but the burn means it's doing its job

December 21/22, 2015

This month I’m focusing on my two birth quarter razors.
Gillette Ball End Tech A4
Gillette SS Red Tip A4

Morning shave
Hot Shower
Soap: Route 66 Bourbon Jungle
Brush: Omega pro 48
Razor: Gillette SS Red Tip A4
Blade: 7 O’Clock Blue (1)
TSD Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Myrsol Plastic Shave / Agua Balsamica



This Focus month hasn’t gone quite as expected. I’ve spent most of the past few weeks on the road spreading holiday cheer to my kin on the East Coast (USA) - upsetting my Focus quite a bit. Aside from a couple of days at home now, I’ll be hitting the road again. This time heading to the in-laws in Vancouver, Canada to celebrate the season - Christmas Eve through Boxing Day. (ding, ding, ding…and in this corner in the red, white and blue trunks…oops, wrong use of the word me thinks…)

So after just a week or so of shaves with the Ball End Tech, I’m needing to move on to the Red Tip now.

With the timely arrival of a Yuletide gift of Route 66 soap from Mr. TSD Calendar 2016 , I chose to use the soap to help celebrate my first shave ever with this birth quarter razor.

After loading my trusty Omega with 15 seconds of swirling (and experimenting with water addition) - Boom! - oodles of lather for my usual two-pass shave. I found the lather to provide great cushion and slickness accompanied by a very appealing scent. I wasn’t certain of either of my choices for an aftershave combo, but I’ll experiment more with AS pairing while I also look to dial in the water content for the soap as well.

As for the Red Tip - I am so thankful for having spent my first two months on TSD with one razor and one blade type. The DE skills that I developed back then allowed me to get two near-perfect shaves right off the bat while ‘riding the cap’ of this razor.

If I don’t get the chance later this week -
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!
Cheers!
RT

Definitely a TTT victory, especially given the amount of "defectiveness" of that razor. That's what we were looking for.

I appreciate that you are always looking for BBS. I guess my standards are a bit lower. DFS is good for me in most cases. If I happen to catch the baby, so be it, but a nice DFS works and keeps me from chasing the baby to the point of burning pain. I also focus on getting DFS on two passes in case of a time crunch.

Some blades will perform better on the 2nd and 3rd shaves or even beyond. Sometimes it seems like they are a bit rough out of the wrapper but the first shave aligns everything and smooths them out. Some people will hand strop the blades before the first use and seem to think that makes them better too. Something to try if you find one is consistently worse on the first day.

@Rufus T. is back on the 30DC!! All is right in the world again. Good to see you my friend. Glad you made it safely back and forth the good ole' US of A and wish you safe travels to Canuck land and back as well. I'm doing my best to keep things shenanigated around here. Still, without your touch I fear it's a tad more boring than normal. Happy holidays!

That makes sense thanks for the advice I will look into it

Neal is happy to not have arterial spray. You have been paying attention to what he shaves with and how he shaves right?

Welcome back Vince. Have a safe and fun trip to Vancouver.

Yes. I went back to back GSB using each twice and man they just don't seem as smooth as I've used in the past. I have one more shave on this blade tomorrow and I'll see if it's any better.

Merry Christmas, Vince! Nice to see you around!

Another great photo Doug. You're on a roll with the pics.

Dec 22 Shave 2.14.2

Due to an evening date I had to do a second shave of the day. AoS sandalwood cream and Cobra Classic. The lather was great and when I do a second shave in a day I only do 3 passes and skip the ATG. Smooth and no irritation.

Irritation A Closeness A

AoS sandalwood cream
Rooney beehive silver tip
Cobra Classic with a Feather Pro (3rd shave)
Lucky Tiger AS
L'Occitane ASB
Chanel Cuir d' Russie

Learning to shave with a straight was like learning a language: I would make little improvement then suddenly a big improvement and the little improvement. Keep at it and soon you will have a big improvement.

This is gonna sound a bit crazy but, my Gillette Flare Tip is quickly becoming my 2nd favorite razor. Since I've had my reintroduction with it recently I've had nothing but excellent shaves.
It's so crazy how things happen, this razor was basically put in the overstock box to never be seen again. After seeing so many of our members using Flare Tips I decided I'd give mine another try.
Next to my Mongoose the FT is the best of the best in my den.

Glad to hear you're getting great results from the SS! I've got a birth year SS on the way so I hope your success is contagious.

Straights to the Finish Line!

December 22

PART 2

Razor - W.B. Speed Rabbit
Soap - Tabac
Brush - Wolf Whiskers Custom Silvertip
Post - Cold Water, Witch Hazel

This morning I did a one pass with the '59 Super Speed and Ladas, just to look presentable enough to make it through a short day. Given the time I'm taking with the Rabbit I don't want to feel rushed while learning it. So, I moved the "real" shave to this evening. I'll be doing that for a few days until I'm more comfortable.

Tabac and the Silvertip to whip up a nice lather tonight, and I added a pre-shave oil prior to the face lather. Just to see if it makes a real difference. Got a really nice lather and was ready to go. Prior to starting I had given the razor 30 laps on poly and leather. Lather looks good, doing a half at a time still to avoid drying. I'm finding the first challenge is in getting that first stroke done. Having the scales and my hand blocking the view is a bit maddening but I did find a spot I could see enough and stretched the skin and started down the right side by my ear. Razor sounds great and I added a bit of angle from yesterday. Worked the right face and neck and definitely had a better result than yesterday. Getting comfortable with angle clearly made a difference. Lathered up the left side and finally got the view I wanted and started there. Again a nice smooth and effective pass with lots of velcro ripping. Nice!

The areas around my goatee were a bit easier to deal with tonight. The right side was on the money, and the left side was close. I went for a second pass, staying WTG except in areas that needed extra help, i.e. around the goatee. Went ATG there and checked. CCS and feels good. Decided to call it a night. No blood, no weepers, very nice and surprising at this point. I did a good rinse and splashed on the witch hazel. No burn. Nothing. Just felt good. I'll take it!

As for the oil, I'm not really ready to say it helped all that much. I did put it on lightly but honestly having the right amount of water seems to give me the same result. I'll keep playing with it though. All in all a great shave and my confidence is growing. Still funny how I'm so confident with the pain stick but feel out of my element with the traditional. Yeah, I know, different grip and the blades don't even compare. The TSR is absolutely easier on my face as well as easier to use without slashing and burning the whole way.

I have until Sunday to get this thing under my hands enough to try the red beast. I'll make it. And hey, @Drygulch survived a shave with his Soviet today? What's the worst that can possibly happen?

​

I'm sure you will! I look forward to your shaves/comments.

Have you seen Lynn's video about straight shaveing? He suggests a shallower angle for the straight then he does for the shavettes. one spine width.

I watched that at one point. I'll watch it again. Doing a lot of reading/watching. I think I probably was about 1.5 spine widths from the look of it tonight. But it is still varying some too as I learn to control it.

This is what happened with my beat up and ugly Fat Handled Tech. Every time I pull it out now I get DFS plus shaves. Its my go to razor for important days.