No Variation November - A TSD Challenge

Well - gotta work today and tomorrow, but the the weekend might still turn out to be good

 

Tony Esposito (Blackhawks) and I think Gerry Cheevers (Bruins).

Great display.
Your mask?

 

November 6, 2015

No Variation NoVember
This No Variation month is perfect for me to learn skills with new-to-me equipment.



Razor: Mongoose B3
Blades: Feather Artist Club Professional (5 and 6)
Soap: Saponificio Varesino Manna
Brush: Omega 31025 Scarlatti Boar
AS: Changes at will. Today: Myrsol Blue

Reporting on my Thursday and Friday shaves. My first week with this razor/blade resulted in a week of excellent shaves.

The razor/blade is a great shaving combination, which I think can provide BBS shaves on a regular basis. The shaving angle is easily found, however, care is needed with each shave. After two or three shaves I began to think this was a foolproof razor. It is not. This is not a shave to be rushed, nor do I think one can master it after a few shaves.

I began to lose focus during my shaves later in the week while rushing to work. I quickly realized that while some hardware is forgiving - this combo is not one of them. I had more weepers / nicks in my latter shaves this week than in my initial ones - due primarily to losing focus.

In addition to patience and focus, lather is very important too. Through the advise of others and this week of initial shaves, I’ve learned that cushion and slickness is critical with this razor as well.

Learning a new soap and brush on it’s own is one thing, but going from face-lathering to bowl-lathering as well - was a bit more than I should have taken on. The cold and damp Seattle weather has begun, so I thought I should break out my new scuttle and bowl-lather...even though I had never really bowl-lathered before - WRONG!

In my second week I will go back to face-lathering and develop a technique with this soap and brush to give me the lather required for this razor. I’ll put the scuttle on the side for now.

I really like every one of the four core elements of this week’s shave. I just have to get them all working together to get the best that they can deliver.

Cheers!
RT

 

Uh-oh....looks like Mongoose Season is 'In' around Seattle these days and Rufus has bagged a Live One!

You know Ru....you can always whip up a form of Uberlather....Fire up that scuttle and apply the stick to your face first and then load your brush from the scuttle and hit your loaded face with that......should provided Mt Ranier style lather of epic proportions...

 

Thanks, Ive got a bit of a goalie shrine going on (authographed photos, Mcfarlane figures, masks) for Esposito, Cheevers and Bernie Parent (not shown....yet)

 

Nope, Tony Esposito. I do have a Stan Makita figurine as well and his autographed photo which hangs in my office.

 

Saturday's


Dove Men Face Wash
Tabac Shaving Soap
Jayaruh #27 Silver Tip
Gillette Super Adjustable (8)
Astra Super Platinum
CWR, Asma Alum Block
Thayers Lemon WH
Aqua Velva AS
​

The Tabac Shaving Soap face-lathered well with my Jayaruh #27 Silver Tip brush. Two passes with my Gillette Super Adjustable razor on 8 and an Astra Super Platinum blade gave me a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, alum block, and a final cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayers Lemon WH and then Aqua Velva after shave. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

Seventh shave of No Variation NoVember.
​

 

Really enjoying this Progress Razor I only had it for 3 shaves before the November focus. I have not adjusted the dial to much 3 seems to get me great results with 3 passes every other day this morning's was no exception. Tomorrow I'll try a two pass 0n 4.

 

So this morning was a step backwards. Had the Progress at setting 3 and had a good amount of burn on the right side of the neck.
For the face I go WTG, the XTG E/W then XTG W/E. No issues.
On the neck I usually go WTG, ATG then ATG adjusting angles for growth.
For what ever reason I went straight to ATG on the neck skipping the WTG pass.....not a good result.
It was the 4th shave with the Astra SP....not sure if that was part of the issue but will use a new blade tomorrow.
Finished the shave with Myrsol Blue sample.

 

Day 7 - No Variation November!

7 November 2015


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Planned day seven shave will be later today! I hope everyone has a great afternoon! Finishing up the days worth in preparation for the FBS National Championship tonight on CBS at 8 Eastern time. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado!

Have a great weekend!


Roll Tide, Roll!!!​

 

Decided to concentrate on building lather better today. What a difference!
3 passes wtg, xtg and atg. The alum had almost no sting what so ever tonight.
Paid close attention to pressure and angle, but just relaxed while doing it.
So I have to say, I believe I got a dfs tonight! Darn close to a BBS.
Shave 4
Merkur 39c
Wsp formula T
Personna Israeli red
Wsp black badger
Alum
Cc bay rum

 

shave 5
So tonight was the second day in a row to shave. I only did 2 passes XTG ATG with my usual touch up under my jaw. On my touch up i tried a light buffing but with the razor turned at a slight angle to achieve the gillette slide type of stroke. This worked pretty well. I ended up with a nice CCS ++

These single edge blades are something else. 5 shaves on this blade so far and no signs of tugging.
I believe I am getting the angle down on my ER1912 as tonight that sucker was singing on both sides of my face. I was also trying to be aware of very light grip on the razor. I find this helps my no pressure shaving. So the extra light grip may be contributing to the singing of the razor.

5 straight shaves with zero blood nothing. Pretty amazing for me.
Finished off with VIBR AS. Man that stuff is nice. Also a bonus the wife likes it too.

Tomorrow another 2 pass shave is planned

Tom

 

​

Sunday's ​

Dove Men Face Wash
Tabac Shaving Soap
Jayaruh #27 Silver Tip
Gillette Super Adjustable (8)
Astra Super Platinum
CWR, Asma Alum Block
Thayers Lemon WH
Aqua Velva AS​

The Tabac Shaving Soap face-lathered well with my Jayaruh #27 Silver Tip brush. Two passes with my Gillette Super Adjustable razor on 8 and an Astra Super Platinum blade gave me a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, alum block, and a final cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayers Lemon WH and then Aqua Velva after shave. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

Eighth shave of No Variation NoVember.
​

 

So yesterday I had some good burn on the right side of the neck. Only variation was I went ATG instead of WTG on first pass on the neck and was using the Astra SP for the forth shave.
Today I had a new blade and went WTG on the neck on first pass. Bingo. No burn. All is good in my shave world.

 

Moved the dial on the Progress from 3 to 4. Since I shaved yesterday and did 3 passes I tried a two pass. Went XTG and ATG. Got same great results I've been getting doing 3 passes. Alum stung a bit but not bad. If I had to do it over again I would change to a fresh blade and leave it on 3. It was the 4th shave with the same blade.

 

Day 8 - No Variation

Its a laid back day for me, so decided on a late afternoon shave. I decided before shaving that I was going with a one pass, no touch up shave to see how good of a job I could do knowing I had only one shot at it....all in all not bad.

 

Shave 5
I normally shave every other day, but with the great shave last night, I just couldn't wait to try and duplicate it.
Merkur 39c
New personna Israeli red
Wsp formula t barbershop
Alum
Cc bay rum
Wsp black badger
Tried without the shower since I just showered 3 hours ago but didn't have time for a shave then.
Gave my face a good warm water wash with some glycerin soap, many cold water rinses and got to work on the lather.
3 passes wtg,xtg and agt.
Pretty descent shave. I got a slight bit of zing from the alum, more than last night. Could be not enough hydration or a new blade, I'll figure that out later I guess. Got a nice warmth from the bay rum, again a little warmer than last night. It doesn't seem all that irritated though.
Hopefully tomorrow there will be no bumps. This morning told the tale from last night, no red bumps anywhere!! I believe last night was the best shave I ever gave myself.
Practice, practice, practice...

 

Shave 6

Today was the 3rd straight day of shaving.Did only a 2 pass shave XTG ATG with touch ups. I found the live span of this blade. 5 good shaves. This time around started to get some light tugging on my ATG pass. nothing bad but time to replace the blade. Was a CCS shave today. No complaints I will chalk this up to dulling blade. Made another great lather today.

Finished with a cold rinse and Aqua Velva classic . There was some very slight irritation under the jaw. Again I believe it is a dull blade.

My face so far seems to be handling daily shaves. That is good more time on the irons.

Tom

 

Shave 5 and I have a new mantra..."Ride the cap"

Did one pass WTG and XTG -》then XTG 《-
Kept repeating my mantra and am very satisfied with how everything came together today. The alum told me I might have over done it a bit but any redness was gone within the hour.

Today I was closer to a DFS than I have been since I started on this journey.

Phoenix DOC
Astra SP
Soap Commander Vision
Nivea sensitive skin after shave

 

I've had a busy weekend and didn't get a chance to post yesterday. I did shave both days with my Feather AC. Yesterday was day seven on a Professional blade and I still got a nice DFS two pass shave with it.
Today I had an early morning appointment and had to shave in a hurry. I was a little nervous about using this razor in a rush. I loaded a fresh blade in it and decided to do one thorough pass instead of two rushed passes. I got a surprisingly good single pass shave with no irritation or blood. I wouldn't quite call it DFS but it was a more than acceptable shave that still looks pretty good 13 hours later. I'm starting to like this razor and have actually started to look at traditional straights. Yes, I'm toying with the dark side.
SOTD
TOBS Grapefruit
Rubberset 400
Feather AC SS
Feather Professional (1)
Old Spice AS