Saturday morning June 4 -- MWF June now...
Razor: Supply matte black 2.0 injector with SE comb plate / Supply Black Label (4)
Brush: Semogue Owners Club (SOC) cherrywood handle refitted with 24mm Tuxedo synthetic knot
Soap: MWF in Kent beechwood bowl
Post: Alum, Thayers alcohol-free witch hazel, Osage Rub
First, I would like to thank Trigger for the great monthly intro. Truly excellent! I will have no problem with the "2 consecutive days" plan for gear, because I am still trying to deep six the remaining shards of my ancient MWF puck. Wonderful soap, but this one sure has been hanging around for awhile... Also, I will probably continue to use just two razors -- my Supply injector and my Henson Medium DE.
I see by my notes (another reason to do this 30DC thing) that my last shave was very late on Sunday night so I had a five-day-and-a-few-hours stubble to hack down. I washed thoroughly with soap and hot water first, to soften the hayfield as much as possible. If I don't, I find the blade (whatever blade I am using) has a much more noticeable tendency to tug.
The SOC Tuxedo did its usual excellent job of face lathering the MWF. This brush started as the Semogue SOC two-band badger. The cherrywood handle was lovely, but I found the original knot to be a total disappointment. The badger seemed thinly packed compared to others and felt too floppy as a result. Plus it shed hairs. So Jason
@jtspartan very kindly drilled it out for me and installed my replacement Tuxedo knot (from APShaveCo). It's now one of my favourite brushes.
The new Supply SE injector has a comb that Supply claims makes it nick-free, even for new shavers or recent converts from multi-blade cartridge razors. From my experience, the claim is valid. I made two rapid and relatively carefree or even downright careless passes, first WTG and then XTG. I went from hayfield to virtually BBS in less than two minutes. No blood, no razorburn, and the alum was totally silent.
At least one user has said that the new Black Label blades do start out sharp but degrade very quickly. On its fourth outing, this one was perfectly sharp, even when confronting dense stubble...
I ended with a probably unnecessary spritz of witch hazel. I have been trying a Thayers bottle with a spritz cap rather than the more common pouring top. I find I like it -- instead of a palmful of witch hazel putting a heavy splash everywhere, the spray top puts a light misting of witch hazel on my skin, which is all that is really needed. I then finished everything off with a dash of Osage Rub for that icy cold tingle that works better than an IV of caffeine as a morning wake-up.
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