OCtober 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Thank you. I still have plans to thin the heard a bit. This is proving to be much more difficult than anticipated!

 

4 is the max that I will use a blade as well

 

October 19

Razor: Cadet OC
Blade: GSB
Brush: Maggard 24mm
Soap: Stirling MITA
Post: Cold water rinse, Alum block

Now that October is over half way finished, I have gotten going using my one open comb razor. I really enjoyed using the Schick Adjustable Injector. A great razor that became an almost automatic BBS. I will be on the look out for one to put into my rotation. It is now on its way to @Bama Samurai to test out.

The Cadet definitely takes some getting used to after using the Schick. The Schick was really a simple process. If you were off on the angle a little bit either way it was forgiving enough that it did not cause any problems. Maybe a slight irritation, but no weepers or nicks or any blood loss. The cadet on the other hand is aggressive and very picky with its sweet spot. You miss it by much and it will let you know. Going from a razor I could probably shave with in my sleep, I remembered very quickly in picking this one up that I have to pay attention to what I am doing. No blood, but some definite irritation and a couple weepers were the result of my first pass with the Cadet. By the time I was done, I think I had found its angle and things were definitely better. I ended up with a solid DFS in terms of smoothness, but there was most definitely some irritation and the alum let me know. Looking forward to the next few tries with the Cadet and then will do some blade experimenting with this aggressive razor.

 

I know the feeling oh so I well. I thinned out a total of 5 razors and it was hard to do.

 

Razor: Gillette Goodwill 1930's Ball End Open Comb (Made in Canada)
Blade: Personna Platinum (7)
Brush: Shavemac Zebra, Honeycomb 2 Band
Soap: Route 66 Bourbon Jungle
Aftershave: Route 66 Bourbon Jungle Balm

Finished the week with the Gillette Goodwill OC and I'm happy to say I got great shaves with it all week. The Personna Platinum held it own for 7 shaves. The week with the Route 66 Bourbon Jungle soap and balm was excellent.

 

Thanks very much Chris.

 

Beautiful background and photo Doug.

 

Thank you very much Clint. you are to kind.

 

@NCoxSTL what are your thoughts on Gillette Rubie blades? I just placed an order for a Russian variety pack that includes some Voskhod (I am down to my last tuck) along with a few I haven't tried before including Ladas, Rapira Swedish, Sputnick, and Gillette Rubie.

I vaguely remember reading something on the Rubie, but I can't remember if it was positive or not.

 

Not. Worst Russian I have found. I typically avoid it like the plague. It looks like the Platinum Lux Rapira but not from the same company, factory or even the same planet in my opinion.

 

Rubies were no good for me either

Sent from my Galaxy S6 using Tapatalk

 

I am back and posting several shaves. This month focus is to use soap or cream several times in a row under different conditions. Now I am focusing on P160 from Razorock. Is a croap with a strong marzipan scent.

Shave 1, Omega Pro face lather. I load a Futur with a fresh Super Iridium blade and opened it all the way. The lather was rick and slick. Four passes and just awesome no irritation and BBS. I had to reload the brush in the middle but no big deal.

Irritation A+ Closeness A Smoothness A Sharpness A+



Second shave bowl lather with Vie Long silver tip. This brush is very soft and of all my brushes it has the least back bone. I enjoy using this brush with creams. I put a fresh Feather in my Ikon SB and built up allot lather. The Ikon with a Feather is my travel set up because it consistently delivers a close shave with no irritation. It is the mildest razor I can use and still get a BBS.

This was the worst shave I had in recent memory. The blade felt rough and tugged, the irritation started immediately. I should have binned the blade and reloaded a new one but I pushed on. Several weepers and then done. Applied the alum and wow, that burns. On the other hand it was a very close and long lasting BBS but the irritation was unacceptable..... so I deleted the photo and binned the blade I was so pissed.

Irritation C- Closeness A+ Smoothness C Sharpness B

Pic Deleted

Shave 3 Rooney brush with good backbone and bowl lathering. My face is still very irritated so what to shave with I had a Hart Steel 7/8 freshly stropped and decided to go with a straight. I take this as a good sign of my straight technique because I felt I can control the shave as mild as I want in the irritated areas.

Build us some good lather and went to work with the Hart, when I came to the irritated areas I lowered my angle hence lowered the aggressiveness. 3 1/2 passes and done, zero blood and no added irritation. All the irritation is the residual from yesterdays screw up.

Irritation A Closeness A- Smoothness A Sharpness A

One more test, the hot scuttle test for this soap. So far it has performed well but with several days in a row I but it a notch below my top soaps/creams. It performs better when I make thick lather rather than a runny lather but the wet lather is what I want for SR shaves.

 

Well, I have 20 of them inbound. Maybe the subject of a future Focus.

 

I don't even want to show my photos any more. You win, Doug!

 

Shave 12

Tonight I went with my freshly honed Boker. I had a nice 3 pass shave. I am still working on getting my neck. This is very slow learning.

My off hand (right) seems to have stalled out on getting more comfortable. I have very little touch shall we say. Not very good control on pressure. I will keep at it.

Tom


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yesterday's shave. Second shave on this blade off the Arkansas stones. Pretty impressed with the edge. Very keen, but a little harsh. Still shavable. Going to call this one done, and move on to my next razor.

 

I've still got some bouncing around and, of course, they'll get their shot at some point in the Grand Blade Trials. I think some of the Russian sellers include them in the packages just to get rid of them. When you can buy 140 instead of 120 for the same price, and the extras are Rubie....looks like a crap dump to me.

 

OCtober-een!

October 20

Grand Blade Trials
Razor - 1962 (H1) Gillette Slim (9)
Blade - (3)
Soap - Arko
Brush - Semogue 620
Post - Alum

Final shave on the Gillette Silver Blue and the plan was to go BBS on two passes. With the Slim wide open it should be a good possibility. This blade is incredibly smooth and definitely sharp enough to do it. With the Semogue creating gallons of lather the base was there....so how did I do? Well, I'd say in 2.5 passes. Definitely BBS but juuuuuuuussssssst a bit outside for the baby in two. However, it only took some touchups to get it done. The only side effect from it is a bit of extra irritation as I was giving it all I had for the two passes. Still a great shave. I could easily stock up on GSB's and live out the rest of my shaving life with them if something were to happen to the Moscow blades. Definitely a top 5 blade for me and one I hope they keep in production for the long haul.

Tomorrow we switch to the Gillette Platinum Plus, the newest blade I've found by Gillette. It's made in Brazil and available at some Walgreens locations. It's a bit pricey but that's nothing new for drug store blades. I think I paid just under 8 bucks for 9 blades which was the only option. I've read other reviews of it that indicate it may be a really high quality product that not only shaves great but lasts a long time too. I may stick with it past the three normal Grand Trial shaves to test that out.

I know yesterday's Russian costume was a bit hard on the eyes so I thought I'd try to give you something a little less harsh today. Here's something a bit more on the feminine side to make up for it.

​

No, no. No need to thank me. It's the least I could do.

 

Great photos!

 

Oct. 21
Soap - Proraso Green Tub
Brush - Omega 10098 Boar
Ceramic Suribachi Bowl
Blade - Blade - Gillette Silver Blue - Russia
Razor - 1937 Gillette Sheraton
Aftershave - Old Spice

New blade today and a nice smooth two pass superior DFS. It is amazing the difference between day 5 and day 1 on these blades. I think from now on, I will change it after my 3rd shave. Life is too short for nicks. After a cool water rinse, I splashed on some venerable Old Spice. As I walked past my wife she said, what is that smell? I replied Old Spice and Vitalis, to which she replied... "Did your grandfather send you a package form 1950?" I'll take that as a compliment and call it a vintage Friday.