Hey guys - haven't been here for quite a while now, so it's about time for another focus month.
Which will actually be a 30-day-rule for me: The "Straight and Silly September"

Here's my equipment for the upcoming month:



The soap will be "Nanny's Silly Soap - Arabian Nights". There's not that much buzz about Nanny's in the respective forums - which is a shame, because it easily holds its own against the best out there. Maybe it's because of the lack of fancy label designs and hip marketing strategies. It's a bit soft for my liking, but other than that just an excellent soap.

Brush will be the Tuxedo - can't go wrong with that one

With my Wacker 6/8" wedge I will concentrate on angle and pressure and try different grips. This is one scary sharp razor which sometimes leads to a few blood spots and slightly irritated skin, so these 30 days will be a great opportunity to figure out how to avoid that!

I've had my first shave just an hour ago and it went as expected: Very close with a few tiny bloodspots around the left corner of my mouth (wich is kind of my "problem area"). 2 pass shave, first WTG, then ATG. Might just try 2 XTG passes next time and see how that will turn out.

AS today was Speick

Question:. I know some of the Crew sport some facial hair. Do any of you have any use for some moustache wax? Every now and then I grow a beard, usually in winter. For awhile I was experimenting with a walrus moustache, and I got some fancy moustache wax for it. But I rather quickly gave up on it and don’t see myself going back to a waxed moustache any year soon. So I have jars of Captain Fawcett's Moustache Wax in Sandalwood and Lavender scents with about a fingernail full of wax gone from each jar:



Anybody want them? If so, PM me.

Not good at all. Hopefully the water has crested and will recede quickly.

Looks like you're up for a good month. I have heard a lot of good things about the Nanny's on TSR, but I suppose not so much here because of availability in the US. Curious to hear more.

Thank you, Vince

SOTD September 1, 2017

Blade: GEM stainless
Razor: GEM Featherweight
Brush: Omega 10049 boar
Lather: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post: Witch hazel, Fine American Blend aftershave
WTG, touch up

Nice shave to start SEptember. Went with the Fat Friday setup for today and will start Stirling on the next one. The Featherweight worked well this morning but I needed a little more work on the touch-up to get where I wanted. No worries and no complaints. Nice shave in the end.

Have a great day!

Looks like you have a wonderful setup for the month.

SEptember 1, 2017
Gem Damaskeene Open Comb
Gem GTFE (7)
Ever Ready 100T with TGN Finest
CRSW Jeff’s Soap
Myrsol F/Extra

​

This morning was one of those mornings that we all have. Operator error on my part caused a couple of weepers and a good nick as well. The overall results were satisfactory at best. At least it is the end of the week and the start of a long weekend. I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday.

It happens to all of us! My recent bad shave was this past Monday. There's always tomorrow.

Praying for you Jim. I've been where you are, and it's not fun, but when you get through it (and you will) it makes you realize that you can get through everyday problems, no sweat.

Thursday's Shave...BBS:

Friday's shave...DFS:

That is all.

1 SEptember
The first shave of SE September

Pre-Shave: Hot Shower
Brush: 22mm Maggards Synthetic
Soap: Electric Sheep, Stirling
Razor: Superior 1900 Lather Catcher
Blade: Treet (3)
Photo:


This brush started of life(as far as I know) with a 3 band badger knot in it. I loved the little brush. It was like a little poof ball. Then one day I was cleaning it up after a shave when the knot fell out. It broke my heart, so I had Jim @Jayaruh reset the knot in JR #180. All was right in the world again. That was all except for this little handle in the back corner of my shave den. So this past weekend when I was ordering some blades from Maggard's I threw in a 22mm knot as well. The knot was cheap so way not, what did I have to lose? I would gain another synthetic brush. As we are all aware of synthetic knots don't bloom and what you see is what you get. After this first shave I have the opinion that the brush is on the little side just a little to much. I have found I like brushes between 24-26mm in size. Before I go and do anything drastic though I will use this brush for the next week of shaves before passing final judgement.

The order I placed at Maggard's had some Russian blades(won't get any use this month), a box of Feather FHS-10 blades and a container of Stirling Electric Sheep soap. I ordered the soap from the recommendation of a couple people. I was told that with my love for Arko it would not be a big leap to Electric Sheep with it's lemon and citronella notes. The only thing I could smell was the citronella. My Wife said she smelt lemon. The performance of the soap was excellent. It lathered very well and had a very nice slickness. If I could tame the scent of citronella it would be a no brainier. Just like the brush I will wait to pass judgement till after 3 shaves.

This shave must of been the shave of three's. Today was day three on the Treet blade. A two pass shave with a third XTG pass along my jaw line for good measure. I never felt the blade at all on my face. I was shaving off the lather and my whiskers were magically disappearing with it. I finished off the shave with a cold water rinse to try and thin some of the soap sent. It wasn't til I was headed in to work that I felt my face and found a damn near BBS shave. This razor is full of little surprises. I wasn't trying to get to BBS this morning just doing what needed to be done. Did not expect anything extra ordinary from the razor or the shave but that is what I got. If you have never shaved with a lather catcher from the turn of the century(early 1900's) you owe it to your self to try it once.

The problem I have now is do I shave with this razor again or do I move on to the Valet. I could be very happy and forsake all other razors from this point on with the Superior 1900. Though I did just get blades for the Valet in both stainless and CS to try. Next, the handle on the LC is a hollow aluminum/aluminium making it very light. Will it ruin the shave if I put a heavier handle on it? The handle from my Dammy fits the threads of the LC. I think I will try it.

Thank you, Randy. In reality spirits pretty high. Everyone at work is in decent moods and just trying to get the clean up progressing so we can get back up and running.

My wife and kids seems to be doing fairly well, and since we have a family with us, she has some adult company, so she is feeling better. We both have understood that this situation is getting better and eventually the roads will clear up enough to make it through. We are blessed to still have a house with power and water.

You guys are chatty, 6:00am on day one and I'm post 54
Today is my wife's birthday and we are leaving on a five hour drive to visit her parents. This will give me lots of time to catch up on this thread and decide on a focus. In the mean time, hear is my SOTD.
Route 66 Sweeney Todd Soap
Wolf Whiskers Brush
Art Razor Le Chef Razor
Lucky Tiger
Pinaud Clubman After Shave
Happy Friday!
I looked in my Wife's bathroom this morning and saw this setup and decided to throw in her first SOTD PIc

Friday, September 1, 2017

The Varlet Everset K2
Saponificio Varesino Stella Alpina
OneBlade Genesis V1
Feather FHS-10
Myrsol Aqua Balsamica
ADP Blu Mediterraneo Ginepro

​

Congratulations to your wife

1 SEptember 2017 Blade Focus Shave

Pre: Copious amounts of Hot water, soap from the container and a hot towel
Razor: '67 Gillette Slim Adjustable
Blade: Timor
Brush: Rubberset 303
Soap: Route 66 "Rum Runner"
Post: The Usual
After Shave: Clubman Virgin Island Bay Rum

Before I can really get into SEptember, I had to tidy up this Blade Focus. The Slim/Timor combo finished the week just as strong as it started. Set on the triple natural for this shave, I again came up BBS. 2.5 passes on @Salty Belle's "Rum Runner" and I was moisturized and smooth.
Splashed on the Clubman VIBR and SEptember is off to a rockin' start.
Sunday my newly acquired GEM MMOC will be up loaded with a PAL blade.
Have a weekend my fellow Denizens!!
WEAR RED TODAY!!

Mrs.chick.
Hope you have a time!

September 1, 2017

Razor: Gem MMOC
Blade: Gem by Personna (1)
Brush: Razorock Plissoft 22
Cream: Simpsons Luxury
Post: Alum, Listerine, Every Man Jack

I dimly recall that back in the '70s, when I first started shaving, I shaved a few times with a Gem MicroMatic that I had picked up at a flea market. I seem to recall that young and naive me was surprised to find that they had made a razor which took those scraper blades in the green dispenser. (Oddly, I don't recall ever seeing a Gem Contour, even though those should have still been in production.) I seem to recall liking the shaves but not the fact that the blades would rust if you so much as looked at them.

Forty years later, I'm older and somewhat wiser and looking at Gem razors and blades again. Today's shave was with a newly-acquired MMOC and the supermarket Gem SS blades. Honestly, I should probably have waited a bit to write this as I'm still trying to process this shave. On the up side, the result was a BBS. The down side was some definite heat from the Alum and some lingering irritation. Despite the MMOC's reputation, the only other issue was a weeper which was definitely from a technique fail when I had trouble finding the angle during an upside-down ATG stroke.

I think my big issue with this (and probably my other Gem razors) is finding the correct angle. The convention wisdom is to put the cap flat against the face. I suspect I'm having an issue with putting it flat enough and trusting that it will still be effective. This is something for me to work on this month. I'm also wondering that, in the end, a Gem may just be too much razor for my face and beard at this stage of my life. Definitely a lot to think about this SEptember.

Did your wife plan your wedding date so that you would never forget your anniversary, the day before her birthday?
Happy anniversary Brian and sympathies to your wife. Tell her happy birthday from me.