30 Day Rule/Focus; October 2023. All Are Welcome!

Oct 22 SOTM

Good morning.

Rolls Razor and Rolls Blade
Rockwell Synthetic Brush
Seaforth Sea Spice Lime SS and AS
Stirling Alum Block
Modessa Witch Hazel
Beard Growth: 40 hrs.



I just couldn't wait to use some of the items that I picked up from Pasteur's Pharmacy. I am like a kid in a candy store. I was excited to use my Rolls Razor that I won on a raffle at the famous mecca for wetshavers. It is really a straight razor on a stick. It's a single edge that is sharp. I got a nice BBS shave without any issues, but I still have to get the angle right. I am almost there so I figure the more that I use it the better it gets. Still, right out of the gate, it performed well.

Moreover, it is the first time that I tried Seaforth Sea Spice Lime SS and AS. At first, the scent was almost non-existent, but all of a sudden it slowly creeps up on you. I can smell the ocean with the lime in the background. It is a masculine, clean scent. It's definitely different. The aftershave doesn't contain alcohol. It comes out like a milky substance and I would say it's more like a balm. The scent is much stronger than in the soap. I had to work the soap to get a nice creamy lather, but it was worth it. It is quite slick. All in all, I recommend Sea Spice Lime. Here's my lather:



I had enough lather to do a three pass headshave with my Fatboy on setting nine. I didn't post a pic because it was a last minute decision. However, I did get a cueball smooth result without any bloodshed. The alum was silent all around. Witch hazel and the aftershave applied to my dome and face finished the shave. I enjoyed using the Rolls Razor and will use it more often to dial it in a little better. Take care.

 

Grazie Joe, enjoy your Sunday and your new goodies.

 

Superb shave Troy.

 

Wonderful shave and nice pick up at the event.

 

Outstanding pick ups and memories for you. I am sure Joe will enjoy the sample of the soap.

 

Thanks Joe.

 

It definitely was a memorable moment in my wet shaving journey.

 

awesome first round with the new gear Joe.

 

Thanks Gary.

 

As promised, here are the pictures of my NYC trip and Pasteur's Pharmacy Octobershave meetup:

It was overcast and misting yesterday morning and so it wasn't such a clear shot of the Empire State Building .




As I was heading back to take the train back home, the skies cleared up and I was able to take a couple of clear shots of the Empire State Building.






It was a little past 10 o'clock when I arrived at Pasteur's Pharmacy.



This is Mike and he is The Long Island Shaver. He has a FB page and he is a YouTuber. He lives about 20 minutes from me. This was right before the meetup was to start.



This was another shot inside the pharmacy before we went upstairs for the meetup. This was a fellow wetshavers and his name is Jason. He lives in NYC.



Here's Leon, the proprietor of Pasteur's and yours truly.


This is Pete Hendricks of HC & C and yours truly. He came all the way from Tennessee.



I also met the owner Chris of Catie's Bubbles. Sorry, I didn't take a pic of him. The same is true for Frank of Strike Gold Shave. Catie’s Bubbles is in NJ and Strike Gold Shaves is on Long Island, NY.

Leon getting a call downstairs from his staff. Although he is hosting, he still needs to be available when a situation arrives concerning his business.



This is the gang enjoying convo and checking out the displays. The guy wearing the red hat is known as the Inspector Dave. He is a youtuber that is friends with Chris Bailey of iamcdb fame. Chris was my fav. YouTuber. He told me that Chris has a lot on his plate and was burned out from doing videos.

 

very cool Joe.thank you.

 

It was my pleasure Gary.

 

Sunday October 22 - Open Comb, Old Cream October

Prep: Hot face wash with Aleppo 20% laurel bay oil soap
Razor: Supply 2.0 injector with SE comb plate / vintage US-made Schick Plus Platinum (15)
Soap: Neutrogena Skin Clearing Shave Cream
Brush: none
Lather Bowl: none
Post: rinse, alum, rinse, Lucky Tiger Face Tonic
Last shave: Tuesday - 5 days



I spent a few strenuous hours this afternoon raking leaves off my front lawn and hauling lawn cart loads of them to my back compost heap. After raking them all into a huge pile, I did 10 loads to the back. I figure another 40 loads or so should have the front clear.... And then I get to do the same in the back. Trees have their disadvantages...

After all that, a hot shower and shave were just the ticket.

Once again, I Remained Strong and stuck with my Cunning Plan(TM) to Titanic the Neutrogena shave cream tube.

One pass would have been sufficient, but I re-smeared and did a second pass anyway to catch a rough patch under my chin. (Besides, if the goal is to finish off the shave gel, why not lather/smear more than once each shave?). The vintage Schick blade wiped the whiskers away as though they were just part of the lather - not bad after 15 uses! No idea how long it may last... I did the alum test today, and it was silent.

A bit of the orange-scented Lucky Tiger Face Tonic capped off a great shave.

Hope everyone has a fine Sunday.

Joe @Trigger , I really enjoyed your photos of the Pasteur Pharmacy meet. And the review of what shaving with one of those vintage Rolls Razors is like.

 

Sunday Head Shave:
I sort of had the idea to let my hair grow out to see what color it is now, but thought better of it this morning. 1 week stubble was attacked with the following:

Prep: Shower and scalp wash
Lather: Arko
Brush: RazoRock Plissoft
Razor: Blackland Blackbird
Blade: Personna (4)
Post: Alum block and Old Spice

2 passes with just a few touch ups and my scalp is smooth and slick. Alum gave quite a bit of feedback and the couple of nicks I discovered were sealed with the alum block and no blood on the towel after. I did notice that the feedback from the aftershave was pretty much non-existent (I will add that this is not the first time I'v noticed that). I guess the astringent in the alum takes the spot of the alcohol in the aftershave?

Funny, I've been DE shaving for over a dozen years and just keep learning more as I keep after it.

 

Excellent post and shave John.
It was my pleasure to share my trip with the members here. I know you and Gary live in Canada and that's quite a large country. I hope that if there are wet shaving companies near you guys that you would have your own meetups. It really is cool sharing shave talk with like minded people.

 

Very nice shave Troy. There's always something new to learn in this hobby.

 

Haha this is great! Just found this by chance. I'm the little dude in the camo shorts in your photo with Jason. It was great meeting you and it's nice to hear you won the raffle. Really looking forward to the next meetup at Pasteurs.

-Kyle

 

Thanks Kyle and right back at you. I an the guardian of this thread. If you want to know the purpose of this thread, please go to the first post of this month. It's my monthly intro. In this thread, you have a place to share your shaves, tips any questions you may have on shaving.

 

Thanks for sharing Joe, looks like quite a day.

 

You are welcome Chris. It definitely was a super day for me.