Go with the sure thing - the Tech.

Unless you know the execs are straight shavers. Who best to understand your resolve - your scratches would be a badge of honor.

I guess you could say I one of the chosen, I don't love nor hate the scent but I can't deny its performance. Used to hide the shame of using Arko but now I don't care who knows.

For SR shaving I recommend a soap that is 'wetter' with a yogurt like consistency. My favorites for SR shaving are QCS creams, Castle Forbes and AOS tallow. Soaps are so different depending upon your water, so if Arko gives you the yogurt like lather then it will be good for straight shaving.

Just think 'wet and slick'

Nov 16 Focus shave 16

On the road in Hong Kong for a big meeting. Day 2 for Arko and today it's my Arko stick. The lather was awesome today and my travel setup, Ikon SB with a Feather delivered as always. 4 pass on only the slightest hint of shaving and BBS. A great shave on off the the meeting.

Irritation A, closeness A

Arko stick
Whipped Dog synthetic
Ikon SB with a Feather blade
Accolado Glacial AS
Santa Maria Novella ASB
Dior Eau Suavage

Go with the sure thing.

Good day everyone

Did not shave yesterday ... and today's shave was again uneventful. Not much to talk about, except that the lather dried on my face pretty quickly. Too much or not enough water?
Oh - and I shaved the left side of my face with my left hand. Worked quite well, though I only did the WTG pass that way this time

Two passes, DFS with zero irritation, and the GSB is still going strong.

My setup:

- Stirling Preshave Soap
- D.R. Harris Sandalwood
- Semogue 620
- Mühle R89
- Gillette Silver Blue (#6)
- The Body Shop Arber ASB

Have a great day

Aristocrat Focus November 16:

Homemade PS Oil
Stirling Synthetic Brush
Mitchell's Wool Fat
Gillette Aristocrat
Stirling Unscented PSB -- Mentholated
Fine Fresh Vetiver

I used a GSB for the first time in a while this morning, and I probably had the best shave I have ever gotten from these blades. Riding the cap really changes shaving for me, and this Aristocrat is a great shaver. Mitchell's Wool Fat is always a great way to start a day, and the Fine Fresh Vetiver just wrapped everything up for me. Have a great Monday!

11/16/2015
Razor – Mongoose B2 with Triad Ti
Blade – Feather Super Pro (5)
Brush – Rudy Vey with TGN Finest
Lather – B&M Seville
Post - Witch Hazel and Fine L’Orange



Another great near BBS work morning shave. I am really getting the hang of using the shave sticks. The RV Finest whipped up tons of great slick lather in short order. Finished off with a splash of Fine L'Orange. What a great way to start the work week. Hope everyone has a great Monday.

11/16/15

Gem Razor with Pal blade
Gillette Super Speed Y3
Vulfix Super Badger (660)
Mystic Waters Lime
Georgetown G12 Scuttle
Pinaud Clubman Original

This is my second day with the travel box. Broke out the Mystic Waters Lime and moved the Pal bade from the Gem Junior to the Gem Razor.


Scooped an almond size portion from the soap container and put it in my scuttle. I also put a bit of the soap on the sides of my neck. I left a lot more water in my brush because of what I read about Mystic Waters being a thirsty soap. Started loading the brush in the scuttle, then went to my face for the full lather. Here’s how the brush looked afterwards:


2 full passes with the Gem: Pass 1 XTG. Good reduction. Pass 2: ATG. Afterwards, did a small amount of touch where I could easily feel stubble. This gave me a near DFS. A cold water rinse followed by a moderate amount of touch up brought me close to a BBS, but it also began to irritate my neck. Brought out the Super Speed for some additional touch up of my trouble spots to see if I could come closer to catching the baby, but my neck was too irritated to do much there. The Pinaud Clubman stung a lot today, but began soothing my skin soon afterwards.

A near BBS from the Gem Razor. The angle seems identical to the Gem Junior: almost completely flat against the skin. The Mystic Waters Lime fragrance was pleasant. It was more pronounced than the Chiseled Face Tradewinds I tried yesterday, but still more subtle when lathered than in the container. The Mystic Waters held up well on my face and seemed to give good protection. It rinsed off more quickly than Proraso, but not as fast as the Chiseled Face. The brush had plenty of lather throughout the shave. It was thin on the sides of the brush when I applied it after the first pass, but with the water on the face I was able to work it back into a nice lather.

I don't know if it is the Gem razors, the Pal blade, my technique or a combination of all three, but the last two days have produced more irritation than I've seen in a long while. I'm going to give the Gems a rest for a few days and focus on the new soaps. Hopefully this will reduce the level of irritation.

Have a great Monday.

SOTD
November 16, 2015
Prep: Hot Shower. Axe Energizing Face Wash Boost
Razor: Grafco-Merkur 3-Piece Open Comb
Blade: Personna Lab Blue
Lather: La Toja
Brush: RazoRock Plissoft
Post: Thayers Cucumber WH. Gold Bond Ultimate
Aftershave: Gingers Garden Aventus
La Toja. Man I love this soap!! It just works. The Grafco-Merkur OC is fantastic! This razor is no doubt the most effective OC I've ever used. GG Aventus WOWSER! Smells excellent. Very soothing. Healing.
Never let the things you WANT
Make you forget the things you HAVE!

Great write up. Just to pass along a tip on lathering Mystic Water. While it is a very thirsty soap, it performs much better if the water is added slowly as you go. Doing this and finishing with paint brush strokes makes the lather much thicker and allows the lather to hold up better.

@Bill_F ... That mystic water soap can be a challenge. Like clint said, slow water incorporation. It looks a little thin in your lather shot.

Here is a thread that might help...

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/5-guys-3-soaps.44773/

On the survey, I'm still tied at the bottom. I hope to at least beat out the "cookie" vote.

Are you the cold bowl, dry shave or, canned foam?

My shave today was much like yesterdays except that I played with the lather some. I started with a warm almost dry brush and loaded the Proraso White for what felt like forever. I then wet my face and loaded my face up with a very thick paste like amount of soap. I then dipped the tip of the brush in hot water and face lathered it in. I repeated the adding water and lathering like a chipmonk on speed 6 or 7 times and when I was done I had gobs and piles of thick creamy very wet lather it has amazing glide and seemed very protective. I'm calling it the Arko effect. I decided to test it out so I went for a XTG pass with the cheapo shavette. The hair on my neck can't make up its mind which way to grow so about half of it is growing at about 90 degrees difference from the rest and its scattered thoughout the growth. So my normal WTG hits those half at a XTG. Well I didn't think about it too much when I cut it off today so I picked a poor direction to cut XTG. Those crazy hairs got cut on the first pass ATG. The blade didn't like that so it dug and irritated me just a bit on the neck. I rinsed off, thought about the styptic, saw that there wasn't any blood leaking right then and relathered. I put down the hurt hinge and picked up the SS. I managed an ATG pass and called it for the day with no touchups. Other then the hurt on the neck it was a DFS. I washed off my face with a warm cloth and then started cleaning up the razors and brush before I did anything with aftershave. I looked back up into the mirror and saw blood on my neck. I searched and searched and found a tiny line where the razor had dug a bit. I guess the scrubbing of the washcloth pulled it the rest of the way open so I applied a lightning like dabbing of styptic then rinsed with cold water and finished up with the Gillette fusion intense cooling Balm. It hurt understandingly on my neck for a bit then eased off.

The GSB was on shave 2 for the shavette and shave 4 for the Superspeed. I'm going to try getting the shavette to 3 and the SS to 5 then trading them both out at the same time so its easier to keep track for myself.

I'm not a fan of how heavy the handle is on this shavette. It wants to twist in my hand so I end up tightening my grip then applying too much pressure to my face sympatheticly. I also really don't like the Gillette Balm. The feel is nice but the smell reminds me of school locker rooms, overly strong and a formless sweet smell that doesn't really smell like anything. My fiance likes it so I'm trying to use it up so I don't have to smell it anymore. She will except it running out before she will me throwing it away.

Its chilly today so I intend on staying inside where its warm. I wish you all safety and happiness today.

Monday, November 16, 2015
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Schick Adjustable Injector
Schick Injector II #1
AMACK4 Lights 24mm
Sterling Glacial Obsidian
Alum, Black Ice Witch Hazel, Unrefined Shea Butter
Krampert’s Frostbite Aftershave

Excellent close shave today. Enjoy your week!




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November 16th SOTD (Shave 8 of this focus)
Two days' growth
Preshave: Hot Shower
Razor: Pre WWII Fat Handle Tech
Blade: Voskhod (1st shave)
Brush: EverReady 100T with TGN 22mm Synthetic Knot
Soap: Eufros Dama De Noche
Postshave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block, Thayer's Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Jabonman Dama de Noche Balm (w/ Menthol)

Used the same soap and aftershave for two shaves in a row. I never do that. I am really liking the Jabonman/Eufros stuff. I wanted an excuse to use a straight today, but you all gave me the better advise of using the safe method with the Fat Handled Tech. Used the Tech and got an automatic two and a half pass BBS. No cuts, and I look good in my suit today. Now I have two more shaves to get out of this blade this month. I guess I will live if I only get one Straight Razor shave in November.

November 16, 2015

No Variation NoVember
This No Variation month is perfect for me to learn skills with new-to-me equipment.

Razor: Mongoose B3
Blades: Feather Artist Club Professional (3)
Soap: Saponificio Varesino Manna
Brush: Omega 31025 Scarlatti Boar
AS: Changes at will. Today: Myrsol Blue

Trying to return to work today after my accident, as well as getting back to my regular weekday shaving routine. If I can keep it up, I think these last two weeks of the month will still provide me with enough focused learning on the Mongoose.

Two-day growth, three-pass shave. (WTG,XTG,ATG) Face-lather.



I’m determined to work with this beast and not against it. I’m getting used to its unusual (for me) weight and length. By the end of the month I’d like to get locked into a comfortable zone with it and experience all it can do.

To get there, I’m making a very conscious effort this week to find the optimal shaving angle. Today I stayed flush with the angled part of the head (or 'cap slant') on all strokes. This resulted with very efficient passes regarding whisker reduction. But by forcing myself to not perform repeat strokes and touch ups, I did not get the BBS ‘dolphin skin’ of previous shaves. My stroke coverage was fine, I did not miss spots, but apparently the last pass of ATG was not enough to wipe out all signs of whiskers as it has in the past.

My only assumptions can be is that I got BBS in earlier shaves only because of repeat strokes and touch ups - therefor I’m suspecting that the optimum shave angle will require me to drop the handle down a few degrees. I’ll try this tomorrow.

I have also noticed that this razor / blade combo is not as forgiving as all the dozens of DEs and SEs I’ve used. A slight misangled approach and it was quick to cut me without warning. This happened around my mustache / goatee. This is not a complaint, just a realization that this is a very sharp combo that requires solid, consistent technique - and I welcome the challenge.

Cheers!
RT

canned foam.

Planned Day 16 - 16 November 2015

No Variation November!




Utopia 3-piece
Gillette Silver Blue (16)
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Proraso Red
Alum
TSD ISZ AS Splash under the Veg

Will check in later after the shave!

Have a terrific Tuesday!
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