Brian, I'm glad you had a wonderful time with your daughter this weekend. I'm sure you'll see her again soon, just maybe not soon enough.

Sharp looking setup, Clint!

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Thank you Charlie.

Glad you had a good visit Brian!

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Thank you Andrew.

Looking good, Charlie!

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March 20

Gillette SA w Sharp Star (4)
Soap Commander Endurance
TGN Boar/Maple Handle
Thayers Unscented
Stirling Spice Balm


Day 14 of the '69 Black Beauty focus. Day 3 with a Sharp Star. Changed it up a bit and kept it at 5 for all 3 passes, just for kicks and giggles. I hadn't shaved since Saturday, and the Sharp Star with four days on it felt quite tuggy on the first pass, but smooth enough after that. I think 4 days is plenty for this blade. I really liked this blade in a Tech, but I would say, at this point, that I would put it behind Polsilver or Astra SP in the SA. I'm going to switch back to a Voskhod for the next shave for comparison sake, as I never had the Voskhod at as high a setting (7) as I've done with the other blades.
Good lather and scent with the Endurance, have no weepers or irritation, and finished off with Stirling Spice balm for an overall Spicy kind of morning.
Have a great day all!

March 20th - Back to Art of Shaving and trying adding scent

Merkur 34C HD
Gillette SharpEdge Yellow (Day 4.5)
Dark Chocolate Brush (JR#148)
DIY PSO
Art Of Shaving Unscented / Eternity cologne
Alum/Thayer's WH
Nivea S- PSB

Decided that my lathering technique has gotten better and wanted to try AOS Unscented cream to see if anything changed. Since all I have is an unscented cream, I also decided to 'mix' my own scent. The wife likes Eternity cologne so I wear that from time to time. Before I started lathering I sprits 3 pumps into my bowl with a little water and a dollop of soap. While whipping it up it did take on a mild scent of Eternity. I ended up adding 2 more sprits. It did add some scent to the mix.

Since I have a tendency to under water my lather, I decided to go farther. Today's lather had the best brush for making it aiding the process: Dark Chocolate (JR#148). The lather whipped up nicely was thinner but much lighter than the Stirling. It felt light on the brush and on the face. It was definitely shiny but did not have the heavier feel my typical Stirling felt like. I believe this is because I do not add enough water.

Shave was CCS+ to DFS-. I think my hair growth was short after all the Scientist shaves and was more challenging to cut. I maintained the low angle , light touch from yesterday and even though the face while lathered felt clean, post clean up yielded that the soap hid some of the stubble. No cuts but I wasn't sure if this lather was better than the thicker lather I use to produce.

Alum stung but dissipated quickly and WH was fine. I am not sure if any typical irritation has been lessened even though I reduced pressure and angle to the point of not cutting as closely as over the weekend.

Little experiment to add some scent was fun and did find it beneficial.

Question: Should perfect lather be light and just stiffer than runny or should it be thick? This lather applied such that brush strokes were not very evident. It smoothed out easily from the brush stroke. I did not lose any froth during the 15min shave time. Normally, I would see some brush strokes and have a heavy thick lather.

This is a personal preference type of deal. When I started straight shaving, I found that the heavily hydrated, thin, almost runny lather worked best for me. I still find I prefer this, and I will add water to my lather if I find it to be too thick. This is one reason why I like Stirling, as it can take a ton of water and not break the lather.

Thanks Andrew!

You have a cool Avatar.

SOTD March 20th


Schick B1
C Schick(4)
Ever-Ready 200T TGN 24mm finest
RazoRock Son Of Zeus
Fine L'Orange Noir

I just had an amazing shave this morning with this setup. After trying and failing to pull the knot from my ER, I decided to do a mini focus with it to learn to get the most out of it. Loading the ER till it was full really made it perform better, and I had enough lather for 10 passes at least. The Schick B1 was amazing, not nearly as aggressive as the C1 and didn't feel like it was going to bite me if I lost focus. Have a great day my friends!

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Thanks, Charlie!

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Nice B1!

Artique. Cold. Freaking. Aftershave.

Glad you got to have a good visit. The leaving part is always sucky.

That pic really brings out the grain in the wood. That really is a pretty handle.

I tried to buy my wife a mac the last time around. I have never used one. She is computer challenged and was resistant. My son convinced me that even though the Mac would he more user friendly down the road, the griping and resentment I would have to put up with while she was "forced" to learn a new one wasn't worth it. So I didn't.

I only get one from the Personnas. But they are so cheap when you buy them on Amazon it doesn't really matter.

Cool pic. Can I ask what the stuff in the background is?

Thank you, Jared. It is an old model of an antique fire engine. I would guess it is from the 60s or so. It is on an antique white oak dresser. I have limited photo ops within striking distance of the ensuite where I shave...