April 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Prep – Hot shower, homemade sugar scrub
Razor – Gillette Slim
Blade – Voskhod
Brush – Omega 48
Soap – Arko
Post - Clubman Bayrum

Being April 1st I thought I'd play a joke on myself and dial the slim to 9 to start with. In a way I guess the jokes on me as the shave was great. Went with two passes for both my head and face and I'm really surprised at the end result. Very little if any irritation on my neck which is a rare occasion and pretty smooth which is also rare. Maybe all it took was for me to expect bad things which lead me to take my time who knows. What I do know is I would like to replicate this the rest of the month.

 

Here we go, my inaugural 30day focus with Der Vorschlagshammer

brush: Vie-Long 12705B
soap: Vitos Red Extra Coco
razor: Merkur 39c
blade: SuperMax Super Stainless (1)
AS: Bello Bay Rum (decanted)

WTG+XTG+XTG=DFS

Since I'm an experienced wet shaver the technique isn't that bad but I need to correct the angle on the right side of my neck. I was having difficulties completely removing all the hair for a DFS+.
SuperMax SS are surprisingly nice blades. Tomorrow will tell if the blade can take 2 shaves on my coarse beard

 

April 1

Stirling Sheep facial soap
Merkur 37C slant bar razor
Feather blade (day 1)
Kent BK8 silvertip badger brush
Arko shave soap
Two passes
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, & unrefined shea butter

I had a great shave this morning before work, and I hope you all did as well. We enjoyed a beautiful day here with plenty of sunshine and temps in the low 70s.

Grace and Peace!

 

Stay with it, and I'm sure you'll get the hang of using your left hand! It took a few shaves for me, but now I can shave with either hand using my Feather Artist Club.

I try to hold the spine of the razor away from my face by about a spine's width. In other words, the razor is nearly parallel to the surface of my face. This results in a much more comfortable and close shave for me. The only place this won't work is under my nose. In that area, I shave with the razor somewhere between a 45-and 90-degree angle, and I experience a lot more tugging and pulling.

I hope this helps!

 

I've never used a DE that wasn't an OC razor; I gravitated toward them from the start, for aesthetic reasons. Before I got this one, the Merkur 41C was my default go-to razor, with the FaTip Piccolo (now mysteriously missing a base plate) as my other, considerably more aggressive, option. The RazoRock is firmly between the 'mild' 41C and the 'aggressive' FaTip.

 

Arkoholic
Vegetarian
Master of Two-Pass Smoothness

Are we missing anything, Chris?

 

Yes....that we should all aspire to be him

 

I have no pictures of the gear used for my morning shave, but I did want to provide an update on my 30 day focus with free gear. I've shared some of the challenges I found with the J1 Schick injector and honestly, I was ready to PIF it away, but thought I would give it another blade change yesterday morning and see what would happen. Yesterday's shave was good. This morning's shave was even better. I was up early to get ready to take my FFA students to a judging contest, so I didn't have a lot of time to luxuriate or obsess. I had time to shave. So I did. I made up a nice slick lather with the St. James of London cream after I washed my face and rubbed in the cornhusker's lotion. I painted the lather on and grabbed the SE and got after it. One pass might have been good enough, but I made another pass and cleaned up. It was a near BBS shave everywhere. I'm actually looking forward to giving it another go tomorrow.

 

Chris is the man!

 

I almost felt that I didn't need to shave today, but did, and the results were Discussing, and still feels good, ten hours later!

 

Arko April!!



Spring has arrived on the range in Colorado!
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April Means Arko!!! The purpose of my Focus this month is to evaluate blade life of some vintage Gillette Platinum Plus in various DE razors.

1 April 2015 - Blade one, day one, the Mighty Mighty MTO (Weishi 9306)





This was my first ever trial on a Vintage blade. For this month I have chosen the L'Occitane Plisson synthetic to face lather the divinely inspired, lemon scented goodness.

The MTO is patterned after a Fifties Flare Tip SS, mild and smooth. After a stroke or two to find the angle, I got down to biz. The blade was quite sharp, but not as smooth as some Russian PTFE blades I have tried. Still a fine blade, and the automatic two pass smoothness arrived on schedule. I was afraid the Alum was gonna light me up, but alas, no real strong sensation...a good shave. How many more shaves will this blade provide?

Threw on the Veg and came down to write this, I will reevaluate the shave after sleeping. Tip for newer guys - I feel like the way my skin/face feels 8-12 hours after the shave is the real test. I also recommend Alum, well because pain can motivate learning.

Have a great Thursday!



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Thanks for joining in! You'll get it.

blood? Only in the same way that NASCAR fans "don't wanna see accidents".

 

Aggressive razor can equal less strokes, meaning less chances to irritate the skin. Get after it! This is gonna be another breakthrough month!

 

Just kangols, overalls, man bags, and clogs. I follow Jesus with all my heart, and always have room for another friend. I like dogs too. And I still chase Mrs. Samurai around like she's my girlfriend.

And Roll Tide.

 

Are you sure about that? Lol, some risky fashion choices involved.

Also-

The only setting on the Slim I liked was nine.

 

# trendsetter

Lol what is my life turning to now that I'm using hashtags

 

Arko April Focus - CJB Kamisori
April 2, 2015 - Week 1 Day 5
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Arko
Razor - CJB & '59 Gillette Superspeed
Blade - (5) (5)
Post - Alum & Aqua Velva Musk

The WTG pass using the CJB is going extremely well. Much more comfortable in my hand after five shaves. The XTG on the face is getting much better though it's still not as easy as the first pass. As for the neck, well, we need work. I did manage to figure out a grip for the razor when doing the ATG on the neck but getting the right angle is still a challenge. Ended with a quick pass from the Superspeed on the neck only to finish with a very nice DFS. Lots of nice Alum and A/S burn but that's part of the game at this point. Working that blade over the neck looking for the angle is rather irritating.

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04/02/2015
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – Mongoose B2 with Jürgen Hempel Ti
Blade – Feather Pro (3)
Brush – Brothers Bristles with WD HM
Lather – AOS Sandalwood Cream
Post - Witch Hazel and CC Sandalwood AS



Another fantastic 2 pass shave this morning. Took just a minute for some touch ups and I had a near BBS shave. I really enjoy the AOS Sandalwood cream and appreciate it even more since it was a gift from my wife and daughters. Happy Thursday.

 

It can but it can also equal irritation if you have sensitive skin. Oh the joys of being a man with sensitive skin! , why I am opting for milder razors lately.

 

Thor's Day:

Prep: Hot shower, Neutrogena Deep Clean Gentle Scrub, TSD Jasmine Sambac preshave balm
Brush: Beeline Boar
Soap: Stirling Bay Rum
Razor: RazoRock Bamboozled RAKE OC
Blade: Big Ben Super Stainless (purple wrapper) (4)
Passes: WTG, XTG, ATG (10, 11, 12)
Post: Cold water splash, Bloc Osma alum, Dickinson's WH, Captain's Choice Cat o' Nine Tails AS splash
Cologne: Gigember Estragone by Dr. Vranjes

How can a shave be both good and frustrating at the same time? It's difficult, but today's shave managed it. I hadn't used the Beeline Boar in quite a while'; it's developing a 'Semogue splay' that I know some of you tend to like, but is shedding a dozen hairs and more with each use. Every time I use a Stirling soap, I can't help but admire those of you who manage to get good/great/amazing lather out of it, as double the loading time and repeated trips to the puck produce a lather that may be slick, but lacks much cushion at all and seems somewhat resistant to rinsing off. The blade was done, and I did actually get a couple weepers from it as a result of the combination of relatively poor lather and a relatively old blade. All that said, I got BBS results, and my face doesn't feel irritated.