SoS: January 27, 2014 - February 2, 2014

Too bad friend, sorry about the mug massacre.
Look at the bright side, in 24 hours you get to rectify everything. Unless you're so cut up you need a day off.

 

Hot shower
Stirlings Pink Grape fruit body soap
Homemade PSO
Stirlings Electric Sheep shave soap
Merkur 23c
Astra Blade
VDH badger brush
3 passes
BBS

Stirling's Lemon Chill WHAS

The Electric Sheep and The Lemon Chill make a great Lemony Pair

Great Day All

 

So nice I had to do it twice!

​

 

Wednesday - January 29, 2014 - Face Lather Week #3

Prep - Hot Shower and face wash then homemade PSO
Razor - Merkur 34HD
Blade - Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Platinum
Soap - Omega Crema
Brush - VDH boar
Post - cold water rinse and CC Cat of 9

CCS tonight. I was determined to get a good face lather and I did. I loaded the dryish brush for a good 30 seconds then went to a wet face and lathered for 15-20 seconds then added a few drops of water and repeated. After 2 more applications of a few drops of water, I had a thick and slick lather. The shave went very well with a full 3 passes (W, X and A) with a 4th touch up to my lower neck (X). I finished with a sample of Cat of 9 Tails because I've been cold for 2 days. My face is warm and smooth tonight. I really like the Merkur razor.

 

Gillette New LC
7 O’Clock (Blue) (d3)
Old Spice Musk SC/MWF- Face Lather
Vulfix 2235
Master Musk A/S
Old Spice Musk Cologne

 

Dove Men's Face Wash
Col. Conk Bay Rum Shave Soap
Semogue 1305 Boar Brush
'62 Gillette Slim
Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Stainless
CWR
Thayers Cucumber WH
Pinaud Clubman AS

Very nice shave today. The Semogue 1305 boar brush face lathered the Col. Conk Bay Rum for two passes and touch ups with the Gillette Slim and Gillette 7 O'clock Super Stainless blade. I got a near BBS shave with no irritation. I finished off with a cold water rinse followed by Thayers Cucumber WH and Pinaud Clubman AS. Aaah! Mighty fine shave.

 

Thursday

Prep: Hot Shower-Stirling Bath Soap
Soap: Stirling Port-au-Prince
Razor: Gillette Slim on 6
Blade: Rapira Swedish Supersteel (4)
Brush: Whipped Dog Silvertip 22mm x 48mm
Aftershave: Pino Silvestre

WTG-XTG-ATG (adjusted angle for my beard a bit)

I got to try my sample puck of Stirling Port-au-Prince today. It is the latest addition to Stirling’s Elite line: Hatian vetiver & citrus. This is a great scent. I had an excellent shave on day 4 with the Rapira Swedish SS in the Slim: smooth, close, nick free. I finished with Pino Silvestre.

Bob

 

Thursday:
L'Oreal Men Expert Facial Wash
#6 Horsehair
Super Speed/Permasharp day 4
Godrej Menthol Mist SC
Visal AS Gel
Aqua Velva Ice Blue AS
Dolce & Gabbana EdT

Not even a professional barber could have given me a better shave than this because I'm so BBS. My Super Speed always delivers on the smoothness and the comfort beautifully. The Godrej Menthol Mist lathered so richly and delivered a menthol kick which felt like liquid nitrogen on my face, and the Visal/Aqua Velva combo added their own frigid fun.

 

SOTD Jan 30

Prep: hot shower, Proraso white pre shave
Razor: WW2 Gillette Khaki
Blade: Astra SP (day 1)
Brush: Vie-Long
Soap: Proraso white tub
Passes: 2 (WTG, XTG)
Post: Proraso blue

A Proraso shave today. I'm not sure the Proraso pre shave did much, but it was a nice subtle menthol wake up before my shower.

Not the closest shave I've had, but I'm trying to ride out some lingering irritation from previous shaves.

 

Thor's Day:

Prep: Hot shower, Neutrogena Deep Clean Gentle Scrub, Crown Shaving Co. Supreme Glide Preshave lotion
Brush: Simpson 56 Best Badger
Soap: Ginger's Garden Grass Stain Menthol Snow
Razor: FaTip Piccolo Nickel
Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum (2)
Passes: WTG, XTG, ATG (3, 4, 5)
Post: Cold water splash, Dickinson's WH, Aqua Velva Ice Blue AS
Cologne: Gigember Estragone by Dr. Vranjes

Maybe it was skipping a day between shaves, maybe it was the extra step of the Neutrogena scrub, or maybe - just maybe - I'm getting the hang of proper technique with this FaTip & Bic combo. Darned near BBS results over 3 passes, with only one tiny weeper on a spot on my upper lip that's prone to them. I used a shallower angle than I had been with the razor, and changed how I was defining 'XTG' on my face (but not my throat) to mean 'from ear to nose on both sides,' as that's the way I realized the majority of the stubble mapped out.

 

1/30/2014 Face Lathering Week

Prep: Hot shower with Shea Moisture Shave Facial Wash & Scrub
Razor: Auto Strop, French fau frame back straight razor
Blade: modified GEM PTFE coated SE (3)
Brush: Vie Long Horse Hair
Soap: Vander Williams
After: Home made ASB (1/2 Witch hazel and 1/2Aloe with vitamin E)
After Shave: Aqua Velva Iced Blue

I have been meaning to try the VDH Deluxe and Williams soap combination known as Vander Williams for a while. It face lathered easily and was slick. The rest of the gear pulled together a nice performance with a DFS+ as the finish.

 

Synergy Shave
My order of synergy butter pre/post shave and Gondolier AS lotion came in yesterday, and I eagerly used them this morning.
I am not convinced that pre shave oils help, and I think my lather suffered a bit this morning - it was a bit less creamy. However, the results were excellent. This was the best shave yet with my Old Type. Two passes and some touchup let to DFS+. I did get some small weepers on my neck from the touch ups... I'll figure out the best way to shave it at some point.
I can't give all the credit to the pre shave because I also used a trusty Sharp Edge Yellow blade in my Old Type for the first time, and it was smooth. Maybe too smooth, since I did not feel the weepers, which may have led me to be a bit too cavalier with the razor.
The scent of the Coconut Bay Rum balm is strong and it lingers weakly for quite a while. I like it, but it could be too sweet for some. The skin feel is a bit greasy at first, but it dries down to buttery softness pretty quickly. The Gondolier is more subtle, and I should only use one of these at a time to get a good reading on them.
Prep: HTGAM Synergy Coconut Bay Balm
Soap: HTGAM Synergy Meta Nectar
Brush: HIS
Razor: Gillette Old Type Ball End Pocket edition
Blade: Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge Yellow
AS: HTGAM Synergy Gondolier Lotion

 

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Prep: Warm shower, Cetaphil Lotion
Razor: EJ DE89L
Blade: Gillette Yellow (2)
Cream: TOBS Baber Shop
Brush: Semogue 830
Post: Witch Hazel, Cetaphil Lotion
Aftershave: Pinaud Citrus Musk

BBS all the way! Another terrific shave. I really enjoy the scent of the Pinaud Citrus Musk. It's a scent that I really like in the summer time, but I decided to give it a try today and now I smell like summer.

Have a great day!

 

Thursday



Prep: Hot shower, face washed in Matas face wash.
Razor: 2013 Merkur 15C
Blade: Merkur Super Platinum (1)
Brush: Shaving Factory XS boar.
Lather: Arko SS grated in bowl
Shave: 3 passes adjusted for grain.
Post: Alum, cold water and Nivea for Men Sensitive ASB

Today is my shaveversary (color me crazy!) - exactly one year since I started out with traditional wet shaving. I decided to reproduce the setup from January 30th 2013. I didn't have my first ASB (thrown out, useless on me), bowl (new life in kitchen), or soap (destroyed trying to melt it...), so I picked the next stuff I got in line (Arko, steel bowl and Nivea). It came shortly after so not much cheating here

I haven't used the Merkur blade since back then. I remember it as rough, not sharp enough and generally unpleasant. I have good memory 'cause today was exactly the same! At least I didn't get any irritation or nicks, so I got that going for me, which is nice. Improved technique helped me here, because I usually got nicks and irritation back then.

Pretty good consistent DFS nevertheless

 

SOTD Thursday 1-30-2014

5/8 H. Boker "Radium", Full Hollow, Spike Point
Proraso PSC
La Toja Classic SC
GT G4 Scuttle
Omega Pro Barbershop Boar
Dickinson's Witch Hazel
Nivea Replenishing ASB
Pinaud Clubman Special Reserve ASL

 

Thursday
Face Latherers' Week
Pre: Hot shower, homemade vanilla-orange PSO
Razor: J.R. Torrey 4/8
Strop:: Whipped Dog 3"
Brush: Omega 626 Silvertip Badger
Lather: Stirling Black Ice soap
Shave: Two passes (WTG,XTG), plus some DE touch-up
Post: Cold water rinse, Alum block, Black River Bay Rum AS

After 3 consecutive days of the Ikon Slant, time to break out a straight razor. Face-lathered the anise-scented, menthol-rich 'Black Ice' stirling, which left my face tingling.
A decent straight razor shave, but my technique is still lacking, particularly around the curves of my face.
It's obvious I need to spend more time on the straights to improve my competency.
Still a DFS!
Happy Thursday, everyone!

 

01/30 Thursday

Hot shower
Neutrogena face wash
Shavemac Silvertip
RazoRock Zeus First time use, great lather thick and great glide. Scent is not overpowering. Another great soap from RazoRock.
Gillette Rocket
7am
Holy Black Trading Co Bay Whiskey Lime
Spieck
Superior DFS

 

Razor: Gem Damaskeene
Blade: Gem PTFE SS
Brush: IBLE 2012
Bowl: Dirty Bird 1.5 Scuttle
Pre Shave Soap: Musgo Real Lime Basil Oil Soap
Pre Shave Oil: Homemade Lime & Spearmint
Shave Soap: Jabonman Mountain
Post: Monster Alum Block
Aftershave: Muelhens 4711
Cologne: Muelhens 4711
​

Fantastic shave this morning using the Gem, IBLE and Jabonman. Wasn't sure what to expect with the Damaskeene as this was my 1st time using a SE and not sure what angle to use and expected some weepers but no weepers with 2 pass shave and only required a touch up around Adam's apple. IBLE I picked up from member of another forum and I can see why the 1305 is highly regarded, really like the color finish of this brush.

 

Thuraday:

Nice hot shower.
Keep hair high and tight so wash head to toe with yellow Dial. Applied Suave coconut conditioner to beard as preshave. Stood there for a while letting the steam/conditioner combo do its thing.
SHAVE:
Switched things up a bit this morning.
Soap; VDH luxery scented soap.

Brush; HIS Badger.

Mug; VDH Apothecarry (fav. for the face lather)

Razor; Gem micro matic open comb.

After Shave; Clubman.

After a blistering hot shower, used my HIS badger to work a crazy thick, nicely scented lather into my mug.
Smoothly dragged my MMOC with its aggressive personality through the foam, 4 solid passes, wtg, atg, xtg l to r, xtg r to l.
Rinsed with a steamy dripping all cotton rag followed by a refreshing cold splash. Finished out with an old time fav. Pinaud Clubman. Left with a nick free, DFS smooth & soft . I tried to make this mornings ritual take a little longer than usual but was complete entirely too soon. Gonna have a good day and wish the same to everybody.

 

R41 Bulldog
Perma-Sharp Super
Semogue 1800
Arko SS
Alum
Superior 70

A nice shave this morning.