April 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

April 8 Plans

Stirling Sheep facial soap
Merkur 37C slant bar razor
Feather blade (day 1)
Omega 10098 professional boar brush
Arko shave stick & glycerin
Two passes
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Nivea Sensitive Post-Shave balm

This week, I'm using Arko as a shave stick and lathering with a boar brush. I had enough yogurt-consistency lather today for two passes plus touch-ups simply by using more soap, working it longer, and adding plenty of water. I haven't heard of anyone using glycerin in their Arko lather, but I think it makes it perform even better!

Grace and Peace!

 

Quickie update-

6 shaves down and 1 to go to hit the magic #7 with a single injector blade. Had a slight deterioration in the blade today. I think I could manage somewhere approaching ten shaves if I wanted to push it.

 

Homemade PS Oil
Razorock Don Donato
FB w/Gillette Silver Blue set on 4
WD Silver tip
VI Bay Rum AS

The silver blue did not do as well as the Rapira PL. I'll give it another day like this and then try something different.

 

04/08/15
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – GEM 1912
Blade – GEM SS PTFE (4)
Brush – Brothers Bristles with WD HM
Lather – Soap Commander Passion
Post - Witch Hazel and CC Bay Rum AS



Very good 3 pass shave this morning achieving a near BBS if not a couple of trouble spots. While not a bay rum soap, the Soap Commander Passion matches great with the Captain's Choice Bay Rum AS.

 

Aggressive April - Day 5



Prep: Hot shower w/ Grandpa's Pine Tar
Soap: TSD Barber Shoppe shave stick
Brush: Omega 13522
Razor: Cadet OC
Blade: Astra SP
Post: Witch Hazel, Nivea Sensitive Balm
Scent: Tommy Bahama Very Cool

Good 2 pass, WTG & XTG shave. Again some irritation at first but subsided quickly. Chin seems to be a big issue, can't really buff with the Cadet without regretting it.

 

April 8th , SOTD (Shave 3 of the focus)
Three days’ growth
Prep: Hot Shower
Razor: Gillete Red Tip- B2 (1956)
DE Blade: Big Ben- Stropped 30 times per edge (3rd shave on blade)
Soap: Maggard Orange Menthol
Brush: Tulip Wood Brush- TGN Best Badger Knot 22mm x 54mm loft
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman

So last shave wasn’t a good one. The cut on my chin was worse than I had originally thought. Took a day off from the Kamasori razor today, and just used the Red Tip. Also had an issue where my face was very red and irritated after the shave, wasn’t sure if it was the soap or aftershave.

Good call. I remember a little bit of a burning sensation when I put the Arko on for the second pass on my last shave, but I had thought it was razor irritation. I put some lather on my forearm last night. Soap isn’t supposed to burn. So apparently, I have been rejected by Arko. No issues with the Clubman, though.

I did a two pass plus touch up with the Red Tip. DFS, almost BBS. One thing that using the Feather Artist Club has shown me is how important the feel and sound of the blade cutting are. It makes it even easier to fine tune my DE razor to get the right angle and pressure. No bite on the Alum, and topped off with Clubman. All in all, good shave!

 

Prep: Hot shower, Neutrogena Invigorating Face Wash, TSD Jasmine Sambac preshave balm
Brush: Simpson 56 Best Badger
Soap: Ginger's Garden Grapefruit Mint Glycerin-in-a-jar
Razor: RazoRock Bamboozled RAKE OC
Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum (2)
Passes: WTG, XTG, ATG (4, 5, 6)
Post: Cold water splash, Bloc Osma alum, Dickinson's WH, Pinaud Clubman AS splash
Cologne: Aoud Forest by Montale (sample)

Back-to-back BBS shaves Sunday and Monday left me without much need to shave Tuesday, so I skipped that day. This morning, the Grapefruit Mint whipped up into amazing lather with the Simpson brush, with the RAKE/Bic combo performing as well on its second day as on its first. I had a minuscule weeper on my upper lip from the ATG pass, but that was due to too much buffing on my part. Another BBS shave today, without any discomfort. Thus far, it seems really difficult to get a BAD shave out of the RazoRock Bamboozled RAKE.

 

Yesterday's shave was an improvement overall but there's still room for progress. I think I've decided to let my hair grow out for a little bit so now I can really focus on shaving my face. I think with the extra time I'll pay more attention to what works and doesn't so hopefully by the end of the month I'll have it down.

 

Arko April Focus - CJB Kamisori
April 8, 2015 - Week 2 Day 4
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Arko
Razor - CJB
Blade - (1)
Post - Cold compress on the lower left neck....more cold compress.....alum all over. Clean up the blood.

A quick summary of today's shave.......



That is all.

 

Oh no. I still am in awe of you guys that can use the AC or Straight Razors. I'm sure I'll never have enough courage to even try.

 

Yikes! Did you slip with it, or just set it down wrong? When I looked at my cut from Sunday, I realzied I probably could have gotten a stitch or two on it. I have been wearing a butterfly bandage since then. These kamasori are certainly teaching me what no pressure means.

On an unrelated note, any intrest in trading me a Kai blade to try for a stick of Arko with a couple of slices cut off of it?

 

Set it down wrong on the upward pass. Felt it bite and backed off. Too late. Have a nice cut on my neck...about an inch long. Still weeping under the bandage a bit. I agree with you on the pressure. And yeah I'll trade you. PM me.

 

Ah it's not that bad. Trust me...I sell used cars.

 

Sounds about right!

umm...that's not really good.

 

Arko April!!
Late post for 7 April



Day 7, blade 1, the mighty mighty MTO!

Still got to BFS, but had to work for it...that means only one thing. Day 8 will be the blade 2! Lots of great stuff going on in here yesterday, apologies for being away and busy. I will check in with Day 8 results tonight.

Happy Hump Day!

​

 

I've had better.

 

No picture from the past two days. But the shaved have been fabulous. One thing I've done different since starting April Arko/stick soap month, I found I must have my brush dropping before starting to face lather. If it's not, soap ends up clogging my ikon 102.
Prep: hot shower
Soap: Monday tsd subzero stick Tuesday arko
Razor: ikon 102 short handle
Blade: Vodksoh (day 1 and 2)
Post: tsd signature iced milk
Proaso green post shave balm

3 passes and focus on not fighting the blade but drag and allowing the sharpness to work for me. Turns out I got a little better shave on my neck. Who knew?

 

April 9 Plans

Stirling Sheep facial soap
Merkur 37C slant bar razor
Feather blade (day 2)
Omega 10098 professional boar brush
Arko shave stick & glycerin
Two passes
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Nivea Sensitive Post-Shave balm

This week, I'm using Arko as a shave stick and lathering with an Omega boar brush. It's a fantastic set-up day after day!

Grace and Peace!