I am thinking we have a shot at 5 of 5 on that list!

Knowing Neil, probably!

Ummmmm, let's see. Term life yes, major medical probably, fire extinguisher? No, I think we're safe there. 911 on speed dial is good, ambulance on site better. And popcorn. Lots of popcorn. Truckloads.

Let's throw in some grief counseling too.

The advise from Chris is very sound advise. I still follow the "3 and out" rule.

12/8/15

Gillette C4 Super Speed
Rapira Super Stainless (1)
Vulfix Super Badger (660)
Mitchell's Wool Fat
Pinaud Clubman Original

Eighth day with Mitchell's Wool Fat and the Rapira Super Stainless.
Today I pulled out a newly cleaned up Super Speed, a C4 from 1957. Small amount of warm water on the puck while the brush soaked. I swirled the brush in the soap and the bloom water for about 20 seconds. This produced a good amount of pre-lather.
Poured the bloom water into my left hand and spread it on my face and neck. I swirled the brush in the soap for about 20 seconds. This produced much more pre-lather than yesterday when I had left the bloom water in the container. Some of the pre-lather began to flow down the sides of the container. I captured all of it on my brush and then began to face lather. After a few minutes my face had a nice even thick coating of beautiful lather and my brush looked pretty nice too.


2 full passes: Pass 1 XTG. Very good reduction. After rinsing and reapplying lather, there was still plenty lather remaining.


Pass 2: ATG. I did small amount of touch up where I could feel stubble and this left my face a near BBS. A cold water rinse and a moderate amount of touch up and at that point I thought I had the baby. I still had plenty of lather after my touch up. Perhaps enough for another pass. The Pinaud Clubman stung, but less than yesterday. I paid attention to those areas that had been irritated yesterday and made sure to work the lather into my skin for a bit and to put the lather on thicker there. This helped to protect the skin better during my blade buffing. The areas that were irritated yesterday were the same ones that stung a bit today, but much less than yesterday.

A nice near BBS from the Rapira Super Stainless in the Gillette Super Speed. The Mitchell's Wool Fat gave me a nice protective slick lather throughout the shave. I really enjoyed working with MWF and appreciate everyone's help and encouragement as I tried to figure this out. I intend to keep this soap in my rotation once I have one. Thank you @clint64 for your generous contribution to my enjoyment and education!

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

I am glad you are enjoying the MWF. I like your documentation as you've mastered the art of lathering. Now as you use different soaps it's only a matter of dialing in the soap/water ratio.

Pain Stick Focus December 8:

Homemade PS Oil
Stirling Synthetic Brush
Mitchell's Wool Fat
CJB Pain Stick
Stirling Unscented PSB
Captain's Choice Bay Rum AS

Today was shave number 9 with the Pain Stick, and it was my best yet. I did have two minor weepers, but these stopped before I finished shaving. I managed to get my face at very near a BBS, even including my chin, and my neck is about at DFS level. I had very little irritation to go with it. A great start to my Tuesday.

12/8/2015
Razor – Gillette New Long Comb
Blade – Feather (2)
Brush – Brothers Bristles with WD HM
Lather – Catie’s Bubbles Santal Sensuelle
Post - Witch Hazel & Captain’s Choice Sandalwood



A lot going on at home this morning so I had to be very quick with the shave. I went with a 2 pass shave, WTG & ATG. After a quick rinse, I was not happy with the results so I pulled the lather out of the brush and did a quick touch up. All but the bottom of my neck is a near BBS which will have to do for today. Finished with a splash of CC Sandalwood (menthol added) for a nice cool down. Hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

My 30 focus abruptly changed with the arrival of a Mongoose razor. I have however kept focus with: using a shaving cream, a homemade PSO each day.
Once the honeymoon is over with the Mongoose, I will be back using a Schick Repeating razor each day the remainder of the month.

Mongoose razor
Feather super pro blade
NF alpolina chubby 2 brush
Homemade patchouli PSO
TOBS Sandalwood shaving cream
Crown Shaving Co aftershave tonic

Day 4 with the mongoose and it keeps getting better and better. After getting used to the weight of the razor and the sharpness of the blades the shaves have produced extremely long lasting BBS.

Great photo. I agree that once you come to terms with the size and weight, the Mongoose is a great razor. I really like the Super Pro blades. I hope to have my AlumiGoose in this week and will take it for a spin at some point.

What kind of hones are you using?

I'm voting for popcorn. Don't worry, Neal, I still have your back. (As long as I am far enough away that the blood spatters won't get me.)

Dec 8 Shave 2.1

Back in Seoul and it's cold. Now that I'm hope the second focus of December, creams. Going with my favorite QCS Fougere cream and a Whitehead scuttle. Broke out the kettle so I could have a hot lather

I missed shaving with straights so today it was my Jerry Stark 6/8. Four passes and only a tiny weeper, I guess it's like riding a bike. Alum test and only the faintest tickle. Did not quite catch the baby but close.

Irritation A Closeness A-

Queen Charlotte Soaps Fogere cream
Thater 2 band fan
Whitehead scuttle
Jerry Stark 5/8 round point
Dry Gulch strop
Lucky Tiger AS
L'Occitane Cade ASB
Houbigant Fogere

I'm getting shaggy fast. Even not feeling well Ill work in a shave somehow. Might be something easy like an injector or disposable single blade.

Wd synthetic
Cremo
Fat Boy set on 9
Sputnik on its 4th shave
Axe Shield post shave balm

One pass with G-slide on the next, XTG all over with minor touchups on the chin and under the jawline. Near BBS. This is the first time I've ever turned up the fat boy to 9. I liked it. Fast shave maybe 2.5 minutes. Missed BBS by a few hairs under the nose and a few hairs of stubble on my neck. Only irritation was a one inch spot on my neck where the G-slide was a bit steeper then it should have been. Sealed up with cold water.

SOTD
December 8, 2015
Prep: Hot Shower. Axe Energizing Face Wash Boost
Razor: Mongoose B3 Dr. Bomber Handle
Blade: Kai Captain Original
Lather: Chiseled Face Sherlock
Brush: RazoRock Plissoft
Post: Thayers Cucumber WH. Gold Bond Ultimate
Aftershave: Chiseled Face Sherlock
Using the Mongoose is such fun, I'm so close to being able to get a DFS in 2 passes. That's pretty darn good. CF Sherlock is very nice! Thanks again @theFAT98 Clint. The RR Plissoft is my go2 synthetic.
Never let the things you WANT
Make you forget the things you HAVE!

Naniwas. For this one I only had to do a few laps on the 12K and then I stropped it on my Lynn Abrams modular paddle with a felt pad loaded with .5 micron diamond spray about 10 strokes, then scrub leather for 20, then English bridle for about 40. Brought it back real nice. I have the Naniwa 1000 for bevel setting, and the 5000 and 8000 stones for general sharpening, but this blade wasn't bad enough to start over.

December Focus

The Twelve Blades of December!

Hard to believe we've almost put this year to bed. Wow. Where did the time go? But, here we are and as a gift to everyone here I'm offering up my shaves with twelve blades that have never touched my face, randomly paired with twelve of my DE razors. Two shaves with each setup to finish on Xmas Eve. So, sit back, get the fire burning and enjoy what I hope is an enjoyable month of further proof Technique Trumps Tools. I hope for that....my expectations aren't as optimistic.

December 8

Razor - Razo Rock TTO
Blade - (2)
Brush - Vie Long 12601 - The Pony
Soap - Tabac
Post - Cold water, Witch Hazel, Nivea

After yesterday I was curious to see if I could focus in better on the shave since I wouldn't have a bleeding scalp distracting me. Also, I wanted to focus a bit on the razor since I found that minor flaw in it. Just wondering if it makes a difference or not. So, the Pony and Tabac for the lather and, I found myself having a bit of trouble loading the brush. What the...?! This is an automatic combination usually. Did changing my schedule really disturb the date/time continuum that much? Added some water to the brush and went again on the puck and still didn't seem right. Added a bit of water to the puck, something I don't normally do with the Tabac and felt like I got a decent load. Went to the face and got an instantly great lather. Maybe I'm just being too picky or not paying enough attention.

Grabbed the RR TTO with the Dollar Platinum and started in. The blade is cutting very well, and the aggressiveness I feel is coming from the razor, not the blade. Not bad, though, smooth but noisy. Flipped the razor around to the other edge...the one with the defect and immediately felt a difference. Much more aggressive. I wouldn't think the defect would cause that since it's actually a missed cut at the front of the scuttle. Nothing about the blade gap should be affected. But, it definitely feels more aggressive. Went second pass XTG and found the same thing. Properly cut side worked great, a bit aggressive but smooth, the other side is almost scary at times in how it feels. Two different gaps perhaps? Can't tell with the naked eye. Could the defect be causing lather to jam the razor on that corner creating the phenomenon? From the looks of it yes. Went G-Slide on the neck and switched sides. Wished I hadn't. The side with the mis-cut is highly aggressive on the slide. Interesting.

Finished up and grabbed the witch hazel today. Boy, talk about a burn. Ouch. Nivea to the rescue and all in all I finished with a mid-level DFS. Can't complain about the result, only the irritation level. And, in this case, I'm pretty sure the Dollar Platinum from Vidyut in India isn't to blame. I'm laying it on the razor. I've used this razor before but never for any consistent amount of time so I've always considered it aggressive, which it is, but never picked out the fault before. I'm rather disappointed in Razo Rock at this point. Seems like QC would be better. Yes, the fault is out of sight, mostly, and doesn't appear to change things but boy does it ever. At least I got a decent shave out of it and the blade gets a pass.

Tomorrow.....well it's a Chinese blade. Need I say more? Have a great day.

For those using straights, I think there is an interest in the focus group threads of what kind of maintenance steps are needed to keep the blades going, or what is needed to sharpen them up. I have a 1K Naniwa, and natural stones up to finishers I use. The more information we can share, the more likely we will be to get more people to try straights!