SoS: August 31, 2015 - September 6, 2015

Guys, yesterday I gave myself my first shave in months. I've been growing a beard, but keeping my neck and edges lined up. But yesterday, I got out my brush, some soap, and went to town.

Prep: hot shower, Nivea Face Wash.
Brush: Semogue 1305.
Razor: Gillette 40's Rocket.
Blade: Personna Med Prep.
Soap: Cold River Savon No.1.
Post: cold water rinse, Fine American Blend, Myrsol Emulsion.

The shave went pretty well. I got some razor burn under my chin, but I say that was due to being out of practice. Two passes still got me BBS.

 

September 4

Batch 2 Mongoose with Dr. Bomber handle
Feather Professional blade (6)
Shavemac two-band silvertip brush
Trumper's Coconut cream
One pass
Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Trumper's Coral Skin Food

I enjoyed a surprisingly close one-pass shave this evening on a day and half of growth. This was my simulated "I'm running late for work" shave. I have a light beard, and this would be an acceptable shave on most any day. It was difficult making myself stop after one pass, but I'm curious to know how it will look and feel tomorrow morning. It was a very hot and sunny day here in my neck of the woods....all in all, not too bad for a Friday.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

 

Na'iman! (A Middle Eastern way of saying "nice haircut" or "nice shave!")

 

How will I shiver during my Saturday shave? This way:

Neutrogena Men Facial Wash
Large Horsehair Barbershop
Super Speed/Derby day 6
Stirling Black Ice SS
Gold Bond Moisturizer
Alt Innsbruck AS

I'm definitely hopelessly addicted to these Stirling soaps and the Black Ice is no exception. OK, it's much less potently-mentholated than the Glacial Obsidian soap, but there's still more than enough menthol in it to give very good cooling. Its black liquorice scent is very similar to the Obsidian's, and it lathers so easily with most delightful soothing and moisturizing. The Gold Bond is more cooling than I realized because I felt a strong menthol effect from it when I rubbed some on my face and body after taking a shower this morning. The Alt Innsbruck aftershave smells beautiful, and is it ever COLD!

 

9-4-2015
Hot Shower prep with Neutrogena Men Invigorating Face wash and everywhere else with Stirling Soap Works Ben Franklin Soap.
Razor - Birth Year Gillette Slim Adjustable 1964 (5)
Blade - Astra SP (3)
Brush - Plisson
Lather - RazoRock XXX
Bowl - Fine Lather
Warm rinse, Maggard alum block then cool rinse
Finished up with With Hazel and RazoRock Problem Solver Lime AS Splash
Four pass for a nice BBS

For the past two days I have tried the Slim on 6 - I get a closer of shave in fewer passes but any slight deviation on technique gets me in trouble. Will stick out on five - Hey I get to shave longer Oh and only 8 more days until Disney World

 

SOTD - Friday, September 4, 2015

Cool shower
Prep: Homemade PSO
Brush: Rooney 1/2
Cream: Speick
Razor: Merkur 38C
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (4)
Aftershave: Speick ASL

 

SHAVE OF THE DAY



PREP: OCCAMS CRUSHED LIME
RAZOR: GILLETTE TECH/PROBAK
BLADE: POL SILVER
BRUSH: EVERREADY 600
SOAP: CATIE'S BUBBLES SATURDAY MORNING
AFTERSHAVE: REEF POINT SUBMARINER SPLASH
BALM: ARKO MAXIMUM COMFORT

Had a good 3 pass shave today. The RP aftershave added a nice splash of menthol, and the scent paired well with Saturday Morning. The scent is just like a bowl of fruit loops, I know it sounds weird, but it really is good and reminds me of childhood. Hope everyone had a great shave and a great day!

 

Saturday's


Dove Men Face Wash
ARKO Extra Performance
Jayaruh #1 Silver Tip
Schick I2 Hydro-Magic
Personna SS Injector
CWR, Asma Alum Block
Thayers Lemon WH
Aqua Velva

Last evening, I didn't know if I would be shaving today or not. I spent 4 hours in the ER with what turned out to be kidney stones. Thanks to morphine last night and some hydrocodone today, I had a great shave. We will be traveling about 45 miles to Spartanburg, SC, to visit son and DIL. They will be delivering our newest granddaughter by c-section about 8 AM.

Now for another Hydor-Magical shave:
The ARKO Extra Performance Shaving Cream face-lathered well with my Jayaruh #1 Silver Tip Badger brush. Two passes with my Schick I2 Hydro-Magic razor and a Personna SS Injector blade gave me a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, alum block, and a final cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayers Lemon WH and then Aqua Velva after shave. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

 

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Mongoose with Triad Ti Helix Spiral
Feather Pro #4
Doug Korn Button Orange Swirl
MDC Le Bol En Bois Fougere
Alum, Dickinson’s ++Menthol, Cucumber Melon Whipped Shea Butter
Fine Fresh Vetiver

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H. Elshaw & son, Sheffield
Ever ready 100 w/ TGN Finest
Razorock ABCBA (my favorite RR soap. Wish they still produced it, 'cause I'm gettin' low)
Aqua Velva Ice Blue

 

The Crazy Ivan in SEptember!
September 4

Razor - Edwin Jagger DE89l
Blade - (1)
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Arko
Post - Cold water, Alum, Nivea, Aqua Velva Musk

Look out....here comes the first Crazy Ivan move. After three glorious shaves with the Gem 1912 and Gem Teflon blade it's time to throw the EJ DE89l and a Chinese blade into the mix. Chinese blades. Those ridiculously dull and painful excuses for something to throw into the middle of a safety razor. The Flying Eagle - Worst blade ever made (that I've discovered at least). The Baili blue? Horrid (yes, I know a few who like it) for me as well. It's almost like the Chinese can't figure out how to make a razor blade. So, in my search for a Chinese blade that works I discover the Blendax. It's a super stainless blade that is available in bulk from a few places or just a few at a time from others. I chose to add a couple to my order from tryablade.com awhile back, hoping to find a Chinese blade that would perform.

The Pro 48 and Arko - a trained monkey could produce a great lather, and so can I. Got it all lathered up, went for the first pass and I am actually thrilled and surprised to say that........I didn't throw the blade away until after an entire half pass. Yeah, it's THAT bad. I felt the immediate pull/tug/drag/ripping feeling and actually finished the right side of my face and neck WTG. Put the razor back on the shelf, grabbed my "rescue setup" of my '59 Superspeed and Bic Chrome Platinum and finished the shave. Result was a DFS with the right side feeling the alum more than the left just from that one pass. Words can't describe how bad this blade is. Chalk up another failure for the Chinese blade makers in my book.

Now that I have experienced that there will be no return to it tomorrow and Monday as planned. I'll let Ivan come up with something else for those days and surprise you all with it tomorrow. Suffice it to say, I won't be buying anymore Blendax. Hope you have lots of fun planned for the holiday weekend! I plan to have fun selling cars!

I think I found the source of Chinese blades!!!

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Planned SOTD for Saturday 05 Sep 15




Gillette Fusion Flex ball Proglide
Pre-Shave: Neutrogena Men Invigorating Face Wash
Pre-Shave Oil: Tiki Bar Frosted Woodlands Pre-Shave Oil
Shaving Mug: VDH Luxury Mug Set
Shaving Brush: "Oscar 11" Custom Custom 30/52 High Mountain White Leadwood Handle
Shaving Soap: VDH Luxury Shave Soap
After Shave Alum: RazoRock Ultimate Aftershave
After Shave Balm: Afta After Shave Skin Conditioner
After Shave: Mennen Skin Bracer Original

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

Being as I got BBS-DFS results on Friday, I am going to do exactly the same while shaving on Saturday.

 

Sweet setup Mark!

 

Saturday's Planned SOTD
Razor: Bakelite Slant
Blade: SuperMax SP Tiger (D4)
Brush: Crown King 400 w 25mm HMB
Bowl: Lady Sea Creations 5"
Pre Shave Scrub: MRGLO
Pre Shave Oil: Pacific Shaving Iced
Shave Soap: Neumann Signature 1907
Post: Monster Alum Block
Aftershave: Neumann 1907


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SOTD - 4 SEptember 2015
Planned SOTD - 5 September 2015

30 Days with a Schick G



Schick G
Schick Injector Blades
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
La Toja Shave Stick
Alum
TSD 2x Iced Subzero AS + Pinaud Clubman

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!


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Bonjour Messieurs, yesterday's shave :



- Omega brush
- Jabonman "Mare Nostrum" soap (sample not shown)
- Bartmann SR
- phoenix DE
- Old Spice AS

Not too bad, bonne journée !

 

Welcome back to the world of the clean shaven.
Tired of having a beard or did you just miss the shaving?

 

Joy to my world ! The slant is come
Let face receive its shave!

I had not shaved for three days, and since my beard is worthy of a Viking I had quite a bit of stubble.

Que the slant bar. My most effective razor and a formidable shaver. I loaded up an Australian Gillette Super Stainless blade, a vintage blade manufactured sometimes in the previous millennia.I have used this blade four times earlier and was eager to check how it would perform in the Slant.

I seldom use a blade for more than two or three shaves. But this being what it is, I also want to test for longevity. Besides, I only have about fifty of those.

This was my first time using superlather. I had not planned that, I just started lathering up the Arko soap and found myself reaching for the Arko moist cream as well. The result was a perfectly fine Arko lather, with a slightly better scent than regular Arko soap.

I guess it is difficult to improve the performance of Arko, being great enough on its own. And for one who doesn't mind the scent, actually I find it quite charming, spicing in up with more Arko is just redundant.

The shave itself was very nice, although a few challenges on the first pass. The razor mowed down the beard effortlessly, but I do think that the blade could have been sharper.

The second and third pass was terrific and everything came together to produce a very fine shave. I ended up with a DFS and look great.
Ugly, but great

Razor: Bakelite Slant Bar
Blade: Gillette Super Stainless
Brush: L'Occitane Plisson Brush
Lather: Arko Soap & Moist Cream Superlather
Aftershave: The Shave Den Aftershave Milk

 

Schick Krona DE razor
Rapira Platinum Lux blade
Edwin Jagger Silvertip Fibre L brush
TFS Sotto La Mole soap
HEMA Sensitive ASB
Cella Eau de Lavande

The Sotto La Mole soap is a delight to use; the scent starts with a fresh lemon note, which develops into flowery tones, with a bit of wood. The lather is great, like with all TFS soaps.

 

09/05/2015
Razor – Mongoose B2 with Jürgen Hempel Ti
Blade – Feather Pro (1)
Brush – Rubberset 400-3 with Omega Boar
Lather – Mystic Water Lime
Post - Witch Hazel and Fine L’Orange