Recovery and play with soap week!
May 24, 2015
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Razor - RazoRock TTO
Blade - (3)
Post - Alum, The Veg!

Well I have a week before June to relax and play with some soaps. Since I recently added Tabac and MWF I wanted to spend a bit of time showing them some love and seeing if I get any in return. I'm also going to work with my Vie Long more to get totally comfortable with it. Today, however, I chose the Omega Pro 48 since it is my first time attempting to lather MWF. I've watched a couple of videos and taken some notes. Some say this is a difficult soap to lather so I wanted all the help I could get.

I soaked the top of the puck in warm water while I showered then shook out the Pro 48 from its soak. Started loading the brush and loved the mild scent this soap has and noticed it almost instantly produced some very big bubbles. As I continued to load the brush it began to lather up a bit in the brush and on the puck. Went to work on a face lather and loved the feel and aroma and it didn't take long to get a decent lather up. Nothing spectacular but enough to shave with. I added a bit of water and kept working until I had a very slick lather. Still a bit thin but not bad.

I still had the Sharp Star blade (all hail the Russian blade gods) in my RR so I used that for three passes. Felt great, the lather was very slick and the second lather went a bit better. My face was wet so I think the extra water helped. By the third pass I had a very nice DFS with only one nick that was caused by my over exuberance at having a great shave! Alum was a bit biting on the neck and the Veg lit it up but smells ohhhhhh so good. The Fat is a great soap and I am looking forward to working with it until I master it.

Todays picture is just a combination of some of my favorite new things, other than the Lord Platinums. They were just included with the razor. Hope you all have a great holiday weekend! I've gotta get the grill fired up and the ribs on before the next round of thunderstorms rolls through.

​

Very nice shave, but please tell me more.....



...about those ribs!

Pre: shower

Soap: TSD Frankincense & Myrrh (My Sunday staple)

Razor: R-89 with Gillette Silver Blue blade (x2)

Post: Thayer's Lavender Witch Hazel, Aqua Veleva, Pinaud Clubman

Cologne: Tommy Hilfiger

Face = BBS. Neck = CCS. I shaved late yesterday evening, used Bay Rum and Aqua Di Gio cologne - only needed ATG and touch ups on my face to get it BBS. I could have easily gotten by without shaving this morning.

No Spey Rods in these neck of the woods. Here in central Idaho the trout are what we called bait back in California. The lake we are at is Stanley and it has Rainbow, Lake Trout and Kokanee but could not get deep enough for the later two. I brought my Temple Fork Lefty Kreh TiCrX 5wt and having not fly fished in four years, I pretty much sucked at it especially since I was in my Water Skeeter float tube which is more like a pontoon style than typical float tube. We went down to the salmon river and had better luck catching bows, couple of cutthroats and too many whitefish. Most were in the 8-12" size but my buddy caught couple of bows that I would say weight over a pound. Guy downstream caught a bow I would say 4-5lb with a spinner. I brought my spinning gear too and used on the lake but on the river I tried to get the rust out and stayed with the 5 weight. How I miss the bigger fish within the pacific bordering states.

So where is your brush today? Looks like the Gulf Islands!

5/23/15

Prep: hot shower
Lather: TSD Wheat
Brush: TGN finest
Razor: Gillette New LC
Blade: Rapira Lux (1)
Post: Ogallala Bay Rum

Hahaha! Not the Gulf Islands. It is just in Vancouver, in the bay near Science World, close to the downtown.

W&B
Sapone Di Paolo Lime
Omega Hi Synthetic
I hate to admit it but this brush would have been a disappointment if I wouldn't have been wanting just the knot. The brush actually rattles when you shake it. I do like the fibers and it will be the last time anyone sees the brush and knot in it's original configuration anyway. Very nice shave with the W&B and Sapone Di Paolo. Excellent soap, BTW. Have a good one.

SWMBO is from Vancouver and we love to vacation in the Gulf Islands.
Beautiful BC!

Sunday shave.

Bit of a rough shave today. My own fault
I forgot, never shave whilst tired. Oh well
You live and learn

Razor - Gem micromatic open comb
Brush - Pilsson synthetic
Blade- Gem
Lather - Proraso red
Aftershave - Nivea sensitive balm

Hi Friends,

long time no see...i was quite busy in the last weeks. Stress at work...But i hope that it will now be better, so i can post here more often again. Here is my Shave of the Day:


Figaro Monsieur Soap (lathered in my Suribachi) / Gießen & Forsthoff OC / HEMA Blade / Scott Pavkovich "Chief" / Extro Aftershave Bay Rum

Very very nice!!! I received the soap, the Aftershave and the Suribachi the last days. Today i had the time to open the packages to smell at all things. Very very good soap and Aftershave!!! Woooohooo!!! It´s not the typical Bay Rum scent, it´s more on the fresh side. Oranges, maybe a few peaches, in the back a bit cinnamon and far far behind you can smell a little amount of clove. I LOVE the scent. The skin care is fantastic!!!

That´s it for now...have a great day, enjoy your shaves and stay healthy.

Greetings
Thorsten​

Another great shot!

What.......these ribs?

OMG! Smoking ribs in a Weber coal kettle! Good man.

Any chance to get those shipped?!!

SUNDAY
Early morning shave; Late Posting
Third consecutive day with this Henckel and third fantastic shave. A real keeper. It is going to spoil me for using many others...
Have a blessed Sunday, everyone!

iKon Shavecraft 101 / iKon Bulldog
Personna Lab Blue (2)
Tipsoft Custom
Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet
444

Unfortunately I had already eaten them before I saw the request. Drat the luck. Love the Weber. I don't do gas grills at all. I had wet hickory chunks in the coals (wood coals, not charcoal) and the ribs were on soaked cedar boards. Mmmmmmm, if I do say so myself.

SOTD - Sunday, May 24, 2015

Shower
Prep: Homemade PSO
Brush: Ever-Ready 115, 20mm TGN Finest
Cream: La Toja
Razor: Merkur 38C
Blade: Gillette 7 O'Clock Black (1)
Aftershave: Fine American Blend

SOTD 05/24/2015

Prep: PSO, Hot shower, Oatmeal soap face scrub
Razor: Gillette New SC
Blade: Polsilver Super Iridium (1)
Brush: Omega 80080 Boar Brush
Soap: Maggard London Barbershop
Post: Cold rinse, Alum, Styptic pencil, Witch Hazel, TBS Maca Root ASB

Very pleased with how the razor cleaned up.

At 2 passes I felt in heaven. Then I went ATG and nicked myself a few times.

I really like this razor! I'll try to perfect the angle for ATG.

May 24, 2015
"La Saponeria Artigiana Sunday"

60 yo newbie’s intro to traditional shaving. (Day 6)

Morning Hot Shower
Prep: Pre-Shave Oil - The Art of Shaving
Soap: Saponeria Artigiana Sapone da Barba Vegetale alla Mandorla
Brush: Omega Pro 48
Razor: Gillette Tech “Fat Handle”
Blade: Voskhod
Post-Shave Cream: Proraso (White) Green Tea & Oat



On Saturday I received my first vintage razor purchase - Gillette Tech "Fat Handle.”
I also received a PIF sample of Voskhod blades (thanks Neal!)

Anxious to try my new acquisitions, I cleaned up the Tech, introduced it to the Voskhod and gave my Arko stick a day off to splurge with a new soap sample.

My preference for shaving products leans toward unscented or subtly scented items. The Artigiana soap was very pleasing with its delicate almond scent. It seemed to lather up easily on my face. However the new razor and blade took some getting used to. Mind you, I’ve only had a week of DE shaves so I’m sure it’s all about my technique of course, but I was having problems finding the right blade angle. It seemed that this blade had a very narrow cutting window.

My whiskers are light enough that I’ve never had much problem going ATG with carts, so I worked hard at it on this 3rd pass, going ATG. Much improved! This pass made this shave one of the best of the week. Will spend more time with this combo in the coming weeks.

Respectful Memorial Day Weekend to all,
- RT