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

Kerry, are we talkin' your choice in shaving brushes or leisure wear?

 

I like it, Keith!
Interested and seeing your findings after February.

Btw: 'Suehiro Gokumyo 20k' or 'SG20k' for short…

 

I like it!

 

February 1

Weber PH
Feather (1)
Edwin Jagger XL Synthetic
Route 66 Lumberjack
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Fine L'Orange Noir



Technique Trumps Tools...

 

This is going to be my first 30 day focus. My plan is to exclusively use Gillette 7 o'clock Super Stainless (green) blades for the month of February. I am going to use 4 different razors, one for each week of the month so I can get a true feel for this blade. The four razors are: Gillette Heavy Tech, British Flare Tip Rocket, Gillette Aristocrat and a Gillette Super Adjustable Black Beauty. My soaps will be my regular rotation. I always match my brush to whatever soap or cream I am using.
Next month I am going to exclusively use the Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge (yellow) and use the same four razors.
I will be interested to see the performance of this blade over the month in the four different razors.

 

It's official, will be my focus with my Ever Ready SE razor. But will do so on the weekdays, and the weekends will be my adventurous days. Very excited. I also did my first shave with the razor and I faired well for it being the most aggressive razor I've tried

 

That ^^^^

 

Love the idea of TSD Sunday!

 

Feb focus
There you have it - 9/16" round point with sample creams from the TSD shop. Sundays will be a TSDS Sunday - great idea! But I'll probably mix in some more TSD cream through the weeks as I love the smell of the bourdon vanilla cream she makes! BTW - T and H 1805 IS the scent to beat imho. :
Cheers,
Eric

 

Monday, February 1, 2016

Pre: Hot Shower, Sterling Pre-shave Soap, Cold Rinse, Proraso Green Pre-shave
Soap: Route 66 Frozen Margarita
Brush: Kingman Turquoise Silvertip
Razor: Blackland Blackbird
Blade: Feather #1
Post: Alum, Witch Hazel +Menthol, Unrefined Shea Butter, Krampert’s Frostbite Aftershave

 

I love the fact that we are still in January, and five pages into the February thread already.

 

Day 31 - 90 Day Intro to SR

31 January 2016



Ralf Aust 5/8
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
TSD Barber Shoppe Shave Stick
Alum
TSD 2x Iced Florida Water AS​

First shave of the February exercise went off without a hitch. This month is going to be about mastering the strop and continuing to improve my SR skills. Stuck with two passes today and caught DFS with ease, but managed to get a bit sloppy on the angle at the neckline and paid the price with Alum. All in all a great shave, and a TSD Sunday to boot! 64F yesterday, 28F and snow today. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.​

Have a sterling Monday!
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An amazing street group!

 

Love Earl's banjo skills, a true master!

 

Steve Martin ain't no slouch either! Loves me some bluegrass!

 

February 2016 Focus!!

Boy did January ever fly by. Even the parts I was totally conscious of seemed to go by fast. So, on to February and I'm going to do something quite unlike me......a simple (fairly) blade trial month to celebrate another legendary country of blade manufacturing. Let's go to Germany!!! And, in honor, of course, let's all rise and raise a beer stein in honor..........

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Germany has a reputation of great steel and especially great cutlery, blades etc. You see a lot of vintage straights with the Solingen name on them, and Solingen is still considered "the city of blades" by many. And, since I have only used one blade made in Germany (the Souplex) and was a bit underwhelmed, I decided it's time to spend some effort on discovering which, if any, of the German crop of blades can stand up to the competition and provide some great shaves. I'm talking DE blades here. I'll let those with a lot more experience with straight razors comment on the quality of German straights if they so desire. This month is about discovering German DE blades.

Merkur razors are also a product of Germany and I know many who have them in their collections. I have a Merkur 23c that I normally use for my head shaves. For the duration of this focus I am promoting it to my primary razor. I'll still use it for my head shave each week but also use it on my face daily, with one exception. I figure German blade, German razor, all I need is German beer and some brats and I have the perfect setup. However, beer is still a bit off the menu for me for a bit longer, so I'll live with the razor and blades and maybe a brat or two. Here are the blades I'll be using in the order that random.org set for me:

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The exception to the razor will be on the Schick Premium blade when I'll switch to the Schick Krona.

Brushes will rotate between the BoS (Omega 10066), Pony (Vie-Long 12601) and Wolf (Wolf Whiskers Silvertip). Soaps will be Mitchell's Wool Fat, Tabac and probably a time or two of Arko and Proraso Green just for variety.

The rules - 3 shaves each blade, provided they last that long. That will cover all but the last week of the month and I'll have a few surprise blades at the end to fill in.

I have high hopes that this will be a month of better-than-average shaves, especially compared to my normal blade trials. A couple of these blades have a dicey reputation but that's what I'm here for, to determine the validity of such reputations so you don't have to!!

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Welcome aboard Tuxxdk! We're glad you could join us!

 

Welcome to the club Rusty blade! We're happy you're part of the crew!