After the hideous Treet/Hong Long shave I had last night, I needed a better shave tonight to make up for it. Just one pass WTG, as I'm still feeling tender on half my face, but much cleaned up.

Arko with lots of water, because I wanted something nice for a change, rather than just using up the VDH
40's SuperSpeed
VDH Boar (lost another hair. Seems to be one per shave or two, but still lots left)
LORD razor blade. Seventh shave, still going strong.

Clean, smooth shave, no irritation except where the Hong Long beat me up last night. If I faceturbate, I can feel stubble, but it's a good shave.

If the LORD makes it to 10 shaves, I'll just chunk it anyway. I still have blades I'm testing out, and if I use them too long, I forget what the previous blade was like.

The Lord blade did a heck of a job in my popsicle stick razor today.

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I'm super excited. Just saw my 30DC brush package sitting on the table when I got home and opened it up. It is beautiful and was well worth the wait. Jason @jtspartan did an amazing job. I will be introducing her with my next shave.

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Daughter's health is immensely more important. Thoughts are with you.

Great work with the MWF!!! Still my top soap, I do believe. I've never had the issues lathering it that it is infamous for either, but I did the research first like you apparently did. It's the slickest lather I get when I use it. Which reminds me. I need to use it.

Oh, if only.

July 2017 - Time to straighten up!

July 6 @RetLEO-07 Inspired Vintage Shave

Razor - 1918 Gillette Old Style
Blade - (1)
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip
Post - Alum

After reading @RetLEO-07 's post about his first successful use of the Fat, I got a hankering to grab the Fat and go vintage for a night. So, let's see. The Fat - first made in 1893.....check. Let's go with a Silvertip brush......check. My oldest DE razor, the 1918 Gillette Old Style, currently 99 years old.......check. And for the blade? Well there's always the choice of a carbon. Too cliche. None of the Russians seem right for this particular shave. I do have the PAL blades I haven't tried from back in the day. But, perhaps I just need to think "classic" blade to make it work. That's IT! Use a Feather. Yes, my brain went into overdrive and came up with the Feather as the perfect blade for a vintage inspired shave. With a Gillette Old Style. What's the worst that can happen?

Well, I'm happy to say that the Fat was marvelous! I've been toying with so many new soaps that I had let it languish too long. I love the Fat. Still my favorite. The lather is absolutely the slickest I've found. And the badger was a perfect match for creating that fantastic lather.

I'm also happy to say that the shave was bloodless. Yep, even with the uber-sharp Feather and the ultra-uber-aggressive 1918, no blood. As for irritation? The alum says there's some of that. Got a nice "glad to be alive" burn out of it and that's ok. Two passes and one minor touch up to get the baby in the house? That's shaving, people. I think one of these days I need to go for a one pass baby with this thing.

I feel great! Vintage cravings satisfied for the moment. I'll get back on straights tomorrow.

I'm honored to have inspired you Sir!
Unless the blades I'm waiting for get here by Saturday(PolSilver & Rapira Platinum Lux) Sunday's shave will be with my newly acquired 1911 OLD and a GSB plus MWF. Hell, it might be that anyway.

I am looking forward to your date with the single ring...woo.

Friday July 7 just around midnight - puzzled by The Fat

Rockwell 6s on plate #3 / Topaz Platinum ( 2 )
Jason's non-30DC LE Cypress Badger brush
Kent/MWF in wooden tub
Alum and TSD Sandalwood Milk Aftershave

This month I am focussing on using two soaps, my Italian frankensoap to relax with and Mitchell's Wool Fat to learn to use. After reading all about how hard MWF is to lather, and how one needs to use special techniques of "blooming" and so forth, I assumed it would take a month's Focus to get it properly dialled in. Instead I'm finding it just like any other soap to use. Am I doing something wrong and missing out on some extra special properties of The Fat, or is that just the way it is?

I didn't bloom the puck before loading my brush -- I never ever have bloomed any puck. If the soap seems dry, I just wet the brush a little more and swirl it a bit longer on the puck. So I soaked my badger brush, shook it out, and started swirling it on the MWF. I did swirl a little longer than with some other soaps before the brush looked well-loaded with soap. I then dumped a palmful of water in my lather bowl and got to work. I did put in about twice as much water as I would with Cella, for example, but otherwise my technique was exactly the same. I got a good lather going, added a bit more water until it seemed the right consistency, and then applied it to my face and shaved.

That was it - nothing fancy. The lather itself seemed quite slick and provided good glide and protection. My normal passes got me my normal near BBS without irritation. I finished off the shave with the TSD Milk just for a bit of extra moisturizing in hot weather and for the pleasant scent.

Am I missing something here in my use of the infamous Fat?

The one thing I did that was different was to apply Chris' suggestion for upward skin stretching to get my skin taut along my jawline. It really helped get the troublesome stubble patches there.

Sounds great!!! People have the same type of things to say about Williams. Don't let it confuse you. Shave away!!!

That would make two of us at least!

July 7, 2017
Cobra Classic
Schick Proline (6)
Zenith B02 Boar
Route 66 Bay Lime Twist
Folsom & Co Shambala


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A very good quick shave this morning. The big boar whipped up the Bay Lime Twist into a rich and slick lather. I stuck with my 2 pass routine of XTG followed by ATG. I paid particular attention to my lower right neck and can say the results in that area are improving. Overall a solid A+ shave. I finished with a splash of F&C Shambala. I hope everyone has a great Friday.

Today I went with TOBS Jermyn Street (and TOBS JS AS) with the Fatboy and the cypress Razorock synth brush. Totally underwhelmed by most of the experience. Don't know why. Got a great shave and all; I just wasn't feeling it, and ended up with some weepers which annoyed me. I had a guy who used to work for me who would sincerely say things like "well Mars is in retrograde" or "Venus and Mars are out of alignment until August 3" or other nonsensical planetary observations when things would go wrong. For lack of a better excuse, I'll just go with the "Mars is in retrograde" option. The only other suspect at the moment is the Razorock Silvertip Synthetic knot, which I'm finding way too floppy and soft. Previously, I had to sink it way down in a handle to give it backbone. I may see another knot switch coming on.

By the way, the exception to the "blahs" this morning was the Fatboy that @Screwtape hooked me up with. Loving the shave it gives (which is similar to my venerable Slim). Now my old Fatboy is making the journey to Delta Echo as we speak in order to get reworked and cerakoted. Here's hoping it shaves as well as this one when it comes back.

Happy Friday all!

7 July 2017 R.E.D. Friday Blade Focus Shave

Pre: Hot water, soap off the puck, hot towel
Razor: 1966 Schick Krona
Blade: Gillette 7 o'clock Green
Brush: Omega 10098
Soap: Route 66 "Rum Runner"
Post: Hot/Cold rinse, alum block, cold towelx2, Dominello Vitali Calming Post Shave Moisturizer
After Shave: Clubman Virgin Island Bay Rum

Final day of the shave week. It's Friday so that means "Rum Runner".
I'm a big fan of this particular Route 66 soap. Smells great, it's slick, leaves a nice Post face feel. Not to mention it pairs up great with VIBR
So the 10098 whipped up a great lather and the Krona/Green duo offered up a 2.5 pass DFS. All the contestants in this audition did really well. Unless the PolSilver or Rapira I have on order show up any of them will work well in the Krona. Either way I'm a winner.
Sunday's shave may be with my newly acquired 1911 OLD. I'm really looking forward to using that 106 year old razor.
Wear red and have a great Friday!!

Turn that frown upside down Mr.! Your shave was still probably better than mine (not a bad shave, but nothing thrilling). It's not my "shave day" since I normally do every other, but decided to anyway. I used my VDH razor and Barbasol just to keep it quick and easy. Similar to you, I sent out my Slim Adj. to Razor Emporium for a tune up service. I'm looking forward to its return! At some point I'll buy a candidate (or three) for a full-blown revamp. I love the work that Delta Echo does, and think I'd like one done in the Cubano color scheme. Looking forward to seeing how yours looks when you get it back!

SOTN July 6th


Gillette Aristocrat #58, Made in England
Super-Max Platinum(2)
30DCLE W/ 26mm Maggard Synthetic
La Toja

This was my second shave using the #58 with the Super-Max. My impression of the #58 is that it is much like the American Aristocrats, smooth and efficient. I made the comment to Neal a few weeks ago that perhaps the Super-Max Platinum might very well be the budget blade king, I still stand by that statement. It is smooth and sharp and can be regularly had for less then $8 per hundred.

Last night was my first go with the 30DCLE brush and it was amazing! It fits very well in the hand and the 26mm Maggard synthetic whipped up a slick, dense, lather in no time. It also took a good chunk our of the remaining La Toja, which I think only has one shave left in it.

Have a great day my friends, and can you believe it's Friday already?

Great photo Clint! Your Zenith looks very well broken in!

The 30DCLE handle is such a thing of beauty!