July 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Wednesday focus shave 6.
The Dovo is up again and today was a 3 pass with SR and 4th with DE. Just one small weeper today and less irritation than yesterday. 3 passes with the Dovo and then a final pass with a DE. Today I tried to make sure I used less pressure.

Homemade Pre Shave
Sterling Club Man soap
Rooney silver tip brush
Dove Bismark 2
Dry Gulch strop
Alum block to keep my fingers dry
Pinaud Clubman AS
Speick ASB
Amouage Opus VIII

 

July 7, 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 (3)
RazoRock Alum
After Shave: Florida Water



Nice two-pass shave today, no irritation. Stubble free except for my usual jawline trouble spot. (focus, fooocus!)

Stubble reappearance after 8 hours. Best shave was still a 3-pass with this blade. Still working the technique. New blade tomorrow.



Cheers!
- RT

 

Day 7 of Blade Trial

30 Days with Maggard and MITA!



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Next up, the SuperMax Titanium! Of all the blades so far, this was the worst performing. I was able to get a decent shave without irritation, but the shave is not as close as it is with the other blades. Will be giving the blade a second look tomorrow. The Alum was quiet tonight, and the AS of choice tonight was Brut Classic, an old one, but a good barbershop style scent. Cool, gloomy and smoke filled skies for a gray Tuesday. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!
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Great photo!

6!6!6!6!6!

Is your brush starting to develop split tips?

...hold on loosely, and don't let go!

 

OMG Clint, I reacted the same way! I was halfway through my Myrsol Limon sample when I knew I had to have a full size! I also got the Blue as well. Not cheap but very nice. I love a lemon scent and when I shave, I like the scent and feeling as it follows an "iced" soap especially in the hot weather we're having. I wish the scent would last longer, but I don't like an overpowering AS. (FYI - I mostly see it advertised for over $30. But found their products for $25 at Straight Razor Design.) I think I may try lime, orange or other citrus products as well this time of year.

 

Ah ha! Manly men doing manly things! Man up Bro!

 

" if you cling to tightly, you're gonna lose control!"
- 38 Special

 

I just found one of those GP scuttles as well and look forward to using it!

 

Myrsol is on my "try sometime list". I have heard from @Darkbulb and others that it is worth it.

 

Thanks for the tip, I will check out SRD when I order Limon. I did the same thing with Myrsol F/Extra. After using the sample twice, I bought the full bottle.

I have not tried many different AS but I have Clubman, Captain's Choice Bay Rum and Sandalwood, Fine and the samples of Floid and Myrsol. I will say that the way Myrsol products make my skin feel is the best I have tried. I would suggest getting some samples to see what you think.

 

Phoenix Dbl OC Focus Day 7:

Homemade PS Oil
WD High Mountain Badger 30 mm
Stirling Glacial Spearmint
Phoenix Dbl OC
Stirling Unscented PSB
Tabac AS

A great shave this morning, you might even say shaving bliss. BBS and no irritation. Everything just went right. The razor really performed well. It was smooth and easy going this morning. This razor is quickly working it's way up on my list of favorites.

 

I love using an Uber-Lather. A nice soap, a nice cream, and some glycerin whipped up in the bowl makes a superior lather. However, since I am on a 30-day rule for face lathering, it appears at first glance that I will not be able to make an Uber-lather. This restriction is easily overcome with the following technique:

Apply glycerin to the face as if it were a pre-shave oil (glycerin by itself is a pretty good pre-shave oil)
dab small amounts of cream on the face
load the brush
apply to the face and build the lather

It works beautifully. I am unsure if this will work if you use another pre-shave and then apply glycerin over it. Also, this requires a lot more water than just face lathering.



30 day rule
MDC Unscented Face Lathered w/ TOBS Almond & Glycerin
Ladas blade
Slim Adjustable set to 7


Great shave today. 3 passes and BBS

 

Week two: No Name Wedge
July 8 - Shave 5
Prep: Hot shower, Aveeno 5:1 face wash
Brush: WSP Silvertip
Preshave: Stirling Netha
Soap: Stirling Naked and Smooth
Razor: No name wedge Spanish point
Strop: @Drygulch Modern Barber Strop 24"x3"
Growth: 1.5 day
Post: Cold water splash, TSD Milk
Passes: WTG, XTG, ATG

Another great shave with no nicks from this wedge. I really didn't think that I was going to like this wedge as much as I do since I wanted to "hear" my shave. But as I mentioned in past posts, the full hollow blade tends to jump on my neck. First WTG pass is like a hot knife through butter. The XTG was pretty good as well, finding that I pull on my ear harder than moving my hand down my cheek to stretch! I'm going to end up like Dumbo if I keep this up! For my ATG, I am just doing a ATG pass on my cheeks and another WTG on neck to clean up anything I may has missed. Overall, another great wedge shave!
Cheers,
Eric

 

07/08/2015
Razor – Mongoose B2 with Jürgen Hempel Ti
Blade – Feather Pro (1)
Brush – Rudy Vey with TGN Finest
Lather – Lo Haiku
Post - Witch Hazel and Fine Platinum



After the last several shaves with the Feather Super blades, I decided to change out the blade to the regular Feather Pro and work on my technique. I will stay with this blade for a 7 shaves or so before going back to the Super. Wonderful 3 pass, BBS shave this morning. The soap was easy to lather and I have found it to be very slick once the water ratio is dialed in. Finished off with a splash of Fine Platinum.

 

30 Day Rule - July 2015
July 8th
Razor - CJB/Gillette New LC
Blade - (3 2/3)
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post - Cold Water splash, Alum, Nivea Original Post Shave Balm

Slept in this morning, a bit too long. It's my late in day so I took advantage. Only about 18 hours since my last shave. Not the usual work needed to shave and I'm short on time so the CJB stayed put this morning and I used the New LC and Voskhod. Great shave as both the razor and blade are excellent. The Fat worked great and overall it was a great 3 pass shave to a very nice DFS. The areas that I sliced and diced are all pretty much healed so the return of the CJB after its day off should be smooth tomorrow. Or smoother anyway. It's Wednesday so we're halfway home this week. Also I can't believe we're in the second week of July. I have lots of cars to sell before the 31st!

 

July 8th, SOTD (Shave 5 of this focus)
Two days’ growth
Prep: Hot shower
Razor: W.R. Case & Sons “Registered No. 23 Warranted For Life” Purple Heart Wood scales
Strop: Drygulch Chromexcel Horsehide/ Linen (10 linen/ 10 leather pre and post)
Soap: Jabonman Lima-Incienso (Menthol)
Brush: Spalted Maple Brush with Badger Knot
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block, Thayer’s Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman with M-Bomb added

Based on advice from @HolyRollah , decided not to do five full shaves with my little “Caveman” Catt. That is a nice razor for detail work, but it is much more likely to skip and bite than larger blades, and is much harder to get a clean shave with. The Case razor is just nice to use. The wood scales feel good, it glides through stubble, and has enough length to get my jaw and bottom of my chin done well. I think the burning and razor bumps were due to the smaller razor not cutting as well as a larger one. Did a two pass with a little bit of touch up today, and got a DFS plus. Very little bite to the alum, and an overall good shave. I am loving the M-Bombed Clubman. Leaves my face feeling great, little bit of chilliness, then Clubman goodness for the rest of the day.

 

How's it working with the limited stropping?

 

I haven't noticed any difference in performance, but I haven't done a lot of it yet. I plan on using this razor for the rest of this week, and most of next so I might have a better basis for comparison. So far, it seems like the edge is being maintained, without the worry of overstropping and rounding the edge. It also cuts some time out of the routine, but I honestly do enjoy stropping, so that could go in the plus or the negative column.

 

Same set up.. Different day.
Forgot to post yesterday but yesterday and today were both the same set up.good shave.

Today I went 2 passes with the dovo.

 

July 8, 2015

30-Day Focus - Blade Trials for Gillette Tech
One week trial for each brand: Personna Red, Derby Green, Gillette Silver Blue, Voskhod

Hot Shower
Pre-Shave Oil: Gingers Garden
Soap: Catie's Bubbles Mile High Menthol
Brush: Omega Pro 48
Razor: Gillette Tech “Fat Handle”
Blade: Personna Red (1)
RazoRock Alum
After Shave: Myrsol Agua Di Limon



First time using Catie's MHM - great lather with a refreshingly cold, brisk sensation and a mild minty scent with eucalyptus. Thankfully I didn't lose any feeling on my skin as I was guiding the razor through its paces. Do I dare use it for a 3-pass? I think I'll work up to it in time, after all I'm not one of those TSD Mentheads! (you know who you are!) The AS splash of Myrsol Limon paired nicely with the MHM to chill me out to face another scorcher here in Seattle!

Ok, I like those products but I’m scratching my head a bit after this shave, my fourth with a Personna Red. I have two, maybe three shaves left with my trial of the Personna Red brand.

Best shave was the first shave.

(Sun.) Blade 1 Shave 1 - 3-pass (W,X,ATG) shave w/two-day growth. Sharpness on 1st pass disappointed, last two passes cleaned up for an excellent shave.
(Mon.) Blade 1 Shave 2 - 2-pass (W,XTG) much touch-up. Perhaps lost focus rushing to work. Still cleaned up well with touch ups.
(Tue.) Blade 1 Shave 3 - 2-pass (W,XTG) better focus, same shave, requiring much touch up again.
(Wed.) Blade 2 Shave 1- 2-pass (W,XTG) good focus, same shave, requiring multiple strokes over same area and much touch-ups.

I’m doing these trials to find a couple of brands that can consistently provide a good 2-pass shave during the workweek. I’m getting a clean face, but it seems it only happens with at least a 3-pass with minor touch-ups, or 2-pass with multiple strokes on same area and touch ups.

Should I draw a conclusion that this may not be a good 2-pass blade for me?
Could it be that the lather from this Caties or the TSD soap was so thick that I need to use shorter strokes to not catch so much lather?
Perhaps I'm wrong to think I should be able to get just as good a shave with a 2-pass as I can with a 3-pass, if I can find the right blade?
Do you think that @NCoxSTL will make it through NBJ?
If a train traveling from Chicago - New York leaves at 2 pm at 60 mph, at what time will a train traveling NY - Chicago leaving at the same time going 70 mph, pass it?

Have any of you actually made it all the way through this post?

Cheers!
- RT