8/18/2015 Tobacco Tuesday! Tabac!

Prep: Hot shower with Neutrogena Face Wash with menthol, home made PSO
Razor: Gillette Red Tip, French Fau Frame Back straight razor
Blade: PolSilver (2)
Brush: Vie Long Horse Hair
Soap: Tabac
After: Home made ASB, Tabac after shave
Cologne: Tabac EDC

It is Tabac Tobacco Tuesday! The Vie Long brush whipped the Tabac into a nice lather. The Red Tip and the Frenchy did a fantastic job today. The Tabac AS and Tabac EDC were a nice finish for this 2 pass almost BBS shave.

Have a blessed day!

Great looking razor. That's next on my list of razors to get, near wedge.
I just hope the one I find looks as nice as this one.
Bravo!!

That's a beautiful Gillette. I have a home for that should you ever get bored with it...

8/18/15 - Week of Tests!!!

Today's shave saw no blood loss. Getting closer and closer to a perfect shave.
Went all 3 passes just to see how it goes. There are areas that got just a little bit of slight irritation. I think it's because of applying too much pressure on the 2nd and 3rd pass.
Tomorrow I think I'm going to do just 2 again with clean up and see how it is.

18aug15

Haven't used cream in a while so decided to go there today. Also I bought some Clubman AS due to so much love for it on here. I have to say, I'm not loving it just yet.

Other than that, excellent lather and an excellent shave.

August Focus - Slim and Feather AC
August 18
Razor - 1964 Slim (J1)
Blade - (2)
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Soap - Saint Charles Shave Sandalwood
Post - Cold splash, Alum, The Veg

Well today illustrates well the difference in a Focus and a Rule. My focus was to be the Feather AC today. Now a rule would have meant that was my only choice. However, I chose differently. Due to how I felt when I got up (I have chronic pancreatitis) and my hands are a bit shaky I decided to do day two of the Bic and Slim. The Slim will be on 7 today. Yesterday on 5 they gave me a very very good shave. Let's see if we can improve or at least match.

I also chose the Saint Charles Shave soap today as I have wanted to work with it a bit more to try and get it down. It has, so far, escaped me when trying to get a really nice and persistent lather. So, grab the BoS which usually whips any soap into shave and here we go.

The first lather attempt looked pretty good. Nice brush load so off to the face to lather it. Performed up to par as it usually does meaning it produced a nice if a bit thin lather. I had added water to the brush and some to the puck before loading. By the end of the first pass two things were obvious. First of all, the Bic in a Slim 7 is really really nice. Great pass, felt better than yesterday for smoothness and effect. Fantastic. Second, by the time I finished the left side the lather had clearly thinned. So, second pass I wet my face again and loaded the brush a bit more and really went to town with it. I mean trying to remove the rest of my beard with the friction from the brush. A good lather appeared but nothing like an Arko, or MWF. Well, it covered evenly so let's go. XTG and again the razor and blade were awesome. And, again, the left side was like watching snow melt before I got through it. Rinsed and decided my face was good. Decided to focus on the lather for the neck touchup. I dried my face and loaded the brush. Started face lathering and didn't get nearly enough lather going. Added water to the brush and began to whip it up. Added a bit more, got a bit more result. Finally got it where I wanted it, put the brush down, looked in the mirror and already saw it fading. Rinsed, wet my neck and put a hot towel on it and wet it again and went after the face lather with extra water. Aha!! Now the lather began to build a bit, got stable, looked very very good, put the brush down, grabbed the razor and.............drumroll...............yeah, still dissipated too fast. By the time I got done with the left I was shaving a wet, but not lathered neck.

As for the finish on the shave I give it a very high DFS but I couldn't go for BBS with the lather fading that fast. Can't complain about the result, but I'm done working with the Saint Charles Shave. That does it for me. I've tried every combination I can think. A lot of water, a little water, a middle amount of water. Dry face, wet face, dry brush, wet brush, all combinations. It starts out great but has no lasting power. I think I'm out on this soap. Sorry to say that because it's a local product but if it isn't going to work it isn't going to work. Hopefully there are others who find it perfect for them. I'm out.

So, a straight focus to a Slim focus to a soap focus. All in one day. I'm tired now, I think I'll take a nap.

18 August 2015

* Ikon Shavecraft 102 + UFO U2V1 Red Bronze
* Super Iridium
* WSP Manchurian + Oscar11 All-Amber C7
* Mystic Water Sardinian Honey
* Unrefined Shea Butter
* Bergamot/Vetiver EO


​

Usual routine.

Shower
Parker 99R
Astra Platinum, second use
Barbasol
Witch Hazel, RoH and TTO splash

Two passes, WTG then XTG.

Was in a hurry, so didn't push for super smooth on my neck.

Hopefully can make more time tomorrow and enjoy it some more. Waiting on brush/soap to arrive. Fedex says friday.

SOTD: MENTHOL TUESDAY 8/18

Continuing the August Focus...

Razor: 1958 Executive (6)
Blade: Astra SP (2)
Brush: Semogue 1320
Soap: TSD Iced Signature Scent
AS: Barbasol Pacific Rush

I've now had 3 days of really nice comfortable shaves with the Exec. Not that's what I'm talking about! Sunday and Monday I left it on 5, but today I decided to try 6. Result was a wonderfully close shave, no stinging, no burn, just happiness! Used my new TSD Iced soap for the first time (thank you to all those who suggested TSD soaps). Wow, this soap really lathers easily and the resulting thickness really provided a nice cushion on my face. Again, I'm going against the shaving purists here, but I'm not too sure I'm a fan of the bay rum scent. Luckily, the menthol boost was really great and I forgot about the scent.

SOTD

Vulfix boar
iKon OC + Bulldog handle
7 O'clock black (2)
Maggard's Fougere Sauvage
Thayer's Rose
Giger's Garden Teakwood Cardamom AS

This was a terrible shave for me. This ikon is far too aggressive for my skin so it'll be back on the trade block soon. I also think that the boat brush is still too scratchy to use as a facelatherer.

Razor: Gillette gold toggle (D1) 1958 (5)
Brush: Rubberset 400 #3 WD 24/54 Silvertip
Mug: Old Spice 1985 Cobalt Blue
Cream: Castle Forbes cedarwood & sandalwood cream
Blade: Feather (2)
Post shave: Thayers Cucumber WH, Jack Black cooling gel, Tommy Bahamas Very Cool
Just test set my Rubberset 400 #3 with the very nice Silvertip that I received from Larry at Whipped Dog. Nice surprise birthday present, as I didn't expect it to ship until later this week. I couldn't resist using it with my toggle. My new Rubberset WD Silvertip whipped up thick lather, with the Castle. The handle is perfect in the hand and the Silvertip seems to be at that perfect loft for good backbone and softness. Very close 2 pass shave, perfect! Some Cucumber WH and after cleanup some Jack Black AS gel, then some Tommy Bahamas Very Cool, (birthday gift from my Son). What can I say, this was a very cool shave!

Thanks! I will try to live up to it!

If you don't want that KK, you can always send it my way HEHE. All kidding aside, you could really flip that kilo on the market. Cut it down in 50 or 100gram pucks and sell them on ebay

Nah, I'd probably just pif it
Klar Kabinett is not gone, just rebranded into Dusy or simething like that so I guess the market value is next to nothing

Bee-you-tee-full set up!

I think there are some sentimentalists =P but yeah, I think you could make a few people very happy with 100 grams of chunks =) just to be clear, Im not speaking for myself, I already have some

SOTD 08.18.2015

Prep: Shower
Razor: Gillette Super Adjustable (3)
Blade: Voskhod (1)
Brush: Omega 80080
Lather: TBS Maca Root Shave Cream
Post: Cold rinse, Alum, TBS Maca Root ASB

Not much stubble this morning. Had a really nice 2 pass DFS and I feel I did great at my interview.

I am tempted to say I had a lousy shave. I had a five year old that really had to do her business in the middle of my shave, and my bathroom was the closest
But that would be wrong, since I had a pretty good shave. It has been a rather warm and summer-like day, something we have not been too spoiled with this summer. Therefore I wanted something too cool me down, and opted for the Fitjar Folgefonn shaving soap. Folgefonn is one of the larger glaciers in the Norseland, but like so many of its kindred it is shrinking due to global warming. That fact was also evident in the soap, since the soap reminded me a bit of Vanilla Ice, the rap dude from the nineties. At first glance, he is supposed to be cool, but he really isn't
In fact there are probably more menthol in a piece of minty gum than there is in this soap. I have been thinking of chucking it more than once, and the fact that it smells like a mouldy ice box does not help the situation. But the true test of this soap is that it whips up some fantastic lather. I had forgotten how good it can be, I just have to get the water/soap ratio dialed in. It is best when it is a tad wetter than what I normally like.

The soap is not the only reason why I had such a good shave (and this is my favourite part) the blade deserve a part of the credit. Astra is a well renowned blade, and with good reason. To me it has always performed well, but it has been neglected due to an unfounded impression that there are better blades out there. Today's shave puts it right up there with the best. It was almost as sharp as the Iridium Super, and just as smooth. It gave me a few minor nicks here and there, but I got a little carried away and might share some, if not most of the blame for those...

Razor: Merkur 34c
Astra Platinum (1)
Brush: Proraso Boar Brush
Soap: Fitjar Folgefonn
Aftershave: TSD Aftershave Milk Coconut Lime Verbana. I love this smell. I seldom wear it, because I smell like Pina Colada. But it really is delicious

Razor: Gillette Fat Boy (1961)(5)
Blade: Gillette Platinum (2)
Brush: WDC-4, Silvertip Badger, Butterscotch. (VIG) 24/67
Cream: The Real Shaving Co.
Bowl: Yokohama Studio (Hand Painted) (gift from my Wife)
A/S: RE9 Postshave Balm
Everything went so well yesterday I decided to repeat the same for today. Another great shave.

today's shave
hot water wash with nivea men's and a washcloth
@GDCarrington customized Olive wood/ custom two band finest
rustic shave soap tobacco
Gillette fatboy( d4)(7)
persona lab(1)
Crusella&co 1800 tobacco
today's shave was nice. like going home, very familiar elements. three passes left me smooth and comfy. finished with 1800.
hope y'all did as well, or better.