March 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic-Discussion Thread

As for the current month, I had another wonderful shave with the Lather Catcher, and the GEM stainless blade. My wife was watching, tonight. She was floored that I re-lathered and shaved. When I explained the first pass was with the grain, second against the grain, and if necessary, third, against the grain, she said oh, I guess that makes sense. Of course, she is too busy and not able to take the time to do this type of process.... That's okay. I told her this was my spa treatment time.

 

03/22/2015
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – Schick Injector Type I
Blade –Chinese Schick (2)
Brush –Ever-Ready with TGN Finest
Lather – MdC
Post - Witch Hazel and Dove AS Balm

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March Focus - Vintage and Carbon
March 22, 2015 - Week 4 Day 1
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - VDH Boar
Soap - Arko
Razor - 1918 Old Style Gillette
Blade - (1)
Post - RazoRock Alum & The Mighty Veg!

Day one on the 1918 and Classic carbon. This is the razor I started the 30 day rule on in January - and abandoned for the Aristocrat after seriously butchering myself. Over two months of technique work through the rule and blade trials paid off! This was an awesome shave today. The '18 is an aggressive little beast and adding the carbon blade did nothing to tame it. Great audio and tactile feedback, and three passes made the baby cry and put him to bed. A really fun shave with only one minor weeper that appeared after the XTG and disappeared never to be seen again.

The alum was LOUD as expected and the Veg just brought it to SCREAMING loud but that just added to the day! Great fun shave. Now, let's see how many days this blade can go.

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Going to commit sacrilege here: I can't really tell the difference between soaps, provided I can get it to lather. (So Williams is out.) I have five or six types of soap I use now, and they are the same ones I have used for DE shaving. As long as there is some lather on my face, I really can't tell a difference in slickness or cushion. That said, I would recommend you use something you are familiar with, so you only have one new thing to learn for that shave.

 

I found many of the Feather artist club blades harsh for the first several uses in the Mongoose. I've found that if a palm strop the blade before loading most if not all of the harshness is gone.

 

I'm not sure that's sacrilege, certainly not with me! Although I notice a difference in slickness between Arko, Proraso, and VDH it's not enough to make me throw one out. And the difference is slight anyway. I whipped up Arko from a puck today and added extra water for a little wetter lather than usual and I did notice a difference. Probably what helped the shave with the 1918 go so well.

 

I'm at that point as well, probably due to the fact that my den only has things in it that have worked well for me. I am mostly down to choosing between scents, convenience and occasionally weather related moisturizing concerns....

 

March Focus- Be modern, Learn to use my Feather Artist Club razor. Any touch ups with a modern DE.

March 21st, SOTD (Shave 13 of the focus)
One and a half days’ growth
Prep: Hot Shower
Razor Feather Artist Club SS non-folding with Pro-Guard Blade (1st shave on blade)
Razor Finish: Van Der Hagen/ Weishi
DE Blade:Feather- Stropped 30 times per edge (3rd single pass on blade)
Soap: The Shave Den Barber Shoppe Scent, bowl lathered w/5 drops of M-Bomb
Brush: Omega 1066 Boar
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block,
Aftershave: The Shave Den Iced Barber Shoppe Splash

Shaved last night, so I would have some more time to do it, and switched to a fresh blade. Two passes with the feather, got a close shave. Holy crap, these blades are sharp. Did WTG (N/S) pass, and ATG (S/N ish). Counted 12 nicks before the first pass was over. Some people “cork” these blades by running them through a cork to dull them some before using them. I am going to try the kai milds when these are done, but might try palm stropping them as well. Oh well. I will be more careful next time.

Going on a business trip this week, so getting my travel kit ready.

 

Sunday evening and another great shave with the GEM stainless blade, and the 1914 lather catcher. I am very impressed with single edge shaving implements generally, and really am enjoying the 1914.

 

On the home stretch now ... Last blade started total days 57.

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threa...ermining-time-length.42857/page-6#post-810126

 

March 21, 2015: Saturday's shave

Pre- Face wash with warm water, Stirling Bay Rum PSO
Brush Soak- Sriracha Mug of Doom™
Razor- Ikon 102 Slant
Blade- Personna (1)
Soap- Razororck P.160
Brush- VDH boar
Post- Cold water rinse, Osma Alum
Aftershave- The Cool Fix balm

Two and a half passes :WTG , XTG, cleanup w/ a little ATG

Continue to get great shaves with this combo of razor and blade.

Tried the first thing out of my huge PIF from Kerry, the Razorock P.160 soap. Worked great and lathered easily, the almond
scent isn't really my thing, but it dissipates pretty quickly. Still soaking the Omega 10066 that he sent, so it was VDH until it
gets defunkified. All in all, another good shave and I can definitely tell my technique is progressing!

 

03/23/15
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – Schick Injector Type I
Blade – Chinese Schick (3)
Brush – Rudy Vey with TGN Finest
Lather – MdC
Post - Witch Hazel, Dove AS Balm and CC Bay Rum AS



Great 3 pass shave this morning. I'm really liking this injector.

 

Ok, hyperbole. But I love Arko!!!

 

The last two months with an injector may have in fact made it my favorite style of razor.

 

Alternate view: you are lucky and can use any soap you like! Ditto on sticking to one as a learning soap for most shavers.

 

My guess falls to the wayside.

 

30 Day Focus
22-23 March 2015


Injector March Madness Cont'd



Thanks to 30 day systems, I declare this razor mastered.

Automatic 2 pass smoothness every time.
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That scream on your face is just the Hungarian Cavalry thanking you for being alive.

 

March 2015 ... 30 day rule ... technique, technique, technique

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

all shaves in this summary were 2-pass ... WTG and some combination of WTG/XTG ... in general, with my newfound, happy angle, shaves in general went well with little to no irritation; with the feeling that i'm getting at least a little better with technique, i went with three days in a row ... for the first time in a long, long time

03/20/15 ... blade4(1) ... 2 1/2 days growth; normal directions; no nicks and very little or no irritation;
03/21/15 ... blade4(2) ... normally, my second pass has been from the nose to the ear; tried the opposite direction today; also tried opposite than normal directions on my neck ... just because i felt adventurous; i did have a little more feedback from the alum but nothing too terrible
03/22/15 ... blade4(3) ... one nick right under the nose on the first pass; a couple of what seems like might be called weepers on the neck; however, those areas did not sting with the alum block and required no styptic

i'm gonna stick with the derby extra throughout march. i must say, though, that i am looking forward to another blade focus in april.

 

March Focus - Vintage and Carbon
March 23, 2015 - Week 4 Day 2
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - VDH Boar
Soap - C.O. Bigelow
Razor - 1918 Old Style Gillette
Blade - (2)
Post - RazoRock Alum & Dr. Carver's Magnanimous Post Shave

Day two of the Old and Classic combo and it was as glorious an old school shave as they come. One weeper near the right ear that popped up after the first pass, then gone forever. The alum was sufficiently angry but I skipped the normal aftershave, choosing the Dr. Carver's instead. Dr. Carver's is the Dollar Shave Club balm that I have left over from my evil cart days. It does a decent job of moisturizing and cooling off that aggressive irritation until I get something better. No issues with the blade on day two so we will forge on to day three on Tuesday!