DEC 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

I've decided to try some new soap today given that I stuck to the focus and feel my technique has arrived I'm going to finish the moth playing with soaps and decide which to use for my vintage se focus have a good day all

 

SOTD
December 28, 2015
Prep: Hot Shower. Axe Energizing Face Wash Boost
Razor: Gillette Flare Tip Super Speed 1959 E1
Blade: Ladas
Lather: Route 66-Retro Spice
Brush: RazoRock Plissoft
Post: Thayers Cucumber WH. Gold Bond Ultimate
Aftershave: Fine L'Orange Noir
Repeat shave from yesterday. I wanted to see how Route 66 would perform back to back mornings. Spectacular! Retro Spice is fabulous! Slick, rich, creamy, cushion-y, moisturizing, great smelling soap. The Gillette Flare Tip is a great daily razor, I can see how millions of gents used one for years.
Never let the things you WANT
Make you forget the things you HAVE!

 

Razor: Gillette Aristocrat w/case
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (1)
Brush: Simpsons CH1 Best Badger
Soap: Fine Platinum
A/S: Proraso Bowl Shaving Soap Eucalyptus

Thanks to a gift certificate from @clint64 I was able to purchase my first Simpsons Best Badger brush. Thanks.
Heavy snow storm tomorrow.

 

Great photo Doug. It certainly qualifies for a frigid Menthol Monday Shave.

 

The wait is almost over. On my way to give the Soviet its best chance at shaving that I possibly can. I'll be back in a bit with the result of day one! Or, in the event you don't hear from me again, I'll just leave this here.


Last Shave Will and Testament


I, Neal Cox, being of questionable mind and incredibly sexy body, do hereby lay my hand to this will to dispense of my most prized possessions in the event of my untimely death due to cuts, nicks, severed arteries, or limbs. Should I fail to survive my encounter with the finest piece of Soviet engineering in the form of a straight razor that might actually cut something, I hereby bequeath the following:

To @Bama Samurai – I leave my collection of memes, images and other assorted digital media used to fill space and detract from the shocking lack of content my posts on TSD sometimes display. May they be used to further distract and entertain members who really should have something better to do.

To @Rufus T. – I leave the Aristocrat that spent such a good time in the woods last summer on vacation in the great Northwest and Canada. Such a good time, in fact, that it has been miserably depressed and spends its nights asking why it had to come back to the paradise that is St. Louis. May it provide great shaves forevermore in the calm and green woods that you, sir, call home. Oh, and I’m sending 100 Voskhods along, just to keep it company.

To @Drygulch – I leave both the Rabbit and the Soviet that you so generously challenged me to try. Thanks to your encouragement I’m now just a bloody heap on the bathroom floor and SWMBO has never been happier. You might want to ask her for some of the insurance money as an extra fee for arranging my demise. Well played, sir, well played.

To @clint64 I leave my Feather SS along with the remaining Feather Pro blades, and a few Kai blades as well. No matter what you say I know you want to try it. Now you have no excuse. Because if you don’t, my ghost will never rest until I find you and do it myself. Sleep well.


To @HolyRollah – I leave you my strop. Lightly used, but it did serve well to prepare that fine Soviet you so lovingly honed to, well, ok, we’ll say perfection. I don’t blame you, my friend. An artist is only as good as the canvas he has to work on, and we handed you a lousy rotten canvas. Considering that led to my downfall imagine if a lesser honer would have honed it in a lesser manner. Sorry, I thought I had a run on honing puns and lines there but it, sadly, died almost immediately. Long may this strop enjoy real razors that come alive from your skill.

My collection of blades, especially the extras from my failed blade trials, I leave to the 30 day crew to divide up as you see fit. With over 1000 on hand you should find something there you like, or perhaps more fitting, you loathe with the hate of a thousand hells.


To @Darkbulb – I leave the remainder of my razors. Not like you don’t already have 14 of each, but you can always use them for Ebay bait. I’ll throw in my Wolf Whiskers brush as well, just so you can save the cost of your 8th one of those.

My soaps I am taking with me. I have requested that they be cremated along with my remains so that I can enjoy the awesome aromatics of Tabac, MWF and Proraso for eternity. The left over Williams, however, is to be immediately removed by hazardous waste experts and placed in a secure facility to ensure that it becomes harmless over the next 1.4 million years of its half-life.

And finally, to the moderators, staff members and owners of TSD, many thanks for creating such a special place that we can all hang out, learn about shaving, talk about shaving, encourage over-buying of shaving supplies, and generally have a good time. Of course, without you, I’d still be alive, but I’m not one to hold a grudge. Especially now as I’m not even breathing when you read this.


A final note – at this incredibly sad and emotional time, let’s all remember that I gave my life to prove that Technique Trumps Tools! And, should I slowly bleed out while trying just one more pass with this incredibly horrid razor, know that I will have finally answered the question…”how defective must a tool be before technique fails”? The answer is that perhaps technique couldn’t trump the Soviet tool in my dying grasp, but the quest for Technique did indeed conquer the biggest Tool of them all. Me.


Farewell and may all your shaves be BBS.

 

I can hear one of the shaving gods saying to another, "Tom's shaving. Hold my beer, watch this!"

 

Hmmmm, You missed my name in there. Can I get your bottle of the Veg?

 

An oversight. Sorry, Yes the Veg has your name on it.

 

The haz mat crew was supposed to take care of that with the Williams.

 

And by the way, I appreciate your concern. Touching, really.

 

I'm unconcerned. To hurt yourself badly the blade would have to hold an edge. I'm not sure that the razor is able. You'll be fine. Alum and cold water are your friends. Vodka splash for the finish!!

 

I'll take the Williams too. I like the stuff.

 

You started it. The vultures are circling...

 

Straights to the Finish Line!!!!

December 28 - It's Soviet Day!!!!!

​

Razor - This thing -
No, I didn't force it to look like that....it actually folds through itself to provide an opportunity slice and dice before you even open it! This is mainly due to the lack of a spine on the razor. As @Drygulch warned me when he sent it, it can "bite you" if you don't pay attention. Unfortunately I read that AFTER removing it the first time.

Brush - BoS - Omega 10066 - After all, the "Brush of Shame" is appropriate for two reasons. It provides the absolute surest lather with the soap I'm using, and it's pretty much ashamed to be seen with this razor.
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat. I debated going Tabac but MWF is usually a bit slicker for me, especially if I add a bit of extra water. I'll take all the help I can get.
Post - Cold Water, Alum, Nivea

I know this razor has a name but I don't care. It has become the Soyuz 1. I was using that name for a Soviet DE I have that is horrid, but this one deserves it more. The Soyuz 1, if you recall, was launched in spite of having over 200 known safety issues, all potentially fatal, and resulted in the death of Cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov in spectacular fashion. Basically it landed at full speed after burning through the atmosphere, smashing the capsule (and Colonel Komarov) into a metal pancake before exploding. They found a recognizable ankle bone from the Colonel. Or at least that's that they said the burned hunk of ash was. I figure this razor has about as many problems in proportion to its size, so the name seems fitting.

@HolyRollah honed this thing, and I do NOT hold him responsible for the result. I think he was about ready to send it into a terminal landing as well given the quality, or lack thereof, of the blade. I'm just thankful he did the honing as I don't know if anyone else could have even given it a chance.

Head shave was today as well so a bit of time to contemplate how to make this thing work. And, once the dome was chrome, it was time. Whipped up a really rich Fat lather, added lots of water to my face, and lathered it up. Right side only as I figure this will take a bit of time. Picked up the red beast and went for the first stroke. And missed. Yes, I missed. I was trying to set the angle by observing the spine, which it doesn't have. Which made me go too shallow and literally just graze the lather. After a brief stare into the mirror to show my derision I reset and went again. Added angle, touched down lightly and started the shave. Let's see....what word best describes it. Rough. That's a good one. Tuggy. That's another. Pulling. Well, not too bad. Totally ineffective.....yeah that's the combination.

Finished the pass on the right side and realized that I hadn't really reduced the beard at all. Visually it looked like the left side, and it felt the same. Really? All that and nothing? Reached for my coffee as I shook my head, took a quick swig and......I'm not making this up......spit out the "coffee" gagging. I had grabbed my "N" mug instead of the coffee cup and taken a nice swing of brush soak water. Mmmmmmmmmm good. Nothing like a Mitchell's lukewarm soapy water rinse to make the day brighter. Fortunately I had only dipped the tips while lathering, and more importantly it wasn't Williams. No need to call poison control. Gagged, spit again, rinsed with water, got the actual coffee, settled back down and lathered up again.

Went another pass on the right side. Changed angle. Shallow, steep, in the middle, went WTG, XTG, ATG. Felt a couple of slips that would have been bloody messes with the pain stick and most likely the Rabbit. No cuts, just the general feeling of disbelief that I couldn't seem to make a difference. Finally put the razor down, rinsed off good and.....VOILA!!! I could find a "smooth spot or three on that side, and my neck was clearly a bit smoother. Now we're on to something!

Lathered the left and spent an equal amount of time working it down from full beard to something that seemed better. I am not kidding when I say it was about 5 passes total. And the result? Ok, I shaved. MAYBE the worst CCS possible. Definitely not close to anything like a real shave. However, I did get reduction and I could have gone to work with that much of a shave if I had no other option. Decided to do one more pass on the whole face. Lathered, went for a solid WTG and called it a day. Cold water rinse, grabbed the alum and baby did it burn. Not as badly as I expected but sheesh.....apparently my face was tired of having this thing run across it over and over and over and over and over.

Now, for the result. First of all, one weeper along the goatee line. I think it was more of a friction burn than a weeper actually. No other blood or anything like that. Honestly, the only way I could have injured myself was if I had gotten frustrated with so many passes and attempted to slit my wrists to end the misery. However, I'm not sure it would have been a fatal cut. Probably an irritating scratch.

The result WAS a shave that I COULD accept if I had NO other options. In other words, if this was the last razor in the world and I had to get a shave that would allow me to be acceptable in public it could be done. Does that mean that Technique trumped even this thing? I'm going Mythbusters on this answer.

I'm not willing to say that Technique won this one totally, but I am willing to say that perhaps with enough practice or just plain luck it is POSSIBLE to get a shave even a touch better than the one I ended up with. So, while not confirming the result as confirming TTT over this razor, I'm calling it PLAUSIBLE. Hopefully I would always have another option. Sharp rock, tin can, something. But in the worst case scenario, technique can make this work at least once.

As for another shave out of it I have one major concern. With no spine figuring out the strop on this thing will be challenging. It either won't strop at all or the edge will roll because I can't hold the angle right. Either way we'll see tomorrow. I will strop it and try it again to see if it makes a difference.

​

 

What I admire most is you admit it in public. Brave, sir, brave.

 

Glad to see you survived.

 

How about leaving me a recording of the old Checkerdome National Anthem?

 

I know nothing of straights but that looks awful. Great post I was genuinely laughing thanks