS. I would have actual been at a comfortable DFS or better after the first pass. The band was nice and sharp, very smooth, and quite mild. Mild but effective. Zero tugging. Zero irritation. Zero injury. I am not even sure if it is possible to injure oneself with a band. I actually went absurdly fast on the second pass with no issues whatsoever. It is pretty exciting to know that I now have a ringer in my stable for the days I am running late. So I gotta say, if you don't have a band razor, get one. They are cheap, effective shavers. There seem to be plenty of band cartridges out there to reload them with also. I guess I now have to try out one of my Gillette techmatics just to compare, but right now, I am pretty excited about the whole concept.

 

Mile High Menthol Monday...

What a shave my friends. The shavecraft 102 is my favorite DE razor mainly because of how smooth and effective it shaves on all 3 passes. With this razor, I can actually go ATG on my neck area which is usually irritation city with other razors.

The Caties Bubbles soap doesn't require a blooming process. I found that if you leave water on top of it for a few minutes, the soap gets extremely soft and almost tacky. I swirled my brush around, and it just didn't look right. Eitherway, lesson learned, and I was able to add some water and still achieve steller sudz. This stuff was colder than I remembered, but still very fresh and fitting for the occasion.

The brush was a handle that I pulled from the tour box and had fitted with a High Mountain badger knot from WD. This thing is great, and I really enjoyed using it today. The knot isn't very dense, and some would say it lacks backbone, but the tips and face feel is buttery soft. It's the softest badger I've used so far...very nice this brush.

Great start to the week...have a good one gents!

 

Day 22 - Thirty Days with Merkur 34c (Jan 1-Feb 4 [No shave on Saturdays]) BSG 1-26-2015

Have had a very heavy schedule for the past several days so I have not been able to post. - I missed you guys. However, I have been faithful to the 30 day

Hot Shower and Prep - Neutrogena Men Invigorating Face Wash
Razor Merkur 34c
Blade Astra SP (4)
Brush - Plisson Synthetic
Lather - Proraso Green
Post - Warm water rinse, Maggard Razor Alum, wait 30 seconds then cool water rinse, Neutrogena Razor Defense Post Shave Lotion

On my shaves from Thursday and Friday I kept getting some small nicks on the front of my chin. So I have made sure I am slowing down in that area.
This morning was a two pass WTG & ATG with a few touch ups. I think I want to coin a new term. - "Work Day Shave" not quite a DFS but good enough for the day.

 

Monday:
hot shower w/Yardley English Lavender bar soap
Homemade PSO
Gillette Aristocrat 2 passes
Feather Hi Stainless Platinum (3)
BurmaShave boar
Derby Lavender cream in a warm bowl
Thayers Lavender
GFT Lavender Water (sample)

Very early shave today and a late post. I was really feeling the pressure of the clock this morning so my shave felt a bit hurried. Not the best way to start the week but at least I smelled good.

 

Late post.

SOTD
Menthol Monday
January 26, 2015

Prep: Hot – Warm Shower, Mike’s Natural Bath Soaps – Jasmine Olive Oil, Neutrogena Face Scrub
Razor: iKon 102 Slant with iKon Bulldog Handle
Blade: Wilkinson Sword #2
Brush: Frank Shaving Pur-Tech Synthetic
Lather: Strop Shoppe – Alpine Frost +M Bomb
Post: RR Alum Stick, Witch Hazel +Menthol, Gold Bond Green Lotion
Aftershave: Fine - Platinum
Cologne: Pino Silvestri

​

 

Me too!

 

Now there's a custom title if ever I've heard one.

 

I am curious about the iKon 102 Slant. Is the whole head cocked to one side so that if you rotate it 180 degrees the slant is in the opposite direction? It is hard to visualize it from the pictures I see.

 

Yes, that is correct. In addition one side of the head is fatter than the other.

 

This will be my planned shave for tomorrow: (Menthol Tuesday!)

Neutrogena Men Facial Wash
Large Horsehair Barbershop
Super Speed/new Dorco
Stirling Glacial Lavender SS
Anherb AS Conditioner
Alcolado Glacial Menthol Splash
Dolce & Gabbana EdT

I'm in love with my Glacial Lavender soap - my dear friend Rod describes it as "a whiff of soothing relaxation wrapped up in one of the coldest winters you can find" and he's so right about that. This soap has a magnificent lather as well since I left it out uncovered to give it a little more curing time and the scent never faded. It smells so nice - it's a perfect balance of elegant, relaxing lavender and super-intense menthol. When you start lathering up the freezing sensation begins within seconds and becomes more potent while it's on your face, so by the time you're ready for a second pass you might wonder if you'll be able to handle it. After you've rinsed your face with cold water, the cold tingle remains for at least 20 minutes before it starts to subside and some Anherb conditioner together with some Alcolado Glacial rejuvenates that menthol sensation all the more. I can't wait for the morning!

 

Plans for January 27, 2015 (day 26 of 30)

Under constant threat of wild animal attack, I plan to shave with the Mongoose, Feather Pro blade on day 2, and Kent BK4 brush. These past few days have taught me that getting an excellent shave with the Mongoose is not the Bear I thought it would be. In fact, it's a real honey of a razor.

Tuesday is National Chocolate Cake Day!