January 6th Stirling SS & AS - Vanilla Sandalwood Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Star Jelly Zenith Synthetic Rigarazor 8/8 Early morning shave, just getting to post. Easy lather from the Stirling and bowl lathering with the Zenith. It's a great 'soap destroyer' of a synthetic knot, really reminds me of the synthetic knot in a Simpson CH2. It's got a good amount of backbone, too much for me and building a face lather....as the tips aerate the lather when splayed on skin, but not in the shaving bowl. Works great for face painting the lather on. A shave hatchet today, a 8/8 super mirror polished Rigarazor, it's scaringly sharp and completely unforgiving. During the first pass, N-S cheek stroke by my left ear...I had slightly too much pressure on that tip as I crossed the jawbone, small pencil eraser bite line. A slow weeper, controlled with a Clubman styptic applicator. Oh well. Didn't stop the shave or change razors, finished the remainder of the first pass with no further issues. Second XTG pass was uneventful, and no issues either for the third. I'd give results as a DFS overall. Palmful of the Star Jelly followed by a really nice Stirling Sandalwood with a hefty punch of vanilla. Wifey favorite, my youngest daughter made a comment about it during a car ride around lunch time as well. She loves anything with a vanilla aroma. Hope everyone has a great remainder for Wednesday!
Beautiful photo, Blair. I have always admired those Zenith handles. Yours is particularly nice-looking.
I have 3017'd about 6-8 soaps, including 2 MWFs and 2 vintage Williams. I remember an I Coloniali, a Tabac, an Acqua di Parma, a Baume.be and a Barrister and Mann Bay Rum. I guess that's at least 9. Takes a certain kind of man to take on this type of challenge.
Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Gary! Thank you, Jeff! The key to my successful neck shaving is knowing what it will (or will not) tolerate with particular variables in play. Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Clint! The week has been good so far without complaints. I hope your days are settling down. Thank you, Joseph! This is a great soap, that I truly enjoy using and it should last through the month's end. At the beginning of the month, I did feel I would repurchase this soap. However, as I've been surveying my inventory recently, I find this soap falls into my Tier II category and will not be repurchased in the near future. My goal is to have a more streamlined soap collection. Thank you, Dave!
January 6th Yaqi Katana w Sharpstar (2) Stirling Finest/Maple Fine Platinum combo Thayers Early morning shave, afternoon post. Tomorrow shapes up to be quite similar, methinks. Anyway, I pulled apart the Katana before the shave and 'snipped' the bend corners of the SharpStar that were the result of snapping it in half. It did make a difference, imho. Felt like there was less feedback for sure. Another no irritation, successful 3 pass shave with good software as well. I will come back to the Katana, but 4 straight successful shaves with it has me feeling it will stick around the den. We'll see. I got a new toy in the mail yesterday which will make an appearance tomorrow. Have a great night all.
Next time you use this razor, Jason, would you take a few pictures of the blade inserted and what needs to be trimmed? Thanks.
Yes, will do, Joseph. I think it a matter of me 'snapping' the SharpStar in half with both the wrappers on it still (for safety). It caused a minor curvature right along the snap line. The physics of snapping the blade without the heavier paper wrapper (or even just using some shears) would make said issue be less pronounced, I believe.
For my half DE blade tools, I found different blades have different characteristics when you snap them. I figure some differences in steel type and the tempering process contribute. For those that bother me, I use tin snips.
Wonderful photo and shave lineup Blair. Great looking brush. Awesome shave Jason. Looking forward to seeing the new toy tomorrow.
