30 Day Rule/Focus; May 2024. All Are Welcome!

Thanks again Gary. I never doubted you, but I just wanted to make sure. Either I heard her incorrectly or she misspoke.

 

thank you Joseph.

 

Wednesday evening May 8 - Merely Shaving May - Simplicity Rule / Blade Focus

Prep: Hot shower with Aleppo olive oil soap with 20% bay laurel oil

Razor: Supply 2.0 matte black stainless steel injector with "SE" open comb plate; vintage US-made Schick Plus Platinum blade (5)

Soap: Arko stick

Brush: Supply Silvertip Synthetic 24mm

Lather Bowl: None

Post: rinse, alum, rinse - and nothing else

Last shave: Saturday May 4 - 4.5 days ago

The stuff:



I repeated my last shave setup exactly. It was the quintessential "no frills" basic wetshave - water, commercial soap stick, synthetic brush, razor and alum block.

Today's shave was two passes. The first was WTG on my face and ATG on my neck. The second was XTG on my face and WTG on my neck. The result was a DFS. Alum was slightly warm along my jawline but nothing major. No nicks, cuts or razorburn.

My discussion last week with Joe aka Trigger about the Ted Pella injector blades got me thinking about the accuracy of my current impressions of the various injector blade brands. I have therefore decided to do a Focus on injector blades this month ... and probably through June and maybe even into July. I am going to stick with the same soap, brush and razor throughout. The only thing I am going to change -- as they wear out -- is the brand of injector blades. I will compare the sharpness, smoothness and durability of my vintage US-made Schicks, the Japanese-made Supply Black Label and the American Personna-made Supply White Label and actual Personna-branded white plastic cartridge blades (identical blades in different packaging).

My present belief is that the American vintage Schicks are the smoothest, nearly the sharpest and overall the longest-lasting of my blades. They are typically good for at least 12 and maybe as many as 15 shaves. The Japanese Supply Black Label are slightly sharper and about as smooth, but don't last as long -- typically 8 shaves. The Personna-made blades are slightly less sharp than either, less smooth (although still good) and have medium durability of about 10 shaves.

I will now try them head-to-head and see if the actual results match my perceptions.

Tonight I finished my 5th shave with my favourite injector blade, the vintage US-made Schick Platinum Plus, and it still seems fine. However, I will bin it and use a fresh one tomorrow. The next shave after that will be with a fresh Supply Black Label, followed by a fresh Supply White Label or Personna white plastic box cartridge (as far as I know, they are identical blades in different cartridges). I will do a direct head-to-head comparison of sharpness and smoothness.

I will then continue using the Personna until it starts to tug and count the number of shaves, then do the same with the other two brands and compare durability.

I don't have any Chicks or Ted Pellas to try, so the tests will end there.

All told, this will take 30 to 40 shaves. To complete them in a reasonable time - and to try to maintain consistent whisker length and toughness - I will also start daily shaving now. And do identical two-pass shaves henceforth.

Should be interesting.

Hope the week is treating everyone well.

 

9th May 2024.



​

Shaving Recipe for today.

Prep: Warm shower:/Bulldog Original Shower Gel.

Pre:
Cold wet flannel to my face.
Cien PURE Fragrance Free Sensitive Bar Soap.
Brush: Semogue 1305.
Face Lather.
Lather: La Barbiera Fresh Lemon Shaving Soap.
Blade: Dorco Prime Platinum. (D4)
Razor: King C Gillette.

Post:
Cold Water Face Rinse./Cold water face wash with brush squeezing's, /Alum Rub./Cold Water Rinse./Homemade (~Spring/Summer mix~) Lemon, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Essential Oils.5 Menthol Crystals Mixed Together With Care+Witch Hazel./Yelken Turkish Lemon Eau De Cologne./ Nivea Men Replenishing PSB.

Greetings,
Early morning shave,
Another wonderful face lathering performance from the Semogue 1305 boar brush. The handle has started to flake off in places giving it a "Shabby Chic look " but it doesn't hinder the brushes ability to build a great lather upon my ugly mug.
All of the La Barbiera shaving soaps have performed wonderfully, especially for my head shaves throughout the week. I prefer my Boar brushes when mixing up a lather with the La Barbiera shaving soap.

Scent wise if I had to choose a favourite then it would be the "Fresh Lemon" followed by the "Classic", but all are equal in performance protection, and post shave feel. These shaving soaps will last me for some time.

Great soaps which I look forward to using in my feature shaves.

A comfortable 2 pass + pick ups silky smooth shave with no errors to report.

Finishing the shave off with a few small dollops of Nivea Men Replenishing PSB.

My face is feeling cool smooth & smelling divine.

Keep safe, and enjoy your day ladies & gentlemen.

 

absolutely fabulous gents.

 

Thank you Gary.

 

Joe, cool razor. It sounds like you've already determined it is very likely a 1960's Tech with a travel-sized handle. Here's my one and only Travel Tech. It is stamped with the L4 date code - 1964. It shaves like a champ. I used it exclusively for a few months in 2022-23.

Like @Screwtape, I was riding the Arko train back then. Tickets were cheap, the rail car was not crowded and devoid of flying insects, and disembarking into fresh air was the highlight of the journey. (Full disclosure: Arko is a great soap, but I couldn't resist being silly.)

 

Lovely shave and set up Joe, That PAA oud Spice would nicely with @Trigger 's dumbo bowl!

Thanks Joe, beginning to appreciate its qualities

Thanks too, Joe

Thanks Gary

Very classy (glassy?!) shave Gary, nice and simple

Very cool. That will be most interesting to see how that pans out John, sounds like the marathon focus!

(Interesting for me, because I am still new to SE, and this mornings one was not a great success)

 

09 MAY 2024

Dual Shave (enforced, not planned)

Days growth = 1

Prep = 3 x hot water soak
Preshave = Proraso pre shave again
Cream/Soap = Cella
Brush = Pura Setola
Bowl = Timeless
Razor 1 = Schick Adjustable M3, I think
Razor 2 = Rocket HD
Blade 1 = Shick SE (1)
Blade 2 = Gillette Platinum (2)
Passes = 3+
Post = Usual CWR, Alum, CWR, Thayers
ASL = Cella ASL

Damage = no blood but very rough shave

I had found the Schick in pretty good condition during the week for a reasonable price. Very little wear and tear, dial works well
Removed the old blade, wedged the mechanism open with about 4 or 5 toothpicks and got to work

Thorough cleaning, disinfection, cleaning, digging with toothpicks, more soaking in hot water and dishwashing liquid, liberal attacks with toothbrush, then soaked in 60% alcohol for a 2nd time
Good to go! Looks the business, too

I thought that since the Cella is so good, and my prep is fine it would be a good opportunity to try an SE again

Fresh Schick blade today, but it did not feel nearly as good as my Hydromagic or E3. Failed to get anywhere near a smooth result after 2 passes, so swapped back to the Rocket HD for pass 3 and minor touch ups, which completed the job nicely enough

Not sure I like the length of the handle of the Schick

I had it set on 3, but honestly looking at the blade holder and the blade while dialling the adjustment dial, there is not much difference between 1 and 7, unlike other adjustables

And yes the blade was seated nicely on the holding tabs and looked nice and even. I must say though, come to think of it, when I loaded the blade (into the empty razor) with the injector key, it made a sort of a scraping sound, could that be the issue here? Maybe it needs a blade in there already for a smoother loading, not sure, any ideas?

Might give this one more try in a week or so (with a new blade maybe?) but so far I am disappointed and not a fan

Just glad to be able to call this mornings outing a "shave of sorts", and glad to have escaped any damage

I feel your shaves turned out much better than mine today, have a Great Thursday

 

A nice shave this Throwback Thursday morning. I tried the loading advice offered me by a gentleman here who needs no introduction so I won't introduce him(aaahhh, you k now who you are . That was to do it for a count of 50. I got a good amount over my face and neck. As for the shave itself, I should have been a little lighter with it. 2 or 3 Knicks developed alongside the usual places, jawline and South Porcupine Alley(chin).No pain, at least, they just showed up. No problems anywhere else. The cold water rinse helped neutralize them. Strong finish from the Clubman A.S. Hopefully will be better tomorrow. Rather Outstanding.

 

DE Shave # 533

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Merkur 37c Slant
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (3)
Brush: Leo Frilot ECWS 2018 Ghost Trails
Lather: Catie’s Bubbles Vintage
Aftershave: Catie’s Bubbles Vintage
Additional Care:
Omega Alum
Dickenson’s Original Witch Hazel
Stirling Unscented Glacial Balm

Pre-Confirmation shave: My son Anthony made his Confirmation yesterday afternoon, May 8th. The boy is growing up so fast.

I decided to go with my first DE razor, the Merkur 37c. It has been in my den since the mid 90’s. I was rewarded with a super close shave. This razor is a fine instrument. Add to the process a high quality soap and you get shave Nirvana.

On a side note, Anthony has had an eventful 24 hours. Tuesday evening, we had a phenomenal father and son experience at Madison Square Garden as the New York Rangers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in double overtime 4-3. Below is a picture of the celebration following the game winner.

 

Hi Chris. Sorry to hear the Schick M didn't work well today. I have a few comments:

1. It might have been a dud blade. It happens.

2. More likely, you dulled the blade while injecting it into the razor. I find I have to be careful when loading my injectors that the blade loads in straight and doesn't scrape heavily against the first retaining tab all along the blade on the way in. That can instantly dull or roughen the blade. That scraping sound as you loaded could have been a bad sign. And you are correct that this is more likely to happen when injecting a blade into an empty razor, because the blade is more likely to start angling slightly down and therefore pressing against that first retaining tab. When there is a blade already in the razor, the pressure needed to slide it out tends to keep the new blade sliding smoothly in.

3. Having said that, I have never particularly liked the Schick "M" adjustable model or had much luck with it. The two I tried just seemed too long and too light with dials that never seemed to do much. I never could get a decent or enjoyable shave with them, so I quit trying. (I think I do still have one of them, though, so I may have to haul it out someday and try again.)

For an adjustable injector, I liked the old Pal Adjustable much better - a range of adjustment that actually made a difference on a brushed steel razor that looked swoopy and cool.

For Schicks, I prefer the non-adjustable "E", "G" or Hydromagic versions to the adjustable "M". They just seem to work better for me.

Take all that for what it's worth - gratuitous advice from the peanut gallery. Good luck!

 

SRS # 1086

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Tuckmarr 5/8” Maccassar scales
Brush: Semogue Hereditas - Boar
Pre-Shave: Pears Transparent Soap
Lather: The Holy Black Shaving Cream
Aftershave: B & M Reserve Spice
Additional Care:
Omega Alum
Dickenson’s Original Witch Hazel
Stirling Unscented Glacial Balm

Excellent spice scented shave this morning. The usual three passes with the Tuckmarr straight did the job. Super smooth without any incidences. I use love the Spice scent.

It sure does bring back many fond memories. Hope you all have an enjoyable day.

 

Glad you did not get any damage. Nice shave setup.

 

Awesome Parker themed shave Joe.

 

Wonderful shave Gary

 

Thank you, Gary.

 

Very nice Pierrepalo

 

Excellent Chris