April 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix&Discussion Thread

Route 66, Stirling, Soap of The Gods. Soap of The Gods has 2 on sale for like 7 bucks, outstanding! I thought someone would remind me today was Arko day, i feel terrible Chris, i let my friends down.

 

No worries, no one is offended, promise! So many things on TSD to keep up with! I wanna do actual "Derby Day" when the KY Derby happens soon... Use Bourbon or Rose scented products, and of course... A Derby Extra!

I will Google some soaps you list, I already have some R66. R66 is as good as any soap I've ever used.

 

Oh i would also like to give a mention for IB Amici a favorite in my den and only 3 bucks Chris, incredible performer.

 

Added to list of prospective choices!

 

If you do order anything, keep me posted buddy!

 

I'm just waiting until I am the last man standing in NB16.

 

Haha!! I just edited! That was pretty funny.

 

I'm here to help. What can I say?

 

Saturday Shower/Shave


Derby Day!

Shower- Noxzema facial cleaner, Dr. Bronner's All-One Hemp Peppermint bar soap
Pso- Homemade grapefruit PSO
Brush- RazoRock Plissoft
Razor- Muhle R41 on a Maggard MR5 handle
Blade- Derby
Soap- Arko with 10 drops of M-Bomb
Thayers Witch Hazel with grapefruit EO
AS Milk- TSD Neroli
AS- Florida Water

Another shot for the Derby today, mixed reviews. I had red lather, bit me on my upper lip, first time in quite a while however by riding the cap there was no tugging. I did 3 passes for a DFS, just missed the baby. The Arko scent I love, performance, so so. I was really focusing on riding the cap so I don't know if my cut was just a fluke or if Arko doesn't protect as well as Catie's Bubbles. Either way the alum closed it up nicely. I had more irritation tonight than with the GSB but the TSD AS milk cooled it right down. The Neroli also paired up well with the Florida Water. Decent shave to end the month and I'm looking forward to next month. Have a great day folks!

 

Nah, you'll have to wait until '17.

 

Chris, I forgot to mention. There is a method to my madness. My goal from the start was always to be versatile enough to achieve dolphin smooth shaves with all my razors again and again. I now achieve that consistently with the exception of one razor...my 1912 GEM SE. I get the results but not comfortably. I think I'm going to shim it.

 

Thank you, Doug. Very busy with the new job. Pictures are different because my daughter took the little corner of the counter in the bathroom that I had, so now all my stuff is sitting on her stool for picture and use.

 

@ob1page Congrats on the CT!

Seriously, what do I need to mentholate to get my own CT?

 

So you would recommend Soap of the Gods, Robert? I have been looking at trying some of these soaps as well (need to get to 2017 quickly ). The scents sound very interesting.

 

Absolutely! And 2 of the soaps are 7 bucks. I went with the Jared, outstanding! The smell is very luxurious, the stuff lathered like KMF for me. Very creamy, protective stable lather.

 

Where are you ordering them from?

 

Jared

 

Arko April in Russia

April 30

Razor - 1959 Gillette Super Speed
Blade -
Brush - Vie Long 12705
Soap - Arko
Post - Alum, The Mighty Veg

Final day of Arko April and I've got Arko back on the sink. And, in keeping with the last day that some of us chose, a Derby in the razor and the Veg in the wings. Now, I use the Veg regularly, so nothing too new there, but an Arko/Derby/Veg day. Brilliance.

Three full passes and the Derby produced a very nice DFS with no worries, and the alum was quiet. With a more aggressive razor this might well have produced a BBS but I had a great shave that left me smooth and comfy. The Veg just added to the final effect and I went out to conquer the world like a Napoleonic hero.

It was a fun month. All of the blades I revisited were magnificent, and I thoroughly enjoyed the shaves. That many days of Arko reminded me of how consistently great the lather is, and also made me miss some different soaps which is normal. So much for April, let the MAYhem begin!

Oh, the boys are back. Just in time to stir things up a bit. I didn't know they had made it until I saw Ivan trying to make it back here while I was driving home. He looks good considering all the travel.

​

 

Great write up Neal! The end is hilarious!

 

I have only been wet shaving for just under a year and a half and had mainly used creams up until fairly recently. I decided that I needed to learn more about soaps and chose to do an April soap focus. I used the following soaps during the focus.
Arko stick
Palmolive stick
Irisch Moos stick
Mickey Lee Soapworks "The Drunken Goat"
Mike's Natural Soaps "Orange, Cedarwood, and Black Pepper"
Mystic Water "Lime"
Mitchell's Wool Fat
Route 66 (several favors)
I learned a lot about soaps this month and have become a big fan of some of them.
I use the sticks for travel and get excellent lather and performance from all of them. If I had to rank the three, I would rank them on fragrance and Irisch Moos would be first, with the Palmolive and Arko tying for second.
This focus really showed me the meaning of YMMV. My least favorites soap was the hugely popular MWF. It was finicky about the amount of water needed to get a good lather and proved to be too much work. I also was underwhelmed by the fragrance.
Mystic Waters also does not impress me that much as far as cushion and lubrication.
The Mickey Lee Soapworks, Mike's Natural Soap, and Route 66 all impressed me. All three lathered wonderfully, smelled good, and performed very well.
The standout soap for me was Route 66. I have a sampler pack and have been working my way through the sample pucks.

Lather

All of the Route 66 soaps just exploded with a wonderful thick lather. It doesn't take much soap when bowl lathering to get enough lather for three passes. In fact, I can easily get a week out of one of the sample pucks. The lather is both slick and provides a nice cushion. I do not get irritation when using this soap.

Face-Feel

The Route 66 stays moist throughout the shave and does not dry out my skin like some soaps do. I do not use a balm when using this soap.

Scent

This is where I found a little inconsistency with Route 66. I like to be able to smell the lather while I'm shaving. I found that there is a big difference between favors. The favorite soap in my Den is Sweeney Todd. It has a nice citrusy scent that not only smells wonderful when shaving, but sticks around afterwards without being overpowering. On the flip side, I was very excited to try Retro Spice and liked the smell when I stuck my nose in the puck. Unfortunately, that was the only time I could really smell it because it was so subtle. I have smelled every sample puck and there isn't a single one I didn't like. It remains to be seen if any one of them can top Sweeney Todd as my favorite.
Route 66 remains my favorite soap and I am not actively looking anymore for new soaps. It was a SAD killer
Have fun in Mayhem!
Let's end the month with a group hug!