December 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Dang that sucks, well at least you had a good shave! Enjoy your day Danny!

 

The Softguard blades should help with the set down learning. That's a good suggestion by @jgreenepa, I completely forgot about those. Lots of great advice, keep us in the loop with your progress!

 

Wow Clint very nice!

 

SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 2, 2020

DX Decision December’s second shave featured the Blackland Tradere, a truly groundbreaking razor for its time in 2012. According to Sharpologist, the original design, here replicated by Blackland Razor eight years later, represented one of the first CNC SS safety razor designs delivered with a unique serial number. The name “Tradere” in Latin means ‘to pass on posterity’ and the safety razor was designed by Richard Mason, a lawyer and wet shaving enthusiast from Reno Nevada. Only 1100 original razors featuring both safety bar and open comb designs were produced during the two years of operation of the original company and cost $169.99, a high price for the time.

The new razors are faithful to the original design, which is moderately efficient in the safety bar version here, but given the current plethora of US produced CNC designed razors these days - Timeless, Charcoal Goods, ATT, HC&S, and Carbon Shaving - to name a few, the Blackland Tradere is a dated design that has been improved on by its successors. So the question is, does it stay or does it go? The two pass (ATG, ATG) dome shave today was good, but not in the same category as my vintage Shake Sharps, Schick E Type or even my Valet Auto Strops. So there’s an excellent chance it will go on the auction site shortly.

The Feather DX delivered a bloodless three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) velveteen mug shave. The highlight of this morning’s shave was the wonderful croap lather generated from A&E Kaizen. It was almost comparable to MWF, but in fairness is in a different lather making product category. According to pedants on one of the major Wet Shaving Forums, there are 4 categories of lather making product using a brush. Canned shave foams are naturally excluded as there is no brush involvement. They are, and I quote directly with added numbering and my comments in brackets:

“ 1) Soap: Hard not moldable, can sometime be melted and poured. ex. Tabac, Soap Commander, Williams, Col. Conk, Van Der Hagen, etc ‘[also easily grated]’

2) Stick: Comes in stick form to be used to build lather on face. Some sticks can be softer some harder, but these are all sticks. ex. Arko, La Toja, Palmolive, etc

3) Croap: A soap that can be molded easily, and has consistency thicker than a cream, but still classified as a soap due to ingredients used to create product. ex. Cella, Stirling, Proraso, etc

4) Cream: An item that comes in a tube or tub, but has the consistency similar to lotion or a balm. ex. Proraso (tube), Godrej, KMF, TOBS, etc. ”

Kaizen, according to this typology falls neatly into the Croap category. It generated a rich, lather that also provided excellent post shave skin feel. The only negative for me was the scent, which I killed with a healthy application of wintergreen oil. All in, the result was a marvelous shave with great post shave. I feel refreshed, clean, and smoothly velveteen.

RAZOR: Feather DX Wood Handle (Mug), Blackland Tradere (Dome)
BLADE: Feather
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute w/ 26mm Two Band Badger Ferrule
CROAP: A&E Kaizen (Scent killed w/ wintergreen oil)
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Pre de Provence Bergamot & Thyme Aftershave Balm.

 

Gorgeous photo and shave Pierpaolo. I love he vibrant blue color of the razor handle.

 

All very cool timepieces in that list! Was familiar with the Omega and Pano....had to look the others up. Been looking at some vintage Omegas & Seikos.....kind of the same desire as looking at vintage shaving gear.

 

Awesome shave and photo Perry. I thought you would like 5 best.

 

Very nice Myles.

 

Very cool Bill. Thanks for sharing!

 

Fantastic shave and photo Danny. I am sorry for all the drama on the farm. I remember days like that when my Dad had cows. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that the farm is planted with trees now.

 

Awesome shave and photo Jeff.

 

Very nice Jim! It must be Wednesday....Astra Planeta day....wifey and I already saying December is flying by.

Fun setup Dale! The bed definitely was too comfortable this morning. I'm usually a very early morning person....but not today.

That is very nice. Beautiful!

 

December 2, 2020
Wolfman WR2 1.05mm
Gillette 7 O’clock Black
OKU Botiho
ABB Shave Soap
ABB Chiado Aftershave

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Happy Hump Day. Another very cold morning here in the ATL. Never the less, Mocha and I went for our morning walk. I decided to break out the ABB shave soap. The soap is typically old world with a delightful light scent. The OKU loaded and lathered the ABB with ease. I really enjoy the slickness and face feel of this soap. Given its price and longevity this soap is a real bargain like LEA Classic. Three passes and touch ups ended with another automatic drama free BBS shave. A splash of ABB Chiado aftershave and I am off to the office to pick up a few things I need to work remotely. Plus I need to get a couple of razors shipped off at the post office today as well. I hope everyone has a great Wednesday.

 

Came back with Barbasol Sophisticated Goo/AV Musk Aftershave. I did today what I forgot to do yesterday-hold the Barbasol under the warm/hot tap water to soften it some. I think it made a difference, as I had no cuts/Knicks. One pass. I missed some at N.Porcupine Alley, but that's OK-more "digging in" might have produced a cut, as I talked about yesterday. For a sophisicated goo shave, this gets Super Duper Excellent. Now back to soaps for a week or so,. Have a good day everyone. .

 

Awesome shave Joe!

 

Well, the 1st day flew by all right, so you and your wife are on to something Blair .

 

Great way to start the day with an exceptional shave like that. Take care Jim!

 

Excellent shave Dale!

 

I'm glad to see a wordy explanation of "Croap"....never could figure out what that was.

 

Beautiful work....you better keep her!