Thank you Joe. I hope you have a great day

April 29th

Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements - PS Tube 2.0, ASB Star Jelly, CK-6 SS and AS/C - Gondolier
Omega EVO
Hoshi Tombo 8000 Kamisori


EVO made fast work of PAA's Gondolier CK-6 SS, lots of slick lather this morning, no bowl, straight to swirling on the face. The Omega EVO slightly beats the Simpson T3 for me and face lathering, as it's backbone is ever so slightly softer, which I prefer. Overloaded the brush as I always do, but several trips under trickling water for the brush tips had yogurty goodness properly hydrated. The Hoshi Tombo 8000 was begging to be used, last time was just a couple days short of 5 months ago. It was in the groups of razors that went through the pasted strop progression, then finished with linen & leather. This razor ends up scary sharp, light & edgy. Lots of short buffing style strokes, tons of skin stretching. A couple weepers today, not a distraction at all from a 3 pass DFS+. Finished with PAA's Star Jelly (slightly mentholated) followed with matching Gondolier AS/C from PAA.

Gondolier, this fragrance from PAA has subconsciously risen to be a favorite, possibly top 3 of their blends for me, as I'm halfway into the soap tub, and more than 1/3 of the aftershave & cologne has vanished. I would describe it as a faint Barbershop aroma, with a citrus twist. The citronella and cedar are present to my nose, more prominent than where they are listed in the ingredients. Wears well, fabulously wifey approved & lasts forever with my skin chemistry.

PAA's description: Experience the classic, masculine, old world scent of Italy with every shave! Gondolier is a rich, balanced bouquet of Bergamot, Rose, Jasmine, Oakmoss, Coumarin, Citronella, Juniper & Cedar.

Hope everyone has a great Hump Day!

Awesome report, Dale, and happy wet shaving anniversary! TSD wouldn't be the same without you

April 29th SOTD
Good morning fellas!
Straight Razor Shave #163
F Herder Ace of Spades 7/8 Square Point
Semogue OC Super Badger Brush
Stirling Blood on Steel SS and AS
Nivea ASB
Although I don't have anywhere to go, I decided that I wanted to smell good so I picked Stirling's Blood on Steel soap and aftershave. I whipped up a really liquidy lather, so I added some more soap and got it to a nice, glistening lather that gave me nice protection and glide. On a 48 hr growth, my Herder gave me a nice, comfortable smooth shave using 2.5 passes. While doing a fool's pass, a tiny weeper appeared. I just continued with the pass and with the cold water rinse the red guy decided to leave. I did not get any irritation from the shave. I have to remember to do a little refresh on this blade because at times it was tugging slightly. Gave myself a double splash of the juice and finished with the Nivea balm. I am quite pleased with this shave. Well, that's a wrap for this month. I really enjoyed my Antique/Adjustable April theme. Looking forward to my Modern May shaves starting Friday. Have a great day guys!

Beautiful photo, wonderful shave, and awesome report, Clint. Every time I've seen Bad Habits I envisioned tobacco or bourbon or heroin or fingernails chewed down to the quick. I'm glad you elucidated the scent profile--it sounds magnificent!

Marvelous kami shave Blair! Have a marvelous day!

Awesome report and shave, Charlie! I'm stealing the phrase "rich for opportunity"--attitude is everything

Gorgeous photo, Gary! I'm impressed with the scent profile for Boreal--looks marvelous (and any dogs with ill intent can pound sand )

I realized I had meant to ask you a question yesterday about that handle, but forgot. You said it was pretty light, but that could be fixed. Did you mean fixed by switching to a heavier handle, or did you mean making modifications to the lighter one?

You' re probably right about since 1970...I first tried it around then, at age 13..ahh, maybe I was a little older. I was probably the only student in high school who tried it. Age is just a number.

Iced Water Shave - Brush Scuttle
DG/CL Bon Vivant is a very nice pairing for the Cella.

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Wester Bros. 6/8” 33 Fraternity
Brush: Ever Ready 500
Lather: Cella Crema da Barba
Aftershave: Bon Vivant Toner
Additional Care:
Barbero Alum Block
Thayer's Witch Hazel - Aloe Vera

While I do enjoy a warm lather shave, the iced water shave is truly invigorating. As the weather becomes warmer, currently slow to happen in the Northeast, the iced water shave is my go to approach. The brush scuttle filled with ice cubes and water chilled down the lather brush nicely.

Today’s shave was downright perfect.

BAACK-be-be-be-BACK BACK

Yeah. Yesterday I think I quadruple posted a message to Jeff--I don't think I've ever said anything about anything that was worth repeating four times

Well you came close with "anything"....said that twice.

Blood on Steel....goin' with that on Friday. Time to get pretty selective in my den...

Super 10 year anniversary shave Dale!

SOTD WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2020

Another great shave with one of my stalwarts, the Karve Shaving ‘Christopher Bradley’ razor, fitted with my new wide body top cap and an E-OC plate. This razor was my first new razor purchase after 50+ unsophisticated single pass Barbasol shave years with my faithful Schick Krona, which gave up the ghost in 2019. The quality of the Karve design and the razor’s weighty feel in hand was the beginning of a bad case of RAD. I can thank my good shave brothers at TSD for both the conscious and unconscious enablement of both vintage and modern shave tools that followed. The first shaves I experienced with this Karve razor literally exploded my shave horizons. The excellent photography and rave reviews that I consumed at TSD, B&B and DFS led me to purchase a very large variety of old and new shave tools.

The true revelation arrived this last December. At TSD the adage is “technique trumps tools”, or more simply, “it ain’t the arrow that kills you, it’s the Indian!” I realized that 50 yrs of DE shaves did leave me with decent technique that readily transferred to modern DEs and non-pivoting SEs, and that the quality of my shaves improved immensely when I incorporated multiple passes into my routine. At my point in life, I have no interest in cart shaving or shaving with transitional pivoting SEs. I’ve had one experience with CART shaving, the Omnishaver, which initially seemed to deliver great head shaves, until I began to develop ingrown hairs on the back of my neck. That was that for CARTs.

This particular razor, while opening my eyes to new shaving vistas, did tend to nick my ears with the exposed blade tabs that were part of the original top cap design. While not a consistent problem, it did eventually lead to my putting the Karve aside more and more. The new wide body cap completely corrects this deficit. I know I’ll be using this razor with much greater frequency. It is an awesome shaver. My shave today was a real pleasure! I really enjoy OC DEs for the efficient shave delivered. They tend to have a much more generous sweet spot, and because of this do require some minding, but the head and face shaves they provide more than make up for the increased attention required. Mr. Bradley put the baby to bed after two and a half passes (WTG, ATG, ATG), where the last half pass consisted of buffing cleanup. The 6 drops of M-Bomb added to one of my favorite shave creams, Kapo, left me feeling incredibly cool, smooth and refreshed. BBS land is where I prefer to dwell, and this particular razor is one of my 12 keys!

RAZOR: Karve Christopher Bradley with E-OC plate and Wide Body Cap
BLADE: Suneko (1)
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger Fan
CREAM: Kapo Menthol w/ 6 Drops of M-Bomb
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Thayers Lavender WH and Fine Accoutrements Lavender Pour Homme AS Splash. Finished with Cremo Post Shave Balm.

Love the B&W Photo Blair. The Kami looks fantastic.

Fantastic photo, shave, and report, Blair--you really got that kamisori to shine! Sounds like a fantastic shaver (5 months is a long time to keep a Ferrari in the garage )

Gondolier sounds wonderful. Anything with Cedar is bound to get my attention

Lovely shave and photo Joe.