DEC 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

I plan on staying with the Schick type A until I can say Ive mastered technique with it. Of the 3 repeating razors models, this one seemed more difficult to keep the proper angle. Ive only used it once, so will need a couple more before forming an opinion.

 

12/04/2015
Razor – Gillette Super Speed (J4)
Blade – Feather (3)
Brush – RV Rover with TGN Finest
Lather – Barrister & Mann Seville
Post - Witch Hazel & Fine Platinum



I overslept a little this morning so everything was a little rushed. So much so the poor dog's walk turned into more of a jog. I went with a quick 3 pass shave with no touch ups ending a little better than a DFS. Finished with a splash of Fine Platinum and I am off to battle the morning traffic rush.

 

12/4/15

Gillette New LC
Rapira Super Stainless (1)
Vulfix Super Badger (660)
Mitchell's Wool Fat
Georgetown G12 Scuttle
Pinaud Clubman Original

Fourth day with Mitchell's Wool Fat and the Rapira Super Stainless in the New LC.
Added about a tablespoon of water on top of the puck while the brush soaked and I showered. After dumping the bloom water in the scuttle, I swirled the brush in the soap for about 60 seconds (double what I did yesterday). I added water from time to time to the brush as I worked the lather in the scuttle. The bowl was filled to almost overflowing with a thick, fluffy, slick lather. It felt nice and smooth on my face and provided great protection.


2 full passes: Pass 1 XTG. Very good reduction. Pass 2: ATG. Did small amount of touch up where I could feel stubble. A cold water rinse and very minor touch up to catch the baby. The Pinaud Clubman stung, but quieted down quickly. I had tons of lather after I finished:


Another nice enjoyable BBS from the Rapira Super Stainless in the New LC with Mitchell's Wool Fat. Thanks to the suggestions of @NCoxSTL, @clint64, and @JR Reyes, I have been able to get ample amounts of great lather from the Fat, and also from the Strop Shoppe Baker Street. While I spent about a minute in the soap container today and the lather was very nice, I ended up throwing away more than I used. That's not a problem, but I think that the 20 seconds I spent on the soap the first day might have been the right amount. I'll check that tomorrow in the scuttle. If all goes as expected, I'll switch to face lathering Sunday and see how I do with that.

Have a great Friday!

 

100th Straight Razor Shave!!!!

I forgot to post my shave yesterday, and it was a big one. 100th Straight razor shave. I used my WR Case and Sons 4/8ths razor with custom Purple Heartwood scales. This razor is much lighter than the wedges I have been using over the last few months, and will skip if I don’t pay attention. (Skip equals cuts, most of the time.) I modified my shave pattern, and did a N/S (WTG,) then a half pass on my chin and neck that was mostly XTG, and then a S/N (ATG.) Result was a long lasting BBS. 14 hours, I still had BBS on my face, chin, and jaw, and was still pretty smooth on my neck too. Learning to shave with a straight has been quite an adventure. Almost every one of my SR shaves has also been documented on the 30 day focus threads as well. This is my 12th consecutive one. Good times and good shaves.

 

Congrats Adam!

 

A rare morning shave.

20mm WD Synthetic
Hydra
'59 Fat Boy (7,7,5)
Sputnik(3)
Master's ASL Challenge
Cuba Prestige EDT

The hydra was as good as I thought. 2 swirls thru it with a mostly dry brush and a few minutes facelathering while adding water and I had the best lather I've ever seen. It smelled amazing and felt so good. I pulled out my neglected fat boy and popped I the sputnik since it had only had a few shaves and started for a 2 pass XTG ATG shave. When I finished that I turned it down and did a cool water only touch up pass on my neck. I didn't rinse off the little bit of soap on my still I just patted in some water and used the left over slickness to touch up. I finished with a DFS and very little screaming from the masters. After I got dressed I sprayed some Cuba Prestige into the air and walked thru it. The scents of the AS and EDT mixed well and I smell "yummy" as described by my fiance and her 10 year old daughter.

I get to spend time with people today so I shaved this morning instead of last night and I feel good. Taking my fiance's youngest to the surgery center for dental work. He is going to take a long drug induced nap and when he wakes up he will have cavities filled teeth caped and whatever else they decide they need done. Im also trading out a Schick type C for a @Jayaruh brush. I'm excited.

right now I feel like I have a DFS but its too early to judge it by my book so I'll post again early afternoon sometime.

 

Congratulations on your 100th SR shave.

 

Congrats Adam. I have really enjoyed following your progress.

 

Pain Stick Focus December 4:

Homemade PS Oil
Frank Shaving Pur-Tech Brush
Palmolive Classic SC
British Gillette Tech (V1)
Stirling Unscented PSB
Clubman AS

I broke the focus this morning due to receiving a razor from a Secret Santa. It is V1 British Tech, and I just had to give it a whirl this morning. It shaves very well, as I got a great DFS this morning. I also picked up the Palmolive this morning for the first time in several months, and now I am wondering why I haven't used it such a long time. Just a great performer with a lovely scent. I'll be back at the Pain Stick tomorrow.

 

Congrats on your 100th SR shave! I have really enjoyed following your posts on here about your journey.

 

Friday, December 4, 2015

Cobra Classic
Feather Pro #2
The Varlet Beehive
MDC Fougere
Alum, Witch Hazel +Menthol, Whipped Shea Butter
Fine L’Orange Nior

Today's shave was excellent. Another awesomely close shave with the Cobra. One mishap, when I was changing directions, the handle slipped, result a small weeper the alum took care of. Closeness: A, Irritation A-. The full face feel of The Varlet knots is soft and luxurious. The beehive a lather machine and the MDC the Nitro. Ba boom, an explosion of lather. Oh no, all over the clean mirror, where's the Windex. The Shea Butter greased the skid mark, ahhhh! Topped it off with Fine L'Orange. Have a fun Friday all!

 

So you can't call your razor "It", you have to call your razor "she".

 

Congrats, you're a braver man than I am!

 

Congratulations on your milestone Adam! I admire your persistence and enjoy your posts!

 

Nice work! Congrats!

 

The old chicken test...now that's smoooooth!

 

Sorry I’m late to the party as usual Kerry.

I echo most all of what’s been said on this topic already.

I’m normally quick to judge my shave soon afterwards, but have learned that my face takes a bit of time to recover to the shave.

But most interesting is that on those occasions when I experience a nice close, smooth and comfortable shave - I need to let hours go by to tell for sure. The closeness will vary - resulting in some that will show growth in a few hours vs those that don’t show until late at night.

It also can go the other way.

Especially in the summer after what I think is a very nice shave - hours later I can be working in the yard and perspiration on my neck immediately lets me know that it was NOT an irritation free shave! But then, I use witch hazel only during post shave. I imagine that alum users get their indication right away.

 

Day 4 of the bargain shave focus - and a new setup

- La Toja Stick
- Vulfix 404 mixed
- Wilkinson classic
- Wilkinson blade
- Tüff sensitiv Rasierwasser

Here's the new hardware:



The Vulfix is not the cheapest brush you can buy, but great quality and because of that still a bargain for less than 20 Euros

Second shave with the La Toja soap - fantastic! It lathers just as easily as the Proraso, lather is slick and creamy and smells just great. #1 on my list for price-performance-ratio. The brush is a bit bigger than my Semogue 620 boar, so it holds more lather ... I guess I had enough for at least 3 passes.

The weight distribution on the razor is pretty strange. The handle has a metal core, so it's relatively heavy, the head is just plastic and extemely lightweight. The Razor is very mild, I had to constantly remind myself not to use too much pressure because of the combination of weight and mildness.

The blades are okay, but nothing to write home about. Average performance at best, a bit rougher than the chinese Rimei, not as sharp and smooth. Anyways, I still managed to achieve a better than DFS shave in 2 passes (WTG and X/ATG) with the usual touchup at the jawline. After the cold water rinse the Aftershave stung a bit and I saw 2 or 3 tiny red spots on my cheek where I obviously had used too much pressure during the shave. But no blood - so not a big deal at all.

So the set is usable, but not as good as the Rimei for the same price.

I think about changing the blade tomorrow, maybe use a Sputnik with the razor.

 

December 4, 2015
This month I’m focusing on my two birth quarter razors.
Gillette Ball End Tech A4 - Week 1
Gillette SS Red Tip A4 - Week 2

Morning shave
Hot Shower
Soap: Saponificio Varesino Dolomiti
Brush: Stirling Kong Synthetic
Razor: Gillette Ball End Tech A4
Blade: 7 o’clock (Blues) (6)
TSD Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Myrsol Blue



2 pass shave - XTG, ATG
Decent shave, though I’ll be changing the blade and trying a different brand next week. Having experienced the Feather Artist Club Pro blade in the Mongoose, I may just throw a Feather DE blade into this razor and see what happens.

Have a great day and enjoyable weekend!
Cheers!
RT

 

Day 3 - DEcember 2015

Planned Day 3 - 4 December 2015



DeFitch Closed Comb DE
Gillette Silver Blue (4)
La Toja Shave Stick
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Alum
TSD ISZ AS Splash under Barbus ​

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Have a great Friday afternoon!
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