March 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic-Discussion Thread

03/02/15
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – ATT S1
Blade – Persona Lab Blue (2)
Brush – RV with TGN Finest
Lather – MdC
Post - Witch Hazel and Dove AS Balm



Another great 3 pass shave this morning. Starting to get the hang of this razor so the shave was better and easier today. The ATT S1 is very smooth, mild but efficient. It does require a little more work than the Mongoose to get the same results. Looking forward to comparing it to the S2 next week.

 

SOTD
March 2, 2015
Face & Head shave
Prep: Hot Shower. Axe Shield Face Wash
Razor: ATT Kronos S1 Slant Bar Razor
Blade: Polsilver Super Iridium
Brush: L'Occitane Plisson
Lather: Proraso Green
Post: Alum. Thayers Lavender WH.
Aftershave: Proraso Green
Great shave! Love the Proraso Green! The ATT S1 makes shaving fun.
Go out and get it

 

For the remainder of March, my setup is going to be:

Prep: Hot shower, Neutrogena Invigorating Face Wash, TSD Jasmine Sambac preshave balm
Brush: Simpson 56 Best Badger
Soap: Ginger's Garden Grass Stain Menthol Snow
Razor: Merkur 41c 1904 OC
Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum
Passes: WTG, XTG, XTG
Post: Cold water splash, Bloc Osma alum, Dickinson's WH

Some variance will show up in aftershaves and cologne.

 

COLD WATER MENTHOL MARCH!
Today was my first shave in a month long quest in cold water shaving. I was hoping to use my freshly ordered Orange Chill from Stirling but it didn't arrive in time. My backup and just a good is the shave den soap stick - subzero!
Prep: shower and Noxzema face wash
Preshave: My 12 year daughter's preshave oil - with eucalyptus
Razor: Gillette Tech
Blade: Yellow Gillette 7 O'clock
Soap: TSD Stick - Subzero
Passes: 3 - WTG, XTG, ATG - no clean up needed today
Post shave: TSD signature milk aftershave plus menthol
Post shave: Stirling Post Shave balm - barbershop

This is my fourth time with the cold water shave and I am finding a lot less irritation after the shave. So I'm really excited about this coming month focusing on this setup. Today, I was able to get a bbs shave with just the 3 passes without the need for cleanup. Focused on the angle of my razor and did ok!

 

03/02 - Day 2 dialing in the Slim: Two passes today and a CCS. Will try a new blade tomorrow as this one was snaggy and wasn't that great yesterday either. MITA and Proraso delivered a frigid Menthol Monday.

• Growth: 1 day
• Prep: Show; Corn Huskers Lotion
• Lather: Margaritas in the Arctic
• Brush: Whipped Dog High Mountain
• Razor: 1964 Gillette Slim (4,1)
• Blade: Personna Israeli Red (2)
• Post: Alum; Proraso AS

 

If you woke up early enough you got to watch ...

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Followed by CBS Morning News with Douglas Edwards (a true bona fide journalist and anchor).

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My normal routine growing up was to watch Douglas Edwards every weekday morning before school.

5 channels in the Dallas / Fort Worth area at the time.

 

Here is my new lather creator with my 1914 lather catcher....

My second shave was much better. I slowed down enough to almost hear and feel each whisker being cut off. The result was an amazing two pass DFS+ shave. I wonder if this is about how a straight razor feels when one uses it?

 

3 channels in western Kansas. And yes, journalists who didn't make up news, just reported it.

 

Love that green handle. How is the High Mountain working out for you?

 

Big 3 plus pbs in N Alabama as a kid. Cronkite was my fave, watched every night at 530 when Dad got home.

 

March 3 Plans

Stirling Sheep Soap
Merkur 37C Slant Bar
Feather blade (day 1)
Ever-Ready C40 Boar
Stirling Naked and Smooth soap & D.R. Harris Almond cream
Two passes
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, & unrefined shea butter

I am enjoying the near-BBS shaves I'm getting from this set-up. Have a great Tuesday!

 

After a little learning period it's been an amazing brush. Tons of lather, very soft, nice backbone, very little shedding after the first couple uses. It's going to be my #1 soap - and probably croap - brush. Face lathering creams hasn't had as good of results, but I have other brushes for that.

 

3/3/15 - Quest for 2 pass shaves with a New LC

Work mornings are always a little more hurried than the weekends, so I want to see about getting consistent 2 pass shaves in less than 15 minutes with this Gillette New LC. It all worked again today. I omitted the use of Cornhusker's lotion as a pre-shave to determine if it makes a difference. Today I could not tell. The synthetic brush really doesn't require soaking and I only left it in warm water for about a minute to let my lather bowl warm up a little. The frankensoap worked well again, with a shiny and slick lather for my two passes. I'm really happy about how clean my neck is when using this razor. I'll be curious if other blades do the same.

Prep: warm wash with a tiny sliver of a lemon-smelling soap I received from @Shotwell back in the fall
Lather: Frankensoap (slivers and samples collected over the past year)
Brush: BodyShop synthetic
Bowl: etsy purchased Sarah Welch bowl
Razor: Gillette New LC
Blade: Feather (3)
Post: warm rinse, cool rinse and Old Spice aftershave

 

SOTD
March 3, 2015

Prep: Hot Shower. Axe Shield Face Wash
Razor: ATT Kronos S1 Slant Bar Razor
Blade: Polsilver Super Iridium
Brush: L'Occitane Plisson
Lather: RazoRock Tobacco #1
Post: Alum. Thayers Lavender WH.
Aftershave: Captains Choice Cat O' Nine Tails
Wonderful shave. I love the clicking noise the blade makes when you tighten down the top cap. Quality! RR tobacco #1 is nice! I'll use #2 tomorrow.
Go out and get it.

 

03/03/15
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – ATT S1
Blade – Persona Lab Blue (3)
Brush – Ever-Ready with TGN Finest
Lather – MdC
Post - Witch Hazel and Dove AS Balm



Great 2 pass with touch ups shave this morning. Not quite BBS but pretty close. Must be getting the hand of the S1.

 

Smooth sailing with the open comb focus so far, so not much to report...

Current lineup...

Pre- Hot wash with glycerin soap
Razor- Cadet OC
Blade- Feather
Soap- Arko Stick
Brush- Semogue 1305
Post- Cold water rinse and alum where needed
Aftershave- Kramparts Bay Rum

Two pass shave last night that was BBS or DFS, depending on where I felt.

I have kind of a slightly raised freckle that is giving me some issues with the more aggressive razor. I seem to be slowly shaving it off, which is no big deal I guess. It's just going to bleed a bit with every shave until I level it off.

Other than that, I am not having any of the issues I had when trying out the OC's as a new shaver

 

March 2, 2015

First of my 30 day focus on my Ikon 102 and Personna blades combination. Also focusing on a 2 pass acceptable shave to continue to condition my skin to more frequent shaves.
Doing well so far, but oddly had some irritation on the side of my neck that never has any issues. Still wanting to try out a Bulldog handle with this head, but I want to stay focused on
what I have now.

Going to vary the soaps and aftershaves since I have samples that need to be gone through. I'll have stuff for the Tour Box, and possibly a couple of PIF's soon I'm very sure.

Pre- Face wash with warm water
Razor- Ikon 102 Slant
Blade- Personna
Soap- Stirling Barbershop
Brush- VDH boar
Post- Cold water rinse and Osma Alum block
Aftershave- Stirling Barbershop balm



I love the performance of the Stirling soaps, just crazy lather from loading the brush for 25-30 seconds. Had way too much for a 2 pass shave.
My only issue is that while I can't get enough of the Barbershop scent in the bath soap, the AS balm is a little too sweet for me. I don't pick up as much of a sweet note in the bath soap at all.
I don't know if it's the combo of the shave soap and AS together or what, but it may be moving on to someone else. I got a sample of the Glastonbury SS to try out, and it smells awesome hopefully
it'll be a keeper.

 

March Focus - Vintage and Carbon
March 3, 2015 - Week 1 Day 3
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Arko
Razor - Gillete New Long Comb
Blade - (3)
Post - RazoRock Alum and Aqua Velva Musk

Switched to the Pro 48 for the brush today. Love that brush. The Arko never stood a chance. I have decided that the New Long Comb may be the perfect shaving machine. Seriously, why did Gillette even bother trying to improve on this razor? Day three and not a nick/cut/weeper in sight. I bought this razor for $11 because the seller had it mismatched with a Tech handle in a Tech box and didn't even know what it was. Best steal I ever made.

Day three and just another great shave. Did 3 passes and had little to no irritation finishing with a near BBS. The black beauty just keeps on delivering in the New. I'm hoping for a full 7 day run with the blade and so far it hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. I've been giving the razor a 91% alcohol dip to keep rust at bay. This setup just keeps on trucking!

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If I saw that truck heading down my street, I would run it off the road to find out where it was headed!

 

I used to have a little mole on my neck. I would nick it just about every shave and it turned into meatloaf. A little home surgery took care of it. Hopefully yours goes better.