FEB 2015 30 Day Rule/30 Day Focus Pic and Discussion Thread

Old and Classic rock (50 thru mid 80's) is what I normally listen to, but big bands, swing, country is also in my playlists...98% of anything made after say 95 is hard to listen to for me....

 

Etta James

I found the angles harder to judge at lower settings. Angle is everything on a slim, IMHO.

 

Focused February


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Dad's Schick Revere Handle Injector
Chinese Schick
L'occitane Plisson Synthetic
Proraso Eucalyptus Tub
Today's Great Cheap AS™ is Pinaud Clubman!

This is going really well. I thought I would need a few days to get used to the angles, but this razor is giving me great results. It's been nice to revisit Proraso, super slick, smells great...super easy to lather!! Looks like Focused February is humming along! Hope everyone had a great Thursday!

 

My Thursday shave was at about 26 hours after the last one. I decided to try to prep without a shower. The results were good, with me getting a DFS on 2 passes plus touchups on the neck. AS Bama said, this is going really well! Tell me again why the Schick injectors did not do better than they did against the Gillette DE razors??? (day 5)

 

I do that from time to time even though I know I'm going to end up with a bad shave

 

02/06/15 February Focus on Blades

Prep - Hot Shower
Razor - Mongoose Satin B2
Blade – Feather Pro (6)
Brush – Every Ready with TGN finest 22mm
Lather – Strop Shoppe Barbershoppe
Post - Witch Hazel and Clubman AS



Very nice 2 pass shave with no touch ups this morning. Not BBS but more than good enough for a Friday. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

Day 6 Feb focus Slim Adj
Very good shave today. Decided to live on the edge and use the adjustable as...an adjustable for all 3 passes. Started on 6 WTG, 5 XTG and 4 ATG. Very smooth comfortable shave with very good results. Was going to wait until further in the month to attempt this once i had my angles down better....but...oh well.

 

February Focus - Blades
2/6/15 - Day 7
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Cream - C.O. Bigelow
Razor - EJ89L
Blade - (1)
Post - RazoRock alum and The Mighty Veg

Onward and forward to the Gillette Yellow. This is a fairly popular blade on the boards and is a Platinum coated blade. I've had good luck with Platinum (Rapira PL) so was eager to see how St. Pete's work compares to Moscow.

Blade feels very good, smooth with more auditory feedback than the last few. I like that. First pass went well but seemed to lack a bit of closeness. Second pass left me just short of DFS. Third pass (ATG) turned draggy, especially on my face. The blade just seemed to want to stick in spite of the lather being very slick. Finished the third pass and checked for cleanups. Found WAY more than I expected. Almost needed a full 4th pass on my neck to get the DFS. I know what's coming with that much work.

Alum lit me up. Yep, that extra cleanup ramped up the irritation and The Veg only turned the fire up. Just ran my hand back over my face and honestly, it doesn't feel like a great shave. Found a couple of spots still too rough for what I went through.

So....grading. Difficult because I can't say it isn't DFS but it isn't the level I'm used to. I'll split the difference. A- for the result, 2 for the irritation. A- /2 to start. Two more days to see if this thing will settle down.

I haven't shown off my setup since starting so here you go.

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Focused February


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Dad's Schick Revere Handle Injector
Chinese Schick
L'occitane Plisson Synthetic
Proraso Eucalyptus Tub
Today's Great Cheap AS™ Is TSD Iced Subzero AS Splash

 

So far, I have yet to find a platinum coated blade I like as much as PTFE. I notice the tugging as well.

Is the Slim causing any neck soreness?

A hasty shave can lead to a bad shave, to be sure!

 

Luckily no. For me , I have never had any soreness in neck area. I have to be extra careful around Adams apple, it is pretty pronounced on me. Seems lip and bottom of jawline are my trouble spots for getting close and soreness..

 

I'm in no rush to shave today and since I'm waiting for a phone call I'll wait until I know I won't be interrupted. How do you shave your neck/throat though? Every time it seems like I'm pulling the hairs no matter which direction I go. Nothing seems different then the way I shave my head or face but every single time my neck area is an issue.

 

My neck tends to be a problem as well. For a three pass shave I do WTG (N/S) XTG then ATG. However, I have to spots that really don't follow that pattern so I tend to modify the XTG to angle downward to better work there. On a two pass I don't do the ATG but instead do my modified XTG with the angle. Hard to describe.

 

I'll just have to experiment with it and be more mindful of what works. I had one shave with no problems but for the life of me I can't remember exactly what I did.

Not a bad shave today but still not sure what happened to that awesome lather I got the first 2 days from this brush. I did change to a bigger bowl which the soap is way to small for so maybe that has something to do with it. I'll switch it back tomorrow and see if my results vary.

 

Day six, two pass with touch-ups. Another great shave! My wife is also really liking how the Schick I1 gives me a close shave. I really like this razor. I may even try it in the shower. I used to shower shave with carts, but haven't done this since I switched to DE / SE shaving.

 

My neck seems to "pull" a little as well. I think my whiskers grow in swirls and crazy directions. So I just go N/S, S/N and if I make a 3rd pass, I go sort of SW/NE ish. I sort of bullfrog my neck a little and try and make sure and use no pressure. I guess it is more about angles?

 

02/07/15 February Focus on Blades

Prep - Hot Shower
Razor - Mongoose Satin B2
Blade – Feather Pro (7)
Brush – Rubberset 400 with omega 49 boar knot
Lather – Soap Commander Confidence
Post - Witch Hazel and CC Bay Rum AS



I love weekend shaves. Fantastic 3 pass BBS shave. This finishes the week with the Feather Pro Blade. This blade felt as if I could have easily went 10 or more shaves. I could easily see this as my go to blade in the Mongoose. It's very sharp and smooths out a good bit after 3 or so shaves. For my use, I would rate it slightly ahead of the Kai Mild blades. Next blade up in the test will be Kai Sharp blades.

 

Continuation of the Vintage Czech Gillette Stainless Ten Blade Focus ...

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threa...ermining-time-length.42857/page-3#post-786432

 

Day 7 Feb Focus Slim adj.
Great shave, this focus thing is working great. Improved results and getting more comfortable with razor.

 

I switched over to my Super Speed this morning with a Derby blade. The only razor I've ever used prior was my Jagger89 with rebranded Personnas. Slight irritation but nothing to bad it's just going to take some getting use to since it feels like nothing compared to the 89. I do feel like it to more of an effort to get a close shave but that could have been the blade as well. Maybe I shouldn't have changed two variables at once.