FEB 2015 30 Day Rule/30 Day Focus Pic and Discussion Thread

One report today on the Arko stick focus. I changed gear around a bit, and will get a current rotation photo up tonight.

I am absolutely loving the Arko overall. One Achilles heel I have managed to find is that it is a bit less forgiving than the MWF when I don't fully engage in my beard prep.

This came up on a couple of weeknight shaves. I work long hours and have two kids. Sometimes, I am just getting my first minutes of weekday free time at or close to 10PM. It was nothing terrible. Just felt the scrape of the blade a bit more and some more burn when the AS went on. No lasting irritation or nicks. I think you just get a bit spoiled on all of the natural lanolin in the MWF.

My conclusion heading into March is that the Arko will be permanently in the lineup. Pretty impressive considering I was only auditioning it as a travel soap. It has exceeded all of my expectations...

 

Finally back on the range...

Dad's Schick Injector
Chinese Schicks
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Proraso Eucalyptus
Lilac Vegetal

Gonna sit and get caught up on TSD today! You guys rock!

I will open a thread for March later today...I am considering a Rule next month.

 

A "Special Edition" 30 day focus for March madness? That could be very cool!

 

February Focus - Blades
2/26/15 - Day 27
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - C.O. Bigelow
Razor - EJ89l
Blade - (1)
Post - RazoRock Alum & The Veg

Day one with the Feather, the vaunted, cheered, jeered, feared, some say overrated, some say nirvana producing blade. There is no debate as to how sharp this blade is, and the produces some interesting results. Definitely not a blade for newbies who haven't worked out their technique.

I have rather mixed feelings after this morning's shave. I'm posting late because after getting done with shaving I checked roads (we had some snow) and found my commute time had doubled. I did not, however, rush my shave so I can't blame any results on that.

I was able to get DFS in two passes with an ATG on my neck for the third with the Feather, and the feel of the blade was smooth yet not, if that makes sense. Basically the sharpness added to the irritation factor. Also after the first pass, which I felt went very well, I looked back in the mirror to see blood running down my right cheek from a cut just at the cheekbone. I didn't feel it happen, but it was an actual cut, not a nick or weeper. It is still somewhat visible tonight. It bled nicely while I did the second pass and the ATG on my neck. Alum stopped the bleeding without problems but also confirmed the amount of all over irritation.

I'm not sure if more work with this blade to modify technique to fit its sharpness would make me feel differently but, to be honest, I'm not a fan after one shave. It is, though, just one shave so I'll give it another go in the morning.

Today's grade, based on the scale I've used consistently is a B3. The lowest score yet for a blade. The cut is the main reason why, along with the amount of irritation.

Definitely a difference in the feel between the Japanese Feather and every Russian blade I have tried.

​

 

February Focus - Blades
2/27/15 - Day 28
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - C.O. Bigelow
Razor - EJ89l
Blade - (2)
Post - RazoRock Alum & AV Musk.

Second day on the Feather. I focused on keeping the pressure off of the blade given its sharpness and didn't suffer any cuts, nicks etc. However, the final result is rather disappointing. Three passes with some minor touch up and I'm calling it CCS. My neck needs more work to get to DFS and even along my jawline is not as good as usual. The blade was smooth and felt good, just didn't seem to have the ability to really get the shave where I wanted it. Alum produced only minor irritation so I know my attempt to keep the pressure off worked. But, it didn't get the shave I wanted.

Rather disappointed in the Feather but I also realize it may be unique enough that my technique needs to be worked into it. Nevertheless I have to stick to my grading and give it an A3. An improvement over yesterday but it's just not getting it done for me.

I think that's it for this blade as I've seen enough to rank it with the others. I'll have a summary of the month up tomorrow at some point and then be ready to go vintage in March.

The Feather blade - like so many things in Japan - just kind of hard to figure out.

​

 

02/27/15 February Focus on Blades
Prep – MR GLO
Razor - Mongoose Satin B2
Blade – Kai Mild(4)
Brush – Rubberset 400 with Omega Boar
Lather – Soap Commander Passion
Post - Witch Hazel and CC Bay Rum AS



Great 3 pass shave for this mornings shave. Planning on finishing up with the Goose tomorrow and then using some of my different razors next month. I have really enjoyed the Goose over the past 2 months and it will continue to be one of my go to razors. Have a great weekend.

 

February 27st SOTD (Shave 14 of the challenge)
Two Day's growth
Prep: Hot shower
Razor: '52 Gillette Super Speed Black Tip (X2)- Steel Handle and Baseplate
Blade: Derby Extra Super Stainless- Stropped 30 times per edge
Soap: Dirty Deeds Beer Soap- I can't remember the scent, bowl lathered
Brush: Vie Long Horsehair
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block
Aftershave: Pacific Shaving Company Caffeinated Aftershave

This was another blade that had come with a razor I had purchased. I have heard not so great things about them, so hadn't tried to use it. I am too cheap to throw away a perfectly good 10 cent blade, so am working through my odds and ends of blades. The Derby is completely capabale of giving a great shave. I got a three pass BBS, but I also got two weepers and quite a bit of irritaiton. The blade felt tuggy and not smooth. Two hours post shave, my face feels great however. This will be my last shave of my focus.

Focus on '52 Gillette Super Speed Black Tip (X2)- Steel Handle and Baseplate, and Vie Long Horsehair Brush.

1. Overall, this is a great mild razor. I do find myself using more pressure on this razor than others, almost as much as with a cartridge. It will bite with very sharp blades and too much pressure.
2. This is a great travel razor, because it is such a no brainer as far as use. It allows me to work around other varibles like water hardness and no freaking hot water at the bathroom sink at my mom's house.
3. Cold water shaves and I don't get along.
4. Paired with a sharp blade such as a Feather or Rapido, this razor gives great shaves, with minumum focus required.
5. Horsehair brushes smell like a sweaty horse that just got a medicinal bath when you get them wet the first time.
6. It takes a couple of weeks for that to go away. I shampooed it twice, and I had to leave soap on it after shaving for the first two weeks, rinsing it out before using.
7. Doing bowl lathering with this brush creates a great lather with minimal shedding.
8. The brush worked best like face lathering to work the soap in, then like a paint brush to get a thicker coat.
9. It is the least soft of my brushes, and can irritate spots that are already red from other shaving abuse.

On to March focus. I will be looking at a focus with two razors, a Feather Artist Club and one of my DEs. I have some travel for work, and don't want to take the feather, still haven't gotten my blades for it, and want to have a DE as a back up if I slice my face to ribbons.

 

Shave 26 of Feb Focus Slim Adjustable
End result a very good shave. Tried a new blade and was very tuggy and not the most comfortable. Not much feedback from alum, so it did its job just not a good combination in the adjustable for me.

 

This will be my last post and shot of my lineup this week.

To summarize what I have learned:

• Arko sticks deserve more love from me than just travel use. There is also something cool about using some of the real old classic products and getting a good shave out of them.
• I have to step up my photography skills lol.

Looking forward to the March focus and have enjoyed all of your posts gentlemen....

 

Focused February-

Another great 2 pass!

Dad's Schick Injector
Chinese Schicks
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Arko!
Lilac Vegetal




For General Consumption: The March Thread is now open...spread the word!

NEW!! March 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic-Discussion Thread

Also, a heads up, I have badly burned my right hand and therefore will not be able to type and make photos easily over the next couple weeks... Thanks for your understanding in advance! I will be doing a 30 Day Rule newbie style in March, and for the March Madness...I will shave left handed for my Rule. Details later.

Missed you guys while I was on the road...more details on that later too...thanks for keeping this thread going!

Happy Friday!

 

Chris, I hope your hand heals quickly. Thank you for hosting February and kicking off the entire parade in January.

 

I hope your hand feels better soon!

 

I agree! I'm glad I was apart of both the January and February groups I think it sped up my learning curve quite a bit. It's been a busy month for me so I wasn't as involved this month as I had hoped but I still enjoyed it.

 

Chris, take care and let that hand heal up.

 

february 2015 focus ... blades ... still in pre-"30 day rule" mode ... final post

every-other-day shaves, two shaves per blade, two pass, ...

pre: n/a
brush: EJ best badger medium
lather: proraso green soap
razor: EJ89lbl
post: ***alum block***

02/25/15
blade: (1)

a nice overall shave with the lab blue. no nicks and very little stinging from the alum.

02/27/15
blade: (1)

the derby provided another nice shave. i did have a couple of small nicks/weepers near the bottom of the neck ... that a cold water splash sealed-up.

given my newbie status and technique, i think for the first time, i may have realized some sharpness difference. after the first pass of the derb, i didn't feel as close as the past couple of blades (astraSP, personna lab blue). after the second pass, though, things seemed to be all evened out. reduction and not removal, right?!

so, the astraSP, personna lab blue, and derby extra made it to the final three for my february blade focus. i think i could pick any of three for my march 2015 30 day rule. sometime between now and tomorrow morning, i'll flip a coin to see who wins ... provided i can find a three-sided coin ... ;-)

aug ... february '15 ... out

 

02/28/15 February Focus on Blades
Prep – MR GLO
Razor - Mongoose Satin B2
Blade – Kai Mild (5)
Brush – RV with Shavemac Finest
Lather – MdC
Post - Witch Hazel and Dove AS Balm



Fantastic 3 pass shave this morning. Chased the baby and caught it. Love the MdC so easy to use and a real guilty pleasure. Finished up the February focus on blades for the Mongoose. After having tried all the available blades, I can say there were no really bad ones. The Feather Super Pro did not work for me. Just made the razor too aggressive even though it was the closest shave I've ever had.

What a great month to experiment with a razor I used for the January 30 day rule.

Recap of the month's shaves for the February Focus on Blades

 

Shave 27 Feb Focus Slim Adjustable
Close comfortable shave today. Will bump it up to 9 WTG tomorrow for last 3 shaves of 30 day Feb. focus. Will be mixing it up in March but will be back at it with a new focus for April!

 

February Focus - Blades
2/28/15 - Day 29
Brush - VDH Boar
Soap - Arko
Razor - 1959 Gillette Tech (birth year)
Blade -
Post - Aqua Velva Ice Blue

This was my day off between the blade trials and the start of my vintage month. Decided to use my 59 Gillette Tech with a Treet Platinum, Arko and my VDH boar brush to just have a fun shave. This setup is quite good, smooth, and produced an easy two pass DFS. Perfectly acceptable for a Saturday at work. I didn't even worry about the alum and just went with the AS and had no burn or irritation. Nice relaxing way to start the day.

As for the blade trials, I'm including my summary of the month for those interested. If not you may stop reading now. Thank you for your attention.

Blade Trial Summary

February was a productive month of trying blades, and quite interesting and informative too. I had the chance to try blades I had never used and compare them against my favorite, the Voskhod. Here are the rankings of the blades based on my scoring system, with ties being broken by notes on overall feel and satisfaction. Again, yes it’s subjective, but blades are that way.


1. Super Max Super Platinum (Vidyut Metallics, India)

2. Gillette Super Platinum Black (Gillette, India)

3. Polsilver Super Iridium (Gillette, Russia)

4. Gillette Silver Blue (Gillette, Russia)

5. Gillette Nacet (Gillette, Russia)

6. Sputnik (Gillette, Russia)

7. Gillette Sharpedge Yellow (Gillette, Russia)

8. Gillette Super Stainless Green (Gillette, Russia)

9. Feather (Japan)

10. Gillette Rubie (Gillette, Russia)


The biggest surprise to me was the fact that the first PTFE blade on my list is all the way at number 4. The second biggest surprise was how well the Super Max SP performed. I’m definitely going back and trying more of the Super Max blades at some point. The third biggest surprise was how much I hated the Rubie. I am a big fan of the Rapira Platinum Lux and the Rubie is touted as Gillette’s answer to that blade. Not even close. And finally, not so much a surprise as a discovery, there is clearly a difference in blades between Gillette, Vidyut and Mostochlegmash. Platinums from Vidyut and Mostochlegmash are quite comfortable with little to no irritation. Platinums from Gillette in Russia are quite irritating to my skin and not at all enjoyable. The Gillette Black, however, is the exception but it is made in India, not Russia. It’s something about Saint Petersburg that creates the problem.


The burning question is whether or not any of these blades surpassed Voskhod for my all time number one spot. The answer is…….no….. but the Super Max lost out by a hair. I would need to do more comparison with the Voskhod as well as the Rapira PL, Rapira Swedish Supersteel, the Ladas and Astra SP to really get all of my favorites in the right order. So many choices, only one face to experiment on.


The most interesting result really shouldn’t be a surprise. Because my technique was solid coming out of the 30 day rule in January I found it possible to get an acceptable shave with all of the blades except for the Rubie. While I enjoyed some more than others, and there was a difference in quality, I could pick up all of these (except the Rubie) and accomplish at least a DFS and be ready for the day. As @GDCarrington says in the Rule, “Technique Trumps Tools”!


Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions about any of these blades. Going to enjoy some fun with vintage and carbon this month and I may then return to another month of trials with more of the Mostochlegmash Russians as well as Vidyut products from India.

 

I had 33 head or face shaves in February. I used 9 different blade brands this month. Here are the blades and number of shaves per each:

Derby3
Ladas3
Schick2
Rapira Lux3
Shark5
GSB3
Perma Sharp2
Blue Bird5
Feather7

A total of 11 blades were used during the month. Blades for head shaving last 2 shaves. Face blades average around 3 uses per blade. The longest use was with a Shark blade for 4 and 1/2 shaves. Razors used during the month were the Weber, a Gillette New SC, a Gillette New LC and a Schick injector.

 

Shave 28 Feb Focus Slim Adjustable
Although March, I am sticking to the 30 day focus rule, will complete March 3. Bumped up to 9 on the adjustable with no issues and paired with Personna 74* very close and comfortable shave was had.