JUNE 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic & Discussion Thread

Your blade tourney matchups are a bit surprising. Will Ladas pull it off?

 

06/26/2015
Razor – ATT R2 with Jürgen Hempel Ti
Blade – Feather (1)
Brush – EJ XL STF
Lather – Mystic Water Lavender
Post - Witch Hazel & Myrsol F/Extra



Happy Friday. Another great shave with the R2 this morning. The scent for the MW Lavender is intoxicating. For sure it's a finicky soap to work with requiring you to work the lather longer than most soaps. I have found it much easier for me to lather with a synthetic brush. The performance of the soap is top notch if you figure out the lathering. Finished off with a splash of Myrsol F/Extra. I am so ready for the weekend.

 

Nobody is more surprised than I am! Only one of the final four is one I thought would be there.

 

Shave of the day

Pre- Hot shower, Anna and Claras sandalwood bath soap

Soap/cream- The shave den lanolin Iced Lemongrass

Brush- Semogue 1470

Razor- Merkur 37c

Blade- Wilkinson sword(3)

Post- Cold water rinse, Old spice original aftershave lotion and Nivea sensitive cooling aftershave balm + 1 drop of M-Bomb

I started out lathering DR Harris Arlington and added 3 drops of M-Bomb to make it a cold shave. I failed with the lather, I'm not sure why. But picked up my TSD iced lemongrass and before I could say "lather" I had enough menthol filled lather for 3 passes. Love the performance and scent of this soap.

Love my merkur

I have had an unopened Old spice original AS for a while. Opened it and put it on the shelf, damn it's nice! Finished with Nivea with 1 drops for a little chill but not much =)

 

Today is day 5 with the Nacet blades and day 23 of my blade focus. The Nacet seems plenty sharp and smooth and so far is pretty long lasting. I went my typical 2 face and 1 head shave with a blade in my New LC and now am using my Weber for the next 4 or 5 shaves with a fresh blade. This box should take me through June and into July.

 

Pushing the envelope!

 

June 26th, SOTD (Shave 17 of this focus)
One days’ growth
Prep: Hot shower
Razor: Dubl Duck Satinwedge with Obnoxious Orange scales
Strop: Drygulch Chromexcel Horsehide/ Linen (10 on linen/ 20 on leather)
Soap: The Shave Den Lime with M-Bomb
Brush: Eveready 100T re-knotted with 22mm TGN Synthetic
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block, Thayer’s Witch Hazel
Aftershave: The Shave Den Aftershave Milk- Iced Lime

Great shave today. Did a N/S pass and a S/N pass, and a little bit of touch up on the neck. DFS plus. Still too early to tell, but I didn’t notice any less performance of the blade with less stropping.

 

....and I thought my 30 days of Groundhog Day was a challenge.

30 days of Williams?!!! You should be inducted into the TSD Hall of Fame or something. I would think you're ready for something new!

 

Day#6 of 5; 30-Days in June
This is the final day using this vintage C-Mon (five days with one interruption). Opinion? Not surprisingly, this razor was everything I anticipated it would be, having used several C-MON razors in the past. All were similarly styled 5/8" full-hollow blades, the main exception this was the first stainless blade. This particular CMON had the keenest edge I've ever achieved on these razors—arm hair popping off at the top from heel to toe; Clean HHT results. This is also the first razor in which I've used the complete Naniwa super stone regimen (1000k thru 12,000k)—so this may have influenced the sharp yet super-smooth results.

With JUNE winding down, I've no idea what JULY will bring, nor what challenge to take. These past two months have really solidified in my mind which razors I'll definitely keep and those I'll sell off in August.

 

June 26 - Shave 18
Prep: Hot shower, Aveeno 5:1 face wash
Brush: WSP Silvertip
Preshave: None
Soap: TSD Sub zero stick
Razor: Wedge french tip. 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

This actually for the Wednesday shave but just getting around to posting. Wedge was a dull feel - kind of like the difference between a steel bike frame and carbon. Two passes and went well. A little nick on my neck but the biggest thing I learned this month was pressure - keeping pressure light and still getting the whiskers sliced. Not sure what to do with the bottom half of the goatee - almost able to turn the tips of the mustache. 7 weeks into the growth. Started waxing it train the hairs.

From other straight shavers, what would you suggest as a focus for next month?

 

If you want a TRUE challenge, try straight-razor shaving using your non-dominant hand exclusively for the entire month.

A few months ago, back when I had CT surgery on my dominant left hand, I was compelled to shave using my only right hand for a 5-7 week period.
Challenging? You bet. But with slow & steady work, I made progress and after several weeks of daily practice, I became quite competent with my non-dominnat hand.

 

Day 25 - 26 May 2015

30 Day Rule Focus with a Cadet OC!


​

Day eleven on this blade! Stuck with the program and got a nice 2 pass smoothness, a little touch up on the chin. The only issue was a little weeper. I will give this blade one more day, probably the last. Finished with cold water, alum, and a good splash of Clubman again today! Near perfect weather today. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado!

Have a nice weekend!
​

 

Let's not get crazy...

 

A Teutonic shave for Saturday.

I usually don't go for theme shaves but I have been enjoying Rasurpur kamisori and missing Tabac so I decided to go German today. 3 passes with the straight, no irritation but I have a need for BBS today so the 4th passes with my Futur... loaded with a non-german blade, oh well almost an all German shave. Finished no irritation and BBS.

I really like the feel of this razor, the more I used it the more confident I am with it. It just feels easier to control than my other razors. Still making a long road ahead to get the same level of shave I get with a DE.

Proraso Pre Shave
Tabac soap
Thater 2 band silver tip
Rasurpur western grind kamisori
Dry Gulch strop
Alum block to keep my fingers dry
Speick AS
Speik ASB
Tabac EDC

Have a great weekend! 주말 잘 보내세요!

 

I was going to ask the same question.... but .... uhm..... never mind.

 

Hey, just think of the new skill you'll develop without, hopefully, causing under harm to face!

"No pain, no gain," as my football coach used to say.
:football:

 

World Tournament of Blades - Russia vs. the World!!
June 26, 2015
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Vie Long 12705
Soap - Tabac
Razor - '59 Superspeed
Blade - (3)
Post - Alum, Nivea Balm

We're down to the Final Four! And....we stay on the World side to start the finals. The Bic Chrome Platinum goes up against the Personna Lab Blue and today is its day. This is the blade that has defeated both of the Super-Max entries from India to make it to the semi-finals and it has been fairly impressive. So, onto the field it comes.

The gear for this matchup is the '59 Superspeed with the Vie-Long horse and Tabac. I used some extra water and got the Tabac lathered up well with a slick base and went to work. The first pass was smooth and the blade is sharp. This is the third round for the blade and it is still very comfortable. Second XTG pass was also a great pass and left only the neck to clean up. Still smooth, no issues. Neck was again an XTG with a G-slide to finish. Got the DFS and felt good. Now, to the alum and grading.

Sharpness - Still a 1. Seems to have lost nothing in that regard. Smoothness - Again a 1. No drag, pulling, nothing but glide. Irritation - so here comes the alum at the end and there's a minor burn that quickly fades. That's a 1 in my book. That quick flash and gone is normal for me. Finish? DFS for the 2. That's a 5. Great result!

Total - 5

Tomorrow the Lab Blue gets its day in the sun. Which will move to the finals? And which Russian will it face, the Voskhod or Ladas? Will Penelope be rescued from the train tracks? Oh wait....different suspense. Have a great weekend everyone!

 

06/27/2015
Razor – Gillette Old Type with Jürgen Hempel Ti
Blade – Voskhod (1)
Brush – Rubberset 400 with Omega Boar
Lather – Soap Commander Renewal
Post - Witch Hazel & Myrsol F/Extra



This was my first time using both the Gillette Old Type and the first time using a Voskhod blade. After reading many comments about how aggressive the Old Type was in comparison to the New OC, I was expecting something other than the shave I had. I found this set up to be milder than the New LC. Of course this could have been the blade. I ended up with a near BBS shave but it required 3 passes with a lot of touch ups. I look forward to spending the remainder of the July Focus working with the Old Type.

 

30-days in June
Completely off the tracks this morn as June winds down. I opted to not use a straight razor (the first time in about two months) and instead grabbed my favorite DE in the drawer—the 2011 Mühle R41. I switched out the stock Grande handle for this custom 'heavy' textured handle, nicely counterbalanced on the end. Feather blades, of course. Three passes and a little touch up. Not having shaved with a DE in some time, what became obvious to me is how quickly the shave goes and with relative ease. Darn near-BBS results as well. Compared to SR shaving, DE shaving is the 'express lane' to finishing the morning routine. I still prefer the whole SR regimen over the ease and convenience of the DE razor shave, but there's no arguing that both will get you to the same desired destination.

 

HR, I'm just in awe of the SR posts I've read of yours and other SR shavers over the past 6 weeks that I've been on TSD.

My grandfather was a barber in Little Italy, NYC. As a kid, I'd sit in his shop and watch his mastery in shaving his customers with the straight edge. I loved the regimen he used from start to finish. There was a timeless order to it. He even did my shave and buzz cut prior to going off for military induction.

When he retired and sold his shop, we split up some of his old razors, I'll have to pull mine out of storage some day. My sister even took one of his old barber chairs. I wish I had learned, but for some odd reasons have used carts all my life and my shaky old hands won't allow me to take that step to SRs now.

But having just found DE shaving and joining this group has been a joy - to not only learn myself, but to understand and experience what others are expressing here of this timeless tradition.

Good to know you think SR/DE both provide great shaves. Though some of us wish we could try SRs, sometimes it's satisfying enough to live vicariously through others! Shave on!

Cheers!
- RT