NOV 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic&Discussion Thread

Day 7 - No Variation November!

7 November 2015


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Planned day seven shave will be later today! I hope everyone has a great afternoon! Finishing up the days worth in preparation for the FBS National Championship tonight on CBS at 8 Eastern time. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado!

Have a great weekend!



Roll Tide, Roll!!!
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Hey guys...I think most if you have seen this...Secret Santa 2015. Moderator extraordinaire @macaronus is presiding over the festivities. It was a lot of fun last year, I will be doing it again this year!

 

November 7

Feather Artist Club SS
Feather Professional (7)
Semogue 830
MdC scented
Two passes plus touch-ups
Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Fine L'Orange Noir

Goals
Further develop my two-pass shave technique by practicing the basics
Break in and get more experience with the Semogue 830
Get more experience with MdC

I enjoyed the best shave so far in my November focus this evening. No boo boos! I completed WTG and XTG/ATG passes, resulting in a DFS+ shave with an A- on irritation. I'm making progress in the areas above and below my mouth using careful ATG and XTG strokes combined with plenty of skin stretching. The MdC lather is great. I love the feel of the Semogue brush, but it still needs time to break in.

Over the past week, my shaves have gradually improved. It will be interesting to see if tomorrow's shave goes well with a brand new blade.

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

 

NOVember - No Variation

November 7

A very rare day for me. NO SHAVE today. I haven't felt all that good today (still put in my full Saturday), woke up a bit tired, decided to grab an extra hours sleep, and besides...the cut from yesterday was a bit worse than I thought. I have a small piece of flesh hanging there, nothing major, but if I don't let it heal a bit I could really create havoc. So, dealing with that and my usual health issues that tend to catch up with me from time to time, and that was that. We'll pick it up again tomorrow!

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I'll give you another like for the song choice.

 

Hope you get to feeling better.

 

Get well soon.

 

well, it was about like that all month. Wire to wire .

 

Get yourself some R&R my friend, we need you back on the playing field!:rah:

 

Nov 8 Focus shave 8

Day 3 for the Martin de Candre Fogère and it's hardest test, I'm using my Hart 7/8 with a French point. I don't know if it is in my head because of the French or it is real but this razor feels more aggressive than my Dovo, PRC western kami and even my Hart 6/8 with a round point.

The lather was not as good as the last 2 times. I did add liquid lanolin again and used a warm scuttle. As always MdC produces lots of lather easily but like before I loaded heavily. The lather was a bit airy (bubbles) and tried adding water and then hitting the puck again. The shave felt rough but I made it through most of the 4 passes. When I applied the alum it was not as bad as I thought, just little light sting. The disappointment was really in the closeness DFS but along way away from BBS.

Just when I thought the MdC would climb in to my top tier it disappointed. I will try it again latter in the month. While I have no problem using it with an aggressive DE it did not cut it with an aggressive straight.

Irritation A-, closeness B

Martin de Candre Fogère soap
Simpson Tulip 3 Super Silver Tip Badger
Hart Steel 7/8
SRD strop
Lucky Tiger AS
Speick ASB
YSL Kourous

 

Get some rest and I hope you feel better soon.

 

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Well you've come to the right place!
Use as many different blades as you'd like with that razor and tell as what you think!
You'll also find a fair number of cold water shavers here - you'll fit right.
Nice photo by the way.
Cheers!
RT

 

Neal, I hope you feel better tomorrow. Take care of yourself!

 

With no shave today, all I should say is ROLL TIDE!

 

You may have a plate of cookies. Roll Tide.

 

Rest well, my friend.

 

30 Day Focus - November 2015

Shave 2



Prep: hot barber towel, Somerset's PSO
Razor: 1959 Gillette Fatboy Adjustable
Blade: Feather (1)
Brush: Rubberset 400-4 Silvertip Badger
Lather: The Strop Shoppe Barbershoppe with Tallow
Shave (setting): 3 passes; WTG (6), XTG (6), ATG (3)
Post: Gentlemen Jon's Alum, L'Occitane Cade ASB

OK boys, after a horrible run of shaves, and the first shave of this focus being mediocre, I had a good feeling about this one. Maybe it was because I had new gear to try out, Partex barber shaving towels and Gentlemen Jon's Alum.

Whatever the case, after a hot bath to relax, I soaked my brush and a barber towel in steaming hot water and dried off, put stuff in my hair. I mixed up my lather and let it sit in the mug in the sink of hot water to get warm while I applied a hot towel to my face. These towels are pretty nice, I think they will serve well. I will do a little writeup on them later.

After applying PSO, I vigorously applied lather to exfoliate and lift the beard hairs, and also I just have to comment here, if you've never tried the Strop Shoppe soap before, its amazing.

I set my razor on 6 this time with the intention if removing more hair on the first passes and then going mild on the last. I once again focused on angles and light pressure. Oh I should also mention I picked a different blade from a completely different pack of blades this time. These are actually from 5 pack tucks I got from a friend who didn't like them. The ones I bought are the 10 pack tucks.

I could tell immediately that things were going much better and much smoother. By the second XTG pass I could have stopped and has a passable shave for most social occasions. But I clicked the adjustment down to 3 and went for the ATG pass. Surprisingly there wasn't much stubble to remove. I only had ONE small small nick on my Adam's apple. I call that a major victory.

During the whole shave I was using SR style pulls. I found it much more enjoyable to do so now, with the addition of my Alum block. I can finally stretch the skin on my face and get a good shave!

After the last pass I got my wet towel hot again and applied it to my face, and gently wiped away all soap. Then I splashed cold water and rubbed Alum on my face. It felt great, not much sting but really tightened my skin up and prepared it for the ASB. I put on the Cade and...

That's when I had a moment.

I have been taking for granted how special and amazing this art of shaving really is. It truly is gourmet shaving. I have acquired some nice products and equipment and have combined the best of them into this focus group.

Wetshaving has changed my life, and I can never go back to how it was before.

I think I had a good shave. Bout damn time.

 

Gentlemen,

may I proudly present: the broken-in Semogue 620



Really nice post-bloom, almost doubled in size compared to the day I bought it.

I had a DFS today with the usual equipment:

- D.R. Harris Sandalwood
- Semogue 620
- Mühle R89
- Gillette Silver Blue (#6)
- Myrsol Agua Balsamica
- Aloe Vera Gel

And this time I was able to produce enough lather for two passes (though i have to admit: the lather for the second pass was a little thinner than the first). The shave itself was fantastic, very smooth. I managed to keep the correct angle all the time and pulled the skin here and there - 2 passes WTG and X/ATG, not a single nick, scratch or irritation. I'd give it an A ... no A+ because it was just ALMOST BBS, missed two small spots under my chin. I guess I will be able to perform shaves like that on a regular basis now, as long as I don't become over-confident and sloppy again.

Though last time I said that I wanted to change the blade, I did not. Still performed excellent, so I guess I'll give this one a 7th shave.

Tomorrow I might give cold water a try. You guys made me curious.

Have a great Sunday!

 

+1

This kind of shaving changed my attitude fom "do I have to?" to "may I?"