SoS: January 12, 2015 - January 18, 2015

Now that's a razor!!

 

Friday Shave


Prep: Warm shower, Anthony Logistics Glycolic Face Wash
Lather: Mike's Natural Peppermint & Rosemary and Mike's Natural Vetiver
Brush: Simpson Duke 3 Best Badger
Razor: Schick Krona
Blade: Astra Superior Platinum - #3
Post: Cold Rinse, Jack Black Double Duty Face Moisturizer

Cocktail hour started a little early today. Mostly Mike's Peppermint & Rosemary cut with a little Mike's Vetiver for some smokiness. Great shave from the Krona and Duke 3 is a real joy.

Enjoy the long weekend, gents.

 

Saturday's


Nivea Men's Face Wash
Col. Conk Bay Rum Shave Soap
Wild Cherry STB
My Dad's Schick E3
Schick Platinum Plus
CWR, Asma Alum Block
Thayers Lemon WH
Barbasol AS

The Col. Conk Bay Rum Shave Soap face-lathered well with my Wild Cherry Silver Tip Brush. Two passes with my Schick E3 and Schick Platinum Plus Injector blade gave me a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, alum block, and a final cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayers Rose Petal WH and then Barbasol after shave. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

 

Friday

Hot shower
Dermalogica Daily Face Scrub
Anthony Logistics for Men Pre Shave Oil
Bearded Jacks Shave Soap - Vanilla Tobacco Cherry
Semogue 1305
Voskhod
Weishi 9306
Every Man Jack's Post Shave Face Lotion

I tried the Voskhod + Weishi combo again for the 2nd time. The first time it wasn't cutting very well so I only did half of my face before putting the blade in my Merkur 34c. Today I decided to try the combo again as I have really been liking Voskhod in the 34c, but the results were the same. The first pass WTG just didn't cut that well and I found myself using too much pressure. It wasn't an uncomfortable shave, just too much tugging and not enough slicing. The second pass (XTG/ATG) and touch ups did get give a DFS, but I ended up with a couple of weepers from using too much pressure. Bad habits die hard. The Voskhod is probably the worst blade I've tried in the Weishi, which is funny, because it is probably my second favorite blade in the Merkur 34c.

I love the fragrance of the Bearded Jack's Vanilla Tobacco Cherry, but I just can't get it to lather very well. I worked it for several minutes and got mediocre results. Compared to TOBS, Proraso or Arko, it just doesn't lather as well and takes a lot more effort.

 

Single Image - Double Days - 16 January 2015 Shave and Plan for 17 January 2015

This photo serves for today's shave, and I will continue with the same setup tomorrow. The Blueness stick is a new soap for me. After testing several stick soaps over the years, and letting go of the sticks that I did not like, I retained only two sticks in my shaving den. These are the ones I use when I want to face lather. The first is the Palmolive Stick which provides excellent lather but tends to dry my skin slightly after the shave is complete. The other is the Wilkinson Sword Stick, which is my favorite stick soap. It provides excellent lather, but it does dry my skin out after the shave. The Blueness stick based on the first use provided a great three pass lather for both head and face. In this respect it is like both the Palmolive and Wilkinson sticks do with the Kent Infinity Synthetic Brush. The scent of the Blueness is somewhere between the Palmolive and the Wilkinson sticks which is very acceptable to me. It did tend to leave a little dryness like the Palmolive and reminded me of the Palmolive in performance. I will use the same setup tomorrow. Then I will decide whether I want to try the Blueness with a boar or badger brush on a following shave to see if Blueness becomes a "keeper."

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Thank you Herm!

 

Old French Manufacturer.

 

SOTD - SATURDAY, JANUARY 17

After shaving with my custom fatty for a while now, I decided to go "old school". I absolutely love my vintage OC razors and this is one of my favorites.
By the way, although my setup is mostly always the same, I've got some new soap and blades on their way so I can change things up and just to make you guys jealous.

PREP: Hot shower
MUSIC: Nothing today - just the beautiful sound of blade "whacking" beard
RAZOR: Gillette New Standard (by far my best estate sale find)
BLADE: Astra SP
Brush: Omega 10049
SOAP: Proraso Green
AS: what else? Barbasol Pacific Rush, of course!

 

I'm not into SE razors, but I like the "minimalist" design of that Personna Injector!

 

Saturday's planned shave:

Neutrogena Men Facial Wash
Large Horsehair Barbershop
Super Speed/SuperMax Blue day 5
Stirling Glacial Lavender SS
Gold Bond Moisturizer
Stirling Glacial Wintergreen WH
Pour Un Homme de Caron EdT

I left the Glacial Lavender puck sitting out and uncovered for a few days because it seemed to need a bit of extra curing time in order to improve the lather, and sure enough - after doing a test lather just before I was very satisfied. What a nice difference it made - a bit of effort is still required, but the lather works up a lot easier and faster than before. The nice, refined lavender scent came out along with the icy menthol sensation and the moisturizing and relaxing properties of this soap are unbelievable. Yes indeed, I'm going to love my shave to the max in the morning. The Gold Bond/Glacial Wintergreen witch hazel will probably make my face feel so flipping cold that it'll almost be numb. Pour Un Homme de Caron is a very nice eau de toilette which I received as a birthday gift from my mother-in-law - it's lavender based in a very old-school way.

 

Saturday's Planned Shave
Razor: Fatip\Bulldog handle
Blade:Feather New Hi-Stainless (4)
Brush: Bullgoose Beehive w 24mm WD Silvertip
Bowl: Orange Shave Bowl
Pre Shave Scrub: SPAtopia Dead Sea Scrub
Pre Shave Oil:Homemade Iced Mojito
Shave Soap: Tiki Chilled Salsa
Post: Monster Alum Block
Aftershave: Alcolado Glacial
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With this morning shave, I wanted to see how a Fatip OC head paired with the 132gm Triad brass handle would mow down my whiskers.Well rank it up there with a newbie using a 2011 R41 for the first time. I haven't drawn blood since Sept/Oct 2013 but today I drew blood on 3 sites on my right chin. Small bleeders that I didn't even feel with the alum block after my shave but undeniable the weepers were there. So, paired with the Triad the Fatip is too aggressive for me so for tomorrow morning shave I am pairing it with a Weber bulldog handle to see if the shave is between the Fatip Grande (original) and the heavyweight Fatip\Triad setup. My Joris black\white striped OC arrived today and planning on using the premium Fatip head for next week shave week.

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Hot shower with chamomile and orange soap.

Razor... Gillette ball end tech
Blade... Gillette silver blue
Brush.. restored ever ready 100 with 20 mm tgn silver tip.
Soap... tabac

 

I think you will love the matchup of the FaTip Head and the We ber Bulldog handle Guy. It gives the needed heft to balance the heavy FaTip head and give you more control while maneuvering the heavy head around. I mated a Weber Wave handle to my FaTip head and it works great for me. Enjoy your shave and BTW; the Chilled Salsa sounds delicious!

 

Thanks for the feedback Bruce. When I screwed the pieces together it definitely felt better in my hands. The Triad setup the razor head due to the weight wanted to race down my cheeks and neck and I had to concentrate on keeping the stroke nice, slow and smooth.

The Chilled Salsa is another custom I had Amanda make but this was pretty simple to do. Had her take her Spice Islands and add peppermint and menthol to it. When I got it, it smells great and you do want to take a bite of it, but the menthol kick was not to my liking so I added more menthol crystals to kick it up a notice but not face freezing cold.

 

Late Night Shave for Tomorrow

A chilly menthol shave with the Union Cutlery SPIKE! Lethal tip on this smooth razor—one thats probably bitten more times than any other razor,
but despite the late hour, I managed to avoid it and had a quite pleasant shaving experience.

Have a great Saturday, all!

 

The Weber Bulldog will be a lot lighter than the 132 gram Triad handle (that's a monster!) but still much more than the Grande. The cross-hatching on the Bulldog handle also helps with the control. It is not a slippery as the Grande handle.

Chilled Salsa sounds pretty nice. The Peppermint additive sounds interesting; I never thought of Peppermint being added to a shave cream, that's different.

 

Thanks Jon! It's pretty hefty as well. More than the Gillette New Standard which is basically a thin-walled tube.
The Gardette is more substantial and much heavier.

 

Friday Morning Shave
Razor: Gillette Red Tip
Blade: Topaz Stainless (4)
Brush: Gillette
Cream: Nivea
AS: Fa Sport

I used Fa sport AS for the first time and after a minute I noticed the same scent of Pino Silvestre Hydro AS. These two after shaves have exact scent. Fa has a lighter, more tolerable scent and it moistures better. I'll possibly give Pino to a friend of mine at work.
Have a great weekend!

 

Day 19 of the 30 day January challenge. SWMBO states she loves the combination of the Noxzema, menthol in the Maca Root Shave cream, witch hazel, and Eucalyptus, as well as the new Old Spice. I have NO PROBLEM continuing as I also enjoy the results, and the face feel. Now starting to get a good shave on the chin.... many years of no chin shaving with a goatee.

 

Dovo Bergischer Lowe
Oscar11 H.I.S. brush
Barrister & Mann Vetyver Santal soap
Musgo Real balm

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