Clint, that's great news! I'm praying for your continued progress. You need to feel better so you can enjoy your motorcycle trips when the weather improves.

Thank you Charlie. I am sure I will get better but it is just going to be a long road.

Very much true. I suspect that we could pick just about any decently well-known blade (except for the Tiger) and a scan of the forums would find equal numbers of people who swear by them and who swear at them.

I have to admit, though, that it confuses me that I'm having decent results with a blade which you describe with terms normally reserved for Chinese blades.

Thank you, Clint. Have a great day, my friend!

I think we could all take lessons from you on how to celebrate Valentine's Day. My wife is pretty forgiving (she is married to me after all), but there is no way she would appreciate the Mantis as a gift. Fixing to toilet on Valentine's Day is a nice added touch!

Super cool!

Thank you, Jared!

Too funny.

Man I love Red Green.

Hang in there , Bud. Sometimes the damn PT hurts worse than the original condition a guy is healing up from. Glad you are seeing some improvement.

Thank you Jared. At times it does seem like the cure is worse than the problem. I am just going to put the work in and see where it goes.

Now I realize why Neal's wife decided to "go" with him in the first place.

#49



-Irving the Razor
-Semogue 1800
-Reef Point Espresso
-Stirling Gentleman

A very pleasant shave this morning resulting in a solid DFS. I like shaving with the Kai a little better for its overall grip and feel, but I definitely get better results with Irving. It is considerably shorter, and narrower at the blade holder, so I do better trying to go straight east/west on my neck.

As I get better with these razors, I am mostly concentrating on angles in my trouble spots. As I incorporate my off hand more and more it gets easier.

Have a great day.

Wonderful, glossy lather!

So with the sale of a couple more razors, I am down 13 so far for the year. I am admittedly up four brushes, but my hardware count is still at a -9 so I don't feel too bad. I have eliminated two test tube racks full so far.

Reef Point rocks!

Feb 15 - How NOT To Get a Good Lather....

Merkur 34c HD
Derby Extra
AoS Black Pure Badger Brush($60 - no other way to distinguish it)
AoS Unscented Preshave
Stirling Sharp Dressed Man soap
Alum
AoS Unscented Post Shave Balm

​

Today I was excited to try out Sharp Dressed Man form Stirling. My Experience with Pacenza was very good so I was expecting the same today. Of course, best laid plans... I was a bit surprised with the soap after unwrapping in that the scent did not envelop the room as did Pacenza. The scent was there but it was not nearly as strong in this sample. The sample puck felt firmer too.

I had prepared my brush like always by soaking it while showering and dribbled a little water on the puck before working off some. This time, I shook out a good amount of water from the brush expecting to not repeat my last failures. After an extended time rubbing the puck with the brush, not much came off onto my Pure Badge brush. I started to work the lather. It was small and thick and continued work and add dribbles of water. It never really exploded like last time. At this point, I started adding more water each time. This was my demise. It lost its firmness and turned into what I can only describe as warm ReddiWhip whipping cream. You know that watery mess you get when the can of whipped cream gets warm. It loses its creaminess and looks and acts more like water. That is what I had now. I decided to squeeze the brush to see if any good lather was in it and all I got out was ... water. Lots of water. The brush was wetter than I had anticipated and probably contributed its water to this mess little by little as the soap climbed the bristles. I decided to squeeze out the water and grab more soap.

Not wanting to admit defeat or to throw out a great product, I used the watery mess, what was even watery than yesterday if you could imagine, for my shave. This stuff went on like real cheap paint that doesn't have a prayer to cover anything. As a testament to Stirling, as thin as it was, and I do mean it was crazy thin, with the Derby blade, I felt nothing. Now That is not to say the alum test went perfectly but the soap did give me a layer of protection that I would never have expected to be there considering my foolish efforts. In no way do I feel this is cause to believe the soap was at fault. No, it totally resides in my efforts. this is only the second time trying to us a soap so this is expected to happen. Plus, this stuff is too nice to waste on practice. When I get a good lather, I want to have stubble at the ready to take full advantage of it. I am hopeful that day will be tomorrow.

The Derby Extra blade again slid across my face or should I call it hydroplaned across it. It took 4 passes to get a good shave. During the first tow though, I felt like the blade was doing nothing at all. I really couldn't tell if the blade was cutting anything because I always felt stubble. With the Wilkinsons and Merkur blades, I could at least slide my hand in the direction of the pass and feel it being smooth. I do not feel that way with the Derby. I might go so far as to say that it was the ATG pass that did all the work. I do have a DFS to maybe BBS-. I definitely feel the shave is better and closer today than yesterday. All though the shave though, I expected this to be the last day for this blade and have a stubble riddled shave.

Alum, was a different story. It bit me good. I was definitely irritated. this, I am sure was because I was buffing with the blade and probably was too dry and irritated the face. Oddly enough, I did not bleed today. Again a testament to the Stirling for offering great protection even watered down an insane amount. OF course, using a blade known for being smooth and not super sharp doesn't hurt either.

Will be using the Derby again tomorrow(3rd day on same blade). Not sure if I want to use AOS or TOBS tomorrow to get a fair comparison with previous blades that did not get a shot with Stirling. I will be disappointed not to use the Stirling since it has been a pleasure.

Sharp Dressed Man does have a nice scent as well. So far, I do not believe I will find one I do not like. I will say that I wish it had a stronger scent. I do not have a good nose but it was barely noticeable during the shave and the lather was noted by my wife as being mild. After the shave, my wife really needed to get close to me and barely noticed the scent. Piacenza was obviously noticeable and hour or two later. I will say that this would not in the least deter me from buying Sharp Dressed Man again. It was a great scent and I am looking forward to a full tub. Also, the weak scent could be attributed to my overly watering it down. Will need to see what future lathering with it will do.

Jared, out of curiosity, what is your favorite brush?

Tomorrow's shave will be better, I'm sure. In the meantime, you might consider trying a couple of practice lathers in your palm or bowl using your Stirling SDM and Jared's earlier instructions. Hang with it!