Hot towel followed by home made pre shave oil (cedar scented) Cella soap(in a ceramic dish) Three passes with my Thiers Issard. Witch hazel splash, finished with Olivier aftershave wax. Great way to finish the day! Three more sleeps until Santa comes!!
Brush - Every Ready 150 restore with a Whipped Dog High Mountain Badger knot (A very nice knot; feels great) Razor - Scotch and Stowe/Gillette Head Blade - Ladas Soap - TOBS Cedarwood Cream Scuttle - Yoresh (Israel) AS - Clubman Special Reserve
SOTD Dec. 22 2015 Went shopping today and grabbed a bunch of TSW soaps Razor - 1951 Gillette Rocket W-2 Canadian issue. Made in U.K. (No made in) Brush - vintage boar
Planned Wednesday SoTD Schick type L1 I1 razor Chick blade Muhle black synthetic brush TOBS Rose shaving cream Myrsol Plastic Shave L'Occitane Cade EdT
Straights to the Finish Line! December 22 PART 2 Razor - W.B. Speed Rabbit Soap - Tabac Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip Post - Cold Water, Witch Hazel This morning I did a one pass with the '59 Super Speed and Ladas, just to look presentable enough to make it through a short day. Given the time I'm taking with the Rabbit I don't want to feel rushed while learning it. So, I moved the "real" shave to this evening. I'll be doing that for a few days until I'm more comfortable. Tabac and the Silvertip to whip up a nice lather tonight, and I added a pre-shave oil prior to the face lather. Just to see if it makes a real difference. Got a really nice lather and was ready to go. Prior to starting I had given the razor 30 laps on poly and leather. Lather looks good, doing a half at a time still to avoid drying. I'm finding the first challenge is in getting that first stroke done. Having the scales and my hand blocking the view is a bit maddening but I did find a spot I could see enough and stretched the skin and started down the right side by my ear. Razor sounds great and I added a bit of angle from yesterday. Worked the right face and neck and definitely had a better result than yesterday. Getting comfortable with angle clearly made a difference. Lathered up the left side and finally got the view I wanted and started there. Again a nice smooth and effective pass with lots of velcro ripping. Nice! The areas around my goatee were a bit easier to deal with tonight. The right side was on the money, and the left side was close. I went for a second pass, staying WTG except in areas that needed extra help, i.e. around the goatee. Went ATG there and checked. CCS and feels good. Decided to call it a night. No blood, no weepers, very nice and surprising at this point. I did a good rinse and splashed on the witch hazel. No burn. Nothing. Just felt good. I'll take it! As for the oil, I'm not really ready to say it helped all that much. I did put it on lightly but honestly having the right amount of water seems to give me the same result. I'll keep playing with it though. All in all a great shave and my confidence is growing. Still funny how I'm so confident with the pain stick but feel out of my element with the traditional. Yeah, I know, different grip and the blades don't even compare. The TSR is absolutely easier on my face as well as easier to use without slashing and burning the whole way. I have until Sunday to get this thing under my hands enough to try the red beast. I'll make it. And hey, @Drygulch survived a shave with his Soviet today? What's the worst that can possibly happen?
Wednesday Planned SOTD Razor: Bakelite Slant Blade: Personna Israeli Red (D3) Brush: Semogue SOC Cherry Tuxedo 2 Band Bowl: Turkish Porcelain Bowl 4 ¾” Pre Shave Scrub: MRGLO Pre Shave Oil: Homemade Lavender\Sandalwood Shave Soap: Butterface Lavender/Sandalwood Post: Monster Alum Block Aftershave: AOS Sandalwood Balm First time trying Butterface shave soap after friend of mine back in California swore by it. This is a custom blend I had them make up for me based on a PSO that I made last year as a test batch and liked it so much I asked if they could make it for me based on the EO that he had available on his site. I made my PSO with Lavender, Sandalwood and then later couple of drops of Yuzu that "opened" up the Lavender and Sandalwood and some how tied it all in. They didn't have Yuzu so I had them add a dash of sweet orange instead. Well package arrived yesterday and upon opening the pouch my first thought was too much Lavender as that is all that I could pick up. I then took two fingers, wet them on top of the tallow puck and then rubbed onto the back of my hand. Definitely top note of Lavender, then gradually faded into Sandalwood but you still picked up Lavender in the background. Then after awhile I picked up a citrus note but quite mellow. Pleased with initial test of this soap but tomorrow morning will be the real test. Still not as good as the Lavender\Sandalwood\Yuzu blend so I will place an order for more Yuzu EO and take half of this soap and blend in some Yuzu to see how it comes out. My PSO blend above I just made moments ago and is just a blend of AOS Lavender\AOS Sandalwood and Valencia Orange EO that I have but it matches the Butterface shave soap.
SHAVE OF THE DAY Prep: gustafsons woodlands Razor: Gillette ball end tech Blade: treet falcon (2nd shave) Brush: ever ready 600 Soap: B&M Beaudelaire Post: T&H West Indian Limes lotion Had a rough 2 shaves with this blade and it proves that all trees are not created equal. I like other ones but the Falcons are not for me. The B&M whipped up a nice lather, and the scent of this one is dark and mysterious which is why I like it so much. Hope everyone had a great shave!
VDH Scented Luxury VDH Deluxe boar Gillette FatBoy '59 E4 Feather, 6th & final use 4711 Echt Kölnisch Wasser
SOTD - 22 DEcember 2015 Feather Popular TTO Astra Superior Stainless L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic Palmolive Shave Cream (India) Alum TSD 2x Iced SubZero AS Astra SS and SP are very different blades. I just did the apple-to-apple comparison this month. SP is better by a large margin on the smoothness spectrum, but not really any sharper than its humble Stainless little brother. 2 quick passes after a haircut and then a night out in Denver with my wife. The shave cream was courtesy of a @Bobcat PIF drawing. It's good stuff! It was easy to work and quickly made nice smelling, slick lather. Looking like more snow for the prairie on Xmas Eve! Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Good Morning Gents, yesterday's shave : "Santa's helpers are servicing the sleigh before installing the take-off runway lights. Thankfully Mother Christmas has made some cookies !" - Old Spice shave soap - TSN LE 2015 brush - Eclipse Red Ring - Old Spice AS Very comfortable shave, bonne journée Messieurs !
