February '16 - 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion Thread

February will be an ABC (Schick that is) focus for me. I will be using Chinese Schick blades exclusively for the month. I have Antica Barbiera Colla (ABC) shaving soap on order and will switch to it once it gets here from the old country. Flöid Blue will be my aftershave of choice for the month.

 

February will continue my trend of being completely unfocused and subject to the daily whims of razor, soap and aftershave choices!

BTW: those committed to wear The Veg for the month, take heart! February is still, despite the extra day in 2016, the shortest month of the year!

 

I am in again. I will continue my journey with straights. I will rotate through the 5 straight razors I have. I also just acquired some MDC, so I may work with this for a while, but will participate in TSD Sundays and may work in some other products as well.

 

My February focus will be me working with my Ever Ready SE razor (the shovel head nickname makes it sound intense) will be trying a bunch of different soaps for the most part since I stuck with Proraso last month (though I did some exploring during the last week) and will also has all three brushes I currently own. Only have 10 SE blades at the moment. But if I at least get 3 shaves per Blade I'll be okay for the month. But will definitely need to get more for the future. My blades are the GEM pfte Coated which I hear are great
*EDIT* actually forgot that I ordered a couple more razors. So February may be an exploration month to let my curiosity do what it wants, but will still try to focus on my SE as much as possible, but no promises

 

Welcome to the focus thread. Other than your questionable choice of aftershave, sounds like a great set up. I've got to say, 30 days of the Veg sounds like a great way to measure the intestinal fortitude of yourself and those you interact with every day. (J/K, kind of.)

 

I didn't ever switch hands on a DE until after I started straight razor shaving. The switching hands really only comes into play when you are skin stretching. When I shave with a DE now, I use skin stretching, so I end up using both hands.

 

I think for February, my focus is going to be in three places.

1. Razors, 2 parts: I am going to continue to work with the three American Straights I used for January. Unfortunately, that means more honing stuff. My goal is to get these shaving as smooth as possible. I also currently have three razors at Glen's shop which will be getting cleaned up and honed all the way up the Sharpton progression up to 30K. Those will be very different than my amateur attempts at honing.
2. Technique: I want to get back to a two pass shave. N/S and S/N doesn't seem to get some of my trouble areas, so am going to work on a different pattern to shave.
3. Brushes: Going to focus on my boar and badger brushes. Have been struggling with good lather on some soaps, and want to see if specific brushes will work for them. (Like Sterling and Holy Black.) If I can't get them to work after this month, I might try making shave sticks out of them.

 

I'll be growing and shaping a beard this month. My shaving will be mostly neck with a little cleanup at the top line. This will work my trouble spots under the jawline still so Ill continue with my straights. If I find employment I will shear off said beard and continue full face shaves from that point forward. I am also going to try using my JR#8 badger brush more as it is often quite neglected.

 

Thanks for the input. Yes, I guess that's what I am getting at. I'm thinking to start practicing some of the techniques I will use when I get to a straight. It may help in some of my my difficult spots on my neck, too..

 

Sounds to me like you're focusing on evaluating some new things that need evaluated. Legitimate in my world!

 

Now THAT'S a great focus. Voskhods and The Fat! We need the fight song!

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Invoking Lombardi. Can I get a Harumph?

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Lots of Veg. There's never enough Veg.

 

I always used both hands with DE, though my left hand took a bit of training. Not as much as using a straight or kamisori with the left, but it wasn't perfect at first. Oh who am I kidding, it isn't perfect now.

 

Hi all
Thanks for another great introduction @Bama Samurai. This month I will continue to focus on my 1924 ER. I will be limiting my shaves to two passes with touch ups in an effort to improve my technique. Not having a 3rd pass I'm hoping will push me to perform my two passes better. I had to get more maca root yesterday so grabbed an A/S balm as well, I have high hopes for it. It smells great and doesn't seem greasy, we shall see shortly. Looking forward to my 3rd focus with you guys.

 

I'm in for my 14th consecutive focus! Thanks to Chris for continuing to our monthly focus tradition. I look forward to continue learning from and having fun with everyone.

My set up will include a Weber Polished Head DE razor loaded with a Feather blade. I plan to vary my brushes, soaps, creams, and aftershaves. I will continue to work on my two-pass shave technique, hopefully minimizing the need for touch-ups. I established a solid routine with my Super Speed, and I hope to improve it using the Weber.

Let's go!

 

February focus

I am hoping to continue a path started last month where some soaps get a multi-day treatment, the razor doesn't change (much), and I'm free to explore some different products over the weekend. Here's what my week will look like:

Monday - Menthol Mondays with Proraso Green using razor that will be used all week.
Tuesday to Thursday - Use the same soap all three days, same razor, same blade, same brush.
Friday to Sunday - Explore different soaps, a different blade, perhaps different razor.

Razors: I'll be using a Maggard MR1 handle with closed comb head for the first half of February, them comparing and contrasting with an open comb head for the second half of the month.

Technique - I'm looking to further technique of light pressure, focusing on a one pass shave with touch-up on weekdays, and a two-pass shave over the weekend (or when time allows). I'm hoping for technique that promotes irritation-free and comfortable shaves.

Discipline - I want to continue the self-discipline to not chase every single hair, particularly on my neck. I shoot for CCS each day.

Each focus developed on this thread is personal and aimed for the user's development of skills. I appreciate everyone's acceptance of the varieties of foci and rules. I'm looking forward to the continuing journey!

 

I'm looking forward to your comb comparison. I'm hoping to mix things up abit middle of February, but I'm not holding my breath I'm nowhere near where I need to be with my 1924.

 

You should be fine on blades. I would guess you will use between 3 and 5 blades for the month.

 

I agree I've used 7 blades in a month and I changed a few after 2 shaves.