Splash

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April 22 (Saturday ) - tail end of the creams

Rockwell 6s on plate #3 / Topaz Platinum (1)
Alluminati Envy White brush
TOBS Sandalwood cream
Alum and TOBS Sandalwood cream as a balm

I am reaching the end of my box of creams, with just my 3 scents of TOBS left to use. After that, on to the soaps!

I am very familiar with TOBS creams, although they seem to be a bit easier to load and lather when they are fresh creams like these ones rather than decade-old semi-dried croap like my Eternal Tub was at the end! In fact, half the number of swirls I used to do in the Eternal Tub still heavily overloaded my brush. I ended up with enough lather to do a leg shave on a Sasquatch too.

The Sandalwood scent is new to me. I don’t think it's a "pure" sandalwood; I think TOBS mixes in some floral notes and other scents too. However, I quite like it. It smells of the wood still but with a bit of a sweet, spicy overlay. I noticed it's one of the scents that TOBS offers as a complete range of products covering everything from the bath or shower to deodorant. If I still like it as much when I am halfway through this tub, I may look at adding not just the aftershave splash or balm but the shampoo, bath soap and deodorant to my lineup.

Shave was my usual excellent shave from the Rockwell when using TOBS -- two passes to an error-free BBS. After the alum rub, I worked some of the leftover lather into my skin, let it sit while doing cleanup, and then rinsed it off, to see what the postshave feel of this newer formulation TOBS is like. My skin now feels a bit dry but very smooth and clean.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! And a good focussed discussion going on the LE 30DC brush in the more private thread!

Do you use a DE or SE to clean up? I know I haven't fully committed to The Dark Side and use a Fat Boy to finish. Need to kick my training wheels off and get it all!

I have used sandalwood products but feel no great attraction to them. Might come from doing residential construction and working in a wood shop for thirty years. My scent receptors may be fried?

It is the one I want, just need to figure out if I want to drop the coin.

Yes, but you also shave with Williams, so I am having a hard time deciding how to interpret that statement.

I am going to order some cyber bricks to throw around here.....

AWESOME thank you. I am fan of them.

Very awesome!! Keep at it. I will use the DOVO some say next week.

The Parker SRX is, in SR parlance, 5/8", 6/8"? I see Chris @Bama Samurai's often in his photos. How tall is the DOVO blade holder?
There's that optimum size of more than 4/8, less than 8/8 that seems most suitable.

Thanks Fuzzy. It will take me a while to get up to speed with this thing, but I am enjoying it.

I just measured my SRX. With a blade in from the spine to the edge is 11/16.

It is not as wide.

Sounds like for you using a wood scent of any kind would be a "busman's holiday" (taking the traditional bus tour holiday when you're a busdriver...). You would normally be taking a shower to get rid of the sawdust smell...

Thank you, Sir! I have been using a Weck Sextoblade shavette. It's all of 5/8, but 2-1/4 long. The blades are thicker than a DE type. Like a GEM SE with the wrap on the spine. Good service life. I should try stropping to extend blade life.

I absolutely love my Weck Sextoblade. Great shaves every time.

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I haven't been posting my shaves much this month. But rest assured, my focus on enjoying my shaves is going quite well, with only one real snafu to report. Whilst I was shaving with my CJB Kamisori, my darling 5 year old barreled through the door, knocking it into my arm and resulting in a nice, tidy inch-long slice just under the lip. She was just coming to tell me she loved me, though, so forgiveness was offered immediately and I learned to lock the door while shaving with shavettes. The last few shaves have included the afore-mentioned CJB (which performed admirably apart from the afore-mentioned mishap), a Weck Sextoblade, a GEM Damaskeene, a Gillette Aristocrat, and a Merkur 34C. Soap-wise, I have been enjoying Stirling Port Au Prince and Baker St, CRSW Limenthol (which was really nice on a hot day like today), Razo-Rock Puros (one of my favorite scents every), Arko, TOBS Sandalwood...whatever strikes my fancy. Aftershave splashes have been courtesy of Razo-Rock Puros, Florida Water, Osage Rub, Clubman Citrus Musk, and Thayers Rose Witch Hazel. Good times, my friends, good times.

Today was a nice Limenthol shave with a side of Osage Rub, and finished off with Alfred Sung Hei, then sitting in the sun watching my five year old daughter wander gleefully around the soccer field while a game happened around her. Then antiquing with my oldest daughter, during which we discovered and I bought a Gillette Slim ($7), a Gillette Black Beauty ($7) and a GEM 1912 ($5), all in fantastic shape. I also purchased a shave bowl, which will show up in a picture this week. It was hand made by a local potter, and I grabbed it for $5 as well. Good times. Then I found a bottle of Armaf Club De Nuit Intense, which I have been looking for for quite some time. I got to laugh a lot with my daughter, which is especially special as she will be graduating next year. I happily perused makeup and clothing stores with her just to get to spend some time together. It was so great, in fact, that she found out her male suitor was also at the mall, and told him she would have to see him later because she was "spending time with dad". That made my day. Good shaves matter, but good times with the kids are the times that really, really matter. I'm now closing down the day with some Wynton Marsalis and a glass of 1792 bourbon. Good times, y'all. Good times.

I also want to thank everyone who is working so hard to make the 30DC brush happen, and especially @jtspartan. It's a really cool thing you are doing, I'm happy to be a part of it, and I have never looked forward to a brush as much as this one.

Arko Adjustable April!!!!!

April 22

Razor - 1962 (H1) Gillette Slim (9)
Blade - (3)
Soap - Arko
Brush - WCS Synthetic
Post - Alum

Third and final shave on the Derby Premium. Of course the Slim is wide open and ready to go and the synthetic and Arko are moving mountains of lather into place. The blade gave a fantastic shave last night and the only thing that could wreck it is if the Slim is too aggressive at this point.

Common wisdom says a mild blade needs an aggressive razor to perform at its best. After two passes and touch ups I can confirm that to a point. Definitely a smooth shave again. The alum was just a bit on the warm side for the first time with this blade and the finish, while a very high level DFS, was not quite as nice as last night. I'd say that perhaps a 7 or 8 would have been a better max for this blade. Still, can't and won't complain at all. The Derby Premium with whatever "premium Swedish steel" is, was a very good and workable blade for all three shaves. I'll switch over to the Derby Extra tomorrow to see if I can feel any difference between blades over three shaves.

Just 8 days left in April....and......Arko Adjustable April brings.........MAYhem!!!!! One part of that is sitting in front of me right now.....wanna peek? Here you go!

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OUCH!! Now, as long as the next thing after it happened was NOT your wife telling your daughter she was supposed to wait until you were on your neck, everything is fine! Lock the door, wear a towel or shorts around the waist and....for ultimate safety.....a t-shirt or something like that. I learned that one the hard way when a pain stick dropped out of my hand.

It looks worse than it felt. Thus far, the wife has not displayed any inclination to harm me. And trust me, I am always covered from the waist down when shaving. I haven't dropped a razor yet, but I don't need to be circumcised again!