DEC 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Here we go again!

 

And we're official!

 

I've always found the lack of stock photo editing tools on Apple products annoying. I will try that app soon as well!

 

I feel like many new guys inadvertently sentence themselves to mediocre shaves, because they try many razors and master none.

 

I remember.

 

December 30 Day Focus--Gillette Executive and Stirling Kong

December 2

Razor - 1958 Gillette Executive Adjustable (WTG 4, ATG 4)
Blade - Gillette Silver Blue (2)
Brush - Stirling Kong
Soap - Proraso Red
Post - Cold water, witch hazel, Jovan Musk


I forgot to post yesterdays shave. Another day with both the first and second passes set on 4 on the Executive. Nice mild shave that resulted in near BBS with no irritation. The razor is a joy to hold and use. The weight, thickness of the handle, and balance are all perfect for me.

The other purpose of my focus is the Stirling Kong brush. Basically I am trying synthetic for the first time and am comparing it to a true starter brush in the VDH boar and a good high quality brush in the AOS fine badger. Well, the Stirling is kicking some butt! This thing creates a mean lather and feels amazing on the face. Yes, this is just after two shaves, but wow, what a difference from the AOS. The first shave with the Tabac was face lathering since the Tabac is a stick. This shave was in my bowl and both times the brush effortlessly created the necessary lather, was a joy to use, feels great with its size and weight, and is an easy cleanup! I am thinking my next purchase will be the 22 mm version to have a smaller one for travel. I am definitely looking forward to using this brush for the foreseeable future.

 

I love the Kong too, but it makes me sad to hold a $20 brush and look at brushes I've spent $50 $80 even $100 on and think how much better the $20 one performs. I still plan on keeping my others and using them, but if I had to keep only one, it would be the Kong.

 

December 30 Day Focus--Gillette Executive and Stirling Kong

December 3

Razor - 1958 Gillette Executive Adjustable (WTG 4, ATG 5)
Blade - Gillette Silver Blue (3)
Brush - Stirling Kong
Soap - Stirling MITA
Post - Cold water, witch hazel, TSD ISZ

Today I started my shave with my usual first pass doing WTG on the cheeks and XTG on the neck and chin. I left the Executive at setting 4 for this pass. As the pass the few days, it has provided decent reduction on the first pass with no irritation. For the second pass I moved the Executive up to 5 and did my usual ATG everywhere pass. I could notice a little difference in the aggression and had to remind myself to ride the cap a couple of times. I placed it down at a bad angle on my chin and got a small weeper. The 5 seemed to provide good ATG closeness with very minimal irritation (except for where user error was involved). Performed minimal touch-up again on 5. I could tell the difference between 4&5, but it was definitely not a huge difference. Tomorrow I will be testing @Rufus T. 's theory on setting the first pass to 5 and the ATG second pass to 4 to see if I notice any difference.

The Kong continues to impress. Swirled on the MITA soap for about 15-20 seconds and it had grabbed enough soap to make a beautiful lather in the bowl! Again this brush performs magnificently in a bowl. It also feels incredible on the face. The tips are nice and soft, but the brush does not flop everywhere like the AOS fine badger did. The brush has enough backbone that you actually get a little of the message feeling from the brush that I liked with the boar and definitely missed with the badger. Still looking forward to this brush with every shave!

 

Ok so day 3 and my focus this month is technique. I realized today I need to get the mindset of letting the razor do its job and only make a single pass with each swipe of the razor. In other words, I've noticed that i will think any certain area needs to be hit repeated times and what I should be doing is hit everything with one stroke of the blade for each of the passes (wtg, xtg, atg) that i make.

To often when i slide the blade across my face, i have the tendency to think it didnt cut anything and so ill swipe it again and again when in reality, it did its job the first time and all im doing is irritating my skin.

My technique and shaves have improved drastically in the kast 3 weeks since i used a DE razorfor the first time. I'm looking forward to that time i spend shaving instead of dreading it. I cant wait to see what its going to be like in another 3 weerks haha.

Oh and shave consist of:

Gillette fatboy
TAylor sandalwood cream
Nivea sensitive AS balm

 

Thankfully, I am in the early stages of my DE shaving so I have not spent much on brushes. The VDH boar was obviously pretty cheap included in the deluxe set and the AOS was PIF'ed to me by someone who face lathers and wanted to see if it would work better for a bowl latherer. Well, I can say that the AOS is not terrible having spent all of last month with it, but I will say that there is a very good chance it will get PIF'ed on to someone else after using the Stirling.

I have a handle that is in need of a knot (probably 20 or 22) and I am trying to determine which knots that are out there such as the Ubersoft the AMack4Shaving the Whipped Dog or others are most similar. I would love a smaller one to use for travel since the Kong really is a massive brush!

 

+1 to all of it!

 

Congratulations on making one of the leaps forward in DE shaving, recognizing the need to just let the razor do its job. @Bama Samurai looks like we have a quick learner here!

I switched from carts to the DE razors over the summer. This was one of the big lessons I had to learn as well. With the carts, irritation was a given no matter what I did. So the fact I added a little irritation by going over a place several times did not seem like a big deal. It of course made shaving much less enjoyable, but I really had to go over the area several times to get it smooth. With DE shaving, getting the technique down and realizing things have to be done a little different (albeit simpler when you get right down to it) makes a huge difference!

Keep it up and that shave you get 3 weeks from now will be a great shave compared to anything you have had before!

 

I'm right there with both sentiments. I picked up the Kong as well during the recent Stirling sale and love it!
Had just purchased a couple of vintage brushes for aesthetic value so they'll all get time in the rotation.

 

It's going to be amazing in three weeks. Nice Work! You've got it!

 

I picked up Stirling's new smaller version called Li'l Brudder. Here they are side by side for comparison.

It fits perfectly in the medicine bottle making it perfect for travel.

 

Yep, that is exactly what I am wanting! Thanks for the visual! I know something I am asking for for Christmas!

 

Whoa if you're a newbie and you're realizing this so soon after beginning the journey, then you are light years beyond where I was at that point. Though I did all I could to focus on technique, I was guilty of repetitive strokes. Once I steeled myself to refrain, I got a better sense of my technique and was moving faster through the learning curve. Now, I try to think about just a slight overlap to parallel strokes so I don't miss any spots.

Good luck!

 

Day 2 - DEcember 2015

Planned Shave - 3 December 2015


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Day three on tap with the DeFitch. Looking forward to another nice shave. This razor was a cool little discovery, and is suitable for shavers if all experience and skill levels. I will catch this shave in a couple of hours...but until then, more work to be done on the prairie. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a great afternoon!

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I'm sure that would have happened to me if I hadn't started with the 30 Day Rule group.

 

It happened to me. GDCarrington pointed it out to me and that's how this group actually started, as I realized there was no organized discussion of the 30 Day concept.