May 2015 30 Day Rule/Focus Pic-Discussion Thread

Thanks, Charlie! Careful, before you know it, you'll soon be closing in on 'old geezer-ville'....

 

May 14

MdC facial soap
Weber PH
Feather blade (day 1)
Rudy Vey Shavemac two-band silvertip
Le Père Lucien shave soap
One pass plus touch-ups
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel and unrefined shea butter

This was my first shave with the LPL. I ran out of lather after the first pass and called it a day. I'm sure it was due to operator error, so I'll try again tomorrow!

Stay sharp!

 

Older than I'd like to admit. LOL I was quite a bit younger when I grew it the last time. I actually grew my first goatee in 1997. I had always had a moustache since I as around 21 or so, then did the full beard in 1994. Shaved it off in '95, then a goatee in '97. Shaved it due to work later that same year, grew it back a couple of years later, kept it through 2001 then work required it off again. Grew it for the next restaurant I managed, shaved it again when I changed restaurants.....for 3 months until they changed the rule. Haven't shaved it off in 11 years. Yeah, I know, a lot more history than anyone needed or wanted. LOL

 

Thought I'd wrap up MAYhem with a summary and a look ahead to Mercy still to go.

Shaving with a bad setup and blades is interesting, challenging, and maddening. I can honestly say that the blades/razors weren't the worst part of the experience...it was the soap that bothered me most. I know that some are fond of Williams and can get a good lather. I, however, am not one of those. I was finally able to get a serviceable lather and finished by rubbing the puck on my face and lathering like using an Arko stick. That did produce the best "lather" but it still smelled the same and I am NOT a fan of that smell. Did it provide slickness? Yes. Was it at least minimally effective in its purpose? Yes. But I came to dread lathering by the time I reached the end. Can't wait to dive into some better soaps.

The Soyuz 1 is a nice piece of Soviet razor history even if it doesn't have an official name. It is necessary to watch how the blade loads to ensure it's at least sort of straight. Properly loaded it isn't terrible. Just not good either. At some point before the month ends I'm going to load a great blade in it and see what happens. The Rapira is a nice piece of Russian made cheap stuff. It's actually aggressive but maybe a bit too aggressive at times. Paired with the dullest of the dull blades, though, it was able to achieve better results......even though the "better" part was minimal in most cases.

The Tweezerman brush, well it's a cheap badger like the Escali and I think another week of solid use would destroy it. Lots of shedding and uneven patches. It can serve the purpose, though, if necessary.

As for the blades...I could achieve at least CCS with the Zaza, 7 a.m., and Sharp. The Sharp surprised me as I had considered it one of the worst by reviews. No such luck for the Baili Super Blue and Flying Eagle, both Chinese blades. Run away from both, especially the Flying Eagle. The Flying Eagle is a carbon blade, by the way, and when I cleaned the razor tonight already had rust spots on the edge. I had dried it after use this morning and kept it out of the bathroom for the day. I have no faith in that blade being able to do anything other than fail.

Final ranking of blades from bad to horrible (since I can't rate any of them good):

1. Zaza (Turkey)
2. 7 a.m. (Bangladesh)
3. Sharp (Bangladesh)
4. Baili Super Blue (China)
5. Flying Eagle (China)

I'll rank them again after Mercy for a final order, though I doubt it will change much.

Now....on to Mercy in the morning. A bit of a change in plan as I want to be consistent but not spend unnecessary time with a terrible blade. I'll be using my Edwin Jagger DE89l as the main razor. This is the razor I trialed blades with in February and it produces consistent results. It's fairly mild and a great performer. If I need to check a result I'll go to either my '46 Aristocrat or the RazoRock TTO. The 'Crat is a bit more aggressive than the EJ and the RR is more aggressive still without getting crazy about it. I'll use my Omega Pro 48 with Arko and/or Proraso. Both soaps work equally as well for me and lather very well too. My plan is to do the first shave on the blade in the EJ razor and if it passes with a CCS or better I'll call it good and move to the next razor on the next day. If it fails or is close I'll do it a second day with a more aggressive razor. This phase, then, may not take all 15 days but I have some fill in shaves planned anyway.

Thanks for watching MAYhem. I can honestly say I am hoping Mercy is a lot better. I did, however, prove that technique trumps tools as long as the products weren't defective. In the case of the Baili and Flying Eagle.....DEFECTIVE blades. Just for the record when I pulled the Flying Eagle out of the razor tonight to clean it I found I can actually run my finger over the blade's edge without cutting myself. I didn't apply a lot of pressure but enough that any decently sharp blade would have cut me. No worries with the Flying Eagle. It just has no cutting ability I have found yet.

Thanks for following along this far and for all the words of encouragement. It can't get any worse, so here we go!

 

Wednesday and Thursday shaves were the Personna Red (Istraeli) again, shaves 4 and 5 on this blade. I got two super nights, with DFS to BBS shaves again. This is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. (No wonder it is in the Top Ten pack from Try a Blade. I'll use it again tomorrow, and maybe Saturday, to see if I can get a full seven days on one blade!

 

Thank you!

 

Blade Focus Day 15:

Homemade PS Oil
WD High Mountain Badger 30 mm
Razorock Don Donato
EJ Chatsworth Barley
Bluebird blade
Stirling Unscented PSB
Aqua Velva AS

OK, I do like these Bluebird blades. Today was day 4, and the shave was great. I chased the baby a bit more than usual and got good results with no irritation. These are added to the list of future purchases.

 

May 15th , SOTD (Shave 8 of this focus)
Two days’ growth
Prep: Hot Shower
Razor: Dubl Duck Satin Wedge 5/8 Spike point
Strop: Chromexcel Horsehide and Linen 20/40 laps
Soap: Barrister & Mann's Bay Fireside (Brandy scented)
Brush: Vie Long Horse
Post Shave: Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block, Thayer’s Witch Hazel
Aftershave: The Holy Black Whisker Whiskey, Gunpowder Spice

Today I learned the difference between a muted square point razor and an unmuted square or spike point razor. My other two razors have muted points. This one does not. It can bite. This is a new to me razor, and my first non-English one, along with first non-hollow ground. It is not silent, but it sounds different than my two hollow grounds, both stropping and shaving.

I did two passes, N/S and S/N plus some clean up on the neck and chin. I think I realized today for my chin, two passes won’t do it. I had to throw an XTG in there, and do the S/N as part of my clean up with the spots on my neck. Got two bleeders on my neck from the spike, but overall it was a DFS, with no training wheels, Straight Razor only. Little bit of bite with the alum, and the Holy Black aftershave felt and smells great.

 

I decided that today would be the make or break day with this soap/badger combo. I went back to a direct load on the well shaken brush for about 10 seconds and then face lathered. It worked. Sometimes I think I over think about lather and struggle. Face lathering has never let me down. This croap provided a slick yogurty lather sufficient for my needs today. And the "floppy" brush was just right for swirling and painting.

 

MAYhem & Mercy
May 15, 2015
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Arko
Razor - Edwin Jagger DE89l
Blade - (1)

Day one of the mercy phase. Great to feel boar on my face with a nice Arko lather. I spent extra time whipping it up just because I can! The DE89l is the razor I have normally used to trial blades so I loaded a fresh Zaza up and went to work. Definitely a bit dull and draggy much like with the Soviet razors. With the good razor, though, I felt the blade a bit more as there was nothing interfering with it. Perfect alignment makes a difference. Going to call it a CCS, maybe a near DFS. I'd say it's about the same result as the Soyuz produced but with less alum feedback. I am going to switch to the RazoRock TTO tomorrow with the blade and see if that helps or hinders, but it does at least produce something you can live with.

 

@Drygulch , @Seabs and @txskimo . I have really enjoyed following your progress this months as you work on SR shaving. @HolyRollah I have learned a lot this month by reading your advise and wisdom on SR shaving. This sort of support and learning opportunity is what makes this place special.

 

05/15/2015
Razor – Mongoose B2 with Jürgen Hempel Ti
Blade – Feather Super Pro (3)
Brush – Shavemac Silvertip D01
Lather – MdC
Post - Witch Hazel and Myrsol Balsamica Sample



Fantastic near BBS 2 pass shave this morning. The Super Pro blade is starting to smooth out after a couple of uses. As usual the MdC was a pleasure to use providing a slick lather. Not as slick as some of the my nicer tallow based soap but more than slick enough. Finished up with witch hazel and Myrsol Balsamica from my sample pack. The scent paired well with the MdC. Happy Friday.

 

Excellent on the SR solo shave! Yeah, those spike points can certainly 'remind' you if you're not careful. Effective 'training' tools…..

 

Day#14 of the 30-Day Focus
..and FINAL DAY with the Otto Deutsch Straight Razor.

Seventh and closing day of using this fine Otto Deutsch 'Hans' razor, and it has provided seven excellent shaves! No blood, no rash, no tugging—just a smooth shaving experience everyday! Another 'keeper' and permanent fixture in my razor rotation. The past two razors have been 'square point' designs—more muted than a spike point—although the terms seem to be used interchangeably at times. Muted square points are considerably safer then many spikes as Adam ( @Drygulch ) discovered above in post#408. My preference is for those 'kinder, gentler' square razors points as I'm more able to relax and enjoy the shave and not be hyper-attentive of a painfully-sharp tip and still get in those 'tight spaces' to trim. The next razor in my 30-day/7-day test will be a round point—the only round point razor I'll be using this month.


A sharp-tipped Spike point…..

 

Thursday 5/14, Day 1 of 3 using blade 7 a. m.

It is OK. It feels smoother than the Shark. All the same procedure except for the blade. I am skipping Friday, all our family has been able to skip a day or two.

 

Today was haircut and barbershop shave. I've noticed that my barber can't give me a bbs with his two pass WTG/XTG shave. It's a DFS for sure, but I expect a much tighter results. Randy at American Barbershop in Folsom, CA gives a great haircut and shave at a reasonable price. Cleaned up my newly formed goatee quite nicely. Since the shave wasn't a close as normal, I'll get to shave tomorrow night with MY razor and chase the bbs. One a side note, I received my first TOBS cream - excited to use it. The question is - how nice is it?

Not me - just a photo of the master barber and shop...
Cheers!
Eric

 

Omega!

What type of bristles yield best results with MdC?

 

30 Day Rule with a Schick!

Day 15 (4 on blade 2)



Day four on this blade delivered an easy shave...automatic 2 Pass smoothness! I really appreciate the SR guys this month...the skin stretch technique really makes the Schick shave like a champ! I have spent the afternoon under tornado warnings...but luckily they are all moving away from my home on the range. Gonna spend the evening at home watching NBA and relaxing after a long week!

Have a great Friday night!
​

 

Brush Focus: Day 15/30
Brush: WDC-2 High Mountain Badger, (Whipped Dog knot). 22/65
Gillette Super Speed, Red Tip (1955- A-3)
Gillette Platinum Blade (1)
Bowl: KO Shave
Soap: Jack's Soap
AS: RE9 Post Shave Balm
Old Spice Coffee Mug.(soak brush)

So far this is my favorite brush. This is good as it was my grandfather's which makes even more special. This brush loads a ton of lather and with adding a few drops of water along the way makes an easy three passes. No clean up required. I am narrowing down my brush for the next 2 week to only the one I like. I'll use them for more than one day.

 

Inquiring minds want to know!