March 2017 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Third shave and wrap up Filarmonica, Tabac, Simpson Chubby setup:

It was a cold morning so I went with the tea kettle and scuttle for some hot lather. This brush does not splay, so the lather was just warm not hot. I did four passes and finished smooth but with some light feedback from the alum.

Irritation A- Closeness A Smoothness A+ Sharpness A+

This razor has a smooth but wickedly sharp edge. It is a very thin grind and struggles a little when hits some tough whiskers compared to my other blades. I only tried one other razor that had more flex than this razor and that was 7/8 TI. I bought this razor because all the hype made me curious. My Dovo shoulder less razors shaves circles around this Filarmonica, they are also louder while having less blade flex.

The brush is oh soft and no scritch but it has lots of backbone given a very dense knot. It can be stubborn about releasing lather but it does feel good on the face. It is a good match for Tabac I just need to load extra.

 

OK, so I revisited this shave today. Got the lather dialed in, took my time, and had a great shave with only one problem: I couldn't really tell a noticeable difference between the blades. Both performed well and the results were, for all practical purposes, identical. I even went halfsies on the head shave and still couldn't call a real winner. So I thought I would call the winner based on price, and even that seems pretty much the same. So today's winner is...?

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March Madness & Spring Cleaning!!

March 6

Razor - Fatip Piccolo
Blade - (1)
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Brush - Semogue 620
Post - Alum, Nivea

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, dark so far but the storms are on their way. Tornado watch here until 4AM so it's time we can say IT'S SPRING!! Actually this is our second watch of the year so it's an early and windy Spring.

I was asked about the Nacet blade earlier today and realized it's been well over a year since I had one in a razor. And, since I'm using aggressive razors and needed another night for everything to heal before going back to the Greager, I grabbed the Fatip and threw a Nacet in it to reacquaint myself with it. Still one of the more unique designs on the label. And, what looks like Arabic is printed on the back of the packaging so I'm pretty sure these are marketed into the Middle East/Southern Asia area. Of course they're a Gillette Russian made in St. Pete.

I chose the Fat for the soap as I've been ignoring it in favor of trying new ones. It responded with an incredible amount of the slickest lather imaginable. Still the top soap in my den.

Two full passes and the only issue was a couple of reminders where I cut my neck with the Greager the other night. No blood, though, just a rough spot. The blade was very smooth and very effective. I have a solid DFS and the alum was quiet. This blade reminds me of the Ladas from Moscow. Both are stainless coated so that's not too shocking they would feel similar. While stainless coating isn't my favorite type of blade both the Ladas and Nacet perform very well for me.

Hope your Monday was good to you!

 

Depending on where you buy them the Rapiras are usually a touch cheaper. You seem to be dialed in, though, as these are two of the best Mostochlegmash blades. The difference would become a bit more obvious if you repeated the shave for three of four days. The Rapira tends to wear out before the Voskhod does.

 

I just received a Fendrihan Scientist razor that was PIFed to me from John (Screwtape) so I decided that the inner scientist should come out to play. I decided to test the theory that oil destroys lather.

I have some diy preshave oil made from equal parts castor, olive, jojoba, and grape seed oils. I also grabbed some TOBS for this.

Sorry for the sideways images. I straightened them out in Paint but it didn't take.

To start, I squirted about a nickel's worth of PSO and an equal part water into the bowl. This is how much PSO I would use to lubricate and moisturize my face.





Next I grabbed a good almond size dallop of TOBS Sandalwood and added it to a brush that I just ran under water to dampen it but not soaked.



I proceeded to whip it and mix it well for all of 45 seconds until it looked nice and creamy. I then proceeded to add water as usual. I was not trying to make perfect lather, only show that lather can be made. After 2 dribbles of water, this resulted:


To me, that lather looks pretty good!!!

I proceeded to do my usual and continue adding water until larger bubbles formed. I was told, this indicated I went too far adding water. this resulted.




to me, it seems that my PSO will still make lather!!! No destroyed lather resulted to me! NOw, the amount I put in the bowl of PSO clearly isn't what will remain on the face since some quantity gets absorbed into the skin so even this amount is much more than normal in my opinion.

 

I think I will advance them both so that they can enter the week-long trials. It seems only fair.

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My favorite blade, along with Polsilvers.

 

I think what happened was that people who mostly face lathered found the lather didn't build as fast until the soap overcame the oil on their faces. It will build lather eventually; the question with your setup here is more whether it builds that lather as fast as when you mix without the oil being in there.

 

Nice! I checked out the supply on the bay and they are priced just above Voskhods as a rule. Some of the sellers are in Jordan. I've never ordered anything from Jordan. It's tempting if only to make the mail lady give me another strange look.

 

Yes, soap with oil can make lather, in certain ratios. But, you didn't actually do my experiment. Make lather (soap, water, air) and then add oil to it. Soap alters the surface tension of water, allowing it to from bubbles and trap air. When soap bubbles contact oil, they pop because the surface of the bubble breaks down.

You mixed oil and water and added soap. Soap makers add oil to soap and package it. You simply altered their ratio. You proved my last part though, you didn't exceed a ratio that caused the soap to fail. Soap breaks down oil and vice versa. If you feel like it helps the razor glide, then by all means. The chemistry is the chemistry, and the vast majority of new convert shavers I've seen here on the forums do give it up, myself included.

When I first converted, I swore up and down that I had sensitive skin, required pso for comfort, three types of AS and could only shave every 48 hours. Now, I shave daily with zero prep, Barbasol, alum and a naked DE blade, and it's far more comfortable than I ever dreamed. We talk of a concept called ymmv on TSD. I also believe wholeheartedly in being true to oneself. Please take anything I write as simply a relation of my experience and the accounts of others, and is not intended to say that "PSO is bad". PSO is something I've used with good results, but found that removing it didn't really change anything for me after my techniques were stabilized, and my shaves continued to improve without it.

 

March 6 (Monday) evening - special treat

Gillette Fatboy on 9 / Gillette vintage Platinum Plus (3)
Old drugstore boar brush
Castle Forbes Lavender Shave Cream ( sample)
Alum and Castle Forbes Lavender Aftershave Balm (sample)

Today has been kind of a blah day, starting with 3 inches of snow on the ground and a cold wind after a springlike weekend. I was feeling a bit down, so with today's earlier EverReady 1912 SE shave leaving me less cleanshaven than normal, I decided to treat myself to a special evening shave. I broke out a special sample I had been saving for a rainy or grey day -- Castle Forbes' very nice and very expensive Lavender Essential Oil shaving cream and aftershave balm.

Since I forgot my Fatboy in my earlier razor rotation, I used it tonight held with the fingertips at the end. And I bumped it wide open.

A fingernail scoop of the CF cream the size of a large garden pea in my horn lathering quaich with a small splash of water yielded enough creamy lather for my normal diagonal passes and a followup ATG pass with a bit left over. The glide and protection were excellent and the scent was a wonderful strong springlike wild lavender aroma. The
Alum was a bit warm in spots but nothing major, especially considering this was a second shave today, I had the razor wide open, and I ended with an extra ATG pass that I usually skip to avoid irritation. The water rinse cooled everything off, after which the Castle Forbes balm felt wonderfully soothing. Again, the balm has a wild lavender scent that perfectly matches the cream except for being stronger and longer lasting, and a squirt the size of a nickel did my whole face and neck. A half hour later, I can still catch whiffs of the scent; normally by now an aftershave will no longer be registering for me.

Overall tonight's shave was a most enjoyable experience. Not quite like going for a day at a spa hotsprings but as close as I can get to that while standing at my bathroom sink. The best part -- the little sample jar of cream and spritz bottle of balm (from Maggards btw) hold enough product for at least half a dozen repeats.

Now, is the Castle Forbes shave cream and balm special enough to be worth Cdn $ 60 and 70 respectively for a full tub and bottle? Before tonight I would have said "absolutely not". After using it? I am going to have to think about that. It IS expensive but that fullsized tub and bottle are going to last a long long time, and each shave is going to be a real pick-me-up treat... I may actually consider getting them once the samples are gone...

 

March Madness
Barbasol and Barber Blade Edition
Days Five and Six



Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

 

I thought, after reading the challenge to make lather with the presence of preshave oil a few times, it might be fun to do a test. I agree that starting with lather could be different but I think John hit the nail on the head. If the lather deflated a bit, it would be able to be reworked again. I could see bowl or hand latherers thinking this as failure since they do not typically rework on the face. Face latherers might not even notice. I spent less time making lather in this test than I do for each morning's shave. I only needed the initial water and 2 additional dribbles to attain very good lather. Time wise, it was only a minute or two at most.

My thinking was, if PSO prevent lather, starting with it like this should be very evident of that. No foam should be made. Your statement that oil reduces the surface tension in water I am not sure is true since oil and water do not mix for it to have an affect. soap will surround the oil droplets and form micelles allowing the carrying of oil 'in' water but any surface tension of the soap dissolved in water should be the same. I think it is this property to collect hydrophobic elements and allow them to be carried in an aqueous solution is the very property as to why we bathe using soap. Chemistry has been too long ago.

What I was going for was to show that oil does not prevent lather from being generated. I used a pretty large amount of oil and in the end, water might have been only twice as much and yet lather was still formed. If the formation of micelles with the oil did anything to reduce the lather, I did not notice it. I think the soap did what soap does and there was still enough soap and water to form bubbles.

I am not sure if the quality might have been different but then again this test was an extreme case. The residual oil on the skin should not be that much.

As for Pre shave oil working for you, that we all can agree is YMMV. We are all individuals with unique faces. For me, I tend to dry a lot and the oil helps to moisturize and I can feel the difference if I leave one cheek without PSO. My seeing the benefits could be related to my inexperience in creating consistently high quality lather. In the end, all we all want is to not get cut and get a close shave. If my little experiment allows those who find benefit in PSO to still use it, it was worth the time and effort to try. For me, the only time I find lather deflating is when I push it with too much water and I have my face wet my lather seems to thin out. So far, the small, dime sized amount I use seems to do nothing for me.

 

I agree if PSO works for you then continue to use it. Many people with drying skin use post shave balms, shea butter or soaps with a better post shave moisturizing properties. As a general rule I use post shave balm or whipped shea butter after each shave.

The main point is keep an open mind. As your technique improves be open to evaluating your routine and making changes as necessary .

 

Thanks Clint. I agree and will do.

 

March 7, 2017​

Mongoose B2 with Triad Ti
Feather Pro Super (3)
Simpsons Chubby 2 Synthetic
Route 66 Lumberjack
Fine Fresh Platinum

​

This week just keeps marching on with another excellent near BBS 2 pass shave this morning. I really enjoy using the CH2 Synthetic. The brush is just a lather making monster. I finished off the shave with a splash of Fine Platinum. I hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

 

Did you use that dish? Very nice!!! I am envious. I can never get a BBS with just 2 passes.

 

No that dish is one my wife bought and I just used it as a prop. Since I face lather exclusively, I really only use a dish or mug to soak the brush. My work morning shaves are rarely a perfect BBS. I have the one spot on the bottom right side of my neck that consistently proves to be my nemesis. Most of my DE razors require me to use 3 passes for the same results.

Don't chase the results but instead perfect the technique. You will be surprised when everything just clicks and the results are near perfect most of the time. For example, since January 2015 I have used the Mongoose, AlumiGoose & Cobra for over 360 daily shaves. Overtime the results have become automatic if I don't get in the way.

 

I think you summed up the whole issue perfectly with this sentence: "In the end, all we all want is to not get cut and get a close shave."

Or as some people here say: "It's shaving, not rocket science."

The forum mantra of YMMV is more or less shorthand for both those points as well as a reminder to keep arguments about minutia from becoming pointlessly uncivil feuds.

The fact is, a very large number of people use and like PSOs -- otherwise they wouldn't be made and sold. Meanwhile an equally large group have no use for them. And others use them now and then. I think PSOs are possibly one of the most YMMV items in wetshaving, actually.

My own experience: I tried shave oils at first the way some are marketed - as the only shave lubricant besides water. I found they weren't that great for glide and protection and also gummed up my razor. So I tried them as a PSO. What I found was that they helped boost my soap almost the way superlathering with a cream does - providing much better protection from razorburn. However, I then tried a better soap and also worked on my lather technique. I eventually found the PSO was no longer necessary because the soap now moisturized well enough on its own (probably because the soap now had the oils already premixed in it.) I still use oil now and then when my skin is very dry. However I find I get better results by using a tallow or lanolin soap and a postshave balm or moisturizing lotion.

 

It looks like I need to grab a couple of samples and see how they do for me.