OCT 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Yeah. I laughed.

 

Welcome aboard and thank you for serving our country!

I agree what most have said, doing a 30 day rule is a great idea. When I started (a scant 4 months ago) the first two blades I tried in my Super Speed worked fine. I did 15 days with one and 15 with the other. Then spent the next 30 days with the same razor doing a blade trial - 3 days with a brand, move to the next one. I suggest you do what a lot of us do: keep a journal or record of your shaves. What you think of the blade, how your lather felt, any mistakes or questions you have, how many passes you made and their direction, what spots are the hardest for you to get, how do the whiskers grow in those spots (the grain). All of this will help a lot as you go along to piece together and solidify you technique. You'll get a lot more out of someone else's post if you recognize a problem your having.

Thanks for joining and above all have fun!

 

Herm;

I was trying to be polite and not name names. But, if you insist.......

 

Happy Anniversary Clint!! Thank you for your friendship, guidance, generosity and for making TSD a better place.
Kerry

 

10/1/15
Gillette Old Type
Frank Shaving Pur-tech Synthetic
Proraso Sandalwood cream
Aqua Velva Ice Blue

Shave #1 with the Rapira Super Stainless in my Old Type and #5 with the Frank Shaving Pur-tech Synthetic.



Face lathered and did 2 full passes: Pass 1 XTG on my face and XTG on my neck (top to bottom today). At this point it seemed I was close to a DFS, so instead of rinsing all the lather off my face, I moved some of it around, did some touch up, and picked up the DFS. I should have stopped there. But I did my second pass instead. Not sure what I thought I was going to accomplish, but I ended up going ATG on my face and neck. There was no irritation, but it didn’t improve much over the DFS. At that point I did a cold water rinse followed by a small amount of touch up in my problem areas and achieved a BBS.
The Aqua Velva screamed at me for a while because of how many times I covered some of my trouble areas. I think as a rule of thumb, that I should refrain from another full pass once I've done a touch up. It seems like I got it backwards today and almost paid for it with some irritation. I was lucky I ended up with a nice shave.

A surprisingly comfortable BBS shave from the Rapira Super Stainless in my Old Type despite my missteps.

 

SOTD
October 1,2015
Prep: Hot Shower. Axe Energizing Face Wash Boost
Razor: Gillette Aristocrat
Blade: Personna Lab Blue
Lather: Gingers Garden Vetiver (Tallow)
Brush: Stirling Synthetic
Post: Thayers Cucumber WH. Gold Bond Ultimate
Aftershave: Fine Clean Vetiver
I love this Gingers Garden Vetiver soap. It's silky smooth, so easy to lather. The Aristocrat is a great build, you know when you're holding it Gillette knew what they wanted. Class. This Stirling synthetic is a beast! I have the RR Plissoft on the way, should be an interesting comparison. Smooth 3 pass shave. No touch up, I tend to go overboard..
Never let the things you WANT
Make you forget the things you HAVE

 

Sorry. It was implied that I lack an understanding of shenanigans! Couldn't resist!

 

Shaved with my 1907 Single Ring Old Type this morning. What a wonderful razor! This was as close a shave as I've had in quite a while. I think the thinner top of the earlier Old Types makes for a less aggressive razor. I'm thinking the heavier top of later Old Types forces you to use a slightly steeper angle making the razor more aggressive. I made the the angle as shallow as possible and had no feedback from my AS.

 

Love those late 40's Aristocrats!

 

Well I will definitely be doing that one week lather focus.today's lather was ...uummm.. Bubbly so day one lather :it was slick and did pertect enough to not get irratated.... How I don't know because it was extremely bubbly and I mean big bubbles.I could see them with my glasses off so I know they were big but overall a good shave. And for this focus the tools in use are oagllala bay rum soap and my trusty omega s-brush ....I normally soak the brush in warm water and start to load after two shakes to get some water out,load for around thirty seconds and to the bowl it goes.Anyone have any tips.

 

Yes! Perfect balance, perfect shave.

 

More product. Less water. Keep at it, it'll come. I would even practice lathering when you have some free down time.
Kerry

 

More soap ..hhmmm....

 

I enjoy using mine. I agree about them not being overly aggressive.

 

What type of soap and brush are you using? I can get a decent lather with most soaps with my boar or badger brushes. Boar sometimes takes a week or two to break in, to get the hairs broken down enough. How long do you work the lather in the bowl? I work mine with the brush to break up the big bubbles. If it seems dry, you can add water, but like Kerry said, it sounds like you might need to load more soap. When I started focusing on my lather, I would do practice bowls to see how more water or soap would affect the lather, and get a better feel for how long to work it.

 

In addition to Vince and Neal, Calvin was quite the debater.

 

It appears that the choices of Osage and a little menthol are closing in for a photo finish

 

I'm using oagllala and my omega s-brush I normally work but for around 2 min give or take

 

Congratulations on your first year. It's been a pleasure reading your posts and getting to know you. You help make The Shave Den a great place to visit daily. Thanks for all your contributions .