JUNE 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Excellent! Remember that after shave items can be rotated since they are not a part of the 30 day Rule or Focus.

 

Nice razors. Should be a great month for you!

 

Great idea to just go ahead and learn on Wilkinson. It's actually easier to evaluate blades after you have developed some sound technique for your face. You have accelerated your learning process this way! Nice job!

About AS, as @GDCarrington wrote above, it's not covered in the guidelines, so rotate if you get bored. Your thoughts on skin feel are correct, though! The more you keep things the same, the easier it is to judge the process. But, it's all up to you!

 

I am going to spend my month doing cold water shaves. I have never tried one, so I figure it is worthy of a month to see how it works. I will try several combinations as I normally rotate frequently.

 

I'm going to focus in June on using the Gillette New SC paired up with voskhod blades. I want to get a better grasp on open combs with a blade I'm more comfortable with. I'm also looking forward in testing out a much larger brush than I'm used to.

My gear for June:
Gillette New SC
Voskhod blades
Omega 10083 Boar Brush
Various soaps
Various AS

 

I have a NEW LC that loves Voskhods! I think you'll be impressed with that combo. Of course, it's hard to ruin any shave with a Voskhod.

 

I have 3 Voskhod blades I got from tryablade. Maybe I should give them a try with some of the OC this month.

 

I'd love to hear the results! If you need a few more just PM me!

 

I will post up the results. I'll try them for sure with the more aggressive Old Type and the ATT R2. Thanks for the offer, I should have enough to at least give them a try in these 2 razors. But I will keep it in mind.

 

Since I did not participate in the May thread I will kick this off a day early. Sunday is perfect because I can sleep late, shower late which allows me a little extra growth plus I can take my time with the shave.... and I have time for a picture. Also for the first shave I incorporated some items from Shave Den Members.

Proraso pre-post for the prep
Super lather with AOS tallow and Castle Forbes lavender, I took the picture the night before then changed my mind in the morning.
Elk antler brush from @gssixgun, I don't recall what knot he used but it is big and soft just the way I like it.
Dovo Bismarck #2 6/8 carbon blade with ebony wood scales. I love the weight of this razor.
Drygulch classic american bridle strop with linen. This is has some nice leather and it is very thick unlike the other expensive strop I bought.
Alum block to keep my fingers dry
Speick AS
Castle Forbes ASB lavender

I did 3 passes and some touch up, that is the farthest I have gotten. The first 2 passes go smooth and zero irritation, even the 3 passes felt good and the touch not so bad. While there was no blood I am still getting irritation and still not even DFS, but close. I am still a long way away from what I can do with a DE. I think I am still pushing to hard. Cheeks and chin were BBS but my neck is stiff far away from where I want it.

 

Here are the blades I've chosen for June. I've not used the Big Ben, Nacet or Astra Superior Stainless before. I have used the India Wilkinson Swords but it was well over a year ago. My plan is to use each blade until it is done. I likely will use my Weber for this trial, but I reserve the right to substitute in my Gillette New SC.

 

June Focus- Two pass straight razor shave with minimal touch up, and Synthetic Brush
I know I should look at trying to lock down my razors, but I am very much in too deep with my RAD right now to make that commitment. I also have a brush I re-knotted that I have only used four or five times. Since the brush doesn’t need to be soaked, it’s a bit of a different beast from my other brushes. From bottom to top in the picture below:

• Ever-Ready 100T brush with 22m TGN synthetic knot
• Feather Artist Club SS Kamasori
• Wade & Butcher 5/8 square tip, pre-1890 with worm eaten scales
• W.B. Speed Rabbit marked razor- black celluloid scales
• Dubl Duck Satinwedge- Obnoxious Orange scales
• Sears Craftsman- cream scales NOS and in mint condition
• Cattaraugus Cutlery Green lizard- Green scales. Not shave ready.
• Cattaraugus Cutlery Small razor with warped and cracked horn scales. Not shave ready.
• WR Chase and Sons 5/8 with damaged Bakelite scales. Not shave ready.

I have one other razor in the mail on it’s way back to me. My plan is to see if I can get the top three razors in shave ready condition this month, so I really don’t want to lock down on razors. I also have a business trip to DC in a few weeks, and I haven’t determined if I am going to take a DE, the Feather AC, or a straight.

Technique: Last month I was trying for a two pass DFS shave. I actually got it a few times, but most of the time needed touch up. I also started learning how to do touch up with a straight razor instead of a DE. One of the things I have figured out is that I have to change my passes a little bit to get a good shave. First pass is a mix. N/S (if two days since last shave,) or XTG (if only one day,) on cheeks and most of neck. Either way, the area around my chin starts with XTG. Second pass is ATG, which is mostly S/N.

The other thing I want to explore is shaving daily. I have always avoided this, and I think it had mostly to do with the thick whiskers on my chin, and how painful those were to shave with a cartridge after only one day’s growth. I did it a few times last month, and it wasn’t bad with a straight.

Goals for June

1. Two pass shave, with minimal touch up.
2. At least one week of daily shaves.
3. Use every razor at least two days in a row.
4. Use synthetic brush all month with a variety of soaps.

 

So kept an eye on things last month and decided to join in this month.

My focus:
-Proraso soap
-OC Razors
-Also, and not sure if this is the right place to post this, I'm taking a sabbatical from buying or accepting any wetshaving goods.

4 days a week I will use one of my Proraso soaps (The other 3 days are dedicated to a year focus of MWF, Razorock and Knockout shave).

My Gear:
-I currently have the Red, White and Green Prorasos. The Blue is being gifted to me sometime this month by my Wife for Fathers Day (the ONLY exception to the Sabbatical).
-Razors: Gillette LC and SC New, Single Ring, Old Type, New Improved, Goodwill, Bostonian, and Merkur 41.
-The blade will be Pol-Silvers.
-Brushes: A few news ones that I've gotten in May. Semogue 2012 Special, Omega Mixed Midget, and Kent Infinity.

Wanting mainly to ise OC razors because they are just so cool and to really learn the Proraso soaps.

Look forward to our month of shaves.

 

Happy to see you joining us this month. It's nice have another person focusing on OC razors this month.

 

Yep. Saw your post and thought that too. Hahaha

 

05/31/2015
Razor – Gillette New LC with Triad SS Helix
Blade –Lab Blue (2)
Brush –Rudy Vey with Shavemac Finest
Lather – Mystic Water Lavender
Post - Witch Hazel & Myrsol F/Extra



I have 5 OC razors that I want to concentrate on so my focus will start a little early and run a few days over. Great near BBS 3 pass shave this morning. While the results were satisfactory, the shave was a little rough. I think it's mostly my fault as I need to get used to DE razors after so much time with SE. Prior to all my time with the Mongoose, the Lab Blues were my blade of choice in this and most of my DE Razors. I might have gotten spoiled with the sharpness of Feather blades in the goose but this blade felt somewhat dull. I'll change the blade out as it could be just a dud.

My first time using this brush with Mystic Water soap and it proved to be finicky as expected. I'm sure with time I'll get it dialed in this month.

 

Proraso Blue tube is probably my favorite out of them. I hope you'll like it as well.

 

I'm looking forward to trying it. I kind of hope she'll give it to me early. Haha.

 

I think you'll like cold water shaves, especially during the summer. I've been cold water shaving for a few weeks now and it feels great and really helped my skin, mostly my neck. Found I can shave more often too because of less irritation.

 

I am looking forward to trying. I generally like warm shaves following my shower, but with the warm weather coming, I figured it was as good a time as any to try. Tomorrow I am trying my first Stirling Glacial shave soap, so it should be double cold.