July 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

I love using an Uber-Lather. A nice soap, a nice cream, and some glycerin whipped up in the bowl makes a superior lather. However, since I am on a 30-day rule for face lathering, it appears at first glance that I will not be able to make an Uber-lather. This restriction is easily overcome with the following technique:

Apply glycerin to the face as if it were a pre-shave oil (glycerin by itself is a pretty good pre-shave oil)
dab small amounts of cream on the face
load the brush
apply to the face and build the lather

It works beautifully. I am unsure if this will work if you use another pre-shave and then apply glycerin over it. Also, this requires a lot more water than just face lathering.



30 day rule
MDC Unscented Face Lathered w/ TOBS Almond & Glycerin
Ladas blade
Slim Adjustable set to 7


Great shave today. 3 passes and BBS

 

Week two: No Name Wedge
July 8 - Shave 5
Prep: Hot shower, Aveeno 5:1 face wash
Brush: WSP Silvertip
Preshave: Stirling Netha
Soap: Stirling Naked and Smooth
Razor: No name wedge Spanish point
Strop: @Drygulch Modern Barber Strop 24"x3"
Growth: 1.5 day
Post: Cold water splash, TSD Milk
Passes: WTG, XTG, ATG

Another great shave with no nicks from this wedge. I really didn't think that I was going to like this wedge as much as I do since I wanted to "hear" my shave. But as I mentioned in past posts, the full hollow blade tends to jump on my neck. First WTG pass is like a hot knife through butter. The XTG was pretty good as well, finding that I pull on my ear harder than moving my hand down my cheek to stretch! I'm going to end up like Dumbo if I keep this up! For my ATG, I am just doing a ATG pass on my cheeks and another WTG on neck to clean up anything I may has missed. Overall, another great wedge shave!
Cheers,
Eric

 

07/08/2015
Razor – Mongoose B2 with Jürgen Hempel Ti
Blade – Feather Pro (1)
Brush – Rudy Vey with TGN Finest
Lather – Lo Haiku
Post - Witch Hazel and Fine Platinum



After the last several shaves with the Feather Super blades, I decided to change out the blade to the regular Feather Pro and work on my technique. I will stay with this blade for a 7 shaves or so before going back to the Super. Wonderful 3 pass, BBS shave this morning. The soap was easy to lather and I have found it to be very slick once the water ratio is dialed in. Finished off with a splash of Fine Platinum.

 

30 Day Rule - July 2015
July 8th
Razor - CJB/Gillette New LC
Blade - (3 2/3)
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Post - Cold Water splash, Alum, Nivea Original Post Shave Balm

Slept in this morning, a bit too long. It's my late in day so I took advantage. Only about 18 hours since my last shave. Not the usual work needed to shave and I'm short on time so the CJB stayed put this morning and I used the New LC and Voskhod. Great shave as both the razor and blade are excellent. The Fat worked great and overall it was a great 3 pass shave to a very nice DFS. The areas that I sliced and diced are all pretty much healed so the return of the CJB after its day off should be smooth tomorrow. Or smoother anyway. It's Wednesday so we're halfway home this week. Also I can't believe we're in the second week of July. I have lots of cars to sell before the 31st!

 

July 8th, SOTD (Shave 5 of this focus)
Two days’ growth
Prep: Hot shower
Razor: W.R. Case & Sons “Registered No. 23 Warranted For Life” Purple Heart Wood scales
Strop: Drygulch Chromexcel Horsehide/ Linen (10 linen/ 10 leather pre and post)
Soap: Jabonman Lima-Incienso (Menthol)
Brush: Spalted Maple Brush with Badger Knot
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block, Thayer’s Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman with M-Bomb added

Based on advice from @HolyRollah , decided not to do five full shaves with my little “Caveman” Catt. That is a nice razor for detail work, but it is much more likely to skip and bite than larger blades, and is much harder to get a clean shave with. The Case razor is just nice to use. The wood scales feel good, it glides through stubble, and has enough length to get my jaw and bottom of my chin done well. I think the burning and razor bumps were due to the smaller razor not cutting as well as a larger one. Did a two pass with a little bit of touch up today, and got a DFS plus. Very little bite to the alum, and an overall good shave. I am loving the M-Bombed Clubman. Leaves my face feeling great, little bit of chilliness, then Clubman goodness for the rest of the day.

 

How's it working with the limited stropping?

 

I haven't noticed any difference in performance, but I haven't done a lot of it yet. I plan on using this razor for the rest of this week, and most of next so I might have a better basis for comparison. So far, it seems like the edge is being maintained, without the worry of overstropping and rounding the edge. It also cuts some time out of the routine, but I honestly do enjoy stropping, so that could go in the plus or the negative column.

 

Same set up.. Different day.
Forgot to post yesterday but yesterday and today were both the same set up.good shave.

Today I went 2 passes with the dovo.

 

July 8, 2015

30-Day Focus - Blade Trials for Gillette Tech
One week trial for each brand: Personna Red, Derby Green, Gillette Silver Blue, Voskhod

Hot Shower
Pre-Shave Oil: Gingers Garden
Soap: Catie's Bubbles Mile High Menthol
Brush: Omega Pro 48
Razor: Gillette Tech “Fat Handle”
Blade: Personna Red (1)
RazoRock Alum
After Shave: Myrsol Agua Di Limon



First time using Catie's MHM - great lather with a refreshingly cold, brisk sensation and a mild minty scent with eucalyptus. Thankfully I didn't lose any feeling on my skin as I was guiding the razor through its paces. Do I dare use it for a 3-pass? I think I'll work up to it in time, after all I'm not one of those TSD Mentheads! (you know who you are!) The AS splash of Myrsol Limon paired nicely with the MHM to chill me out to face another scorcher here in Seattle!

Ok, I like those products but I’m scratching my head a bit after this shave, my fourth with a Personna Red. I have two, maybe three shaves left with my trial of the Personna Red brand.

Best shave was the first shave.

(Sun.) Blade 1 Shave 1 - 3-pass (W,X,ATG) shave w/two-day growth. Sharpness on 1st pass disappointed, last two passes cleaned up for an excellent shave.
(Mon.) Blade 1 Shave 2 - 2-pass (W,XTG) much touch-up. Perhaps lost focus rushing to work. Still cleaned up well with touch ups.
(Tue.) Blade 1 Shave 3 - 2-pass (W,XTG) better focus, same shave, requiring much touch up again.
(Wed.) Blade 2 Shave 1- 2-pass (W,XTG) good focus, same shave, requiring multiple strokes over same area and much touch-ups.

I’m doing these trials to find a couple of brands that can consistently provide a good 2-pass shave during the workweek. I’m getting a clean face, but it seems it only happens with at least a 3-pass with minor touch-ups, or 2-pass with multiple strokes on same area and touch ups.

Should I draw a conclusion that this may not be a good 2-pass blade for me?
Could it be that the lather from this Caties or the TSD soap was so thick that I need to use shorter strokes to not catch so much lather?
Perhaps I'm wrong to think I should be able to get just as good a shave with a 2-pass as I can with a 3-pass, if I can find the right blade?
Do you think that @NCoxSTL will make it through NBJ?
If a train traveling from Chicago - New York leaves at 2 pm at 60 mph, at what time will a train traveling NY - Chicago leaving at the same time going 70 mph, pass it?

Have any of you actually made it all the way through this post?

Cheers!
- RT

 

Razor: Gillette Flare Tip (A3)
Blade: Feather (6)
Brush: WDC 5- Whipped Dog knot Boar/ Green Handle
Soap: RazoRock Don Donato
A/S: Pinaud Clubman Citrus Musk Eau De Cologne
Day 8.
Three passes.
Still liking this boar brush. It has a little less backbone and holds lather very well. It helps to use a good soap also. Good shave this evening and would classify it as a DFS. Pinaud Lime was a great finish. I'm learning to like boar brushes. I find the ones that I have with less backbone seem to work well for me.

 

A similar type of handle as the Auto Strop. Nice razor.

 

1956 Gillette Super Speed Flair
Vulfix Super Badger (660)
Georgetown G12 Scuttle
Proraso Sandalwood cream
Aqua Velva
Current Blade under review: Astra Superior Platinum (round 2)

Lathered up and ready to go:



Shave #1 with 2nd Astra Superior Platinum blade. Excellent BBS results, a wonderful shave. Extremely close, smooth, no nicks, weepers, irritation or razor burn.
2 Full passes: Pass 1: WTG on my face (N/S), and XTG on my neck (N/S). Pass 2: ATG using my grain map. At this point, I could have ended the shave with a nice DFS, actually, almost a BBS.
Lathered up again for touch up and to deal with the spots where the grain is every which way. I was very happy, applied my Aqua Velva, and two of my difficult to get spots woke up and showed me some tiny stubble. I splashed on some hot water, lathered those spots and gave them another ATG pass with a little blade buffing. Then rinsed, and put on my A/S again. I wound up with my closest shave yet.

I don't know if it is kosher to go back for a touch up after using the A/S, but finding something I missed at this point has happened before and I ended up just stopping. Today, I thought I'd go back and fix it. I'm very pleased with how things turned out.

The first time I tried the Astra Superior Platinum blade I got the impression that they were very smooth and comfortable but not as sharp as my Shark Super Stainless. Now, I'm not so sure. They certainly feel comfortable to me, but since this was my best shave yet, and I only did two passes, I can't complain that they're not sharp. Time will tell, but I think that my technique has been improving and I'm pretty happy about it. Finding that I like almost every blade I try isn't a bad problem to have.

Happy Shaving!

 

Not enough info to set up an algebraic solution.

Move on from The Reds. They are apparently not right for your razor/technique.

 

That brush should continue to split and get softer for about another month. And I always dig your AS selections!

 

Day 8 - 8 July 2015

30 Days of Maggard and MITA!


​

Day 8 means halfway through the the blade selections in the PIF box from @Bobcat. So far these Super Max are my least fave of the four I have tried. The 7O'Clock SS, ASCO SS, and 7O'Clock SP are 1-2-3 at this juncture. I find the ASCO and 7O'C SS to be perfectly acceptable blades. The big thing I am noticing is the the Maggard is less aggressive than the Cadet from last month. The Maggard with the top 2 is giving me a really good shave, but 3-4 lack in the sharpness department, vis-a-vis the return of stubble faster than usual. Next up is Rapira Swedish Supersteel, followed Rapira PL, GSB, and Gillette Platinum.

Today's shave was alright, just alright. See the decanted green AS in the pic? That's the Veg. It's how I finished up the shave after another gloomy, smoky, cold day. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a Super Tuesday!

​

 

City guys...

 

Let's take these one at a time.

It is possible that the Personna Red is not a good 2 pass blade but I wouldn't know. I've never used one. Some blades just won't give you a 2 pass shave though. If it consistently requires 3 then you know it's not the one.
Too much lather can be a bad thing or a soap that is too thick. That sometimes happens to me with MWF if I don't hydrate it enough. You end up getting drag from the thickness or getting "lift" from too much lather.
It is possible to get a great DFS with 2 passes. That was described by @Bama Samurai several months ago as the "grail" shave. If you can do 2 passes and end DFS you've hit the butter zone. But, it takes the right razor and blade. I can do it with the EJ DE89l and a Voskhod if I pay attention. I've also done it with the Aristocrat and a Voskhod more than once.
I will definitely make it through NBJ unscathed. I refuse to give @Darkbulb the satisfaction and the opportunity to hit back should I fail. Not gonna happen. Never!!
This question requires some clarification. Are the trains leaving at the same time within their respective time zones? In other words the Chicago train leaves at 2pm and the New York train at 3pm....which would be the same moment? Or both at 2pm local time? Assuming at the same time, meaning the same moment, the trains would pass at 9:04:28 pm Eastern time. I'll assume that's what the question implies. And no, I did not Google that answer. I did use Google to determine the mileage. That's all.

 

We have a winner!


These hayseeds and their "one track logic" - is that anyway to run a railroad?!!!


That's why they have switches and rail yards!

It's not like there's one rail track in the whole country and you can only run one train at a time!

Didn't your dad every set up a model train set? Or did yours just go around in circles?

 

Grail shave is DFS on one pass. But Grail Shave is a user defined term.

@Rufus T. - click that link.

ETA: one pass is my Grail Shave, others use other definitions.

 

I am from Bama. We just threw rocks for fun...no model trains or anything like that. In fact, in college some guys heard we could watch some pornography, but no one in Alabama knew where to get a pornograph.