NO-Variation NOVember - one razor, one brush, one setup, one month. Can you do it?

I'm still in! It's not as hard a temptation for me since I don't have drawers full of other razors, soaps, and brushes yet. Dec 1 I'll plan to try out something new (superspeed) but until then it's all the same...

 

Since I can't change this month, I'm using my girlfriend's leg shaving as an R&D department. She just tried my VDH Deluxe melted into a mug with some added 100% aloe vera gel from Trader's Joe's with exceptionally awesome success with a 1970 Black Beauty w/ Astra SP on 6.

 

Maybe a soap case. With something inside to protect it? Like a washcloth. If you're checking a bag, that is. I wouldn't try carrying it on.

This is one of those times it would be good to have some Sugru on hand. You could mold a custom head cover to protect the blade.

Still going strong on day 12 of my NO-Variation NOVember setup. The #6 brush seems softer... I am wondering if it has broken in after 12 days of continuous service. The Arko Stick is only about 1/8 gone... I worried that I would go through it faster but a little seems to go a long ways.

As for the Merkur 34C, I feel like I have it dialed in now and have figured out the angle and how to navigate around my ear and the back of my head (problem areas for me) without nicking myself.

I do have to say that boredom is starting to kick in... The temptation to change something is very strong. But I'm resisting. So far.



Side note: I first started shaving my head in July, after years of the male-pattern baldness "fringe". I decided I would rather by "bald by choice" and own it rather than looking like my dad and having baldness imposed on me. And as part of my NOVember routine, I am using Proraso aftershave which has menthol. Let me just say that today is the first sub-30-degree morning I've experienced with no hair and a fresh shave. And I am COLD. ️️

 

Face it, you just like watching her. LOL

 

Well, she has been watching me do it on her, so the first time she did it, she did an exceptional job. It also started to basically repair her legs, like it does our faces. Saves me a ton of money, haha. She made the commitment to traditional wetshaving and now we look up supplies online and reviews and DIY stuff, and enjoy it together. She has also given her best friend the rest of her canned goo pack from Costco.

 

Another prize is improving and refining your technique.

12 November Shave
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Still in it... No Variation November rolls on!

Trying a 24 hour interval shave later today. Still trying to figure out optimal interval for my shaving.
Have a Happy Wednesday!

 

Thursday's Planned Line Up

 

November 13th Shave

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OK, we have an equipment "casualty". I was cleaning up after my shave this morning, in a hurry, and my one, and only, shave bowl, my Pfaltzgraff-WalMart special, dropped into the tile floor and shattered rather spectacularly. New setup pics will follow.

 

Oops! The challenge did not state shaving bowls so you are still good as long as you get another one.

 

For the rules committee :

If I were to add a moisturizing step under the SkinBracer, and still maintain everything else constant, do I fail here because of variation?

 

Brilliant approach! I'm gonna try it out with my wife. I'll let you know how it works out!

 

Sorry about that. Now is your chance to go straight to the face. Try it. You may like it.
This video looks at palm, bowl, and face lathering. It is pretty good.

 

Face lathering is neat. I have tried it on the advice of @Jayaruh

He converted me to cool water, which I have adopted. Sorry about the bowl!

 

Thanks for the info! Maybe I will try the face lather our palm lather method.

Funny you should mention cold water. I recently read through an old book online, "Shaving Made Easy" from early in the last century. It specifically speaks about preparing your beard and says, "Now in [its] natural oily condition, it is very difficult to cut the hair with a razor, and it becomes even more difficult if the beard be made still softer by the application of hot water.". It talks about using only child water and describes that the purpose of the cold water and the soap is to harden and stiffen your beard making it easier to cut. Man this is different than I ever thought.

When talking about safety razors they also say, "...most safety razors are difficult to keep clean and dry, and therefore free from rust; and owing to the difficulty of stropping them, it is almost, if not quite impossible to keep them sharp. It is also difficult to make the correct stroke with them. Probably a hundred thousand safety razors have been sold in the United States within the past few years and it is extremely doubtful if ten per cent. of them are now in use."

Funny stuff!

 

That's pretty crazy when you consider that they were trying to convert people from using straights to DEs and SEs in order to create a market for a disposable product.

 

Here's what it says about safety razors. "...in general, if a man uses one he is less likely to cut himself, but this is all that can reasonably be said in their favor."

It's obvious this book was written when the "ordinary razor" (as the book calls it) was a straight razor.

 

And now we're going backwards. We went to cartridges, realized how horrible they were, and are going back to safety and straight razors.

 

Yep, I've already started looking for a sharp rock!