August 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Welcome MrC!


I'm sure our Grand Poobah @Bama Samurai will be along shortly for the formal indoctrination.

Glad you're here!
Cheers!
RT

 

Welcome aboard! Sounds like you started right on time.

I think this will be the first "razor trial" for a blade on this thread series. Will you be holding soap and brush setup constant also?

 

Main rule is always try to hijack the thread! Easy indoctrination!

 

Welcome aboard. I settled on the Feathers for my June OC Focus after briefly trying a couple of other blades. I was able to get 3 solid shaves out of each blade. After trying a couple of other blades in the Slim this month, I have a Feather loaded for the next shave. If the blade works well, I will be ordering a bulk pack.

 

Looks outstanding!!!

 

The razor looks fantastic.

 

1956 Gillette Super Speed Flair
Vulfix Super Badger (660)
Georgetown G12 Scuttle
Proraso Sandalwood cream
Aqua Velva Ice Blue

Shave #3 with the Voskhod Teflon blade. A smooth shave, very close and mostly comfortable. I did some feel some minor irritation during parts of my touch up.
2 1/2 passes: Pass 1: WTG on my face and XTG on my neck. Pass 2 and 2.5: ATG. At the end of the 2nd pass, I had a solid DFS. I had to lather my entire neck because of all of the spots that remained. Even after that 1/2 pass, I still needed to touch up a few spots to catch the baby. Or, at least I thought I caught him. But no, found some stubble on my neck after the A/S dried. The Aqua Velva stung a bit on my throat, but not as much as yesterday.

A near BBS for the Voskhod. Headed back to the Gillette Silver Blue tomorrow to see how it compares.

 

08/05/2015
Razor – Gillette Slim (J3)
Blade – Feather (1)
Brush – Rudy Vey with TGN Finest
Lather – MdC Original
Post - Witch Hazel & Floid Vigoroso Sample



Changed out the blade and went with the Feather. I dialed the Slim up to 9 for all three passes. I could feel how much sharper the Feather was on the ATG pass. Overall today's shave was a BBS and required much less touch ups than previous shaves. Finished off with the last of my Floid Vigoroso from the sample pack. Happy Wednesday everyone.

 

30 day Focus - Day 4
MDC Lavender Face Lathered
Sputnik Blade (Day 2 on blade, Day 4 on Sputnik)
Slim Adjustable set to 8
3 passes

Today was a nice shave. not quite as nice as a Ladas blade, but very nice.

 

Phoenix Comparison Focus Day 4:

Homemade PS Oil
VDH Boar Brush
Razorock Don Donato
'48 Gillette Milord
Stirling Unscented PSB
TOBS Sandalwood AS

Today is the last day on the Milord as I will swap to the Phoenix for some direct comparison tomorrow. It was much the same as the past couple of days. A good shave, but some irritation on the neck.

 

August 30 Day Rule

@Bama Samurai and @Drygulch Thank you both so very much for the pointers! Put them to use this morning and am a very happy camper.

Started at the angle suggested and then turned off the water and listened for the blade feedback. Amazing how before I thought I was listening but clearly not hearing. Today the blade sang! Smoothest shave yet! No nicks. No weepers. Even the AS was silent except one small area of the neck.

Now the task is replicating what was done today! Also need to say the Bourbon Vanilla AS from TSD is simply amazing!

Razor – Lord L6
Blade – GSB
Brush – VDH Boar
Soap – Stirling MITA
Post - Witch Hazel and TSD Bourbon Vanilla AS

 

Congrats. You are doing fantastic. Just keep up the good work and it will be the exception when you have less than a good shave.

 

Thank you very much.

Sorry for hijacking the thread a bit. I think I have AADOLAS or Adult Attention Deficit Oh Look A Squirrel!

Back to our focus...s.

Wednesday (8/5) morning's shave was with the Exec on a setting of 5 (after a 3 on Monday and 4 on Tuesday). I find it interesting that the "feel" of the razor doesn't appear to change with the setting, but the result does. I achieved another nice DFS, but without all the extra touch-UPS of the last 2 days. I'm "focusing my focus" on how each setting works and/or differs from the others. In the past I've always just randomly selected a setting so this is going to be helpful.

 

No problem. Hijacks and Hijinks are welcome in these threads. Even more so when they involve beautiful shiny razors.

 

Awesome!

 

August 5, 2015

Adjustable August Slim-apalooza
30-Day Focus - Gillette Slim Adjustable

Morning shave.
Hot Shower
Pre-Shave Oil: Gingers Garden
Soap: Catie's Bubbles Mile High Menthol
Brush: Omega Pro 48
Razor: Gillette Slim Adjustable
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (2)
TSD Witch Hazel
After Shave: Myrsol Agua de Limon
Mustache Wax: Dirigo Blue

Moved up a notch on each settings:
5 - WTG
6 - ATG


With my moratorium on touch-ups and repeat strokes, this is as much about technique as it is about finding the best settings on this razor for me.

Nice comfortable shave today. Will stay on these settings tomorrow as well.

Cheers!
RT

 

Shave 2 - 04/08/15
Pre: Village Barber Pre Shave
Soap: Wickham Super Smooth Bay Rum
Brish: Vie Long Custom
Razor: Kai Excelia Non Folding
Blade: Feather Proguard (2)
Post: Old Spice Lime AS

Not much to report - 2 passes, no nicks, BBS results.
I think I have my technique sorted:
First pass:
Left side, North to South with Left hand
Right side, North to South with Right hand

Second Pass:
Left Side, South to North with Right hand
Right Side, South to North with Left hand


Seems to be working well, so I'll stick with it.

Edit:

Forgot to add, the blade felt a bit smoother on the second shave. I think it may be due to the blade losing its edge slightly. I have read that some cork the blade before the first shave to get the same result.

 

Technique, technique, technique!
I'm slowly understanding that with rock-solid technique, anyone can shave with any tool!
Congrats and keep it up!

 

Thanks Herm, you put that in a way that I wasn't yet able to grasp myself!

Each shave and each time I moved up a setting, the shave had no different feel that I could easily discern, yet especially today I am beginning to notice just slight upgrades in the shave.

This may have as much to do with my renewed focus on technique as much as anything - but it is a great feeling.

I'm tempted to jump up more than 1 setting at a time to see if I can tell any noticeable difference due to the setting change, because with my lack of technical expertise (and poor eyesight) regarding blade gap, etc. the thing may just be stuck in the same setting and I wouldn't know it!

 

8/5/15 SOTD (Shave 3 of this focus)
One and a half days’ growth
Prep: Hot shower
Razor: “Our Leader” JAS. G. BARRY Co. Chicago, ILL’S Made in Germany
Strop: Drygulch Chromexcel/ Linen (50 laps Linen/ 50 laps Leather pre and 10/10 post)
Soap: Barrister & Mann Seville plus M-Bomb
Brush: Omega 1066 Boar
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block, Thayer’s Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Osage Rub

Another shave with a razor I purchased for $5 (including shipping,) and used my hones to refresh. Have customer vistiors in the office today, so have to look my best. I still didn’t have much stubble after Monday night’s awesome shave, so today I did an XTG instead of a N/S pass, followed by a S/N pass. Did a touch up pass on my neck, but kept it quick so SWMBO could get in the bathroom. Overall DFS. Had some irritation on my chin with the Alum, which is typical for me if I shave more than three times in a week.

First time using Osage Rub aftershave. This stuff is freaking cold. It goes on smelling like a medicine, and then your eyes start watering and your sinuses loosen up. Then your face freezes. By that point you either can’t smell it or it is so mellow you don’t notice a scent. It’s awesome.