JUNE 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

The 3 razors look fantastic.

 

June 24, 2015

30 Day RULE - “Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Lather, Rinse….”

Hot Shower
Pre-Shave Oil: Gingers Garden
Soap: Arko
Brush: Omega Pro 48
Razor: Gillette Tech “Fat Handle”
Blade: Gillette Wilkinson Sword Stainless (India) (1)
After Shave: Myrsol Agua Limon
After Shave Balm: Gingers Garden



Much better 2-pass shave today after tossing my last blade after 3 shaves. As my focus this month has been more on my technique, while changing blades religiously after 3 shaves, I'll be trying to monitor blade wear a bit more closely as I finish up this last week on this blade brand.

On that note - I'll be doing a July focus on blade trials to compliment the Tech I've been learning on. I figure I'll try a different blade brand each week to determine a range of blades that I can settle in with with this razor. So please feel free to throw some suggestions for blades my way.
(Yes, yes comrade, Voskhod will be one of them.)

Cheers!
RT

 

Razor: Gillette Aristocrat, 1947, Birth Razor
Blade: Gillette, Platinum (6)
Brush: Semogue 1305 Boar Tri Colored Wood Handle.
Shaving Cream : BlueBeard's Revenge
A/S: Pinuad Lime
Day24
Good lather tonight with the cream. DFS 3 passes. Heading on the road for a few days. I'll check back next week.

 

Have a safe trip.

 

World Tournament of Blades - Russia vs. the World!!
June 24, 2015
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - VDH Boar
Soap - Proraso
Razor - '59 Ball End Tech
Blade - (2)
Post - Alum, Nivea Balm

Back to the good old USA for the Personna Lab Blue today. It gets its day on the field in an attempt to make the Final Four and face off with the Bic. It still has to beat the Turkish Derby so here we go. The short loft VDH Boar and Proraso Green is almost an idiot proof lather. Seriously, I could have done six passes from the one brush load. Can't blame the lather for anything today.

First pass and the Blue is still sharp on its second run in the tournament and still smooth as well. Nice feel and nice result on the pass. It did feel like a nick on the neck but after checking it was a false alarm. Lathered again and went XTG to good results. Still smooth and sharp. Neck needed some touch up for the DFS and it went just as smooth. Seemed like an absolute great shave. Nearly perfect.

Scoring - Sharpness - 1. Smoothness - 1. Irritation - hit the alum and did a double take. More burn than I expected. Lasted a bit longer than I thought as well. That has to be a 2. Result? DFS for a 2.

Total - 6

Not a bad result, and just a hair worse than its first run. I scored the burn a 1.5 there so this blade may have shown just a bit of weakness on its second shave. We'll see how it holds up as we head to Turkey tomorrow!

After my last "meanwhile in America" picture I figured you'd suffered enough. And, in honor of the week after Father's Day I'll share this one with you. Hope all you Dads got this kind of love without the same result!

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Day 23 - 24 May 2015

30 Day Rule Focus with a Cadet OC!


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Day nine on this blade, I have decided to see how far I can push this blade. So far so good! Using the shave stick method again I was able to get the normal 2 Pass Automatic smoothness! Kept it real simple on the finish, Alum and a little Clubman. Busy day, horrible weather, great shave! Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a wonderful Thursday!
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Then I raise a glass of vodka and a spoonful of caviar in your honor!

 

Categorically beautiful restoration and honing, per usual!

 

Thank you for taking it easy on our retinas today, comrade.

 

Have a safe journey and we'll see you soon!

 

@Rufus T. --

Neal is spot on. These are exactly the kinds of questions you should keep in mind as you do your July focus. In general, the Tech will be great with most blades. As your technique solidifies, your ability to answer Neal's questions will also increase, and eventually your favorite blade will simply emerge. Shave on!

 

Welcome aboard! I believe that was your first shave posted to the 30 Day thread!

 

9 on a Derby. That is really an impressive showing for a blade that so many write off as "not really a blade".

 

When I first tried Derby as a newbie, I criticized it heavily. Now I realize that my skill level (or lack thereof) was the real issue. It's a fine blade, not my fave, but more than adequate for a comfortable shave.

 

I think it is too =) we'll see how it goes. Is there people here that does is a little less than 30 days? =P

 

World Tournament of Blades - Russia vs. the World!!
June 25, 2015
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - VDH Boar
Soap - Proraso
Razor - '59 Ball End Tech
Blade - (2)
Post - Alum, Nivea Balm

Wrapping up the Quarterfinals with the Derby! This blade was a surprising winner over the vaunted Feather and has its work cut out for it to keep going. However, @Bama Samurai is using Derbys this month and just ripped off 9 good shaves with one. Let's see if the hot streak continues here!

Lathered the Proraso and went to work on the first pass. Very smooth and the blade is as sharp as it ever was, which is to say it isn't as sharp as some. Still, a great pass, comfortable and effective. XTG for the second and another smooth pass. The lack of sharpness showed up a bit as the blade left a bit more work for the third pass than I normally see. Went ATG on the third on my face, XTG and G-slide on the neck and finished with a very nice DFS. No complaints there.

Scoring - Sharpness - This is a 2. Same as its first run. The Derby isn't among the sharpest blades but it functions well. Smoothness, definitely a 1. Very nice feel throughout. DFS for the finish which is a 2. That's 5 so far. Irritation - this was the one I was waiting on because a 1 forces the tie. And, in the last round, the Derby scored a 1. Let's go to the alum.....but wait....there is a mark high on my right cheek.....red....no blood....but looks like a scrape or near-weeper. Huh? Well if it's nothing the alum won't affect it. So....alum all over and.........yeah, that's a scrape or minor nick which lights up the alum.....and.....the burn is all over. Face, neck, especially the neck, and it's persistent. That makes irritation a 2.

Total - 7. Great effort but not good enough.

Winner - PERSONNA LAB BLUE!!!!!

So, here are the Final Four!

Voskhod vs. Ladas
Bic vs. Personna Lab Blue

Not the pairings I expected but they are good ones. The Final Four.....begins tomorrow!

 

06/25/2015
Razor – ATT R2 with Hempel Ti
Blade – Feather (3)
Brush – Rudy Vey with TGN Finest
Lather – B&M Latha
Post - Witch Hazel and Fine Platinum



Another great 3 pass shave this morning. Not crazy about the scent of Latha but at least it dissipates by the time lathering is finished. The performance of the soap is very good. Finished off with a splash of Fine Platinum.

 

Day#5 of 5; 30-Days in June
This was supposed to be the final day using this fine vintage C-MON razor, which I paired this morning with Martin De Candre soap. Result? A near-BBS 3-pass shave.
I may squeeze one more day from this razor as yesterday I opted to use Drygulch's trio for my morning shave. This CMON definitely goes on my 'Keeper' list as it is such a smooth shaver.

 

June 24th, SOTD (Shave 15 of this focus)
One days’ growth
Prep: Hot water splash and Homemade Pre-Shave Oil
Razor: W. B. Speed Rabbit marked razor
Strop: Drygulch Chromexcel Horsehide/ Linen
Soap: Maggard’s Orange Menthol
Brush: Eveready 100T re-knotted with 22mm TGN Synthetic
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block, Thayer’s Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Maggard’s Orange Menthol Alcohol Based

Changed a few things today, and it worked. Because a skin condition I have, I don’t typically shower every day, unless I have been working outside and need to wash the sunscreen off. On the days I don’t shower, I don’t typically shave, because the whiskers aren’t soft enough. This month, one of my focus items was trying to shave every day for a week. Today is the fifth day in a row I have shaved. It honestly hasn’t been going that great, lots of irritation. This morning, rather than scrubbing my face with soap, I just used water. I then put on a homemade pre-shave oil, and let that soak for five minutes. I didn’t wash it off, but I made my lather for my first pass very thick, without much water. I did my first pass WTG or N/S. Because of the irritation I have been getting, I did no pressure, and just assumed I would have a rough neck. Rinsed my face with hot water, added more water to my lather, and did my second pass ATG, or S/N. Menthol felt great on the parts of my neck that get irritated. Didn’t do any touch up either. Went into the shave figuring I would get a SAS, and ended up with a BBS.

One other area that was weird for me today, I was in a hurry and forgot to strop my razor before the shave. It was smooth and didn’t pull at all. I was half way through my second pass when I realized I hadn’t stropped it. Typically I do 20 laps on both linen and leather after my shave to clean the edge. Apparently that was enough to prep the razor for the next shave. I may have to revisit my stropping routine.

Today was surprising.

 

June 25, 2015

30 Day RULE - “Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Lather, Rinse….”

Hot Shower
Pre-Shave Oil: Gingers Garden
Soap: Arko
Brush: Omega Pro 48
Razor: Gillette Tech “Fat Handle”
Blade: Gillette Wilkinson Sword Stainless (India) (2)
After Shave: Floid Blue sample (didn't replace photo)
After Shave Balm: Gingers Garden



Very nice 2-pass shave today. Solid focus on better technique, more deliberate, shorter strokes. Noticed that my grip may have been a bit too high up the handle - almost right below the head. This may have caused the feeling I had on the past couple of shaves that I was more frequently in a place where I was about to cut myself as the blade edge tended to approach perpendicular to my skin. Bringing my grip down the handle a bit appeared to remedy that...or was it better focus?

Cheers!
RT