SoS: April 1, 2013 - April 7, 2013

Best of luck, mate!

 

Thursday morning.

Axe Chilled face wash
Shave Secret
Van Der Hagen Soap/Barbasol Arctic Chiller
Van Der Hagen Boar Brush
Astra Superior Stainless blade (1)
Edwin Jagger DE89L
Witch Hazel
Pinaud Clubman Special Reserve

For an amazing BBS!

I love my Edwin Jagger DE89L razor. It lets me go south to north past my chin. I can buff lightly and the stubble goes away effortlessly, with no burn when the angle is true. I didn’t want to return to the Feather so I took my sampler pack of blades and found the Astra Superior Stainless (blue). Wow, the blade acts like the Astra Super Platinum (green). It is so sharp and smooth and provides comfort till the end of the shave.

Today I again have to give credit to Shave Secret oil. This stuff continually amazes me. When I don’t use it, I notice a difference, especially during ATG buffing. I like it better than my other favorite Prosaso Pre-Shave cream in terms of performance. I lathered with my boar brush and Van Der Hagen puck, and supplemented this with Barbasol Arctic Chiller. This alchemy made a luscious lather that lasted. I realized my problem yesterday was my lather, not the blade. I have to remember not to underestimate the lather, it is most essential and I was not appreciating the importance of a good lather. When the lather is good, I can even go across my old acne scar without problems!

I did the traditional three pass. My routine is now going N to S, S to N, and against the grain E to W from my right ear to my left on the third pass, somewhat diagonally when needed. Then I touch-up the usual areas of left over stubble on the neck, chin and cheeks. I buff diagonal ATG, across the grain S to N, I pretend I’m just shaving the cream off the top. ATG buffing is getting better as I practice and hone my technique.


Aces!

 

Wednesday!

• Prep: hot washing cloth
• Music: Nits, Urk
• Brush: Travel King boar
• Soap: Tabac stick
• Razor: Valet Autostrop
• Blade: NOS Valet Autostrop (#1) - There's two more blades for grabs over here!)
• Shave: 3-pass + touch-up
• Post: hot water rinse, cold water rinse, hand strop blade, DVH alum

Absolutely great shave, close to BBS. I love the Valet! Always great shaves!

--------------------

Thursday!

• Prep: hot washing cloth
• Music: Vangelis, Odyssey
• Brush: DVH boar
• Soap: Sara-S's Mint
• Razor: Star 1912
• Blade: GEM stainless
• Shave: 3-pass + touch-up
• Post: hot water rinse, cold water rinse, hand strop blade & reload upside down, DVH alum

Great BBS shave!

 

What a great analogy, this would have saved me some nicks a couple of months ago.

 

Awesome BBS shave today!
hot shower
arko stick
1970 Gillette Black Beauty
SuperMax Super Platinum blade (3)
cold water rinse
Axe chilling AS gel
Clubman Vanilla AS w/added menthol crystals

 

Prep: Proraso White
Soap: Proraso White
Brush: NF Tubby 1
Razor: UFO U2/New long comb

Forgot how much I love this soap, should have made it a bit wetter though I think. I love this new razor head but struggling for the correct angle, especially ATG and XTG. Any tips?

 

Prep: Hot shower, Axe Cooling Face Wash, Billy Jealousy Sucker Punch face scrub.
Brush: TGN Grade A.
Razor: '70 Gillette Aluminum Tech. (made in England.)
Blade: Personna Med Prep.
Cream: Lider (first time use.)
Post: Cold water rinse, Thayer's WH Lavender, Axe Cooling AS Gel.

Today's shave was pretty good. I still have some bumps left over from when I used my Gem 1912, but that will heal soon... I hope. I forgot how light the aluminum Tech is. It just flew across my face. My advice for using a light super mild razor like this is: use a super sharp blade. Since it's so mild, I paired with the sharpest blade in my inventory, the Personna Med Prep. It's the same blade as the Personna Lab, except it gets some extra sterilization.

The Lider cream is pretty amazing. I'll post a review on that in a few.

 

Friday, 5th April

Pre: Ach. Brito GLYCE Lima
Soap: Arko stick
Brush: Parker deluxe pure badger
Razor: Fatip Grande
Blade: Gillette 7 o'clock (black)
Post: Alum, witch hazel
Aftershave: Black Suede
Hair tonic: Pashana eau de Quinine with oil

 

Here you go: http://www.ebay.com/itm/GIORGIO-BEV...ITH-COLLAGEN-4-OZ-/160852759450#ht_3492wt_932

How much is it worth to you...??

I kid. Actually, though much smaller this is much better:

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/giorgio...s-balm-mini/216037535.html?listingId=88185762

 

Thursday of SE week

Cerve unscented cleanser
Mystic Waters unscented soap
HIS synthetic brush
Schick injector with Schick blade
Cerve unscented lotion

Excellent 3 pass shave! The MW soap gave a great slick lather, and the Schick was smooth and irritation free.

I ordered some Personna injector blades. Eager to see how they compare.

 

Another day, another shave
4/8 Rebell from herzi
Vie-Long horsehair brush
Ceramic powl
Cleven SC
Cold water splash
Tet-a-tet ASB
Really like that little Rebell! Very maneuverable and sharp blade. Nice shave - a solid DFS+!

 

SOTD Thursday 4/4:

Hot shower
TSD ISZ pre balm
Neutrogena Naturals facial soap
AOS pure badger
TSD Iced Barber Shoppe Lanolin SS
Merkur 34C HD
Super-max Platinum
4 passes
Cold water splash
Nivea Sensitive ASB with added menthol crystals

Awesome shave, very chilling

And before this i showed three of my younger friends how to wet shave. I PIFed my Gillette SS and a pack of super-max plats to the oldest, he is about 21, and he is going to pick up a VDH deluxe shaving kit to start. I showed him how to shave and he had the best shave of his life Another convert.

 

Friday:

Axe Chilled Facial Wash
#6 Horsehair
Super Speed/Rapira day 5
New Proraso Green SC
444 AS Balsam
Alt Innsbruck AS
Azzaro Pour Homme Deo Stick
Azzaro Pour Homme EDT

My handsome face (just kidding!) is so BBS after this great shave that even a professional barber couldn't have done it better. I LOVE the new version of Proraso Green cream so much - it's so easy to lather it up, the menthol is stronger, and the skincare is so good. The 444/Alt Innsbruck duo is really frigid.

Have a nice weekend, my friends!

 

CJB
KMF Lavender
23mm WSP HMW

Interesting shave this morning. It wasn't bloodless but if your stupid it's only fair you pay a price. I found it awkward shaving off handed with this type of handle. None the less, I had a close, smooth shave minus one small nick by my left sideburn area. I found out there are a few things that I can get away with a regular straight that I can't with this razor. Lesson learned. This is a pretty small razor, almost toy like. I look forward to a few more shaves with it.

windows 7 screen shot

 

Nice shave this morning to end the work week...

Proraso Preshave
TSD Iced Pink Grapefruit cream
WD Silvertip
'58 Gillette tv special w/ Feather blade
WH
Aqua Velva

 

Friday morning

MicroMatic OC with Gem CS blade (2)
Body Shop Maca Root SC
TGN 22mm Super Silvertip
3 pass shave
Master's Bay Rum

The MicroMatic did a fine job

 

Friday 05-04-2013

Razor: Slim '64 @ 4
Blade: Polsilver SI (2)
Brush: Omega 10077
Cream: Lord Emofresh
AS: Brut

 

Thursday evening (my 2nd DE shave... I'm very comfortable and got a great smooth and refreshing before bed shave):

Razor: Merkur 23C
Blade: Wilkinson Sword
Brush: AoS badger (starter)
Soap: thehomebody Rich Lather Soap, Montego Bay Scent
Pre Oil: Anthony Logistics for men
AS: Anthonly Logistics for men

 

I'm sure I'll want to use some different aftershaves soon, but if I must... I have coupled it with some col conk bay rum soap. Boar really does well to break up these "hard " soaps and make a nice lather. I hope you all have a great weekend!

 

Friday morning, April 5, 2013

Schick E2 Injector with Personna blade (4)
Semogue 1250 boar bristle brush,
C O Bigelow shave cream with hot water lather,
finish with cold water rinse for a DFS!