March 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic-Discussion Thread

That scream on your face is just the Hungarian Cavalry thanking you for being alive.

 

March 24 Plans

Stirling Sheep bath/face soap
Merkur 37C slant bar razor
Feather blade (day 1)
Omega 10098 boar brush
Stirling Naked & Smooth shave soap
Two passes
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, & unrefined shea butter

I'm taking a break from Arko until April, but early indications are that it's a very good performing soap! However, I've been getting near-BBS shaves from this set up, no matter which soap I use. I must admit that my MdC smells just a little better than Arko.

In honor of my Omega brush, which is a lather machine, I'll close by wishing everyone a felice Martedì!

 

March 2015 ... 30 day rule ... technique, technique, technique

pre: n/a
brush: EJ best badger medium
lather: proraso green soap
razor: EJ89lbl
blade: derby extra
post: alum block

all shaves in this summary were 2-pass ... WTG and some combination of WTG/XTG ... in general, with my newfound, happy angle, shaves in general went well with little to no irritation; with the feeling that i'm getting at least a little better with technique, i went with three days in a row ... for the first time in a long, long time

03/20/15 ... blade4(1) ... 2 1/2 days growth; normal directions; no nicks and very little or no irritation;
03/21/15 ... blade4(2) ... normally, my second pass has been from the nose to the ear; tried the opposite direction today; also tried opposite than normal directions on my neck ... just because i felt adventurous; i did have a little more feedback from the alum but nothing too terrible
03/22/15 ... blade4(3) ... one nick right under the nose on the first pass; a couple of what seems like might be called weepers on the neck; however, those areas did not sting with the alum block and required no styptic

i'm gonna stick with the derby extra throughout march. i must say, though, that i am looking forward to another blade focus in april.

 

March Focus - Vintage and Carbon
March 23, 2015 - Week 4 Day 2
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - VDH Boar
Soap - C.O. Bigelow
Razor - 1918 Old Style Gillette
Blade - (2)
Post - RazoRock Alum & Dr. Carver's Magnanimous Post Shave

Day two of the Old and Classic combo and it was as glorious an old school shave as they come. One weeper near the right ear that popped up after the first pass, then gone forever. The alum was sufficiently angry but I skipped the normal aftershave, choosing the Dr. Carver's instead. Dr. Carver's is the Dollar Shave Club balm that I have left over from my evil cart days. It does a decent job of moisturizing and cooling off that aggressive irritation until I get something better. No issues with the blade on day two so we will forge on to day three on Tuesday!

 

After all the great shaves for the whole month, today sucked..... I had two weepers! go figure. The only thing I can figure is that I have been eating much more sugar for the last few days, so I think I ended up with microscopic zits, that I sliced. One was on the flat part of the cheek, which has never been a problem area. Just goes to show, that we can never be too complacent.

 

03/24/2015
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – Mongoose B2 with Jürgen Hempel Ti
Blade –Feather Pro (2)
Brush –Rudy Vey with Shavemac Finest
Lather – MdC
Post - Witch Hazel and Dove AS Balm



A fantastic 3 pass shave this morning. My plans were to finish up this month with the Schick Injector but I'm falling off the wagon. I received a package of GEM razors to test drive from a forum member, JR Reyes. Going by and pick up some blades on the way home today. My plans are to use only SE razors, Goose, GEM or Schick for the remainder of March. I'll continue to use the finest brushes, and MdC for the remainder of the month.

 

March Focus- Be modern, Learn to use my Feather Artist Club razor. Any touch ups with a modern DE.

March 24th, SOTD (Shave 14 of the focus)
Two and a half days’ growth
Prep: Hot Shower
Razor Feather Artist Club SS non-folding with Pro-Guard Blade (2nd shave on blade)
Razor Finish: Van Der Hagen/ Weishi
DE Blade:Feather- Stropped 30 times per edge (4th single pass on blade)
Soap: The Shave Den Barber Shoppe Scent, bowl lathered w/5 drops of M-Bomb
Brush: Omega Travel Boar
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block,
Aftershave: The Shave Den Iced Barber Shoppe Splash
Needed a clean shave today for work, so did a WTG pass with the Feather Artist Club, and ATG pass with the VDH. Tried stropping the blade on the Feather Artist Club to mellow it out. Since I am using Pro-Gaurd blades, the gaurds prevent it from contacting the strop. No dice. Was careful on my pass. Did an ATG pass with the the super mild DE, and called it good. It was better to have a little stuble visable today than razor burn or cuts. CCS, but by noon it is already feeling rough. I will finish out the month with this DE, and then it will be finding a new home. It's too mild for my whiskers.

 

March Focus - Vintage and Carbon
March 24, 2015 - Week 4 Day 3
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Proraso Green
Razor - 1918 Old Style Gillette
Blade - (3)
Post - RazoRock Alum and Aqua Velva Musk

Third day on the Classic and it was still a good shave. Beginning to show a little drag, though, so this is the last day for it. No weepers or other issues today, three pass DFS but not quite as close to BBS as day two. I checked the blade pre-shave and didn't notice an excess of rust. Apparently this blade just has three shaves in it. My experience with the carbons this month has shown that three is about all you can drag out of them, well all that I can anyway. YMMV. Of the four tried the Black Beauty and the Classic are my top two pics. The Durasharp and Silver lacked a bit in comparison. I'll spend the next week working with different blades that I haven't tried yet. But as for the carbons................

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Very Good! The Alum block is a great way to verify the shave technique.

 

Wow, the month is almost done! My one-pass experiment continues, with little discoveries as the days come and go. On some days I decided some touch-up is needed and my face hasn't got mad! I did use my Gillette NEW LC one day instead of my injector, but it didn't feel as smooth as my Schick E2. I think using one instrument as my daily driver works best for me. I get to know it well and how to remove more stubble from that knowledge.

My one-pass shaves work best with small little strokes, almost like buffing as I go down the cheek and neck. I'm surprised how close the shave is. It's probably because I know the angles that get the most stubble with daily use of the Schick E2 Injector. Aces!

 

March 2015 ... 30 day rule ... technique, technique, technique

pre: n/a
brush: EJ best badger medium
lather: proraso green soap
razor: EJ89lbl
blade: derby extra
post: alum block

wow, did i really blow it! i cheated the 30 day rule, and i broke the cardinal rule of testing (only change one thing at a time) ... all in one day !!

i did stick with the derby blade, but ... 1) i used a different face soap (dr.bronner's) during my shower, 2) i used a PSO (home blend) for the first time, and 3) i used some thayer's after my alum block

my rationale ... when i 'found my angle' several days ago and each shave since then has been pretty successful, i was considering March a success! so, i wanted to 'prepare' by using some of the new pre and post products before my April blade focus. that's what i'm filing in my report, anyways ...

03/24/15 ... blade5(1) ... 2 days growth; regular 2-pass plus a third pass on the neck. after two passes, i felt like i was in really, REALLY good shape. so, i decided to go another round on just the neck. in the end, i had no nicks, only a smidge of irritation on the lower, center neck, a very smooth neck, and only one rough patch on the side of the chin. the alum block didn't give much feedback but for a couple of tiny spots, and the irritation presented itself as almost a rash-looking area the size of maybe a couple of quarters. the razor burn could have been due to the soap, the PSO, or the TWH ... but since the rest of my face was in good shape ... it was probably the technique as usual ... TTT!!!

 

March 25 Plans

Stirling Sheep bath/face soap
Merkur 37C slant bar razor
Feather blade (day 2)
Omega 10098 boar brush
Stirling Naked & Smooth shave soap
Two passes
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, & unrefined shea butter

I'm just a week away from Arko April! Otherwise, I plan to stick with the same set up that I'm currently using. It will be interesting to see how Arko performs over the course of an entire month.

 

14 hours post shave. I need to shave again, it's driving me crazy. I had to wear a tie all day, and since I didn't do a very good job on my neck I have tons of irritation and ingrown hairs where my collar rubbed all day. Going to scrub good tonight, and try to get a DFS or BBS tomorrow. Have to wear a tie for the next few days too. Frustrated with my DE. I might bail on this one early, and go back to my slim when I get home.

 

As this is the patent birthday of the March 24, 1914 lather catcher, I imagine that this is how it was used back in the day.... carbon steel blade, badger brush, and good lather.

 

And this is the BBS shave, five minutes post shave. ( an absolutely great shave, two pass plus some touch up in the jaw line area.) Have a great 1914 lather catcher anniversary!

 

03/25/15
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – Schick Injector Type I
Blade – Chinese Schick (4)
Brush – Every Ready with TGN Finest
Lather – MdC
Post - Witch Hazel, Dove AS Balm and CC Sandalwood AS



Very good 3 pass shave this morning. About as close as I can get to a BBS for a work morning. I have really enjoyed using the MdC daily this month. It's so easy to lather and for me provides more than enough slickness and cushion. Happy Hump Day.

 

March Focus - Vintage and Carbon - COMPLETE
March 25, 2015 - Week 4 Day 4
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - VDH Boar
Soap - Arko
Razor - Edwin Jagger 89l
Blade - (1)
Post - Alum & The Veg

Trying a couple of blades through the end of the month starting with the Super-Max Platinum from Vidyut in India. I ranked the Super Platinum as the top blade in February's blade trials so was curious about the Platinum. I pulled the EJ89l out and loaded up. Very nice, comfortable shave with very little irritation as proved by the very quiet alum. Just a bit of sting where I buffed a bit on my neck. Otherwise this blade seems to perform at the same level as its "super" cousin. I have read that the difference between most blades in their normal and super versions is mainly marketing, and I tend to believe it. I'm a salesman.....I could explain how much superior the "super" is until you pay three times the price for it, but it's a lot of smoke and mirrors.

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Late post for Tuesday and plan for this afternoon!

 

March Focus- Be modern, Learn to use my Feather Artist Club razor. Any touch ups with a modern DE.

March 26th, SOTD (Shave 15 of the focus)
Two days’ growth
Prep: Hot Shower
Razor Feather Artist Club SS non-folding with Pro-Guard Blade (3rd shave on blade)
Razor Finish: Van Der Hagen/ Weishi
DE Blade: Sharp- Stropped 30 times per edge (4th single pass on blade)
Soap: The Shave Den Barber Shoppe Scent, bowl lathered
Brush: Omega Travel Boar
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block,
Aftershave: The Shave Den Iced Barber Shoppe Splash

Didn't get my shave yesterday, so I made sure to wake up early today. Did three pass with the Feather Artist Club, and a little bit of touch ups with the VDH. Ended up with three or four cuts on my chin, from bringing the razor to my face too fast after rincing. Over all, a DFS. Spots of BBS were also found. Traveling home tomorrow, and back to my normal routine. Need to figure out what next month's focus will be.

 

03/26/15
Prep – MR GLO
Razor – GEM Feather Weight
Blade – CVS GEM (1)
Brush – Rudy Vey with TGN Finest
Lather – MdC
Post - Witch Hazel, Dove AS Balm and CC Bay Rum AS



Thanks @JR Reyes for the loan of 4 GEM Razors to test drive. I stopped by CVS Pharmacy on the way home last night and picked up some blades. Placed an order for some PETE GEM blades for the upcoming shaves. I shaved with a GEM Feather Weight for this mornings shave. A very good 3 pass shave this morning. The angle was very easy to find and I was happy with the resulting shave. I did have a problem getting close enough above my lip and the point of the chin. Reached for the Mongoose to clean up those areas. I sure these areas will get better as I get used to the GEM razors.