JUNE 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Razor: Gillette Flare Tip D2 1958
Blade: Gillette, Platinum (7)
Brush: Semogue 1305 Boar Tri Colored Wood Handle.
Soap: Proraso Green
Mug: Soak my brush in the Old Spice coffee mug for about a minute.
A/S: Clubman Pinaud Lime.
Day 19

Didn't shave yesterday. Today I got a great lather with this brush and soap combination. Ended up with DFS. Tomorrow I will use my newly re plated Gillette Aristocrat 1947 birthday razor. I have not used it yet as I wanted to re plate it first. Looking forward to the up coming week.

 

Not in my experience. It adjusts the skin temperature feeling but it does not contain enough oil to affect the water soap ratio needed

 

Thanks. I have been busy of late.

 

June 18

MR GLO
Muhle R41 (2013)
Feather blade (day 1)
Omega Pro 98 boar brush
D.R. Harris Almond shave cream
Two passes
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Nivea Sensitive Post-Shave Balm

 

World Tournament of Blades - Russia vs. the World!!
June 18, 2015
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Vie Long 12705
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Razor - Edwin Jagger DE89L
Blade - (2)
Post - Alum, Nivea Balm

Back to Russia to start the Elite Eight! It's the mighty Voskhod on its second run, matching up against the other Teflon Titan the Gillette Silver Blue. I first compared these two back at the end of January and have used them since. The Voskhod normally squeaks out a win but barely. They are very close to one another. So, let's see what happens. Just for clarity I am using the same blades as the Sweet Sixteen round, so these are on their second shaves. Longevity does count as well.

Saddled the horse with the Fat and man oh man that's a great way to start a day. I think my SAD is under control thanks to MWF and Tabac. Just doesn't get better than either of those in my opinion. Great lather and a great first pass. Very smooth, blade is still sharp, efficient and harmless. Second pass XTG and the face is done! BBS. The neck...still not there but I could stop with a DFS. Decided that the stakes are high enough I need to chase the baby at least a bit. Lathered for a third neck pass and did an XTG followed by G-Slides. Checked, one minor spot left where it usually is so I buffed just a bit. Cold water rinse and the alum. Yeah, I thought so. Irritation was a little higher than normal. I probably shouldn't have chased. However, it wasn't horrible by a long shot.

Scoring - Sharpness, still a 1. Smoothness, still a 1. Irritation, well, let's be honest I created it a bit but I have to give it a 2. Result? BBS so a 1.

Total - 5 Same as round one where I had less irritation but a DFS. I'm thinking this is the best the blade may be able to do with, after all, is very good.

So a 5 into the GSB's turn. It scored a 5 in the first round as well, and in the same way the Voskhod just did. This could be close folks. Figuring out how to break the tie if I need to. I love these two blades and the way they always make me wonder which is best.

 

I have the same issue with atg/xtg.

 

You could certainly add it to a mug or if you are face lathering you can do what I do and drop a couple onto the brush after loading it with a cream. If using soap then on the puck like HR said.

 

June 18 - Shave 13
Prep: Hot shower, Aveeno 5:1 face wash
Brush: Omega 48
Preshave: Stirling Mentha Preshave oil
Soap: TDS Bayrum Soap
Razor: C.V. Heljestrand No 24 - 5/8. 20 x linen strop 40 x leather strop
Strop: @Drygulch Modern Barber Strop 24"x3"
Growth: 2 day
Post: Cold water splash, Alum, TSD Sub zero iced
Passes: WTG, XTG, WTG

What an epic morning! I was determined to have a three pass shave with no de clean up to confirm that I was shaving too close with the "de" clean up. I have to say, the @Drygulch strop seems to prep my blade so right. I need to spend some time working another one of my blades before sending it out for @gssixgun honing, but I'm hopeful!

First pass, comfortable and no pulling. 2nd pass, XTG was easy and got me 90% of the way to a dfs. I always feel weird tugging on my ear to to stretch the first pass xtg. I have playing with stretching the face in different places to see what s most effective. Like Adam mentioned earlier, getting the ATG/XTG passes angles is tough so I succumb to another WTG 3rd pass to make sure there's no noise.

Today's no DE cleanup shave was most rewarding. There's a level of pride I get in my appearance that I have never had since starting to straight razor shave. Very disappointed I missed out on the dubl suck from @gssixgun gemstarcustoms. Need to put one on layaway from someone. hint hint anyone
Cheers!
Eric

 

Not sure what was wrong today. Woke up early and decided to go with straight shave since this is my focus this month. I did three passes and then used my ATT R2 plate for a pass and some clean up. I really wanted a BBS today. With the straight I ended up with a couple of nicks and a weeper. I could also feel the irritation too. I felt like I really had to push the razor and like it was getting stuck on my face. This lead to too much pressure hence the blood and irritation. I think my lather was not watery enough.

Homemade pre-shave
Super Lather AoS tallow plus Castle Forbes Lime
Thater 2 band fan
Rasurpur western grind kamisori
Dry Gulch strop
Alum block to keep my fingers dry
Homemade vodka menthol AS
Speick ASB
Creed Green Irish Tweet

 

The @Drygulch strop is trending...
Check them out! I might pick up another!

 

Sweet!

 

Day 17 - 18 June 2015

30 Day Rule Focus with a Cadet OC!


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Day three on this blade, and elected to go with the normal two pass routine. I used the Williams puck as a shave stick again, loaded a little extra on the bristles, and a good shave was had by all. I am getting into these Derby Blades! I feel like if this razor stays it will probably be matched up with the infamous Greens permanently. This month is destroying my notions of "favorite blade". It's more about maximizing the razor for comfort versus performance. Kept it clean on the finish again. Alum and a wee bit of the FW, and I was good to go. Other than...all is quiet out here in Colorado.

Have a super Friday!

​

 

Seems like OC is a two pass deal for many of us!

 

06/19/2015
Razor – ATT R2 with Triad Helix SS
Blade – Feather (3)
Brush – EJ XL STF
Lather – Lo Haiku
Post - Witch Hazel & Myrsol Formula C Sample



Another fantastic work morning shave with 2 passes plus touch ups giving a near BBS. The soap for today was Lo Haiku that I received as a gift from @Darkbulb . Thanks so much for the soap. It is a very easy to use with the lather just exploding and is super slick. The scent has a cologne quality to it with a background of floral. I look forward to making this soap part of my rotation. Finished off with a splash of Myrsol Formula C. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

Day #3 of 5; 30-Days of June
Great early morning shave today using a new 'test' soap sample puck. This soap is tallow-based and contains both shea butter and lanolin. Needless to say, the puck yielded a very dense, slick lather that 'painted' on generously. All the puck required to lather up was a slightly damp (non-soaked) brush and about dozen vigorous brush stokes to load the brush for three passes. Very impressed with this mystery' soap. Flawless, smooth performance from the Dubl Duck…again. Every straight razor shaver needs to try a Duck at some point...

 

A Duck will be my next rad acquisition. They look so pretty especially with those particular scales. Glen had one for sale for about 5 minutes and I missed out.

 

June 19th, SOTD (Shave 11 of this focus)
Two days’ growth
Prep: Hot Shower
Razor: Dubl Duck Satinwedge with Obnoxious Orange Scales
Strop: Drygulch Chromexcel Horsehide/ Linen (20 on linen, 50 on leather)
Soap: Jabonman Citricos
Brush: Eveready 100T re-knotted with 22mm TGN Synthetic
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block, Thayer’s Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman

Eric, not trying to make you jealous, but here’s my Duck. I really like the cracked ice scales that they come with, but they had been removed from this razor before I purchased it. I hope at the least, the old scales were damaged in some way, and not just thrown away.

Did a two pass shave this morning. Soap was awesome, and I think I have gotten the hang of using the synthetic brush, and how to get the right amount of water, either face or bowl lathering. I need to do a longer focus with this blade, as I end up stabbing my face when I am not paying enough attention to the tip. I keep thinking I should mute the tip, but if feels like cheating. Got a DFS today, but had six cuts from the tip. Second pass was pink lather. Cold water took care of the small ones, and the alum slowed down some bleeding, but I look like I got attached by cat this morning. Oh well. Clubman smells great. Happy Friday, all!

 

Since the scales are quite prone to cell-rot, if the old scales were not broken or damaged, odds are they may have begun to deteriorate and thus removed prior to the blade being damaged. However, a typical sign of cell rot is the damage to blade as the gases omitted begin to corrode the steel. Usually it (the cell rot) is discovered too late to save the blade.

 

June 19, 2015

30 Day RULE - “Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Lather, Rinse….”

Morning Hot Shower
Prep: Pre-Shave Oil - The Art of Shaving
Soap: Arko
Brush: Omega Pro 48
Razor: Gillette Tech “Fat Handle”
Blade: Gillette Wilkinson Sword Stainless (India)
After Shave: Proraso Aftershave Splash Green



Missed posting yesterday, but the shave yesterday and today are continuing to become consistent as I continue the 30-day Rule - fine shaves!

Will probably skip tomorrow and come back Sunday. Wishing all the fathers out there a Happy Fathers Day Weekend!


Riding the cap!

Cheers!
RT

 

June 19 - Shave 14
Prep: Hot shower, Aveeno 5:1 face wash
Brush: Omega 48
Preshave: Stirling Mentha Preshave oil
Soap: Stirling Frozen Tundra
Razor: 1st and 2nd password whipped dog Sheffield 5/8 round tip. 3rd pass Gemstar Jordan 5/8 spike tip - both 20 x linen strop 40 x leather strop
Strop: @Drygulch Modern Barber Strop 24"x3"
Growth: 1 day
Post: Cold water splash, Alum, Clubman AS
Passes: WTG, XTG, WTG

Yes you were trying to make me jealous. I love those scales as much as the cracked ice scales! Obnoxious orange. If you guys ever want to sell one of your ducks, please let me know!

Welcome to frozen tundra friday? Doesn't quite roll off the tongue...oh well. I discovered that the Stirling Soaps are very high maintenance but so worth it in the end. I used my first whipped dog that I learned to strop on for the first two pass, but stropped up the gemstar jordan as a backup. I was hoping that after some focused stropping, the whipped dog would be a good performer - twice two passes w and x the grain to no avil. Ended up going over to the jordan for a final wtg pass to get a dfs (notice it's in lower case letters ) Just know that it belongs on my shelf for a little bit until I can send it out to be honed back up. Good news it that I can tell right away if the blade is ready for my face now or if it needs a refresh.

Cheers!
Eric