Thank you! I appreciate it. Happy New Year!

I feel sorry for you. If that's the absolute best shave of the year it's nowhere but downhill for you. Great focus!

I plan on a level year of fantastic shaves

Happy Anniversary January!!

January 1

Prelude Shave

Razor - Steam Punk Gillette New LC
Blade - (3)
Soap - Route 66 Bay Runner
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Post - Alum

I have yet to finalize my focus this month, probably because it will be a bit unfocused. It will, however, involve shavettes/AC razors in some capacity. I'm sure I'll have it figured out later tonight or early tomorrow. In the meantime I have this great new (to me) New LC with a Voskhod in it that has one more shave left on it and one more as yet untried sample of Route 66 soap, Bay Runner. So, let's kick off the new year and month with that setup. The razor I know is fantastic, as is the blade, so let's see what I think of this soap.

The Route 66 Sweeney Todd is a fantastic scent. And, Bourbon Jungle was also right up there for me. The Black Pearl was nice but not really my thing. As I lathered the sample I could tell I was going to like Bay Runner. I picked up the cinnamon touches early on and the complex mix of other scents from citrus to sandalwood were a great mix. Very masculine, clean and I like it. It produced what I have quickly learned is the typical Route 66 lather and provided a fantastic shave for the New and Voskhod. No blood, extremely smooth, perfect start to the year. Couldn't have been better. Alum was quiet as opposed to the last couple of days on the Consul.

Hope your year started as well as my first shave of the year went!!

That's the way to plan! We'll try to keep MAYhem under control to allow that.

Keep those Route 66 reviews coming. I haven't bought anything shave related in about 2 months, but I can see some 66 in my future!

I believe the soap you're referring to is Rum Runner. Perhaps a Freudian slip as you were thinking of Baywatch runner, like this:

New Year's No Pic Head Shave:

-Supply SE
-Stirling 26mm Finest
-Stirling Electric Sheep
-Stirling Unscented Balm



I did not shave my face today. It was kind of a busy zoo, helping my son move stuff from my dad's house to his apartment.
When I got home tonight, I shaved my head for the first time. I use a clipper with no guard anyway, and I just sheared last night, so I figured, why not?

The biggest thing I learned is that I have a lot of knots and bumps on my head. Knots and bumps bleed when you shave them off. A lot.

I started with a Trac II, and was frustrated with how long it was taking from all the clogging and rinsing. So I switched to my Supply SE which had the heavy plate on it. Actually, it went fairly okay. The alum block said that I need a ton of practice, but I don't know that I will do it again. My head feels kinda cool and it was fun to try it though.

Well now that you put up a picture of Yasmine I have no idea what I was thinking about at all!!! Yeah, Rum Runner. THANKS!

I highly recommend it. And for me to say that about a soap, well, yeah.

I've read nothing so far...but Happy New Year! I am back for my 25th consecutive month...so first off:

2017 Kick Off Shave



Started off 2017 just like 2016, except this time I know what I am doing! It's hard to believe that a year has passed and during that time, straight style shaves became the norm. Route 66 is the soap I learned with, and will piggy back on @PLAla Month of Route 66 plan. And for @PickledNorthern and @RyX , I will be using the new Stainless Parker for a loose thirty day rule (R66+Parker+Derby+Plisson) for 2 January until month's end. I pulled out the TSD Iced Barber Shoppe, always a treat...this scent by @Queen of Blades is one of my favorite interpretations of the genre. Now, off to read the first seventy posts. If you are new, welcome! Just toss a question out, and we'll answer it or find someone who can. We love watching the perfection of great shave techniques! Calm night at home after a GB win on television. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado!

Have a great Monday!

Go ahead and have the cartel warehouse outside Rome ship three cases of Shenanigans for immediate delivery.

That is a nice looking razor. Maybe you have said this before, but do you actually prefer the shavette to the straight? Is it an upkeep thing?

I am mostly just doing it for the challenge, and just acquiring a new skill set.

I think, for science, we need to know how the toggle shaves with different blades. I recommend some Russians, Japanese, German, and a Tiger or something from the same comapany.

Thanks so much! This razor used to reside in Seoul Korea, but @Keithmax shipped it to the prairie when he heard me muse about taking up straights. He wanted my face to get wrecked by the finest...and it's been a great razor!

Ok, this is how I break it down, I know you know most of this, but will write it out for newer converts:

I get equal results with either razor style now. The saving grace was totally mastering real SR first. Shavettes, with thin blades, low mass and resulting low inertia, require the user to be simultaneously more delicate and deliberate than with traditional carbon steel. Shavettes punish bad angles, and are capable of making a completely painless cut, unlike an SR which screams at me for a few milliseconds before it digs in too badly. When I have time for a leisurely shave, including stropping and oiling and all that, real straights are kind of fun.

The dividing line for me is honing! I have no desire to buy stones right now, and since the shavettes I like are all DE based, blades shouldn't ever be a real issue. And while I am on blades, they don't matter that much in a shavette. I've gotten pretty much everything except Indian Wilkie to shine. Lather, on the other hand, matters more--way more than in DE shaving, and probably more than traditional straights at the margin.

I heard that stropping a Tiger with an emery board first really helps!

I look forward to May. No fear

Pulling a @Drygulch ? That's a good looking Ralph Aust

I looked at the Parker line. The SR1 at 1.6 ounces, and it's heavy weight cousin the SRX at 2.3 ounces. They seem to be the same blade holder, different scales. Not the Beauty Queen that Jared @PickledNorthern got from Irving.
Still looking...

She looked a little worse for the wear when arrested in 2001:

Think it was a rough night? I love it when celebrities get busted and you get their "true" looks.