Liking the setup today Doug!

Thursday SOTD



Razor: Joris Palladium Black\White Pin Stripe
Blade: Gillette Spoiler (D5)
Brush: Declaration Brushworks Washington 25mm
Bowl: Symmetrical Sheet Metal
Pre-Shave Scrub: MRGLO
Pre-Shave Balm: TSD Iced SubZero
Shave Soap: Frosted Woodland Custom Blend
Post: Handmade Soap Co. Soothing AS Cream
Aftershave: HTGAM Al-Fin
​

Guy.

Thursday morning:

Stirling Mentholated Pre-Shave Soap
Razorock Plissoft 26mm Monster
Super Speed+Astra day 4
Stirling Margaritas in the Arctic SS
Gold Bond Moisturizer
Fine Snake Bite AS Splash
Drakkar Noir EdT

Colder and colder!

Thursday's Adjustable Shave


Proraso Pre Shave
Musgo Real
Jayaruh #220
Parker Variant (4.5)
Gillette Silver Blue
CWR
Thayer's Lemon WH
Aqua Velva

I started off with Proraso Pre Shave. The Musgo Real Shaving Soap face-lathered well with the Jayaruh #220 synthetic brush. I did two passes with the Parker Variant Adjustable razor and Gillette Silver Blue blade set on 4.5 and ended up with a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayer's Lemon WH and then Aqua Velva AS. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

Thank you. I made this one. I've made a few for myself, have traded a few others, and made the 30DC LE handles for the fine folks on the forum.
Brush Family Photos

November 8

Weber SS
Astra SP (1)
Simpson Chubby 2 Super
C.O. Bigelow shave cream
Thayers Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, Pinaud Clubman aftershave, and Aramis EDT

You did well.

November 8.
GREAT SHAVE. !!!!

Stirling Spice. Love it. Don’t smell anything like Old Spice. But I Really Like it.
Fuller brush Reboar myself.
R41 Razor with RazoRock S.S. Barber pole Handle.
Bolzano blade. (2)
RR Alum
Nivea post shave balm.
Tabac aftershave.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

November 9 Plans

Weber SS
Astra SP (2)
Simpson Chubby 2 Super
MdC unscented
Thayers Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Alt-Innsbruck aftershave

Doug, that's a beautiful Red Tip. It looks new. Great photo today. Better get all the outdoor photos you can before winter!

Storybook Soapworks - Coffee Spoons
Ever-Ready 100T | Elite Razor Manchurian
Star 1912 | Gem PTFE

​

I'm always willing to try out a soap that claims to have a singular coffee fragrance. There are plenty out there, but a few of them have coffee as a note accompanied by cream, sugar, spirits, or something else. Until now, Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements' "Spring-Heeled Jack" and Van Yulay's "Espresso" were my picks for most accurate singular coffee fragrance. Van Yulay having the slight edge from the soap and PAA from the splash. While both of these do a nice job conveying coffee essence, there's always a slight creaminess that belies its authenticity. I'm a self-professed coffee snob. I make coffee at least three times per day using the French press method, freshly grinding, meticulously weighing both the coffee and water to achieve the perfect cup. I go through at least 2.5 lbs of beans per week. I've also spent years sorting through various roasters, and I have three that I use routinely. One of which is 3 miles away from my work, and they hand deliver. As a result, it's rare that I ever prepare a cup whose beans were roasted beyond 1 week prior. It should go without saying that I know what coffee smells like. I also understand that region and roast cause the fragrance to vary widely, but there is a common element. Storybook Soapworks has quite accurately reproduced the intoxicating fragrance of real, medium roasted, Brazilian coffee. I am in love with this soap!

On a scale of 1-10, the scent strength is 6-7 for both the soap and splash. The soap starts and finishes the same with an immediate coffee fragrance. The splash has a mini-development such that initially and for the first 5 minutes or so, it has an over-roasted (think Starbucks char-roast) bitter fragrance, but it quickly settles down to the lovely scent that the soap had. The longevity is fairly short such that I can no longer detect it 3 hours later. Granted, I'm drinking coffee as I type this, but this is my natural state.

I've addressed the performance of Storybook's soaps before, and after having used "Hook", "Shaken", and now "Coffee Spoons", I'm convinced the latter 2 have markedly increased slickness. It could simply be my familiarity with the base contributing to my dialing it into its optimal state, so I can't confirm the base has changed. This is a good argument for differentiating between "reviews" and "first impressions". Regardless, I'm quite impressed with the performance, and I find it to be competitive with my favorite artisanal soaps.

November 8, 2017
Jamie's Night Shave.

1. Stirling Lime pre oil.
2. Stirling Frozen Tundra Soap.
3. SEMOGUE 2000 Boar, a brush that gets better after every use. Love my Semogue!
4. Schick Injector Type G8.
5. Blade= Schick Proline B size 1st shave. I used the Artist Proline & was blown away with how smooth it was, I finally got the size that fits injectors, I loaded several blades into an empty injector. Wow, very sharp and reminded me of a 1970's Schick Plus Platinum! that sharp in a injector, not as smooth as the COLONIAL GENERAL Shave, but the schick type G is a aggressive razor. A little blood, due to carelessness. But certainly a sharp shave in a Type G.
6. Master Witch Hazel. Stirling Frozen Tundra A.S.
7. Stirling Gin&Tonic balm.

SOTD - 8 November 2017



Have a great evening!

11/09/17 Shave of the Day
Face Wash with Detroit Grooming Ludington Glycerin Sandalwood Bar Soap
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Sandalwood Shampoo/Conditioning Puck
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements CUBE Mentholated Preshave Soap
Cremo Astonishingly Superior Lathering Sandalwood Shave Cream
RazoRock 400 Butterscotch 24 x 57mm Synthetic Noir Plissoft Brush
Creative Flame Pottery Stoneware Shaving Scuttle
Rockwell 6S Adjustable Stainless Steel Safety Razor Plate 4
Astra Green Superior Platinum Blade - 6th Shave
RazoRock Alum Stick
Homemade Lime & Rose Witch Hazel
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Classic Sandalwood Aftershave Cologne with Alum
Crabtree & Evelyn Indian Sandalwood Shave Balm
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Sandalwood Natural Deodorant​

Thanks, Andrew and that is one beautiful brush you have.

NOVember!!!

November 8 - Qshave Focus
Razor - Qshave Futur Clone
Blade - (3)
Pre-Shave - Stirling Mentholated Pre-Shave Soap
Soap - Truefitt & Hill 1805
Brush - Jayaruh #46
Post - Alum

After last night's wide open shave on the razor I backed it down to 4 tonight. My plan is to work it back up to 6 and see if there's a sweet spot somewhere under "setting me". Truefitt & Hill 1805 with the JR46 and I nailed the lather. Got the water right and had more than enough for the shave, for tomorrow's shave and for the rest of you as well.

The Wilkinson feels just like it did on its first shave. These blades really don't get enough love. Smooth and very effective, or as effective as the razor allowed. While the shave felt great and did end up being a very nice DFS it just took a lot of effort, or so it seemed. Somehow back at 4 I found the angle a bit restrictive. I did three passes to get DFS and it's close to the baby but not there. My thoughts on the razor at 4 after being all the way to 6? I'm not as impressed as I was the first time on this setting. I'll take it up a half notch tomorrow and see if I can tell a difference.

The final two items arrived this week for my original plan for the month. As I said, I'm sticking with the Qshave at this point. I'll put my original plan into play in a future month. I think you'll like it. It's so..............me. And I don't mean that in a narcissistic way. Some of you will know what I mean.

​

STrop Shoppe London Morning
Omega #20248 boar brush
Osaka Suribachi bowl, cool water
Ming Shi and Astra SP blade
Alum, Proraso Blu Crema Liquida

Seventh shave with Futur Clone. I've settled at adjustment 4-1/2 for now. Somewhere between an excellent lather, a fresh blade, and a great balm I got my best shave in a month.

Thursday 9th November



Birch Tar soap
Vitos Preshave Cream
Blue's Goat Milk Soap
Omega S10081 Brush
GEM Micromatic Clog Pruf with a GEM SS Blade (shimmed)
Alum Block and Rinse
Argan Oil
Benjamins Mentholated Bay Rum
Oudh Khalifa EDP

3 smooth passes for a lovely BBS shave