December 2016 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Yup, I'm on my way to work now.

 

Dec 5 Decadent December shave:

It is hard to feel decadent early Monday morning getting ready for work so I broke out my 'vintage' AdP. Not really vintage but it is the older AdP that smells amazing, it is the best smelling soap I have every tried but it is not the best preforming soap. Not terrible just not in the top tier.

Used a big heavy Hart Steel 7/8 and a Simpsons Tulip 2 in Super to round out the lineup. The lather was pretty good and smelled great. The edge was silky smooth and the four passes went without blood. Slight irritation and BBS. I would say the slickness is a notch below my top soaps and aftershave is pretty dry. Tomorrow I will add some liquid lanolin and break out the Holy Hand Grenade, 2011 R41.

Irritation A Closeness A Smoothness A+ Sharpness A

 

Monday, Decadent December 5, 2016

Druida Manchurian
Panna Crema Nuavia Verde
Blackland Blackbird
Polsilver Super Iridium #2
Barrister and Mann Reserve Cool


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Thanks very much Keith.

 

You are on a roll.

 

Great picture! I love the scent and feel of that aftershave. I had to stop using it, because of a skin condition. If you don't have any issues with citrus EO, that is great stuff.

 

Thanks for the offer, Tom. I may take you up on it after I get through a few of these other razors.

 

Great picture, Mark! Very colorful!

 

Thanks Jim!

 

Just let me know. It is yours when you are ready for it.

Tom


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That really is a stunning brush.

 

Great shaves and pics today, everyone. No shave for me today; I was gone out of town all day visiting my son at college, and I just got home. Too bushed to care about whiskers tonight. Nothing better than the shave after skipping a day though. Have a good, safe week you all.

Merry Christmas!

 

The Aspen would be my LT choice.

 

you're a good Dad, Jared .

 

Continuing on my straight focus


After 2 full months 40 plus straight shaves. I am finding I am getting excellent results on my face jaw snd chin. My neck on the other hand is a bit of a challenge still.

So I believe the remainder of this year, I will be working on improving my neck shave.

Tom


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Its a very short lived and light clean scent. By the time the menthol I put in it wears off, the scent is gone. Good on days I want to wear cologne, or days with lots of meetings when I shouldn't wear a fragrance.

 

Two and a half years into it, still working on my neck. I can get BBS with a DE or SE, but can't bend my arm the right way to get the straight to make the same passes. It keeps getting better though.

 

Decadent December!!

December 4


Razor - Rapira el-cheapo
Blade - (1)
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip
Post - Alum, Nivea

Anyone who shaves with the Mladost 2 will probably agree that it is a rather harsh and potentially painful thing if you don't watch technique, stay on the cap and let the weight of the razor do its thing. There are two ways to fix the Mladost and make it feel better. First, just work on technique to outshave it. Second, use the Rapira razor. The Mladost 2 will suddenly feel like the Aristocrat by comparison.

In my quest to be decadent in my blade choice, yet appropriately and "sovietly" anti-decadent, I think I found the perfect match. The Sharp Star blade. Wonderful blade. One of my top three. Fantastic NOS blade that is smooth, sharp, just a joy. The Rapira razor....that plastic and tin (ok so maybe thin aluminum) cheapo you can get for a few bucks...absolutely not the pinnacle of quality. It's a bit tricky to get the blade in right, even though it has four corner tabs for alignment, and the gap and exposure it presents is scary. It can be rough and bloody if you don't watch it. And, I didn't watch it tonight.

My strategy was to take that wisest of advice you hear here often. "Ride the cap". And, for the first pass, it seemed to work. Definitely a better feel than I usually get with this razor and no blood. The second pass was not so great. I guess I had trouble holding the angle right on the XTG. And, if you add any pressure at all, and as light as this razor is you're tempted, you do what I'll call the "stick and jump". Basically, as you start a pass and put pressure on the razor it sticks for a micro-second as the blade digs, then skips and lands again. This provides a wonderfully parallel two cuts. Fortunately I caught what was happening and released pressure quickly, but not before a couple of nice nicks in perfect alignment. And, I managed to get another nick near my goatee as I applied pressure on the way by. Fortunately, no stick and jump on that one.

The result of two passes....near DFS. Ok for a day off shave. I just have to go get my glasses tomorrow so no biggie. But the alum was fierce and reminded me that, while the blade may be a favorite item of the decadent shaving gods, this razor is the perfect item to balance it out and destroy its imperialistic decadent tendencies.

Hope you had a good weekend and a great start to your week! I'm at the end of mine and the start of my weekend! And I'm very happy about that.

Still seeing some great shaves on here and looking forward to many more this month!! Keep 'em coming!

 

December 4, Dual Comb focus, test #1

Gillette FatBoy E1 (setting 4)
Rockwell blade (15)
TOBS Avocado croap
Nameless drugstore brush
Alum, Thayers Witch Hazel Original

After yesterday's good shave with the Fendrihan Scientist stainless and a vintage Schick Plus Platinum blade, I took the Rockwell blade that had previously rasped me in the Fendrihan (after shaving nicely in the Rockwell 6s) and put it in my Fatboy to see how it would do there.

I even bumped the Fatboy up a notch from my usual 3 to 4. The result: a very comfortable shave, except for one spot where I reopened an earlier weeper. Alum was quiet and the witch hazel probably unnecessary.

Conclusion:. The two rough shaves with the Fendrihan and that Rockwell blade were not due to the blade being past it. Despite that, I decided 15 shaves was a respectable run on the blade, so I used it a final time with the Fatboy to shave my armpits (also with no problems) and then retired it to the blade bank.

Tomorrow I will try the Fendrihan Scientist again with a fresh Rockwell blade to see if it just hates that brand. Once I know the answer, I will drop aggressive dual comb December for awhile in favor of some comfortable decadence with mild razors and samples of fancy soaps. After a couple months straight, I am getting a bit tired of old TOBS Avocado croap anyway...

 

I would say 15 shaves is quite respectable. And pretty amazing based on some other data I've gotten on the Rockwell. I'm interested in how the fresh blade goes in the Fendrihan.