December 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Sounds like you had a cold, busy night, Danny. I hope you got everything squared away.

Years ago, we stayed with a wonderful family on a Canadian dairy farm for two weeks (two separate trips). The days began at 4:30 am and were long. They seemed to love every minute of it...and life in general. I had never experienced anything like that before or since. I have much respect and thankfulness for hardworking farm families.

They laughed long and hard when I told them about my Cub Cadet lawn tractor. They never gave me the keys to their big tractor, but I could ride their three-wheeler all I wanted. Anything I got to do was closely supervised. They pretty much had me figured out.

 

No Tabac AS, yet, Andrew, but I've thought about it.

I do better in general with 3 to 5 of my "favorites" in pretty much any hobby or interest. Having a big variety doesn't excite me as much as having items I really enjoy using and getting to use them frequently. I have more razors than I can use, but I keep many of them because they are birth year/birth quarter models. Same for brushes, I have 10...all keepers because they mean different things to me. I had no idea when I got into this hobby that friends would be making cool artisan brushes for me. If anything leaves my Den, it will be a gift, and a story will accompany it. (A lot of stuff has exited my Den over the last few years, but I only recall accepting money for two items.) I've made arrangements to pass on whatever is left to a dear friend that I know will see things get put to good use and not sold to collectors and hoarders. That makes me feel better about "stockpiling" a few nice things within reason.

My main hobby interests now are being able to shave well with *any* set up (I agree with @wchnu and others - a razor is a razor and a blade is a blade), helping others get started, and having good friendships.

I probably have a 2-year supply of AS, a 10-year supply of soap, and a lifetime supply of everything else. I still check all the Black Friday and Cyber Week sales, though.

 

That's good you have your ducks in a row. Get what you want and want what you have.

 

Changed order again, XTG, XTG opposite, ATG and WTG. Today's results was no irritation and very close to being classified as A+ for the closeness but the BBS needs to last a little longer. Once again it felt like I would get irritation based on the first pass but in the end the alum was silent.

My weapon of choice today is a smiling 6/8 Ali's Blade. The brush is a Thäter, while I prefer fan knots I have to admit this is a nice brush and well suited to lathering the MdC. Given the cold dry air I added a couple of drops of lanolin which kicks the performance of MdC up a notch.

Finished it all off with a favorite, Rive Gauche.

 

I started out this evening on p. 28 of the thread and ended up on p. 55. Going through it all at once was like following 27 different conversations and seeing some wonderfully DECadent gear! December has started off with a bang, even by 30 DC standards! It's especially nice to see all the new and returning contributors.

 

Very nice shave Keith! A+ for smoothness is epic. I'd take that any day!

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Awesome shave, pic and gear Keith!

 

I probably missed a few, but thank you for the nice words, Gentlemen.

 

As long as you enjoy it, trash away!!

 

Speaking of returning contributors... There are a couple of guys that I haven't seen in a while... @NCoxSTL and @RyX

I understand that priorities change, but does anyone know if they are in good health in these crazy times?

 

You think YOU get a lot of rain?!

 

3rd December 2020.




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Shaving recipe for today.

Prep: Warm shower / Cussons Imperial Leather ~ Arctic Ocean & Icelandic Moss Shower Gel.

Pre:
Cold wet flannel to my face.
Yardley ~ English Lavender Bar Soap + Nuage Menthol shaving Oil.
Brush : Omega 48.
Face Lather.
Soap : Monsavon Au Lait.
Blade: Euromax Platinum half blade. (4)
Razor: Yaqi Katana.

Post:

Cold Water Face Rinse./Homemade (~Winter mix~) peppermint Lavender, + eucalyptus, Tea Tree Oil Witch Hazel Mixture. / Blue Stratos ASL./ Boots ~ Freshwood Aftershave Balm.

Greetings,

Another superb shave, throughout the week the katana razor has really impressed me with it's efficient smoothness.

The Euromax Platinum half blade could easily give me another two shaves from it but, i will retire it four shaves from a half blade is enough for me. As always the Monsavon soap provided a luxurious protective slick lather.

A comfortable 3 pass + pick ups near BBS shave with no errors to report....Finishing to the shave off with a small dollop of Boots ~ Freshwood Aftershave Balm.

My face is feeling super smooth & smelling divine.

Stay safe, and enjoy your Day ladies & gentlemen.

 

I've gotten some absolutely first class shaves over the last month, with a combination of local and international soaps. The bundubeard kudus kick has peaked after removing that thin layer of coffee, and now its in my top 5, maybe even top 3 soaps.

It lathers like an absolute bomb, and the medium bite menthol is nice and manageable, neither too strong or too weak, although I think I'll go for the kameelperd's kick next time, which is the glacial version.

I ended up using the kudus kick for the first five shaves before switching over to my tried and trusted staple soap, Arko.

Five shaves into the Arko routine I got a bit bored and decided to use another international soap I haven't used in a while, malt 'n Myrtle by the gentleman's groom room.

Man, that stuff is a fantastic soap. It would go perfectly with something like old spice, which I think will be its standard aftershave pairing once I manage to find a bottle of "original" old spice.

December will be my "international shave month" where I use international products almost exclusively, and my most luxury soaps and razors like my rhodium plated aristocrat.Im also extremely excited to use my new Yaqi synthetic for December's shaves, there will be a review coming up on that in the next two weeks or so too. (Maybe I'll even try my hand at a few shave videos lol).

Shave 1-5:
Razor: Wilkinson sword TTO
Brush: omega 49
Blade: Wilkinson sword (German)1-5
Soap: bundubeard Kudus kick
Aftershave: Revlon pub

Shave 6-10:
Razor: Wilkinson sword TTO
Brush: omega 49
Blade: Wilkinson sword (German)6-10
Soap: Arko shave stick
Aftershave: Revlon pub

Shave 11-13:
Razor: Wilkinson sword TTO
Brush: omega 49
Blade: Wilkinson sword (German)1-5
Soap: The gentleman's groom room malt 'n Myrtle.
Aftershave: Revlon pub

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You are on autopilot Barry! Have an awesome day!

 

December 3rd
Razor: Blackland Tradere SB
Blade: Perma-Sharp (1)
Brush: Zenith boar
Pre-shave: PAA Cube
Soap: PAA Harvest Moon
PAA Galactic Witch Hazel
PAA Star Jelly
AS: PAA Harvest Moon

Good morning!

I decided to go with a four pass shave this morning adding an extra XTG pass in the opposite direction. Lovely shave. Am I any smoother than my usual three pass shave? Not noticeably but the Blackland Tradere is such a wonderfully smooth razor I did enjoy the extra time with it.

Have a great day!



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Excellent shaves Matthew!

 

Some of my favorite products in your shave, Keith. Excellent.

 

Love your formatting and posts, Barry. Well done.

 

Great shaves, Matthew. Love to see products from different parts of the world. Thanks for sharing.

 

Terrific Thursday Shave Jim! I don't ever recall you doing 4 passes. Have a good day!