Welcome back! I hope you are doing well.

If you have not been chosen by the Veg, (i.e. the cat piss smell makes it impossible for you to enjoy it,) check out this stuff. No cat piss smell:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005WLLCH2/?tag=thshde-20

Hope everything is OK, Jim.

Well, I tried t get in a shave on three days growth last night. My dermatitis is flared up so bad the the first touch of the straight was painful. This happens when I get too stressed out. Only thing to do is put my steroid cream on my face and let it heal. I did a single WTG pass with an injector to mow a little bit, and called it good. Hope for a normal shave on Sunday.

I also seem to get these flare ups more after using carts on business trips. This was a larg part of why I started wet shaving.

Put the Merkur through its first test today and I must say I'm very happy! I used the blade they sent with it. I do need better blades and soap/cream though! Oh the choices!

Bin the carts. It's not worth it. I've not had any serious skin issues since doing that. (Other than gaping wounds)

The 34c is a great razor. Congrats on surviving the first shave. It only gets better from here.

SOTD October 15, 2015

Chinese Schick
Schick L1 injector
Trader Joe's synthetic brush
Speick shave cream
Witch hazel, Speick aftershave, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, touch-up

No pic travel shave. Away for a family wedding that is this evening. Nice shave with Speick cream and aftershave.

Riding the injector train!

Have a great weekend!

The problem is, I can't always check a bag on business trips, and DE, SE, and SRs are kind of frowned upon by TSA. And these no notice trips to DC are the ones I really have to shave on.

I have some Russian made Gillette Silver Blues incoming. Plus a pack of Vs coming in to try in the near future.


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October Off the Focus again?

Cremo Cooling & Omega boar
'59 FatBoy @7 and Voskhod
Alum, Pinaud S. E. AS



Practice was last night, nephews wedding this evening. Rather that "learn" anything new, I took the safe path for a no nick shave. Cremo did well in the cooling of their cream, Omega built a good brush numbered #20248. Those Gillette #195's - my face likes em, especially with a Voskhod blade. Three well known passes for no nicks and a DFS+. Alum reported no specific burn, just that all over tingle of just right. Choose Special Reserve for the special occasion.
Good evening folks!

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Not sure if it's me or what, but tryablade will not load on my iPhone. Any others having this trouble?

Hope you are get to feeling better very soon.

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Shoot me a with pm your address and I'll hook you up with a vast selection of blades. I went a little overboard in purchasing during my first 10 months.

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It's loading fine on my laptop and my Note 4.

Okay Shave #2 with the Custom Men's OC Super knurl with Feather Stainless Platinum coated blade. Same green clay soap from Lisa's but I used a brush from Omega that I have considered sub-standard and that held true today as well. I'm thinking it's Boar bristles rather than badger. It only says natural bristles, but stiff and several broken hairs just lathering the soap, even with a hot water soak for this brush.

The green clayed soap, is great but you need to watch that it doesn't start to dry as the clay will start tightening up the face. A quick re-lather touches this up, and it provides a slick and soothing lather especially after the first pass.
I preface this Shave by saying that I have a migraine so patience wasn't there. I did have a decent bleed free Shave, however after going over with the alum block, I confirmed that I was a bit rough on places I focused too much on. A bit of burn around the mouth, and chin as well as a few parts of my neck. I should have only taken 2 passes, but forced the third. My mistake and I will learn from it.

Still, all in all a good shave. I decided I like rinsing the blade under running cold water as opposed to a sink swirl. Because of the touch of razor burn, I decided to use some aftershave balm my daughter gave me a few Christmases back from Bath and Body works. It's soothing after the cold water wash off. It's a bit heavy on fragrance, labeled as their black version, but my wife likes it, so I don't mind it.

All in all, I really like this razor and the Feather blades. The soap too, but think I will pass the brush on to my brother in law that wants to try wet shaving. I like my badger hair brush. I also like shaving when less is going on in the house. No washing machine running, no dog at the door whining to come in. Patience is indeed a virtue and I must work on it to get my Shave perfect.

I just photographed the Omega brush and razor.


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Give that brush a chance to break in before you get rid of it. Takes a few weeks, but the feel changes. Tips get soft, but it has good backbone.

Restarted my phone and it's working now!

Boars do take a while to break in. And Omega is pretty good quality. I don't use anything but synthetics now. I had a Van Der Hagen boar when I started but it shed a ton an then I got a nice synthetic and pitched the boar. The synthetics are super soft, user friendly, make great lather on the face and in the bowl. I've never tried a badger brush but my two synthetics don't leave me wanting for anything.

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