SoS: May 25, 2015 - May 31, 2015

Hi Friends,

today i had an evening shave which was absolutely wonderful. First i had a hot shower with my Stirling Ozark Mountain Bath soap. What a scent!!! The whole bathroom was filled with that wonderful scent. After the relaxing shower, i began my shave:


Saponificio Varesino Felce Aromatica / Nightdiver´s Honeystick Brush / Gillette Fat Handle Tech / HEMA Blade / Suribachi / Stirling Ozark Mountain Aftershave Balm

A truly fantastic shave. The Felce Aromatica soap is for me one of the best soaps to spend money on. Wonderful scent with a stunning post shave feel. What me impressed the most, was the Stirling Balm. With this, Stirling hit it right out of the park!!! The best Aftershave Balm i´ve ever used. This will be a Balm, i will have in my den for the rest of my life. If you like Balms and havn´t tried the Stirling Balms...give it a go. Definetly worth every money.

Have a good one my Friends. Stay healthy.

Greetings
Thorsten​

 

yes. A Helix Hexagon Titanium. Can't wait!

 

Recovery and play with soap week!
May 31, 2015
Prep - Hot shower and towel
Brush - Omega Pro 48
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
Razor - '59 Ball Handle Tech
Blade - (1)
Post - Alum, Aqua Velva Musk

Last day of May. Wow. Decided to finish it up with the Pro 48 and MWF using a great vintage razor and a Russian blade I have actually never tried. I've had it in my stash for several months, just never loaded it. It's the Perma-Sharp Super from the Gillette St. Petersburg plant. Not sure why I've ignored it, other than it's from St. Pete and most of those don't agree with me.

I soaked the MWF puck during my shower. It was bone dry when I got it out of the cabinet so I figured a bit of spa treatment would be good. Dumped the water off after the soak and used a well shook out Pro 48 to start the lather. Loaded the brush well and went to work on the face lather. Just an incredible feeling as this soap lathers up, and I was able to figure out the amount of water to add as I went to get a super slick lather. I really like this stuff. First pass was amazingly smooth and I avoided the nick from the past two days. Great result on the first pass and the second produced a very nice DFS with just a couple of touch ups. Called it good. Really liked the blade, as in I was considering whether or not it might beat the Voskhod in a trial. Grabbed the alum and was very surprised to feel an all over burn. Once again the curse of St. Petersburg seemed to rise up. Most of my complaints about the blades from there have centered on the irritation level post-shave. Seems like the Perma-Sharp has the same issue. Makes me think it's something in the manufacturing process. A chemical used in manufacture?

Anyway, a great shave in spite of the curse. I wouldn't hesitate to revisit the blade in the future, and MWF is permanently installed in my soap rotation.

Tommorow - let the games begin!!! The Tournament of Blades, Russia vs. the World begins with the number one seed, current champion of my blade stash and glorious product of most noble and glorious motherland....the mighty Voskhod. Its opponent on Tuesday, the Rapira Swedish Supersteel. The gear for the first matchup will be the '46 Gillette Aristocrat, the Vie-Long 12705 and Tabac. Place your bets ladies and gentlemen!

 

SOTD MAY 31st!!
w/ Personna platinum/3rd use!
BBS in 2 passes!

 

Thanks! I was thinking of replacing it, maybe I shouldn't.

 

The knurling is very nice.

 

Thank you.

 

Very nice shave today using products I'm familiar with.

-1963 gillette slim set on 5
-wilkinson sword blade (1)
-arko shave stick
-brush from an art of shaving sample kit
-clubman aftershave
-aveeno fragrance free aftershave lotion.

No exciting revelations from this shave. Just a nice relaxing Sunday before church shave.

 

May 31

MdC facial soap
Weber PH
Feather blade (day 2)
Kent BK4 silvertip
Le Père Lucien shave soap and glycerin
Two passes
Alum, Thayer's Lavender witch hazel, unrefined shea butter, and Nivea Sensitive Post-Shave balm

Another great shave today! I plan to switch over to my R41 sometime this week. It will be my first time using it. I hope you all have a great Sunday.

 

Apologies, a correction to my SotD:

•Gillette Super Adjustable
•Wilkinson Super Sword Edge blade
•Barbasol Pacific Rush can of foaming goo (just for something different)

Found a vintage Wilk I'd forgot about. Set the SA on 3, made a full pass. Even with the Barbasol, I would have sworn there was no blade in the razor. What wonderful blades we produced once upon a time. 2 pass BBS that could not be better.

a/s: Barbasol Pacific Rush. Meh, it's okay, not very impressed. Will probably keep it at work, it won't bug anyone.

 

Love that handle.

 

I was out of town for the past week, still followed the forum, but didn't attempt to post any SOTD photos. Here is the travel kit I used:

Soap: The Shave Den lanolin stick, unscented
Brush: Muhle hjm black fiber synthetic
Razor: Gillette fat-handle Tech
Blade: Gillette SharpEdge, yellow
After: Cold rinse, CeraVe lotion

 

Sunday

Soap: Maggard unscented
Brush: Doug Korn HIS synthetic
Razor: Feather AS-D2
Blade: Gillette SharpEdge, yellow
After: Cold rinse, CeraVe lotion

I was happy to come home from my week away and find my order of Maggard unscented soap waiting for me. First shave was a good experience, easy to make great thick lather.

 

Shave of the day
Brush: WDC-2 High Mountain Badger
Gillette - Black Flare Tip, SS, P-1 (1970).
Feather, Hi Stainless, Platinum (3)
Soap: Razo-Rock, Scent: Fresh and clean; a cross between a classic Italian colonial and an old-school barbershop!
A/S: Clubman, Lime
Old Spice Coffee Mug.(soak brush)

Good shave tonight. Find the Black Flare Tip very mild even with the Feather Blade. Clubman lime a good A/S.
"Live everyday like it is your last and someday you'll be right."

 

Just a friendly reminder that starting tomorrow we start a new SOTD thread HERE I'll also lock this thread for a very short period of time later tonight. Happy Shaving!
Kerry

 

Sunday SotD

Pre: Hot shower with Sterling Vanilla Sandalwood bath soap
Razor: WSC Jet Black razor
Blade: Astra Super Stainless (2)
Soap: Stirling Vanilla Sandalwood
Brush: Omega Pro S 10083
Post: Dickinson's witch hazel and cold water
AS: Lucky Tiger Aftershave and Face Tonic with Sterlings Executive Man as balm
Fragrance: Old Spice Classic Cologne

Today shave was TERRIBLE again! I can finally say that the Astra SS is to blame for all the irritation. I used my Stirling soap this time rather than something I'm new to, and had a really great, slick and protective lather right away with the help of the Omega Pro S 10083. Stirling soap is my favorite and my absolute go to; it just never fails me. It's like Arko.....ONLY BETTER! And the brush is simply amazing. Its super soft, and much like my 20102 Boar, it's a big brush that loads a lot and easy; then produces masses of effortless lather. But then, the horrid incident happened! I did my standard shave (WTG, XTG, ATG) and had a nice smooth shave. The problem? My face was on fire! Even rinsing was painful. And the witch hazel? Anyone else here a fire fighter? If so, you understand BAD burn; yeah, like that. Luckily, Lucky Tiger never fails to soothe any level of irritation (I wonder if that's how it got the name LUCKY Tiger? lol), and the Sterling AS balm just ads a finishing touch of "AHHHHHHHHH" to the "GYAAAAAAHHHH!!!!". Even still, I can feel a little irritation here and there. That being said, I am DONE with the Astra SS. I'm going to wait a few days to be sure my face is ok; then I'm gonna hit the MWF again using a Crown or Lord Super Stainless which are my go to blades. Hopefully I get better results. Wish me luck everybody!!!

 

Sorry about the bad shave.. I guess this is a prime example of YMMV because the Astra SS work good for me.