SoS: May 4, 2015 - May 10, 2015

MAYhem & Mercy
May 4, 2015
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Tweezerman Badger
Soap - Williams (I see bubbles...any lather in there?)Mug Shaving Soap
Razor - Rapira
Blade - (3)
Post - Alum, Nivea Replenishing Post Shave Balm

Third and final day with the unimpressive Zaza from Turkey. Decided to throw it in the exceptionally cheap and poorly made Rapira razor. And, I was a bit surprised at the result. I discovered that the Rapira is a rather aggressive razor. I've only used it once with a Voskhod and didn't like how it worked at all. Seemed like it turned the normally sharp and smooth Voskhod into a killer. Well, it took the Zaza with its lack of sharpness and turned it into an actual functioning blade! Two passes to a very good DFS, the best I've had with the Zaza. A full third pass and the baby would be caught. Hmmmmmmm. Decided to take a look at the razor close up.



Notice the even but wide gap on the blade in the top picture and the angle in the second? The head doesn't bend the blade much in this razor and that creates an aggressive setup not unlike the Gillette Old Style OC. In fact the shave felt a lot like the 1918 I use sometimes. Apparently pairing this blade with the more aggressive Rapira (compared to the Soyuz 1) helped it perform. So, in the MAYhem portion of the Zaza trial it appears it can function well in an aggressive razor. Even a cheap one. Does technique trump tools in this case? I would prefer to say that technique allows the tools to work, even if cheap and low-tech. I'm eager to see what happens in a couple of weeks when I put the Zaza into some much better gear.

I'm also looking forward to using it with much better soap. The Williams just foams and bubbles but doesn't seem to ever get to the lather stage. Here's a picture of the soap tonight after sitting all day. Notice the bubbles around the edge? That's the size I see when trying to lather.


Still working on finding a way to make this soap work better. It is so far the most frustrating part of the shave aside from the floppy badger. I already miss my boars. But, we press on to tomorrow where the 7 a.m. blade from Bangladesh takes center stage in the Soyuz 1. Happy Monday everyone!

 

Sorry but I am not sure what this has to do with a bigger bowl base for a puck to sit in. When I use a puck or a sample puck I have it in a seperate bowl and the bowl that is filled with warm/hot water is only used to soak brush..

 

I think the amount of Myrsol in SOS photos have gone up tenfold over the past months or so.
Not that it's any wonder - it's an amazing line of products.

Btw - for anyone interested the Myrsol Emulsion is selling on Amazon right now for $24 in the glass bottle which I believe is an all-time low price

 

SOTD - Menthol Monday, May 4, 2015

Shower
Prep: Peppermint PSO
Brush: B&B Essential Boar
Soap: Stirling Glacial Lemon Chill
Razor: Weber PH
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (2)
Post: Stirling Lemon Chill WH
Aftershave: TSD Iced SubZero

 

Peppermint PSO?! That sounds interesting. Is that one of your homebrew mixes? If it is I'd love it if you shared the recipe!

 

Tobacco Tuesday Planned SOTD
Razor: Cobra Classic
Blade: Kai Titan Mild Pro touch MG (D3)
Brush: M&F Butterscotch Blonde 25mm 2-band
Bowl: Dirty Bird 1.5 Scuttle
Pre Shave Scrub: RazoRock GLO
Pre Shave Oil: Shea Moisture Iced
Shave Soap: Huntlee Sweet Tobacco
Post: Monster Alum Block
Aftershave: Pitralon (Swiss)



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Report back with your results =) would be interesting to see if there was a difference

 

Enabler!

 

May 5 SOTD:

Homemade PS Oil
Vie-long Horsehair Brush
Stirling Barber Shop
EJ Chatsworth Barley
Feather Blade
Stirling Unscented PSB
Clubman Vanilla AS

 

Tabacstag!
Superb shave today. I think MLPB has proven itself a valuable part of my prep. Tabac never fails, but this shave just felt smoother and the lime scent was a welcome fresh wake up. Der vorschlaghammer was well behaved, and CFG Sherlock finished it off right.
Prep: Mickey Lee preshave butter lime
Soap: Tabac!
Brush: HIS
Razor: Der vorschlaghammer
Blade: Astra SP (2)
AS: Chiseled Face Sherlock

 

OMG, I tried the new Glacial Obsidian puck which I recently bought and it's FANTASTIC. My face felt like it was absolutely frozen by the time I started doing my first pass, and by the time I finished shaving it felt borderline-painful. The lather builds very easily - in fact, I'm not used to these Glacial soaps being so easy to lather!

 

I thought you were using this bowl to create lather.

 

Outstanding picture!!!

 

Brush Focus: Day 3
Brush: Fendrihan Sliver Tip 2, 22/49
Gillette Super Speed, 1947 Birth Razor.
Gillette Platinum Blade
Bowl: KO Shave
Soap: Jack's Soap
AS: Clubman Mush
Old Spice Coffee Mug.

 

Good Flick!!!

 

Tuesday
Prep: Hot Shower-Stirling Scots Pine Sheep Bath Soap
Soap: Los Angeles Shaving Soap-Woody Lavender
Razor: Gillette Slim
Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Blue SP (3)
Brush: oscar11 2-Band Finest-24mmx50mm
Aftershave: Country Club Southern Oud

WTG-XTG-ATG (adjusted angles for my beard)

LASS Woody Lavender today. 20 seconds to load the oscar11 badger. Great, easy, thick, lather. 7 O’Clock Blue in the Slim. Excellent smooth, close, shave. I finished with CC Southern Oud.

Bob

 

Fat Tobacco Tuesday
hot shower/cold water shave
Alt Innsbruck PPE
TSD Tobacco Leaf Lanolin Soap
Gillette Fatboy/Bolzano (1)
cold water rinse
Monster Block Alum
cold water rinse
Tend skin
Beard Brand Beard Oil
TSD Tobacco Leaf ASL
If I didn't have a dentist appointment today my Frag selection would have been Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille.Instead I went for the lighter Santa Maria Novella Tabacco Toscano,very similar but the SMN is a bit lighter and more suitable for the warmer weather and hopefully the dentist office,LOL!!!

Stay frosty,my friends!

 

today's shave
hot water wash with dove+ care
grandad's rubberset restored by gdcarrington/ fitted with a custom two band finest badger
rustic shave soap tobacco
Henckels#81 4/8 hollow
Gillette slim(j2)(7)
Ladas(1)
ICED Aqua Velva ice blue
today's shave was great. used grandad's brush, for tobacco Tuesday. nice 2x4 shave using my spotted emperor and my birth year and quarter slim. four passes made for a great bbs shave. finished with iICED ice blue.
hope y'all did as well, or better.

 

Fat Tuesday!!

MWF - Semogue 1305
1965 Gillette Slim
Pol-Silver Blade (4)
Fine Clean Vetiver

 

I used the La Toja stick again today and achieved very nice results. 3 passes and very smooth, but not quite irritation free. La Toja, IMHO, doesn't have enough cushioning. It is moisturizing and fairly slick, but it just doesn't protect my face in the same way the french soaps protect it.

La Toja stick
Ladas blade
slim adjustable