January 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

SOTD January 18, 2017

Blade: Chinese Schick
Razor: PAL Adjustable
Brush: Artisan badger
Lather: Route 66 Barbershop Hop
Post: Witch hazel splash enhanced with Stirling Executive Man, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, touch-up

Good shave this morning. The PAL Adjustable is still taking some time to get used to. I tried setting 4 today and liked it better than 3. I'm gun-shy with this razor after I hacked up my neck a few days ago. I'm a little tentative and am using so light pressure that the first pass isn't doing as much as it should. I may put this one down and come back to it later for a more detailed focus.

Superb lather from Route 66 and the artisan badger that I got from @Drygulch last year. I love this brush!

To make the record official - I am definitely OUT for the popsicle slice and dice event. Y'all are crazy.

Have a great day!

 

Hump Day shave. The 7 o'clock Green continues to excel. Near BBS with very minimal touch up. Two passer. Today's cream was TOBS Coconut. Probably my favorite out of all my creams. Great scent and it whips up into a very nice lather. Finished off with an ice cold towel and Canoe AS. Great start to HUMP DAAAAY. 'Bye folks.

 

SOTN January 17th


PAL Injecto-Matic
C Schick
La Toja (Grated in bowl)
Satin Tip The Purest
Myrsol Lemon

Good morning friends. Marvelous first shave from the PAL Injecto-Matic last night. First of all I have to give a very big thank you to Roger @Hodge who put this beautiful razor up in a PIF. It is in immaculate condition, I am very humbeled to receive such a pristine razor. On to the shave, all I can say is WOW. The PAL IM was very smooth and didn't feel aggressive in the slightest, but it shaved with such efficiency that I haven't experienced before. After one pass WTG I was at DFS status after a second XTG near BBS and a couple of touch-up strokes brought the baby home. I finished with a shot of Myrsol Lemon, which has a surprisingly good dose of menthol. I'm going to keep riding the PAL train because it was just too good to stop after one. Have a great day my friends!

 

Dune. Dude...

 

Actually, it was worth the dollar plus the postage to send it to you just for the commentary.

On the whole, your experience sounds a lot like my separate experiences with the razor and blade. The razor tries to be a clone of the Zamac Tech but is marred by the fact that the safety bars are too short (narrow? shallow?) If you stay on the cap, it's not really a problem; however, the razor likes to dig in if you have chubby cheeks or fall off the angle.

The difference between a Soviet and a Chinese razor:
- The Soviet razor is solidly built but ignores details like mechanical tolerances
- The Chinese razor uses state of the art technology to precisely make a razor out of the absolute cheapest material

The Tian Fu blade is total crap. I'd argue that it is worse than a Tiger. The Tiger describes itself as a "razor" blade, but not necessarily as a "shaving" blade. As a result, I'll accept the possibility that it is actually suited to some purpose for which it is actually intended. OTOH, the Tian Fu blade, by virtue of being bundled with a razor, is assumed to be a "shaving" blade... a task it fails at miserably. (Beard reduction though friction?)

I think the problem with Chinese razor blades is simple lack of scruples. China is well-known for counterfeiting many products, including DE razor blades. It makes a perverse sense when you consider that the cost to make a DE blade is practically nil. Unfortunately, it seems to make it very difficult to get the good ones here in the US.

Lastly, you make a good point about the disservice that such razor/blade combos are to the public. The only thing that saddens me more than the point you made is the idea that, somewhere in the world, some struggling soul is putting down the pennies he scraped together and actually buying one of these. It makes me really wish that Gillette would take the Sterling razor, bundle it with a Platinum Plus blade, and sell it in the US.

 

Call me a skeptic,

Still not sure.

I was thinking on this, maybe the glass jar on the bottom of the fly traps we have out side in the summer. I can leave it out there for a few months.

Still skeptical

Hmmm...

What kind of mileage do you get from it?

I'm not willing to spend more than postage on this, but would be happy to trade one of my hot sauce bottle aftershaves for a glass bottle of the Veg. Likely, it will just get sent on to some other fool, but never let it be said I wouldn't try something.

 

I'm not sure, but I think he just called you fat AND told you that you don't know how to shave......

 

No, that would be me calling myself fat with questionable technique.

 

That was either a good save, an awesome comeback, or the truth. Regardless, multiple thumbs up are in order.

 

I would agree with your comparison between the Russian and Chinese razor to a point. A few Soviets haven't been all that sturdy but, yes, they are more solid as a rule.

 

January 18, 2017

Razor: F2 Gillette 195 Adjustable (5, 4)
Blade: Astra SP
Brush: Razorock Plissoft 22
Cream: KMF fragrance-free

For today, I've returned from my sojourn in the land of Mach 3-compatible carts. The KMF lathered well, as usual. On a whim, I turned the Fatboy up to 5 for the first pass as this blade had already seen several days of use. For the second pass, I turned it back down to 4 to avoid stupid mistakes. All told, a DFS+.

One observation- I really need to figure out the area right under my chin. The whiskers there are particularly coarse and I can tell that I get closer there with the Mach 3 than with the DE. (It's the one area that consistently makes me hold back from calling a shave a BBS.)

 

Once again the ex-wives rule applies. Any attempt to mock or insult me likely falls on deaf ears. Too many have tried and failed, and most of them were cuter than him. Not that he isn't cute.

 

Thank you Charlie. That is the factory knot. The brush is a Zenith Boar B02. That model has an aluminum handle. I really like the fact that brush was broken in from the first use. I had another brush with the chrome over copper handle and managed to destroy the handle trying to remove the old knot.

 

I have one of those too. I was maybe going to Dremel it out later this week. What did you do to it, if I may ask?

 

SOTD 1/18/17
Razor: Barbasol Floating Head
Blade: Gillette Platinum
Brush: Troth Handle with Envy White 24mm Badger
Soap: Wheat State Barbershop
Post: Cold Water, Alum, Thayer’s Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Fine American Blend

Sticking with not sticking to my focus of using larger straights or rotating through my soaps, I tried a new to me razor today. This is one of the few DEs I still wanted, a Barbasol Floating head. Got it as part of a trade with @mrchick. I have three more DE blades out of their tucks after this one, so I am slowly working through my stash. I am down to 80 Rapira Sweedish Supersteels, 14 Gillette Blacks, 4 7 O’clock Greens, 2 Feather, and one GSB. At my rate of usage, that should last until about 2030. Went back to the Wheat State, because I want to do a review on the soap, but hadn’t used it in a week and a half. Also had only used it with a straight. Lathered up, set the cap on my face, and went to work. This razor has a different feel than my Gillette DEs. I’m not going to call it aggressive, because to me it was very smooth and efficient. I had three days growth, and it was almost a DFS with one pass. Second pass done, splashed a little water on the neck to get the rest of the soap slick, and buffed. BBS smooth! Cold water rinse, noticed two weepers. Grabbed the Alum, and holy crap, where did that come from? Shave was smooth and comfortable, but the Alum was hot. Need to try this razor a few more times to get comfortable with it. Thayer’s and aftershave, and called it good.

 

Good picture with excellent gear Andrew.

 

My Barbasol Floating Head is a favorite of mine. I hope yours settles down with use.

 

Still maintaining focus
Route 66 Perfect Storm
B-400 Brush by Tom
Henry Mueller Traveler Razor
Alum
Lucky Tiger
Pitrulon Classic AS

 

1/18
Continuing my focus on hard to lather soaps.
Mystic Water Vetiver & Oakmoss
I soaked Jayaruh 94 with a whipped dog high mountain badger knot and then shook & squeezed dry. I loaded the brush and whipped up what i would call cream instead of lather in the bowl. This was truly the consistency of yogurt. I think that is the consistency that this soap should be. When applied to my face, it was very slick and did not clog my Schick Krona with a Wilkinson Sword blade. I think I have gotten what I want out of my Mystic Water soap and will return to the Mitchell's Wool Fat for the remainder of my 30 day focus.

 

I've been a voracious reader of SciFi since my teen years. Used to keep a paperback by my bedside to read myself to sleep. Not so much as I need glasses to read fine print and it's all fine print now.

Yeah, like these dudes? (Battleship, The Movie!)