Woohoo! Thanks a ton! You saved me from having to buy some more as I only have about 1-2 more shaves worth of it left and I have been saving it.

happy to help out!

SOTD June 10, 2016
Injector/SE Focus month 2



Blade: GEM Stainless
Razor: GEM Featherweight
Brush: Artisan badger
Lather: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post: Witch hazel splash, Nivea sensitive balm

No pic today as we were packing up to head out on a family trip! Fat Friday it was though! Mitchell's Wool Fat was lathered with an artisan badger brush with good success. I had 48 hours of growth due to not shaving yesterday. The GEM Featherweight mowed right through it with no issues. I really tried to use NO pressure and let the razor and blade glide along. That worked pretty well. I enjoy the GEM but it can leave me a little raw. Today was a good shave however. The NO pressure mantra worked.

Hope you all had a great day!

As I mentioned above we left for a family trip today. I had a hard time deciding what shaving gear to take. We are driving so there are no TSA restrictions but there are always restrictions on space in our vehicle (and NO restrictions on the looks SWMBO will give)! I settled with the following items:

Soap - Proraso White, Ginger's Garden Salty Mariner
Razors - Schick G1 (becoming my favorite), GEM MMOC
Blades - Chicks, GEM Stainless
Aftershaves - Fine Platinum, Aspen Tiger (both samples), Nivea sensitive balm
Brushes - Satin Tip synthetic, Semogue 1520 boar

I brought some extra Chick blades because the Bunny may end up with me during my trip. I'm next in line for the East Coast pass-around. I've been on injectors and SEs since the beginning of May and really look forward to trying the Bunny.

I'll post some pictures of our trip in various threads. We'll be on the Alabama Gulf Coast for a while followed by visiting the in-laws in Mobile, Alabama.

Focus shave Saturday

The first shave with this razor felt a little rough and I was surprised because the other PRC razors I received had excellent edges from the factory. I gave it a good stropping and that did the trick, the edge was smooth and sharp giving me an excellent shave, an A in every category.

Irritation A Closeness A Smoothness A Sharpness A

SOTD
6/10/16

Pre: Hot shower, Nivea face wash
Razor: Gillette Fat Boy (setting 3)
Blade: Sharp Star (4)
Brush: TGN Finest in Olivewood Handle
Soap: WSP Formula T Barbershop

Post: cold water rinse, Maggard alum, witch hazel, Old Spice after shave, Old Spice Cologne

I got a really good shave tonight although I missed yesterdays shave almost BBS. It was almost great till at the end I decided to try something different, more on that later. So I rocked the Sharp Star for a 4th day and was really pleased with it. First pass WTG was good with good beard reduction not as good as in the past but I think that was because of a 2 day growth. Second pass was XTG and that saw more like what I would get normally on the first pass. third pass was XTG the other direction and now I was getting close. Fourth pass was ATG and I was really close to BBS so I started my clean up, started to feel a little tingle on my neck so I stopped right there. All in all it was a great shave so I started my post shave routine rinsing my face with cold water to close the pores and followed that with the alum. Got some minor burning sensation on my neck and it felt like it wanted to stick to my cheeks it was so close. So I got my witch hazel and splashed a bit of that on, waited for it to dry some and went to grab my Nivea after shave balm but...... I saw my bottle of Old Spice sitting there that I haven't touched in many years so I thought what the heck and grabbed that. It feels like it is mostly full so I put a little in my hands and patted it on my face and was met with a burning like I had put some really hot water on my face. I should of then grabbed the Nivea sensitive cooling after shave balm, but did I ....NO, I was feeling nostalgic so I reached for the Old Spice cologne and what happened next well lets just say I wanted to say all kinds of nasty things. For the first little while I only felt the burn like I was standing in front of a blast furnace. Next my face felt numb and then started to feel like my skin was pulled back and tight. I looked at the bottles and it said made in 1997 well I don't know if you would call them vintage or just old, and don't know if the alcohol concentrated in the bottle or not but from now on they will be display items only. Maybe in another 20 years I may try them again for nostalgic sake.....Or not! To top everything off the knot in my brush came loose as I was trying to clean it out for the night!

If anything evaporated from the bottle, I'd thing alcohol would be first. That would leave a concentration of oils used for the scent. Aftershaves tend to be high alcohol/ low scent oils. Do you also own OS cologne? Not sure if it would produce the negative outcome.
You mentioned shaving, rinsing, applying alum, then AS. Could applying AS on top of alum instead of rinsing alum then applying AS cause an issue?

I do this on every shave, and have never had an issue with not rinsing the Alum.

This another one of those razors I have been looking for. Needs some clean up, but good shave. DFS in two passes, and mostly quiet alum. The razor is a Western States MRG Co Western Chief model. Looks to be original scales. And patina and a little rust. The company was founded after the Platt family closed Catturagus Cutlery Co. In Little Valley, NY. The family is closely related to the Case family, and were also involved in Kinfolks cutlery.

No expert here. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. After completing razor activity I cool water rinse. With my face still wet it's alum time. I leave the alum on while I rinse my brush and if I used one, bowl. Then still in cool water mode I rinse alum off, followed by patting dry. Then I apply AS. If during Alum pass I get much sting that's my clue to reach for a creamy aloe product to apply over the AS.
I'm not sure where I got the notion that alum needed rinsing off. Maybe to keep it out of my mouth later.

Also @mrchick

I try it with any difficult to work puck. The water near me is some of the hardest in the nation, and I can tell a difference in lather while traveling. This was especially true in KY, softest water I've ever used... But that probably is why whiskey turns out so nicely in KY, apparently it likes soap too.

The Body Shop synthetic brush
Saponificio Varesino Manna di Sicilia
'58 Gillette Super Speed Flare Tip D3
Astra Superior Platinum blade
Alum & The Veg, Cremo Moisturizer


Loving the brush for face lathering. I'm figuring out how much of this soap to load, and it's in an air tight container so it's staying a little moist between shaves. My bowl is only used to dip the tip for additional water for 2nd & 3rd passes.
Haven't used my Flare Tip in quite a while, but with all the Weishi's showing up lately that's today's wildcard razor. Paired well with an AstraSP for three passes, then because it was going so nice, I kept going. Cleaned up great with little irritation and a DFS.

When you experience burning like that from alcohol AS, it's a sign that a bit too much pressure was used during the shave. Negative results can provide useful insights. Consider using a more aggressive setting, ride the cap, little pressure, and the OS might not be so brutal.

I don't rinse Alum. Straight to the AS, always alcohol based.

Totally valid! If the routine works, it must be the right one for you.

Jolly June!!!

Got a little bit too much wind and sun, and I'll be resting the skin tonight. Just a washcloth with a bit of Arko, and some drug store splash to freshen up. Hope everyone has a super Saturday!

I do rinse off the alum then apply witch hazel then the after shave. Yes I do have the cologne that's what I put on after the after shave that lit me up! LOL

Sometimes I leave the alum on, sometimes I rinse it off.

After rereading you post, you were clear that it was cologne. My bad.
And apparently it's OK to leave the alum on. My grandmother made us kids home-made playdough with alum. Made it taste bad so we wouldn't be tempted to eat it. I may be alum shy! I didn't use it for my first several months of newbie shaves. Now I don't skip it.
Next time you get an irritation free shave if your not gun shy, gonna try the OS cologne again?

Never apply cologne directly on your face especially after a shave. The concentration of the perfume is much higher than after shave. Combined with the alcohol it is going to burn.