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

Day 10 - Thirty Days with Merkur 34c (Jan 1-Feb 4 [No shave on Saturdays]) BSG 1-12-2015

Hot Shower and Prep - Nivea Men Sensitive Skin Face Wash, & Wm. Neumann & Co. Peppermint Leaf Bar Soap
Razor Merkur 34c
Blade Astra SP (4)
Brush - Plisson Synthetic
Lather - Poraso Green
Post - Warm & cool water rinse, Neutrogena Men Razor Defense Post Shave Lotion

Two passes N-S & S-N then just a few touches for surprise BBS. Experimented a bit with some odd angles on the neck. Not sure if that made a difference or not.
The Plisson Synthetic does a great job of holding the water so my lather was on the wet side. But even being too wet the Proraso still did a great job.

 

Chris, that's close. I ordered 5-50ml bottles from China, for aftershaves, I'm running out of room. .

 

What is your opinion on the merkur blades?

 

Dang Skippy, brother! I already decided that tomorrow will be a recalibration shave: I'll be using my EJ89 to break the curse off of my mitt. AND... I'll be rolling through my 30-day like it was just another pearl on a string. One shave should do it and back to the ER 1924.

I refuse to order a garter belt... but if I did, I would be sure to put the flowers in the front!

 

As they are the first and only blade I've used, they are passable. I do however have a bunch of blades on order from Russia and a couple of sampler packs. We'll see how they compare.

 

Day 10&11
Prep: Hot shower
Brush: Van Der Hagen (the one from the premium kit)
Soap: Van Der Hagen Luxury
Blade: Hill Country (rebranded Personna)
Razor: Edwin Jagger DE89
Post: Nivea Original, Old Spice

Again same ol same ol. By now I should have probably learned to stop rushing but time and time again I'll get to one spot on my head and rush...sure enough I cut myself. Oh well I'll slow down one day, or maybe not, I like the old spice sting haha. For some reason building lather on my face and head is much more consistent than a bowl but I'd like to be able to do both so I guess that will become more of a focus as my shaves seem to be steadily improving or at least maintaining.


I just noticed this was post 666....I'm sure there will be blood tonight

 

Planned SOTD for January 13, 2015

This will be the 12th day of my 30-day adventure to improve my shaving skills using the Mongoose. Preshave will consist of a warm shower and face wash using Cetaphil Daily Skin Cleanser. I will use my Kent BK4 brush and face lather using Mike's Natural Soap and a few drops of glycerin.

This will be the second shave on the Feather Pro blade on a two-pass shave. My goal is to achieve a close shave with no nicks or irritation! As usual, I plan to finish with Thayer's Lavender Witch Hazel and unrefined shea butter.

Have a great day, everyone!

 

Most of the palm stropping info I've seen shows 2 or 3 per edge? I know palm stropping is a fiercely debated topic , did you find this number worked better for you than a lower number? (also I wonder how you got the kangaroo to stand still for that long.)

 

Very cool Scrabble board!

 

Thanks! I've had it for about 25 years. Let me know if you see any spelling errors!

 

Epic picture. Love it. Hashtagwaycreative

 

Shave #14 The technique is getting so consistent, but I don't want to jinx it. I too don't want to wear a garter belt. I discovered that I am using WH twice over, once in the TSD spray, and once in the Body Shop AS balm. I don't mind that at all. Almost as addicting as menthol. At any rate, SWMBO loves the smell, and the smoothness. SCORE!!!

 

It's like mine (wood tiles) but in much better shape. I challenge about half of those "words." haha

 

Change up to bristle brush and GFT almond cream, 1st time I used a bristle brush and did I get the lather, whoo. Still trying to hold the angle of razor throughout my shave. I mapped my face out last week, helped some. Had good shave. Try again on Wed.

 

1/12/15 - BSG - RESET Day 7

Prep - Hot Shower, towel soak
Brush - Omega 48
Soap - Proraso Green
Razor - '46/'47 Aristocrat
Blade - Voskhod (1)
Post - AV Musk

After a full week with the Aristocrat it's becoming quite routine. Three passes, near BBS, very happy with it and feeling very confident. New blade today so smooth smooth smooth. I'm beginning to get the itch to break open my tryablade.com packs, but that day will come. Some more work with this setup then a trial of Silver Blue then it's playtime.

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It's marked 3 fl oz. That would be around 85 ml.

Edit: I saw your reply after I wrote the above. Those TSA bottle kits are all 3 oz per the regs.

 

Day 10 Lab Report - 30 Day Rule with a Slim BSG

For day ten I left the razor setting at seven. This shave (Monday evening) is my last of this trip. I am now experiencing some irritation under the corner of mouth, but I need to get back to Denver normal conditions before I panic and make a reactionary change. The climate of Central NY is very different than the near desert conditions sound my home near Denver. I can really also tell that the water is way softer in Central NY than in CO, that I am at low altitude (my house sits at ~5193' or ~1583m above sea). I noticed today that even after shoveling wet snow at a stiff pace for 45 minutes, I wasn't breathing much harder than normal. Not bad!

The shave went well. Setting seven seems to be workable. I am really trying to pay attention beard growth pattern and get a really solid NS first pass so that pass two XTG is really mostly cleanup. Tonight's attempt wasn't too shabby. I was DFS after pass two and decided to quit while I was ahead. Lately I have been buffing my chin and jawline, but not this go-round. The alum felt mostly good tonight! Tomorrow is a travel day, and three hours post shave my skin is calm.

Way to go guys, we are all about 30-35% done. You can do this!

 

Very nice work!

Think DFS on two is a reality for you? It's awesome to be able to do it in the event a shave needs to be done quickly...that means ending with no bleeding to staunch, or leftover visible burn. You are taking to this quickly.

 

I was thinking this morning of trying to eliminate the third pass if possible. While I love chasing the baby and have needed it to get DFS on my neck most days I think I'm getting closer to DFS on two. I think I'll make that my goal for the next week.

 

...this is where solid technique will serve you well. I call DFS on one, with any setup, to be a Grail Shave (provided I feel good 12 hours later).