February 2020 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Oh ok....I haven't yet purchased Fine soaps, but I'll have to let my imagination take over. It might resemble my Burma Shave cake, as it's been pretty easy getting suds to show with BU.S. , but to be fair, it's been a long time since my last "Bills"(Williams).

 

Wonderful picture, Jim. I hope the working out of town weekend goes well.

 

Thank you, Jason! Temperatures in the upper 30s right now with windy conditions and a tiny bit of snow flurries, believe it or not. Tornadoes and 70 degrees about 36 hours ago. That's how it goes in the South.

 

Wonderful shave and picture, Blair!

 

Great shave, Joseph! I understand your thoughts on academia all too well. I've been a high school teacher for 16 years now and it has changed dramatically just in that time. Can't speak for the higher ed world, but secondary education changes by the minute.

 

FATT Friday! Alabama Awesome, Danny!

 

Wonderful photo and setup, Mark!

 

Great 30DC tribute shave, Jason!

 

Excellent picture and write up, Joseph!

 

Thank you, Jason!

 

Awesome Fat Friday shave, Danny!

 

Great shave and report, Blair!
Safe travels.

Sorry about the state of things, Joseph. Nice shave!

 

Fantastic Fat Friday shave, Danny!

 

Friday 2/7

Qshave Adjustable
Remei stainless 4
Amici ShaveSoap
C&E Badger Brush
Amici AS




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I have not yet been able to find him.

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Good shave, Tom!

 

I can see both sides of that.

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Congrats on a nice shave, Paul! Beware of listening to that wristwatch guy.

Have a fantastic Friday, my friend.

 

February 7th
Razor: Timeless Aluminum
Blade: Sharp Star (2)
Brush: Simpson CH2 Synthetic
Pre-shave: PAA The Cube
Soap: A&E Vanille de Tabac
PAA Galactic witch hazel
PAA unscented Star Jelly
AS: A&E Vanille de Tabac

Good morning

Late shave today. I've been waiting for the snow to let up to go out and shovel the walks. Hasn't let up yet. Maybe get it done later.

I did finally shave. Terrific shave! Three passes for near BBS. Nearly silent alum.

I'm really liking my aluminum razors. I guess it's because they feel more nimble and it seems more mindless to me about using too much pressure. I won't stop using the heavyweights but I do enjoy having options.

A&E in the hot scuttle this morning. Best performer yet in the high heat. Wonderful rich slick almost milk chocolate colored lather.

Simpson Synthetic brush. Wow, stiff brush! Tough to splay. I'll use it for the next few days before drawing any conclusions.

Have a great day!

 

Feb. 7 Hell Week--Episode 6: "Winning Record?"

Happy Friday, everybody!

I went in to today's shave at 3:3, and really wanted to finish the week at 4:3. Still a loss by my standards, but at least a winning season, right? The good news is the last acquisition for me was the Gillette Flare Tip kindly PIF'd from Evan @MrEE . The Flare Tip is my smoothest, mildest shaver, so I was coming into this game with the home field advantage.



I was surprised how much I love this razor. I thought I disliked mild shavers, and because buying vintage always seemed like a bit of a crap shoot, I discounted the idea for years--sooo many lost years. Full disclosure: even if the Gillette somehow manages to score lowest at the end of the month, I'm still keeping it. I can't say this about any of my other razors... even the 1912.

Week 1 Gear

• Blade: Personna Blue (1st shave)
• Brush: Kong
• Soap: Soap Commander "Drive"
• AS: Clubman Original
• Balm: Nivea Sensitive Cooling

The Shave
In spite of the pressure being on to log a winning week, I came into it fairly confident, and my 1st pass (WTG) went without a hitch. Light, light pressure... "Reveeeeerse Pressurrrrrrrrre. Ohmmmmmmmmm." No problems. Quite a bit of stubble left, but no blood. 2nd pass (XTG) went equally well. Still pretty rough, but I'm not paying attention to that kind of stuff ever again--it's all about the comfort, baby!

Going into the 3rd (ATG) pass, I should have been supremely confident, but the opposite occurred. I was sooooo close to chalking a win here that I was terrified I'd drop the ball on the 1 yard line. As the fight or flight response started to build, my large-muscle groups took over, and fine motor skills were becoming... difficult.

Mind Games
(relevant, but unnecessary story--skip if you're pressed for time)
When I was a kid getting ready for bed, I'd turn the lights off, and dread those 10 steps to the bed. Clowns, vampires, the Creature of the Black Lagoon, and even Jaws at various periods in my life were denizens under the bed waiting to snatch my ankles and drag me under--I foiled all their attempts by jumping the last 5-8 feet into bed (take that Gill-man). At around the age of 18 I started to feel a bit foolish doing this. So, I started to purposefully, slowly, walk to the bed, peel back the covers, straighten my pillow and climb calmly into bed. The problem was I was not calm, and the harder I tried to impose my will to slowly raise my feet into bed, the harder it was to control my feet. They'd spasmodically jerk up and down, and it got worse the closer I got to actually getting in bed.

Now imagine that is happening with a razor. The closer I got to finishing those looooooong YouTuber passes the less control of my fine motor skills I seemed to have. The more I tried to impose my will, the jerkier I got. I don't know how I didn't wind up cutting my head off completely.

The Score
In spite of the touch-and-go nature of that 3rd passz I pulled it off blood free. Do I feel foolish for making such a big deal about this stupid shave? No comment. But here are the scores:

• Comfort: Upon application of AS, I got the sting and some burn (which usually means a bit or irritation); however, 1 hour later there is hardly anything--maybe a small tingle at the corners of my mouth and by my lips. Score: 4. I'm very happy with how this shave turned out.
• Closeness: Like most of the shaves this week, overall I feel DFS, but a lack of touch-ups has some rough-ish spots--I'd call it DFS/CCS. Score: 2.

Week 1 Wrap-up
(thoughts on monogamy and YouTube)
Honestly, I'm not happy with how the shaves went this week. I've been wet-shaving for 7 years, and thought I was pretty much done with all the blood. I think part of the problem is I tend to have a fairly monogamous relationship with my razors--I find one that works for me, and stick with it for long stretches at a time. I didn't start switching between razors until a few months ago when I bought my 1912 on the bay and had a free MMOC tossed in by the seller. I felt and acted like I was shaving with familiar razors all this week--but they were not familiar.

Another thing I noticed. I really dislike those loooooong YouTuber passes. I suppose with a 30DC focus I could master them, but I don't fully see the point. Who knows? If I get stuck for ideas, I might take it on, but right now the most annoying part of my shaves have been those passes. Starting next week, I think I'll loosen things up a bit and do some soul shaving--do what feels good. Parameters: touch-ups permitted along the way, but stop at three passes. Buffing permitted. Still... chase comfort, not closeness.

I've had what seems like a year's worth of blood in a single week of shaving. That nonsense has to stop. Tomorrow I draw names from the Super Dad mug to determine shaving order. Really looking forward to shaving next week. Hope you all have a fantastic Friday!