DEC 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Might have better luck with my beer can kamisori.

 

Glad to see you posting again Vince! I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas, a great Boxing Day, and a Happy New Year!

 

Today I used a Feather Popular, you guessed it, SS/Flare Tip clone....

 

22 DEcember 2015


Feather Popular TTO
Astra Superior Stainless
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Palmolive Shave Cream (India)
Alum
TSD 2x Iced SubZero AS
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Astra SS and SP are very different blades. I just did the apple-to-apple comparison this month. SP is better by a large margin on the smoothness spectrum, but not really any sharper than its humble Stainless little brother. 2 quick passes after a haircut and then a night out in Denver with my wife. The shave cream was courtesy of a @Bobcat PIF drawing. It's good stuff! It was easy to work and quickly made nice smelling, slick lather. Looking like more snow for the prairie on Xmas Eve! Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!
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This is why we focus on technique. When we get our hands on a race car, we know how to drive it!

 

12/23/2015
Razor – Gillette Super Speed (J4)
Blade – Feather (3)
Brush – DK7 with Druida Manchurian
Lather – Route 66 Lumberjack
Post - Witch Hazel & Fine L’Orange



Another great shave this morning. Today was the maiden voyage of my new Doug Korn DK7 brush. Using the Route 66 Lumberjack the lather was super slick and the scent lasted throughout the shave. By the 3 pass the lather was a little thin but that was my error in under loading and learning a new brush. Going with a 3 pass shave and touch ups in my trouble spots provided a near BBS shave. I finished off with a splash of Fine L'Orange. I hope everyone has a great Wednesday.

 

Fantastic shave! Lovely brush Clint!

 

Chris, had I found TSD 3 1/2 years ago and had the 30DC been formed I'm sure I would not have went through every single razor to get where I am today.
The focus group has done so much for me, back when I received my Mongoose I used it for over 30 straight days, something I would have never done before. Also this group has kept me mindful of when I'm shaving that I need to limit my passes, something that I never was able to do only because I never owned up to it.
Practice makes perfect.

 

Thank you Kerry. I think I am going to really like this brush. It is a little bitter sweet with the reason behind it. Mark @Boojum1 helped me get the knots at a fantastic price to go into a pair of Rubberset 400 restorations. Then tragedy struck and I destroyed my Rubberset 400 #4. I decided to get Doug Korn to make me this handle for the knot.

 

SOTD
December 23, 2015
Prep: Hot Shower. Axe Energizing Face Wash Boost
Razor: Gillette Flare Tip Super Speed 1959 E1
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Lather: Soap Commander Endurance
Brush: Oscar11 28mm Silvertip
Post: Thayers Cucumber WH. Gold Bond Ultimate
Aftershave: Myrsol F/Extra
Soap Commander Endurance is so good, I don't know why I don't use it more often.. The Oscar11 Silvertip is great! This brush has moved right to the front of my rotation. The Flare Tip Really nice DFS was had. Myrsol F/Extra is a nice way to finish any shave.
Never let the things you WANT
Make you forget the things you HAVE!

 

Beautiful picture Clint! What a gorgeous brush!

 

Gillette New LC

Rapira Super Stainless (3)
Vulfix Super Badger (660)
Strop Shoppe Baker Street
Georgetown G12 Scuttle
Pinaud Clubman Original

Today I'm back using a gift from @clint64: Strop Shoppe Baker Street.


A small amount of warm water on the top of the soap to soften it while soaking my brush. Afterwards, I poured the little that was remaining into my scuttle, squeezed out my brush, then loaded for about 30 seconds from the soap container. I worked up the lather in the scuttle adding water from time to time until it was nice and rich and felt slick to the touch.

It went on my face nice and smooth. 2 full passes: Pass 1 XTG. Very good reduction. Pass 2: ATG. Afterwards, I did a small amount of touch up where I could feel stubble. A cool water rinse followed by a small amount of touch up. The Pinaud Clubman was mild – just a slight sting for a brief moment.

A nice confortable near BBS from the Rapira Super Stainless in my New LC with slickness provided by Strop Shoppe Baker Street. The fragrance was pleasant and subtle. It held up well on my face and gave great protection. Still had loads of slick lather when I finished, probably enough for at least 3 or 4 passes. I guess I should have read the label. It would have told me to only load the soap for 20 seconds. That's what I'll do tomorrow. Thanks again @clint64!

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday and is comfortably ready for Christmas!

 

I couldn't agree more. I was lucky to find TSD in October 2014, a month into my wet shaving journey. By luck I had been doing pretty much a 30 DC setup since I only had 2 razors and used the SS Flare Tip almost exclusively. Chris starting the 30 DC thread in January 2015 lined up perfectly with me getting the Mongoose the day prior. Participating in the focus threads each month has improved my technique such that I feel I can use any of my razors and get a very good shave. I do enjoy using certain ones more but that just my personal likes and dislikes. My one big piece of advise is for a new shaver to quickly settle on a basic setup and use it for 30-45 days before beginning to experiment.

 

Thank you Bill.

 

SOTD 12/23/15
Razor: Fat Handled Tech (Pre-war)
Blade: Voskhod
Soap: The Holy Black Gunpowder Spice
Brush: 28mm Ubersoft II with Aluminum Handle
Post Shave: Cold Water rinse, Alum, Witch Hazel
Aftershave: The Holy Black Whisker Whiskey Gunpowder Spice

This is my first time using this brush. I think my vintage Ever-Ready 100T with a synthetic knot is going to go up for adoption. It weighs 150 grams with the knot installed, and is a beast. It splayed so much I got soap in my eye. Sometimes this soap can be tricky for me to get a great lather from, because it’s my only glycerin soap. Not today. After three passes, I had tons left over. My old beat up Tech is still my work horse shaver. TTT. Automatic 3 pass BBS. After yesterday’s shave, it feels good to have a good shave today.

 

Great looking brush.

 

Great brush!

 

December Focus Day 23:

Homemade PS Oil
VDH Boar Brush
Tiki Cabernet Neroli SS
Ralf Aust 5/8
Stirling Unscented PSB
Brut Classic AS

Today was probably the best shave I have had with a straight. I would still call it CCS, but it was definitely comfortable. I got up a bit early before the rest of the family just to have some alone time while shaving. It was all pretty relaxing. I seem to have figured out my chin a bit better by going across rather than up, and this has helped. It doesn't get quite as smooth, but I feel more comfortable.

 

I shaved last night but decided to sleep instead of posting about it.

20mm WD synthetic
Cella
Y2 SuperSpeed
GSB(3)
Gillette Fusion Cooling Aftershave Balm

I had a chunk of Cella the size of a peanut so I decided to try it out. I dropped it in a bowl, flattened it into a coin and lathered in the bowl over top of it. I used about half of it. I refined the lather on my face like I always do. I wasn't too fond of it. I didn't get as much skincare or slickness from it and I wasn't fond of the weird cherry/Dr. Pepper scent. I ended up doing a 2.5 pass shave XTG/ATG with an extra half pass buffing and G-slide on the neck and chin.

I had a solid DFS with no irritation. My skin was slightly dry feeling so I used the alcohol based balm from Gillette. I'm not a fan of the scent but it feels good if you don't have irritation.

I'll use the other half of the Cella I have but I won't be getting more.

 

It took me a while to figure this out with straights, because with DE I can do two passes, N/S and S/N. I started doing an XTG pass on my chin and neck before the S/N pass, and the results have been awesome.