thank you Joe.HNY

Well, I have 365 days left to try it. I've strugglrd so hard with figuring it out. We'll see. I'm much better at DESCRIBING thsn SHOWING.

January 1, 2025

Jillette January!

Razor - 1918 Old Style (Khaki set)
Blade - (1)
Soap - Stirling Sheep
Brush - Semogue 1350

Off to the races in January and it will be all Gillette razors and blades for me this month. I'm planning to start with the oldest Gillette in the collection and work my way forward through them. I've spent part of the day digging through Wait's Compendium and few other sources to try and nail down some dates on a few of my collection, so while I can't promise they will be exact they should be close. Starting with the razor I used on the first few days of the 30DC in its first month. The 1918 Old Style. It's a WWI era razor sold in the "khaki set" as pictured.

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This razor is a beast. Highly aggressive, and I only made it a couple of days before surrendering in 2015 and switching to the EJ 89L. This razor proves, though, that if you focus on technique as this thread promises, even a beast of a razor can be tamed. It's not the razor or the blade that creates a smooth, quality shave, it's the technique of the guy using the razor.

So, anyway, here we go. Paired the 1918 with a Gillette Nacet Stainless blade, the "Croc Killer". Russian made in St. Petersburg. Grabbed the Stirling Sheep (which is a perfect replacement for the defunct MWF) and my Semogue 1350 and whipped up a mountain of lather. Two passes, and I was realizing I had a little too much pressure on the second pass. Stopped, checked, that'll do. No reason to add a third pass to increase irritation. Witch hazel for the finish and after a small burn all is well.

Hope everyone is off to a great start in the New Year!

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Great shaves to start the New Year, gents!

Gary, what is the scent of "Beckham"? Not old locker room and moldy soccer cleats, I assume?

Paul, way to go! You used a standard 30DC template to list the actual gear you were using before discussing the shave! That makes it much much easier to read your posts. Please keep it up.

Neal, I agree about those earliest Gillettes (I forget the name). They were VERY aggressive. I find the later models (almost ANY later model) much pleasanter to use.

And IMHO, with Stirling Sheep available, anybody wanting a sheep tallow / lanolin soap has no reason whatsoever to mourn the loss of MWF...

Marvelous. Monday setup and shave Neal.

Okay, for me it will be Gillette and Jeeves January - at least for the razors, soaps and splashes. The brushes I will figure out as I go along. Maybe Jayaruh and Jason @jtspartan January? I have two big boar brushes and a synthetic made by Jayaruh and a synthetic and a badger made by Jason plus a useless Semogue SOC badger that he re-knotted for me with a good Tuxedo synthetic. Six brushes should give a good month-long rotation.

Anyway, here are the Jeeves and Gillette components - the Jeeves sets I have and the Gillettes that are sitting handy in my bathroom "ready-use razor stand" (a repurposed wooden test-tube rack):



Jeeves later renamed Private Study as Bay Rum and Turkish Bath as Barbershop - the labels on the splashes. Key Lime is, of course, Key Lime. The odd splash bottle out - Mountain Rain - is supposed to smell like a damp, springtime coniferous forest.

Incidentally, in finding my Jeeves stuff, I went through my boxes of shaving soaps and creams. I have discovered that I have a large number of artisan soaps and creams made with fancy complex memorable scents ... that now all smell like plain old unscented soap. I might as well just use something like Arko and be done with it. The soaps and croaps will still perform perfectly well but the "luxurious scent experience to engage all ze senses", well, it's gone...

The Gillettes are, in order, an English Aristocrat Jr., a tarnished silverplated Single Ring Old Type, my Dad's 1930s era Canadian triangle-slot fathandled Tech, my P-3 dated Black Beauty Adjustable that was refurbished and cerakoted by the now-defunct Delta Echo Razors, an English Flare-Tip Rocket, and a tarnished silverplated Ball End Old Type.

I suspect I will try the Old Types first and then use them least, because they are - as Neal said - aggressive beasts...

@Screwtape, I'll try. Is this a vote against the SOTD thread?

Sorry. Not sure what the SOTD thread has to do with the 30DC thread - or why one should militate against the other. I notice a lot of people seem to post on both. And some post regularly on the SOTD and come to the 30DC occasionally when they are working out an issue, or used to post on the 30DC as they learned to wetshave and have now moved on to do regular posts on the SOTD instead.

Thanks for your explanation. I always list what I'm going to shave with the next day on SOTD and then describe the shave on 30DC. Maybe that's what others do, I don't know. Course I'd use 30DC to discuss what's going on with my shaving(good or bad), as well(like you said). I like both threads. At ti,mes I may do it the way you prefer, such as today, when I felt I should "update" everyone, since I couldn't sign on for a couple days.

That's what I do with my brushes too...no scheduled plan for my two special months-Oudtober and Neumann November.

John, there really isn't any competition between the two. When I joined this thread 6 years ago, the average monthly post was between 9 to 11 K. I surmise that some of the 30 DC members died. I am guessing that others were ticked at me because I couldn't understand why some made expensive purchases or they misunderstood my posts that they got their panties bunched up. They acted liked little kids. Plus, taking over the role of administrator of this thread; the likelihood of them coming back is nil. Others were banned from TSD for reasons that I won't share. Besides the aforementioned reasons, the people that have come to learn how to shave on this thread left because I think they felt they learned enough about wetshaving and decided to graduate to the SOTD. I can understand their rationale. Obviously, I would have liked for them to stay because you get friendly with members on this thread, but I would never put a gun to their head and ask them to stay. I am glad that it's a small core group, but I also wish it was just a tad larger because you get more insights with more people sharing. I have always said that anyone who has left and is still breathing is always welcome to come back to our small niche of TSD.

Well said.

Thanks Neal.

January 1 SOTE Headshave
Good evening
1968 Gillette Slim Adjustable (setting 1* and setting 7)
Voskhod DE Blade (5)*, Zorrik DE Blade (fresh)
Hembree-Maggard Timberwolf Synthetic Brush
TSD Barbershoppe SS and AS
Stirling Alum Block
Personal Care Witch Hazel
Dome Turf: 4.25 days



I have been consistently extending the time between headshaves. With this amount of growth. I usually reach for my R102, but went with my Slim Adjustable. I decided to just load off the puck and make a lather on my dome. *I did something that I never did before shaving with this razort. I was wondering why I was having a hard time shaving during my first pass. I figured the Voskhod blade lost its edge so I tossed it and put a fresh Zorrik blade. I was kind of surprised brazor. Voskhod blades last longer for me. However, the same experience happened with a fresh Zorrik blade. Apparently, I unwittingly had the razor set at one which is the lowest settinguts. Of course. I dialed the razor up to setting 7. Lol! Oh well, it could have been worse. In any event, I only needed 2 more passes to finish the shave which still gives me the usual 3 passes needed to be cueball smooth and error-free.

The alum was silent. Splashed on the witch hazel and the matching aftershave and all is well that ends well. Take care guys.

Yes, as Neal said , that's well said.

I had posted what I did because I didn't understand why Paul had asked if my post saying I liked his use of a template today was "a vote against the SOTD". (And I still don't understand the rationale there...). It has always seemd to me that SOTD is more of a congenial "show us the equipment you're using" thread while 30DC is more focussed on a friendly mutual "okay, this is the equipment we have, now let's learn how to use it better". Liking one should not be taken as an assumption that you are dissing the other approach.

As for the 30DC, it's true that the number of participants and number of posts have gone up and down over the years. And some early participants have simply dropped off the map entirely. But the fact that this informal school is still running after 10 years is, frankly, amazing. And a lot of that has to do with the good guidance and cat-herding provided by the administrators.

A good start to the shaving year, Joe!

And you began with learning and reporting an important lesson: With adjustable razors, one of the keys to a good shave is to check the dial setting before starting - even if you are "sure" you know what it is set at. That's right up there with making sure the TTO doors are properly tightened down and locked closed. I have shaved in the past with a TTO whose doors had loosened while in the rack so it was no longer locked closed and the result wasn't pretty.

Neal mentioned Stirling Sheep as a good soap replacement for MWF. I forgot until I saw your photo that our own TSD's shaving soap includes lanolin in its formulation. Also a good choice for those who want lanolin for skin care in their shaving soap.

Gillette Ganuary - very intriguing...

Thanks John. I am sure you know this, but all of Stirling soaps have lanolin. I bought 3 tubs of TSD awhile ago because I won a TSD 50 dollar gift certificate in a raffle a couple of years ago. It is a good soap once you dial it in to get a good lather. I find it is better to use a shave bowl to get a good lather with it. Unfortunately, some people are allergic to lanolin and miss out on the Stirling goodness of their soap.

Fabulous New Years shave Gary.

Very nice shave with a listing of the participants Well done r Paul. Hope to see more of the same. Happy New Year!