March '16 - 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix and Discussion Thread

Your comments about Silver Blue are way outside the normal experience. What razor? Sounds like if you had a rough shave it was either a defective blade or improper angle. What happened that made it so rough? Scraped?

 

Planned Day 79 - 90 Day Intro to SR
19 March 2016





Frederick Reynolds 5/8
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Route 66 - Lumberjack
Alum
TSD ISZ AS Splash
Pinaud Clubman

Have a wonderful Saturday evening!
​

 

great to hear about the route 66 soap and the sweeney todd scent. you mentioned route66 bumped stirling out of your top five.

who are the other four? any particular order?

 

March into Artist Club Blades

March 19

Razor - Feather SS
Blade - (5)
Brush - Vie Long 12601 The Pony
Soap - Tabac
Post - Cold water, Alum, Nivea, The Veg

Fifth day on the Pro blade and it's still as sharp as ever from what I can tell. However, as it has in the past, it seems to be mellowing out just a bit. It's still producing the same reduction and it's still ready to create irritation and blood if mishandled, but it feels a bit smoother each day. No major issues today. One close call when I set down wrong but I actually caught it just as I touched down and avoided a cut. I saw the angle out of alignment and probably pulled up about 1/100th of a second in time to avoid a nice one. This blade is absolutely unforgiving on mistakes like that, mellow or not.

My plan is to go one more shave with this blade and then change gears for a few shaves. Still using the pain stick but.......Ivan and Yuri arrived at my door screaming with joy (and after a lot of vodka) and carrying the package from South Korea I've been waiting for. Monday I'll face a new challenge with the pain stick and these.........



You are not hallucinating. Those are indeed AC blades from none other than Dorco. According to @Keithmax they are somewhat of a, well, let's say challenge. And, he asked if I'd be willing to try them as long as I promise to share pictures of the bloodbath BBS shaves that they will no doubt totally fail to produce. I've never backed down from a challenge yet, so why start now? After all, (say it with me now).......what's the worst that could happen?

 

March 19, 2016

The month of March with my two Schick E razors.

Road trips are causing havoc with my reports this month. So to recap:
Schick Canadian E
- 3 shaves w/Chinese Schick blade (sharpest so far)
- 3 shaves w/ Platinum Plus. (not as sharp, equally or more smooth)

Schick E2
- 3 shaves w/Chick blade (marginally my overall fave combo so far)
- 1 shave w/ Platinum Plus

Hot Shower
Razor: Schick E2
Blade: Schick Platinum Plus (2)
Soap: Flannel in the Rain (PAA)
Brush: Ever-Ready ICS Badger Black/Lucite
TSD Witch Hazel
Myrsol Blue



Two-day growth. Two-pass shave - XTG, ATG

Another fine shave. Though it has a very good 1st pass reduction, my sense is that this blade is not as sharp as the Chick. But I'm nitpicking here - both razors are performing very well regardless of the blade.

Cheers!
RT

 

Looks great.

 

Wow, parallel universe MrC - a Rubberset and the Bunny!

Now stop copying me!!!

 

I prefer the term emulate.

 

SS PSO & Strop Shoppe S.E.
Omega #248, unmarked bowl
Torrey 5/8 & Kramperts AS

In my on again/off again relationship with Pre Shave Oil, today I chose ON. Fans of bayrum may enjoy Shave Secret just for the scent. Strop Shoppe with tallow works well as soap, but didn't impress me with it's lightly scented offerings. If there's any left get ya some. Marvy's box on the Pro Series boar brushes are number one in my book. This one is softer than my one badger brush and lathers big time. This round point straight cleaned up so well and shaves reliably. Torrey's earned their reputation. They keep my alum block quiet. Then there's Krampert's Finest. I'm still trying to decide if I like it. Good face feel but maybe with less cloves. Good shaves to Ya'll.

 

I'm aware they are highly thought of by many. So I was also thinking it may be a bad blade. I used my merkur Futur so I don't think it's bad angle. I'm yet to have a poor shave with it. The blade was pulling and tugging instantly from my first pass wtg. It's so bad I don't want to try another even though I should out of fairness.

 

3/20/16

Gillette Birth Quarter Super Speed (Y3)
Wilkinson Sword (2)
Vulfix Super Badger (660)
Chiseled Face Sherlock
Georgetown G12 Scuttle
Pinaud Clubman Original



Second shave with the Wilkinson Sword in my Birth Quarter Super Speed.
Typical 2 passes with very good reduction. I did some touch up at that point with the lather on my face and a small amount from the bowl. Followed that with a cool water rinse and final touch up. The Clubman stung a little, but only in a couple of spots.

I did not chase the baby very much today because I wanted a comfortable shave much more than I wanted a BBS. I wound up with both a comfortable shave and a near BBS. One more day with the Super Speed, then it is on to the Gillette New LC.

I hope everyone has a nice Lord's Day.

 

My current top five soap makers, in no specific order: Rt. 66, Jabonman, The Shave Den, Jeeves of Hudson Street, and Barrister & Mann. I like supporting artisans, and look for performance and scent. The other thing on these soaps is that they aren't difficult to work into a lather.

 

Straights Focus March 20:

Stirling Synthetic Brush
TSD Lanolin Iced Sub-zero
Johan Engstrom
Stirling Unscented PSB
Aqua Velva AS

 

At long last. Definitely a hold my beer and watch this moment.

 

SOTD March 20, 2016
Shave Den Sunday!

Prep: Warm shower
Blade: Chinese Schick
Razor: Schick G1 injector
Brush: Badger
Lather: TSD Lanolin Bay Rum
Post: Witch hazel splash, TSD Iced Bay Rum after shave, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, XTG, touch-up



What a nice shave with these products! The Schick G1 continues to give me really close shaves. You have to be careful with it because it can bite you quite easily! One tiny weeper today on my chin that was taken care of with the cold water and witch hazel. The Iced Bay Rum splash stung a bit but quickly cooled down and provided a great feel.

TSD soaps are really fantastic! If you don't have any you owe it to yourself to get some. Not only does it support our fantastic forum but the quality of the products is top-notch. In fact, I was contemplating a TSD soap focus for one of the months down the line. It would be nice to use those soaps on a daily basis.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

 

That must have been a bad blade. GSB is normally very sharp. Its nearly feather sharp but so much smoother. I think bad blades are rare for GSBs, I've used 20 or 30 and never had a bad one. Its one of my top 2 DE blades along with Kai.

 

Flattery?

 

No! Too many good shaves out there! I was just surprised you had a bad result, it's a bit surprising with that blade, but not everything works for every individual. Come back to it in a few months, and give it a fair shake after some time passes. No need to struggle with s blade you don't have confidence in!

 

Route 66
Arko
TSD
Proraso
La Toja Stick

I could use any of these forever.

 

I have soaps in two camps. Those I will buy again and the others. So far out of all the ones I have tried, the ones to make the buy again cut in no particular order are Route 66, MdC, Mystic Water, Jabonman, and Barrister & Mann. With a more shaves I can see Reef Point, replacing Barrister & Mann on the list.