April 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Simpson Chubby 2 Synthetic
MDC Original Le Bol en Bois
Asylum Have Works Evolution
Polsilver Super Iridium
Fine Fresh Vetiver
Tom Ford Grey Vetiver

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April 6

Gillette Old Type w Astra SP (2)
B&M Seville
TGN Finest Fan/Maple handle
Thayers Unscented
Barrister's Reserve Cool AS

Day 5 of the Canadian Old Type focus, day 2 with the Astra. Another rich lather with the Seville and the Fan. 3 passes plus touch ups resulted in my best shave yet with the Old Type. I did spend extra time on my neck without going truly ATG, and I do have less left this morning. Used more and shorter strokes on my neck while still riding the cap. No additional redness this morning either. I would call it a darn fine shave. Finished with the Reserve Cool for refreshing end to a nice shave.
Have a great day all!

 

April 6 (Thursday ) - creams and anything but Gillette DE foci

Schick Krona / Voskhod ( 6)
Alluminati Envy White brush
Godrej shaving cream
Alum and cold water

The next cream in alphabetical order is Godrej from India. It comes in a plastic tube and touts having lanolin for extra smoothness. From the ingredients list it also contains glycerin and beeswax. An almond-sized squeeze in the lathering bowl with my usual palmful of water was whipped by the damp badger brush into enough lather for a couple of shaves. It was a good slick lather that maintained itself during my passes. The cream smells sort of vaguely spicy (I can't pin the mild scent down closer than that), works well, and leaves a nice smooth skin feel afterwards. I have had this tube kicking around unused for a few years, and I notice it contains parabens; I don't know if current formulations still do or not. Either way, Godrej is a very good quality shave cream, especially considering it cost about two bucks. (I bought it from an Indian eBay seller along with a bunch of other stuff.)

The Schick Krona loaded with the Voskhod gave me its usual good close shave with no drama. Alum had very little to say. The skin feel from the cream was good enough that I didn't bother with any postshave products.

Have a good Thursday, everybody!

 

Nice setup Jared! That's a sweet razor too.

 

Beautiful photo Mark!

 

Stunning photo. How do you like the razor?

 

Nice setup Jason, with some cool gear in the background too!

 

Thanks guys. Three things always get my dining room table cleared off: Holiday suppers, company and tax time.

 

What a nice layout. Did you pick the flowers to photograph the brush, or vice versa?

 

Thanks, Andrew. That old 'Brownie' was a functioning camera in my mom's family at one point in time.

 

Day 11 of 30 days of Henckel straights

Still using the Square Toe 7/8 Henckel 17. I got a really nice 2 pass shave. DFS

DIY Pre-shave Oil
ABC Face Lathered
24mm High silvertip set an extra 10mm deep
2 passes, WTG, WTG
Sampsons All Natural Aftershave Balm
Square Toe 7/8 Henckel 17

 

With some warm days ahead, I'm putting away some of my soaps for next fall. I'll be doing SOME soap-shaving this spring and summer, but not with my current arsenal.

 

I am a sucker for orange and I just love that handle!!! Reminds me of a warm creamsicle ice cream that just started to flow together.

 

Suppose I should actually post my three shaves so far this month. I have mentioned I do use a spreadsheet to track my shaves. Here’s April so far.

April 1- Used my Korn American Double Hollow and the last of my Wheat State Sweet Tobacco sample. Good shave, with little irritation.

April 3- Broke out the Rolls Razor. Awesome BBS shave with three passes and some touch up. I actually get a better shave from this razor than my straights. Also started using my last sample before I return to my normal rotation of soaps. Hopping to finish it up this month. Mama Bear Soaps should be in every shaver’s den. Good slick soap, easy to lather and tons of cushion. Scents are great. I can’t really pin this scent down, but it has some ozone and a floral piece. Like it a lot.

April 5- Geneva 5/8 spike tip. It will be muted before its next shave, but it had a fresh edge on it from a pro honer. I like the sharpness, but I always feel like a fresh JNat edge is a little rough, like a feather DE on its first two shaves. Stropping and use calms them down into a more comfortable shaver. Got a DFS, but had two cuts from the spike tip.

 

Glad I am not the only one that uses a spreadsheet to track my shaves.

 

April 6 - The feather flies the coop, Mama Bear makes a visit and Dark Chocolate gets bitten.

Merkur 34C
Feather New Hi Stainless
Dark Chocolate brush (Jr #148)
DIY PSO
Mama Bear Ice Citrus
Alum/ Thayers/Nivea SPSB

After my experience yesterday, I wanted to see if technique was to blame or if the Feather was showing wear. I left it in for one more shave. The gang associated with the Pass Around box decided that certain samples were taking room and had so little left that they should be distributed permanently. I got my hands on a a bunch, one of which was today's soap, Mama Bear Ice Citrus. Having so little to work with and not desiring to waste it, I fell back to old habits of applying the dollop to the bowl and adding about an equivalent amount of water and began whipping. Lots of whipping and several additions of dribbled water yielded a fluffy lather with a some shine. Not my shiniest but it worked.

First thing I noticed was that this soap had lost all its menthol and nearly all of its scent. I could just barely detect a hint of tangerine or citronella but whatever it was, it was faint. I was disappointed that my first menthol soap experience would have to wait. The soap felt light on the face and , to me, had less slickness than Stirling. If pushed for a preference, I think I prefer Stirling a bit more but MB is acceptable and worked fine.

3 passes and touch up yielded some alum sting and a DFS. I knew today was not to be pushed when I saw the XTG being louder and draggier than WTG. Definitely, this blade was done. As nice and sharp as this blade is, I think I can only really get a single shave from it before it dulls enough to be an issue. I was extremely light in touch and focused on angle but it did not result in the quality I obtained on the first day. Only downside was that I stupidly placed the razor on my neck and it dropped against it and left a razor mark the length of the blade. No blood but a maker none the less.

Tomorrow: Supermax Super Stainless is loaded and ready for a trial run. Check back tomorrow for which new sample will be tried next....

 

This could get fun.

 

Stay safe.

 

Stay safe. We had constant tornado warnings yesterday.

 

Thank you. This California boy isn't used to this popping up on his watch