SoS: March 17, 2014 - March 23, 2014

Shavette
Half of an Astra SP (1)
HJM badger brush
Speick SC with a drop of peppermint esential oil
Alum
Old Spice original


Lavender and peppermint are a surprisingly nice combination of scents, they work together great, and smell not at all like your grandpa
The Lather was, as always with Speick , fantastic .
The shave took a little longer than usual , I haven't done 3 passes with a shavette in a long time. And the conclusion is that I should devote more time to my shavette and my shaves. It tool a little longer but it was a blessing from the shave gods. Smooth and refreshing and resulting in a irritation free BBS

 

SOTD March 22 -- Blade safari day 47

Prep: hot towel
Razor: WW2 Gillette Khaki with ball end handle
Blade: Perma-Sharp (day 3)
Brush: Vie-Long
Soap: Proraso Green
Passes: 2 (WTG, XTG)
Post: alum, 444
My hot towel shave seem to be hit or miss, today was a hit. I did have some water ration issues with the Proraso green, but was able to correct it and get a great lather. My bowel was soaking in hot'ish water so the lather was nice and warm for the first pass anyways. It had cooled down by the time I got to my second pass.
No nicks or weepers today, but some slight irritation when rinsing my face before alum. The alum didn't seem to find any sensitive spots and the 444 finish provided a nice chill.

 

Saturday

Prep: CeraVe facial cleanser
Soap: Mystic Water unscented
Brush: Plisson synthetic
Razor: iKon ShaveCraft 101
Blade: Astra SP
After: Cold rinse, CeraVe lotion

I am taking a tour of my unscented soaps this week, using exactly the same hardware everyday.

Sunday: Tiki Bar unscented soap
Monday: Mike's Natural unscented soap
Tuesday: Mike's Natural unscented soap
Wednesday: HTGAM Synergy unscented soap
Thursday: Petal Pusher Fancies "Scentsless soap
Friday: Barrister & Mann unscented soap
Saturday: Mystic Water unscented soap

Excellent shave. The MW soap performs well.

Physical Description:

Mystic Water: off-white color, pliable tallow-based soap. The smell of this unscented soap is one of my less favored: it has a slight chemical harshness that I don't like. Maybe it picked up a smell when it was being made. Another artisan soap maker explained to me that making a product that is truly fragrance free was difficult around other fragrances. The maker of MW doesn't offer a fragrance free option anymore.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Razor: Mergress XL (S4)
Blade: Gillette Bleue Extra (D10)
Brush: Israeli Olivewood w 26mm HMB
Bowl: Dirty Bird 1.5 Scuttle
Pre Shave Soap: MRGLO Lime
Pre Shave Oil: Homemade Iced Mojito
Shave Soap: HTGAM Bay Rum
Post: Monster Alum Block
Aftershave: Captain’s Choice



​

 

A great match
Stirling Bay Rum soap and Krampert's Finest Bay Rum may have been separated at birth. They are twins. They complement each other perfectly. If you like to scent match, look no further. The Stirling has a strong scent that lingers after rinse and mixes with Krampert's is the best possible way.
Now, I've used better performing soaps, but none with a stronger scent - I think the cinnamon comes to the fore and could easily be a room freshener. My shave was smooth and close. I think Synergy soaps leave my skin feeling better, but Stirling is solid.

Prep: warm shower
Soap: Stirling Bay Rum
Brush: HIS
Razor: iKon ShaveCraft 101
Blade: PolSilver SI (3)
AS: Krampert's Finest Bay Rum

 

3/22/2014 Soap Week

Prep: Hot shower with L'Oreal Men Expert Facial Wash, home made PSO
Razor: PAL Adjustable , Wade and Butcher Bow straight razor
Blade: Personna Super Stainless injector (3)
Brush: VDH Boar
Soap: La Toja
After: Home made ASB
After Shave: Grey Flannel after shave balm
Cologne: Grey Flannel Eau De Cologne

A nice 2 pass Darn Fine Shave this morning.

Have a blessed day!

 

Saturday Morning Shave
Razor: Edwin Jagger DE8911
Blade: Rapira (4)
Brush: Isana Men Badger
Soap: Proraso Green
AS: Barbasol Pacific Rush

I thought Proraso's got much menthol than I can bare, but it turned out that I'm wrong. My chilly shave with Proraso and afterwards Barbasol's cooling effect made me happy. Now I changed my mind, I'll keep Proraso on rotation. I had a great, close shave this morning.

 

Nice pic. Welcome to SOTD.

 

SATURDAY
Late morning shave (lazy Saturdays—love 'em!).
A very leisurely-executed shave this morning (about 45 minutes), but three complete passes with good thorough prep & finish.
A darn near BBS with a straight—something rare for a relative straight razor novice as I!

 

3/22/14

Prep: Hot shower and face wash with Stirling Barbershop
Lather: hobbyist made softish soap - Garage Scent
Brush: Stirling badger
Razor: Merkur 34D
Blade: Wilkinson Sword (2)
Post: Cold rinse and Captain's Choice Bay Rum

Not a close shave today. Somehow, I lost my angle. I think it was because I shaved wearing contact lenses and apparently can't really see at that distance. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

 

SOTD
3/22/14

Prep: Hot shower. Nivea face menthol face wash
Razor: Gem MMOC
Blade: Gem Stainless Steel
Soap: TIki Set Sail Tallow
Brush: Turkish #6
Post: Alum. Dickinson WH
Aftershave: Clubman Original AKAT
1st time shaving with MMOC. Very easy to use, very close shave with no weepers or nicks. A DFS was had on my 1st shave! I'll be using my MMOC quiet a bit. Tiki was fabulous! Have a great day!
Go out and get it!

 

Words to live by—but after my recent buying spree, the CFO of the household has curtailed my purchasing until further notice.

 

Go out and get it, can mean that job. The girlfriend/boyfriend. Because it's not coming to you.

 

Unless, of course, it is coming via USPS, UPS or FedEx…..

 

Bengall 7/8"
Illinois #127
Simpson Duke 3
ABCBA -> GFT Limes
Nivea ASL

I think I have to get rid of the ABCBA. I love the scent but it's absolutely not getting better, initially I was using it just fine on the face with occasionally a pink hue, this time was rather reddish - not uncomfortable but I look like I got slapped across the face 20 times. Switched it out for GFT for pass 2.

The 13k put an edge on the razor that definitely upped it from the shaveable 8k, it was like a velvet squeegee. The difference is night and day with a beautiful high grit finisher and I will use this thing from here on out.

 

Saturday morning -


Prep - Noxzema & hot towel
Lather - Mitchell's Wool Fat & suribachi
Brush - Omega 40033
Razor - Gillette Single Ring
Blade - Feather (7)

2 pass
Warm water rinse & cold water splash
Alum block & Witch-hazel AS


Another busy week here in the Sierras, but the shaves have been fine in spite of the pace. 60°F and bluebird sunny here today and it feels more like June than March!

Hope everyone here is keeping well and enjoying the weekend.

 

Alright gents I finally took the plunge into Wet Shaving. I spent a bunch of time poking around here and some other sites and I settled on the gear, watched videos on technique, and did my first shave today!

Here's the gear list

Prep: Hot shower and Dove Men+Care Hydrate Fash Wash
Pre Shave: Oil a friend makes
Brush: No clue - think it's a boar brush
Cream: C.O. Bigelow Premium Shave Cream
Razor: Edwin Jagger DE86811
Blade: Derby Extra
Post: Mama Bear's Summer Balm
Aftershave: Arctic Blue

Now let's take a look at all that wonderful stuff



Seems like we're missing something though. Ah yeah one more component required… my ugly mug!



So the first thing I did was hop in the shower to soften up the bead and get a wash in with the Dove Hydrate. While I did that I let the bowl and brush soak with some hot water.



After finishing the shower I went with a couple drops of oil and then started to work up the later. Remember only a little cream goes a long way!



About two minutes later I had a wonderful later built up. I look forward to getting a badger brush to see the difference in production and effort.



Few figure eights and some painting and the face is ready



Am I really about to do this?



I guess so! A short time later (discussed below) and we arrived at the finished product!



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

Okay so if you make it through all of that let's discuss. I really really enjoyed the prep work that went into this. Building the lather and applying to the face was extremely soothing to me. For the shave I performed 3 passes all with the grain. Because of this my face isn't as smooth as it could be, but I wanted to focus on technique (angle and pressure). Thankfully I think I got the hang of it quickly and managed to get through the entire shave without a single nick, cut, or razor burn!

Another plus was that my face stood up well to the abuse and there was no real bite when I applied the aftershave.

So I have to say it was a great experience and I'm glad I took the plunge. I look forward to my second shave tomorrow and can see this turning into quite the ride with all the variables to experiment with!

 

Very good. Welcome to traditional wet shaving. You need to post over on the shave of the day thread.
http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/sos-march-17-2014-march-23-2014.36991/

 

Well done! The photos are great.
One down…many more to go! They only get better...