January 2015 30 Day Rule/30 Day Focus Pic and Discussion Thread- All are Welcome

Arrrrrrrr koooooooooo

 

Tim must like it straight...no chaser. Let the lemon goodness speak for itself.

 

You know it Chris!

 

Shave of the Day

On Chasing the Baby



Prep: Shea Moisture Black African soap, hot towel
Razor: Morley 5/8
Brush: New Forest 2204 badger
Lather: Whoos the Man - Commander
Shave: 3 passes; WTG, XTG, ATG
Post: Stetson Cooling Moisture

So today is the first shave of my 30 day challenge officially... And it was a good one.

I needed a fantastic shave after the debacle last time out. So I grabbed the cutthroat and stropped it up, mixed some great smelling vanilla and oak moss scented soap, and went to work.

It all went well, I'm getting faster at the grips and angles while shaving. I felt I had to re-strop before the 3rd pass just to get the best edge possible. Not sure if that was really the case but I can't argue with results.

Tonight I chased the baby, and caught it. In most areas anyways, there are a couple spots I couldn't get. Probably wasn't an awfully intelligent thing to do while learning to shave with a straight razor but it worked out.

One shave down, 29 days to go!

 

I'll bet salt and pepper would feel great on a just shaved face. Bravo sir! Lol

 

I think notched Morley razors are "design beautiful".

Thank you for doing a 30 Day Rule with the SR. I am looking forward to reading about it. You are dealing intimately with blade angles...the rest of us have a razor head to limit the amount of disastrous moves available at any point. You are live without a net...thanks for sharing this with us, it's kinda brave actually.

I used that same AS the first time in a non shave manner yesterday morning. It made the rotation for January!

 

Arko's tour of the kitchen is just beginning.

 

I can't wait.

I joke about Arko all the time, but I actually love it. I think Arko and Proraso green are almost perfect soaps.

 

Thanks bro, I get nervous before the shave, knowing this may be the time I gouge a hole in my face lol. But then it just seems so natural once I get going. Just like it did when learning with a safety razor.

And I love that stetson. I have this one, the cooling moisture kind, and regular Stetson with no menthol, and stetson cologne splash. I like stetson. Its in my almost daily rotation. The wife likes the smell because its what her grandpa wore. ... So I'm happy because I like it and so does Mrs youngunn.

Edit: I just looked back at my shave journal, and 5 of my last 6 shave have been with a straight. Hard to believe! Me shaving with a deadly weapon! Lol

 

Happy wives make happy lives. I am allowed to use any AS except Old Spice. I own a bottle, as I feel it is an essential in any old school based collection. I have really been digging AV Musk, Osage rub, AV and TSD 2xIced Barber Shoppe of late.

I am glad 30 Day Rules don't cover AS.

 

Can you tell us what you know about your Morley? Was it a clover?

And if anybody wondered if there was gonna be fine Solingen steel on this thread...there is.

 

I love AV ice blue. The musk smells good in bottle but the dry down is not great for me personally ... Might just be my nose. The wife hadn't nixed any AS for me. She loves Bay Rums though so I usually wear either stetson or Royall Spyce.

 

Yeah, its a Morley 5/8 barbers notch, made with Clover German steel. The box says St Louis Missouri which is cool cuz I'm from here. I got it for ten bucks two years ago on Craigslist and never did anything with it, then finally I restored it with polish and buffing, and sent it to Glen at gemstarcustoms to get honed.

 

Opposite for me. Ice blue smells awesome until it dries on me, and AV Musk morphs into mellow perfection. Mrs Samurai likes TSD Barber Shoppe, Clubman and the days I wear Vitalis.

 

Ok guys I've decided to jump in. I will not be able to perform 30 shaves because I got an allergy on my neck this week (not related to shaving) and will have to wait a few more days to get back to daily shaving (planning to start on Monday, Jan 5th)

Here is my setup:
Soap: Tabac original
Razor: Above the Tie M2 with UFO Titan Fine
Blade: Polsilver SI
Brush: Simpson's Chubby 2 in best badger

The whole point is that I am not convinced that the Chubby 2 was a good acquisition. While it looks great and feels robust, it seems that its knot is too large and dense for my tastes. I am considering selling it, but I need to test it further before my final decision.

 

Looks more than capable of mowing down whatever. Are you preshave oil with it? What is your prep routine? ...beyond strop the razor and wield it like a boss.

 

Awesome! Welcome to the 30 Day Rule crew. We still have a few waiting to start, I have not started yet. I am gonna go Jan 3 to Feb 2(or maybe a bit longer if a few are still in it) Hang in there and get better! oh yeah...ATT razor heads make great photos!

 

Well so far I have used 3 different kinds of preshave prep: homemade PSO, Somerset's PSO, and no PSO. I think I prefer the no PSO actually, just relying on water and soap to provide slickness. Something about the viscosity of the oil and drag on the blade... I dunno. I may add back in PSO next shave. I'm still new at this lol.

I first start soaking my brush and blooming my soap. I would wash my face and put on PSO at this point. Then go to strop the razor, I do 30 strokes on the linen and 30 on the leather. Then I mix my lather and take my awesome SOTD pic. Lol. Then do a splash of hot water and lather up. I may add in 90 seconds of hot towel in there somewhere depending. Then remove hair like a boss.


Edit: didn't you just do a shave with a straight this week as well?

 

For General Consumption :

The post I quoted contains a very concise example use of PSO/Hot Towel Shave routine. Like a boss.

 

IT DOESN'T??? great. now I can get SWMBO to authorize some scents she likes. ( in the TMI range, I have no sense of smell, so the AS is purely for mama)