January 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic&Discussion Thread

A dash of Mandom after the shave would have been nice.

 

SOTD
January 24, 2016
Prep: Hot Shower. Axe Energizing Face Wash Boost
Razor: Gillette Super Speed 1953 Y2
Blade: Personna Lab Blue
Lather: Martin de Candre
Brush: Maggard Razors 24mm Synthetic Marble Handle
Post: Thayers Cucumber WH. Gold Bond Ultimate
Aftershave: Fine L'Orange Noir
MdC kind of shave! Sweet! The Maggard synthetic marble handle brush is excellent! Plenty of backbone for soaps and creams, the handle is nice and heavy and gives you that custom made look. The Flare Tip was on point again this time with my favorite blade the lab blue.
Never let the things you WANT
Make you forget the things you HAVE!

 

Thank you gents!

 

Kerry, you have an all star lineup of great performers in this set up. The brush looks great.

 

01/24/2016
AlumiGoose with Hempel Ti
Feather Pro (1)
Doug Korn DK7 with Druida Manchurian
TSD Yin Yang
Witch Hazel
Folsom & Co Capri
Lavender Citrus Whipped Shea Butter


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A truly fantastic shave this morning. With a new Feather Pro blade loaded, I went with an ATG pass followed by an XTG pass. After a few touch ups in my trouble spots, I ended up with a near BBS. More importantly the shave was very smooth. If the rest of the shaves this week go as well, I am in for a good week. I finished up with a splash of F&C Capri followed by whipped shea butter. I hope everyone has a great Sunday.

 

Shave ten of my january focus. The Merkur 37C with Astra SP blades is performing very well, and I'm concentrating on my angle and pressure. I find the quality of my shave is improving, as is the number of shaves I can get comfortably from each blade -- good news!

When the january focus is over, I plan to go a little crazy for a month (a different lineup of gear for each shave) and then do a focus using my R41 and Polsilver blades. I also just got a new puck of Tabac shaving soap which I will attempt to put a dent in -- maybe april?

 

20th shave with the Blackbird

I'm not sure if I need to keep focusing or not. The Blackbird has provided me with outstanding 2 pass shaves every time. I may start up a blade focus in February and just keep using the Bird!

Prep: warm wash
Lather: TSD wheat lemon&cedarwood
Brush: Bob Quinn E7
Razor: Blackland Blackbird
Blade: persona blue (7)
Post: Ogallala bay rum

 

Troy, another great photo.

 

SOTD January 24, 2016
Focus day 21

Prep: Hot shower with Jackalope beer soap
Blade: Astra SP
Razor: Wet Shave Club 3-piece
Brush: Omega 10049 boar
Lather: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post: Witch hazel splash, Fine American blend, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, ATG, touch-up

My second shave with MWF. Wow, that soap is fantastic! I thought the same on the first shave with it and this time only reinforced the notion. There is so much slickness and the post shave feel is really nice. The Astra blade worked really well. I used three spritzes of Fine American blend into the witch hazel in my palm to create a concoction that felt really nice.

Two passes with touch-up for a DFS! I am feeling smooth and pleased.

Hope you have a great Sunday!

 

I am on another no shave day. I have found that I can get the same results with this razor using a two pass (WTG + XTG) as I could using an Injector for two passes (the second being ATG). Compared to my first few shaves with a straight, this is amazing. My short journey has been fun so far, and I am very happy with the results so far.

 

January 24 - Day 4, Shave 3
Edwin Jagger DE89
Feather (3)
Pre-Shave Oil
Omega 10066 Boar Shaving Brush
Reef Point Dragon’s Blood
Alum, Pinaud Clubman, Nivea post shave balm
Mod Cabin Honeysuckle beard balm

Added a preshave oil, after reading the homemade thread, not sure if it was a huge difference, but it is nice. Took everyone's advice, and practiced making lather, much better at it now. I was a bit light on loading soap and a lot light on water. Great shave on day 3 of the blade no irritation and smooth.


What size is everyone using for pics? My last one came out low quality and this one is HUGE! Yikes...

 

Shave Den Sunday

Razor: Gillette Black Handle Flare Tip (P1) 1970 (Marriage year razor)
Blade: Feather Hi Stainless (3)
Brush: Fendrihen Silver Tip 22/49
Soap: TSD Coconut
A:S TSD Coconut
TSD M Bomb

Didn't shave yesterday. Excellent DFS today. It is our anniversary today so I'm waiting on my wife hand and foot. Enjoy your Sunday.

 

Happy anniversary! I see you are a smart man!

 

I like the results of the new set up. It seems like you've been messing with depth of field to accent certain objects. It's a cool trick. One of things that most good digital based photographers have is a style or signature effect. @HolyRollah is an example of this attribute, both behind the lens and in editing. He always seems to play light and contrast for tone and mood, and tends to shoot offset/overhead view, and colors seem to hint toward a vintage photo, arrangement of objects moves the viewer slowly around the frame. I've straight up stolen a composition trick or two from his work, and I've heard there's no higher compliment in the artistic world.

It's quite cool to see a style forming even in you at this point! I enjoy the really sharp tight focus on the chrome razor, it really shows the near mint beauty of a classic razor. Just always have fun with it, and get to know any decent photo editor. And don't over-think it. There I days I can't shoot a great photo no matter what! Move lights, shift objects, anything. It's totally ok to shoot 200 unique shots, hoping to get five great ones! If it looks iffy at a glance, don't bother, just delete. The smallest changes between frames can be big changes in terms of how the picture looks.

 

Shave Den Sunday!
Planned Day 24 - 90 Day Intro to SR

24 January 2016



I will be spending the afternoon sans Internet, overeating and watching the NFL playoff games with my family. I hope you all have a great day, and will catch up with you all later!

Ralf Aust 5/8
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
TSD Barber Shoppe Shave Stick
Alum
TSD Barber Shoppe AS Splash

Have a nice Sunday!
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Happy Anniversary.

 

You are off to a great start. Keep up the good work.

 

January 25

 

Chris, thanks for the encouragement and insight! I am amazed by the talent and creativity of the folks here.

 

I would like to get a DSLR at some point and really learn how to use it. I had an old Nikon SLR that I never got too good with because I just never took enough pictures. Since, I have been using point and shoot, and more recently just my iPhone.

Your pictures are coming out great, I think. Your eye for composition is much better than mine. The depth of field work was also a nice touch.