January 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

-E2
-Ubersoft II
-Stirling Gentleman everything else.

Had to do a quick shave and out the door, injectors are great for that. I need to find another E for work travel. Gotta find someone who wants to trade one for a G.

 

Excellent Jared!

 

Great setup with a good looking brush Jared.

 

Count it!

 

Next brush up is my first nice brush when I started this traditional shaving journey, Whipped Dog 30mm silver tip in a ceramic handle. I remember he had this listed on his site and I did not have to special order it.This brush is soft, dense and releases lather.

Since this was my first nice brush I decided to get all nostalgic and go with my first nice soap, Tabac. Also up is my first show queen straight, Dovo Bismark 2. Every thing performed as I expected, the brush and Tabac worked great together and lots of wet, slick lather. This razor always seems to have a nice edge, handles great and makes lot's of noise. The usual four passes shave with zero irritation, zero blood and BBS.

Irritation A+ Closeness A Smoothness A+ Sharpness A

Fortunately I was able to focus on my shave better than my picture.... oh that is right I did that on purpose, a soft focus.

 

Thank you both very much. The Ubersoft II is definitely my favorite synthetic knot after the Chubby. The fan shape splays so naturally while still having some scrub. I had to experiment with loft a little, I think this was my third set to get it perfect, but it is a definite top ten brush.

 

I'm absolutely sure that Doug has the anniversary dinner under control.

 

Great set up and fantastic SOTD photo, as usual, Doug. We've hardly seen a flake of snow here this winter. Looks like you're getting all of it!

I would've never guessed that Clint was so short.

 

Sweet set up and cool photo, Jared!

 

Happy Anniversary January!!

January 24

Mostly Shavettes

Razor - Magic Shavette
Blade - (1)
Soap - Route 66 Rum Runner
Brush - BoS Omega 10066
Post - Alum

Switching to the shavette and Crown blade tonight. The DE version of the Crown Stainless was good the first night, not so much the second, so a bit underwhelming overall. Seemed like it was going downhill way too fast. We'll see if the shavette has the same issue.

Lather is fixed! Went with the dryer brush like I thought and that was confirmed for me last night by some others and the R66 popped with a fantastic load and lather that made it the full two passes with plenty left over. I'm liking the Rum Runner scent more and more as I use the sample. This one is probably going to turn into a full tub.

The Magic is a very nice shavette, easy to use and precise. As with the others I've compared it turned the half Crown into a very fine two pass DFS, nearly BBS. No cuts or other issues and it's smooth as silk. No complaints or worries and the alum was nice and quiet. Shavettes do have an advantage, it seems, if you like using a straight type razor but don't want to worry about strops. We'll see if it does the same tomorrow or if the blade lacks stamina.

Monday morning (for me) looms in a few hours. Here we go for another week! Hope yours is doing well as it's nearly half over for most.

 

As usual I'm late. Happy Anniversary Doug! She has to be pretty special to make allowances for an' old Devil Dog.
OOORAH!

 

January 25 (Wednesday) - on focus

Gillette Black Beauty on 3
PAL Gold Thin Hollow Ground carbon (21)
Kent woodhandled "badger effect" boar brush - unknown model number
The Eternal Tub of TOBS Avocado Cream ( croap )
Alum and plain drugstore witch hazel

In preparation for today, I test lathered a couple times with this Kent boar brush and let it stand overnight each time with the soap drying in the bristles. This did help the break-in process along, though it didn't seem to get as far as yesterday's Omega brush. However, the bristles were much less prickly than the first time I used the brush fresh out of the box. At the end of today's shave, I re-lathered with the brush and left it to dry soapy again.

I think I overdid the bowl lathering today. I ended up with a lather bowl filled with meringue-like lather, but when I went to soap my face, the brush seemed empty. I appear to have lathered in the bowl for so long (I spent extra time whipping today) that I worked all of the product out of the bristles. In the end I had to scoop lather out of the bowl with my brush to swab on my cheeks, which left me with a thin, barely visible coating.

Perhaps this smallish boar brush works best starting the lather in a bowl briefly but then finishing by face lathering. I will see how that works tomorrow.

The shave still worked though. The thin layer of soap on my face was enough to allow a close, irritation-free shave. The carbon blade on shave 21 was just fine - by my calculations, it should be touched up after shave 23 just before getting rough again.

Speaking of PAL blades, for those of you who asked to try them, I mailed your envelopes of sample blades out yesterday.

 

January 25, 2017
Timeless OC .95 Gap
Feather (1)
BSB-2 with Vie-Long Two Band Fan
Route 66 Lumberjack

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The week seems to be going by very quickly. I continue to enjoy this hardware and software combo. A two pass shave with touch ups ending in a near BBS makes for a great work morning shave. I hope everyone has a great Wednesday.

 

Oddly enough, this week, we talked about pest control as a possible career with a couple of my classes!

Thanks for the reminder guys. I really appreciate it

For those who have not read of my epic shave, just click the link in my signature and enjoy.

 

On an unrelated note, but related to the actual thread...Feather and Blackbird OC continue to provide close, comfortable and smooth shaves. I'm on my 4th Feather blade of the month and this one is getting smooth at shave #5. I think the initial drag of the black oxidized OC plate is almost completely smoothed out and it is doing quite a job on the whiskers on my face.

Hope you all have a great day.

 

SOTD January 25, 2017

Blade: Chinese Schick
Razor: Schick G8 injector
Brush: Jayaruh #60 synthetic
Lather: Route 66 Sweeney Todd
Post: Witch hazel splash enhanced with Stirling Piacenza, Nivea sensitive balm
WTG, touch-up

Nice shave this morning with Route 66 Sweeney Todd and JR #60 synthetic brush. Terrific lather that the G8 wiped away with ease and efficiency. Pretty darn smooth after one pass and touch-up.

Have a great day!

 

Killer brush and E, Jared!

 

Love the photo perspective, Perry.