Greetings fellow Denizens...

Pics and discussion for those doing a 30 DAY RULE or 30 DAY FOCUS in July 2015...here we go!

Please read the above provided link to @GDCarrington and his guidelines. He explains the concepts and such in detail. His suggestions early in my foray into DE greatly improved my shaves by focusing my efforts. This thread is completely inspired by his guidelines, ideas and methods. Thanks to Gary for all he contributes to TSD!

If you are new to TSD, Welcome Aboard! Thanks for hanging out with us. If you are joining in again, welcome back! Direct chatter and topic wandering is highly encouraged. You are also encouraged to quote posts when in discussion so that we can follow along. This thread is dedicated to getting the most out of your shaving experience. Wide latitude is practiced here with regard to actual discussion topics, and we do wander a bit at times. All skill/experience levels, razor types, and shaving ideas are welcome here.

I hope everyone learns a few things, makes a few friends and has a great time. See an SOTD weekly thread if you want an example of how this thread might work. Feel free to introduce yourself to the group and relate your experiences with wet shaving.

Special Message to Newbies: Welcome! You have landed in the right place. We love traditional shaving and we love people who love traditional shaving. We are glad you joined the best shaving forum on Earth. TSD is participation driven...you should probably be on SoS (SOTD) too! It is central to the goings-on at TSD. Feel free to jump in and post pics! It is probably the easiest way to get a feel for TSD and meet the regular posters. They love pics. Coming up with unique interesting pics daily in July is an implied challenge. Good luck!

The housekeeping-

These are the rules. Follow them.

Support your forum here. The Iced Subzero AS Splash is my favorite exclusive. What's yours?

Lots of good reference found >here<. If you are new to TSD, please go back and click that link...it will help you make sense of our acronyms and chatter.



Have fun, follow your plan...Great shaves in July await!

Warmest Regards,

Chris

Hmm - it's definitely gonna be a straight month as I'm hooked! Need suggestions on what to focus on - blade or soap. I feel my technique is farely solid after 60 plus days of straights - 30 with no real nicks. But in all fairness, I stopped shaving my chin and grew a goatee! Can I focus on my handlebar mustache waxing?
Cheers,
Eric

Chris, thanks for opening up the July thread. After 30 days of DE shaving I am ready to go back to SE shaving. I will focus on SE shaving for July. I will use the Mongoose for my work morning shaves and Vintage GEM razors on the weekends. Other than the Mongoose and the brushes, the GEM razors and the soaps, I use for the month are items that I received as PIFs from members here on the forum. I will get a list and photos of the items up before the month starts.

Focus day 7. Straight razor focus.

I am going to spend July with my new razor the Phoenix dbl OC. So far it has been pretty good. As a secondary focus, I am going to work on mapping my beard growth to help improve my shaves.

I will be doing a 30 day focus using the B3 Mongoose razor beginning on July 1 with Mongoose Shave #8.

I'm glad you are joining us. I look forward to reading your reports on the Mongoose throughout July.

May I suggest if you focus on the razor aspect, you concentrate on the differences between your arsenal of straights. Spend a week with ONE razor, switch out the next week and you'll possibly begin to detect variations in how they feel on your face. This is of particular interest if you have a variety of styles and shapes (ands makes) to draw upon. You may find you prefer a wider (6/8" or larger) blade, wedge vs hollow, round point vs square point, etc. Part of this process can be refining your preferences and likes vs dislikes. Introducing other variables (soap, for example) will only cloud these differences.

This is my plan, kind of. I am going to focus on my three American straights, and spend some time with each of them.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

July Focus

Maggard OC
Stirling MITA
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
4 different Gillette blade labels, then Voskhod.

1 July I will use a Derby Green, and compare the shave to Cadet OC (June's razor). I hopefully will be doing six shaves with each blade type. It will require three blades of each label, I will be spending six total days with each label, but only using an individual blade for two days. That makes thirty days of Blade trials for my new Maggard.

I also plan on rotating through every AS that I own. Remember everyone, AS is not covered in the guidelines and can be changed daily, if so desired!

Hope everyone has a great afternoon and a productive July!

ETA: I forgot about using the Derby. Accidentally started blade trial, oops.

Great advice! Keep it simple so you can see the differences in equipment.

I know my fa clauberg is good for mustache area. Just got my dbl duck but it needs a restore, so I'm sending it to gemstar customs for work. Don't know if I'll have it to work with. I need to perfect my straight form. Tired of battle scars on my cheek.

My July focus will be the same as my June focus, straight razor shaving. I made allot progress in June, from 2 to 3 passes, reduced irritation and a closer shave..... but ..... I am still far away from BBS and what I can achieve with a good DE.

This month I am visiting my brother who moved to England. For 10 days I will be in England and Scotland so no posting and no straight shaving during the trip.

In the last 2 months I have about 25-30 shaves now so another 70 or so to go to get to the mythical 100.

Ah, is 100 the number of straight razor shaves that it is said 'it takes'?

That is what I read from other learned people. Clearly 30 is not the magic number for me.

I will see if it is true for me and report back.

Thoughts for my Focus...open for comments/suggestions.

Following my Newbie 30-day Rule in June for technique, this month I'll test 4 brands of blades to begin to develop "favorites" for my first DE razor - Gillette Tech.
(And still work on technique)

Each brand will get a one week trial as follows:

- Monday 3-pass shave
- Tue - Sat. 2-pass
- Sunday an off day (hence the 3-pass on Monday)

Blades: (subject to change)
Derby Green
Gillette Silver Blue
Personna Reds
Voskhod

Soap
I really liked Arko during the last 30 days. For this month I wanted to try some mentholated soaps as it continues to be a scorcher here in Seattle. (high 80s last week - 90s this week!)

So I'm thinking three days each week for these two soaps:
- TSD Subzero (Brand A, Blade #1 Mon-Wed)
- Catties Bubbles Mile High Menthol (Brand A, Blade #2 Thu-Sat)

All the rest of the shave gear stays mostly the same:
- Gingers Garden Preshave Oil
- Omega Pro 48
- Gillette Tech
- Aftershave TBD

Happy July all!

Cheers!
RT

BTW - I'll be starting this routine on Monday July 6 as it will fit in with my blade rotation best.

It varies from shaver to shaver, but yes, generally speaking it seems to take about 100 shaves—roughly 3 to 3.5 months of daily shaves—for one's competency and confidence to truly take hold when using a straight razor.
Perhaps this is due to the repetition or just muscle memory kicking in, but I know personally it seemed about 3-4 months before I felt I had 'mastered' the blade confidently. My shave were getting consistent results (CLOSE and SMOOTH with no DE touch-up), no irritation and no blood-letting.
For some, this ability come considerably quicker; others…longer. I know some say it takes a good year to truly master the blade. I will say that the longer I shave (more shaves with a straight), I am getting much more efficient, quicker and getting predictable results on a daily basis.

I like it. You picked four good blades, well two of those are what I would call excellent and the change in soaps is good. Looking forward to seeing you progress and see which of the blades works best for you!

It's hard to believe we are almost in July. The June Tournament of Blades was fun and is two days from its finale. So, I'll be joining the July group a day late but that will still give me 30 days. So, here's the plan.

I will be doing a RULE in July, though with one variation. I will be using the CJB and Feather Pro blades, with the Omega Pro 48 and Mitchell's Wool Fat for the lather. The variation involves using a DE razor for third passes if necessary and to take a day off from the CJB from time to time. My past experience with it taught me that there can come a time when I need to put the straight down and finish with, or just sub in, a DE. So, in order to keep it a rule I will be using my Gillette New LC with Voskhod when I need the DE. No variation on soap/brush and only the CJB or New LC with Feather Pro and Voskhod.

My goal is to finish the month with strong technique and daily DFS shaves using the CJB. I will also be using kamisori technique with it, meaning only one hand and using the same side of the razor on all of my face. At some point this month I will be sending my Henkotsu kamisori to be honed and getting a strop so that I can roll into August with the kamisori in place of the CJB. At least that's the plan for now.

So, to recap....here are my setups for the rule.

Razors - CJB/Gillette NewLC
Blades - Feather Pro Artist Club/Voskhod DE
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post - Alum/Nivea Original Replenishing Post Shave Balm/The Veg

I'll check in on the 1st to see how everyone is starting out but my first post will be Thursday the 2nd after the final round of the tourney! Here's to a successful, enjoyable, profitable and fun July!

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