July 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

July 4th, SOTD
One days’ growth
Prep: Lake mud and Hot shower
Razor: Old Style Open Comb with Hibco handle
Blade: Rapira Platinum Lux
Soap: The Shave Den Lime
Brush: Spalted Maple Brush with Badger Knot
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block, Thayer’s Witch Hazel
Aftershave: The Shaveden Aftershave Milk Iced Lime

Took my two and a half year old daughter and pregnant wife fishing this morning. It was my daughter’s first time fishing. We were on a small dock at the lake by our town, and all three of us had caught a blue gill. My daughter then jumped up into a chair too hard, knocked it over, and fell in the water. My wife jumped in after her, and I jumped in after both of them. Good news, everyone was OK. My daughter was in the water for less than two seconds before momma bear got there. The mud was so deep I had a hard time getting out of the lake. It also stank. Badly. Got home and waited my turn for the shower. Hand was shaking so I opted for a DE instead of a straight. @clint64 recently sent me this one. I had to trim my mustache as well to get the stench off. After two and a half passes, I doused my remaining facial hair with lime aftershave and called it good. Got a little burn on my chin where I have been getting bumps, but over all easy DFS, with not quite as much care needed as some of my other shaving implements.

 

Razor: Gillette Blue Tip SS
Blade: Feather (2)
Brush: Every Ready 100T, Boar
Soap: Badger
A/S: Afta
Day 4.

This soap did not work well with the 100T tonight. The Blue Tip made it through, however, the very mild razor made for to much work to get a good shave. Changing razor and brush tomorrow.
hope everyone has been having a good day. Big thanks to @PLANofMAN for his help in finding address of Gillette Factory's in Montreal.

 

As luck would have it, I snagged a 1959 E3 Fat Boy today on the Bay for $46.00. It appears to be in great shape. We’ll see once it’s delivered. I’ll post some pictures.

 

Glad everyone is ok. If it's the lake I'm thinking of yeah that mud is nasty. I got tossed in while at BU when I got engaged.

 

Did they have a dress code for DJs then?
Or were you wearing those shirts by choice?

(choose your answer carefully Neal).

 

Nobody can see you in radio. You're just a voice. A quite manly and sexy voice but still, just a voice. And if you think those shirts were bad you should have seen the suits. Styling my friend, styling.

 

Relieved that all turned well for you and your family.

Think of the fishing story you all will be able to tell as years go by!

Your gratitude that everything turned out ok will grow as time goes on.

As will the size of the fish you all caught!

 

Glad everything turned out fine. I'm sure all of you will remember this fishing trip for a long time.

 

1956 Gillette Super Speed Flair
Vulfix Super Badger (660)
Georgetown G12 Scuttle
Proraso Sandalwood cream
Aqua Velva
Current Blade under review: Gillette Silver Blue

My shave today:
Shave #1 with Gillette Silver Blue. Nice BBS results, an excellent shave. Very close, smooth, no irritation or razor burn. But I did nick myself on the lower neck. This was poor judgment on my part as it was below where I normally shave and I didn't notice a mole bump until too late.
2 Full passes: Pass 1: WTG on my face, and XTG on my neck. Pass 2: ATG. At this point, I could have ended the shave with a DFS except for the edges around my mustache and goatee.
Lathered up again for touch up and to deal with the spots where the grain is every which way. This corralling the strays takes a while because I can't feel the slight patch of whiskers once I put lather on the area. So I have to think about what direction I need to go, lather, shave, rinse, and see how I did. Unfortunately, sometimes I need to do this more than once to corral them all.

Today's result seems as close as any shave I've had so far. About 45 minutes after the shave I found a few strays on the corner of my left jawbone, but they were very hard to detect with my hand. They're invisible to the naked eye.

Preliminary thoughts: Today's Gillette Silver Blue was sharp and shaved me as well as yesterday's Shark Super Stainless. I get the impression that the Gillette may be a bit sharper, but at this point I can't be sure.

Have a great Lord's day!

 

10x strop on latigo hand made strop
Hand made unscented pre shave oil
Lavender soap
WD HMB brush
Hot towel
Dovo Ebony Spike SR
Post shave sandlewood balm
Clubman original

 

30 day rule
MDC Lavender Face Lathered
Ladas blade
Slim Adjustable set to 7

3 passes

Yesterday's shave still felt very good at 11:00 pm

 

07/05/2015
Razor – GEM FW
Blade – GEM Stainless PTFE (10)
Brush – EL XL STF
Lather – Mitchell’s Wool Fat
Post - Witch Hazel and Floid Blue Sample



Another great shave this morning. I think after 10 shaves this blade is just about done. I am starting to get the hang of the MWF. Finished off with a splash of Floid Blue from my sample pack.

 

You all will remember that fishing trip fondly and retell the story a lot.

 

30 Day Rule - July 2015
July 5th
Razor - CJB/Gillette New LC
Blade - (4) (2 1/3)
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post - Cold Water splash, Alum, The Mighty Veg

Ok, here we go. This is my long shave day as I shave my head on Sunday. That went extremely well. My setup for that is VDH Deluxe soap, VDH Boar and Merkur 23c with Astra SP. Never any problems as long as I'm awake enough.

Finished that shave, took my shower, then got ready for the CJB. I took some time to use a hot wet towel after the shower to hydrate my face further and splashed hot water on before the MWF lather. I seem to have the Fat dialed in with the 48. Love the feel and the performance, especially with such a sharp blade on the way. I started the first pass on my right cheek as always and changed technique just a bit. Shortened the strokes and paid very close attention not to increase the angle. Made it down the cheek with no injuries and it felt good. Same with the neck. On to the left side and that backward grip thing.

Took my time setting the blade in place and again used shorter strokes. Ended the first pass in great shape, no cuts/nicks etc., and both sides were about even on result. Lathered up for the XTG passes and managed to hit all hand positions without much hassle and finished the second pass with my one cut on the right cheek reopened just a tad but overall it was a CCS. Best overall result after two passes so far this time around. Grabbed the New LC and did a complete third pass to finish down to DFS. Ironically I opened the cut a bit more with that razor but nothing major. It should heal up within the month.

Alum was again very critical of my efforts but it was a nice, all over, even burn with a couple of hotspots from close calls. There are a couple of spots on my jawline and right on my goatee line that seem to have close calls. Rather than cool it off I went ahead and hit it with the Veg. Just wanted to smell good today so the extra burn was worth it! All in all a better day than yesterday, probably the best so far. And so it continues.......

 

July 5, 2015

30-Day Focus - Blade Trials for Gillette Tech

Weekly Trial for: Personna Red,
Derby Green, Gillette Silver Blue, Voskhod

Hot Shower
Pre-Shave Oil: Gingers Garden
Soap: TSD SubZero
Brush: Omega Pro 48
Razor: Gillette Tech “Fat Handle”
Blade: Personna Red (1)
RazoRock Alum
After Shave: Florida Water



Two-day growth, first shave for these trials.

WTG - Disappointed with sharpness, left a ton of whiskers in place.
ATG - "ok RT, really focus on technique" - Ah, much better!
XTG - Bingo! very few touch ups necessary.

I always try to wait some hours before I post...three hours later - this is an excellent shave. Either I flopped on technique on my first pass or this may be a good blade for an everyday two-pass shave for me.

First time using anything other than Arko, which worked very well in my 30-day Rule, but the TSD soap was equally good on the shave, but the scent, lather and feel will lead me on my way to the wide, wide world of soaps.

ALSO - my first day using Florida Water (PIF from @Bama Samurai )
Mrs.F had serious doubts with first sniff of the bottle. One hour after application - "hmmm, that has possibilities."

Cheers!
- RT

 

Thanks for the kind word Doug.

 

Razor: Gillette Flare Tip (A3)
Blade: Feather (3)
Brush: WDC 5 (William Douglas Carey 5) Whipped Dog knot Boar/ Green Handle
Soap: Proraso
A/S: Gillette gel
Day 5.

New boar brush. I have soaped it up a few time to help break it in, it helped. The Whipped Dog knot has been the best boar knot I used for the first time. I added weight to the handle to raise the knot. DFS tonight. Hope everyone recovered from July 4th festivities. I think I eat to much.

 

Stainless blade focus continues. I just finished a head shave with the pictured setup - shave #4 with a Gillette Nacet (2nd head shave with the same blade) and it was a great shave. 2 passes and my head is CueBallSmooth (CBS) and I feel great. Iced the Clubman Vanilla for a few minutes while I shaved and the cool aftershave felt good. One little pimple on the back of my neck was revealed and my wife helped apply the styptic pencil and stop the tiny little flow of blood. She thought it seemed magic.

 

Sunday focus shave 4.

No time for a picture since I have to leave for a round of golf. 3 passes and a clean up and just one weeper, light irritation and still just short of DFS. I hope a start getting closer shaves sooner. The time is coming when I will need to add the ATG pass. I still have more stubble after 3 passes with a SR than with a DE.

Proraso Pre Shave
AoS Sandalwood tallow
Shvaemac zebra beehive silver tip
Dove Bismark 2
Dry Gulch strop
Alum block to keep my fingers dry
Spieck AS
Nuhle ASB
Dior Cologne Royal

 

The CJB is the most aggressive dangerous razor I have ever used. I learned if I feel uncomfortable to put it down and back away slowly. She can be a cruel mistress. I will add it back to my to my rotation next month after I improve with my straights.