SoS: September 4, 2017 - September 10, 2017

Sunday's SE Shave


Proraso Pre Shave
Palmolive Classic Shaving Cream
B 400 by Tom
Gem 1911 Lather Catcher
Original Gem Cutlery SE
CWR
Thayer's Lemon WH
Barbasol AS

I started off with Proraso Pre Shave. The Palmolive Classic Shaving Cream face-lathered well with the B 400 badger brush. I did the two passes with the Gem 1911 Lather Catcher and vintage Gem Jr. blade and ended up with a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayer's Lemon WH and then Barbasol AS. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

 

That's a neat decanter.

 

Thank you very much Jim.

 

A curve AND a changeup???? Good report .

 

back Bill.

 

Thank you.

 

• Kent Infinity Silvertex
• Dapper Dragon Bakewell LE
• Schick Eversharp Injector
• Schick
• Aqua Velva
• Myrsol Emulsion

 

Good picture and setup.

 

Classics new and old: Xpec unscented cream, Elite Razor High Mountain White brush (26mm), ATT R2 razor, Gillette 7:00 Black blade, and Floid Vigoroso. My skin feels smooth, soft, and moisturized.

 

SHAVE OF THE DAY


Prep: shower with CF TradeWinds bar soap, Razorock Mister Joe pre shave soap
Razor: Gillette Ball End Tech
Blade: Pol-Silver
Brush: Razorock BC Plissoft
Soap: Grooming Dept Aether
Post: Peach Thayer's WH, Van Yulay Rugged balm


Got a wonderful shave this evening. My order from Grooming Depot came in the mail yesterday and absolutely love the scent of Aether, was not sure from the description but the notes blend well and it is the strongest scent of the 3 Depot soaps I have. Lather quality was a bit reminiscent of WK tallow or Turtleship, very thick and protective plus it held a ton of water. Very happy with today's shave results and finished off with Rugged lotion. Hope everyone had a great shave!

 

Ohne Gesundheit hat man nichts. Es ist so wichtig!

 

Where did you get that punch, or what is it called? I'm wondering if it would be useful for modifying Stainless GEMS for the OneBlade V2?'

 

EK Success Heavy Duty Punch, 1/8-Inch Circle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090JVDNK/?tag=thshde-20

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

SOTD - 9 September 2017

 

SPECIAL SHAVE ALERT​

Bath Soap - Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Lemon-Verbena (Bar Soap)


Razor - KYOEI Japanese Straight Razor *(Courtesy of Daltongang)
Shave Brush - Gentleman's Hangar Synthetic
Shave Stand by Robert Evans on Etsy. Must request custom project to order.
Shave Soap - Mama Bear's "Bounty"
Preshave Oil - Lather & Wood's "Unscented"
Aftershave - Country Club for Men "1837"
Post Shave Balm - Cilo Super Anitoxidant Serum
Deodorant - Organic Essence "Lemon Tea-Tree Mint"
Fragrance - Creed Royal Water

This afternoon I had my first shave with a straight razor. I watched more than a few shave videos on youtube to prepare, but the tough part is that I already have facial hair, so, not every technique is conducive for the shave I have to do.

This shave comes courtesy of Daltongang, who shipped me a Japanese-made KYOEI straight razor. I cannot thank him enough for this opportunity to shave a new way.

I chose one of my favorite summer shave kits for this first shave, mostly because the yellowish handle of Daltongang's razor matches the 'lemon' theme. I started out with a bath with my new preferred lemon soap, Mrs. Meyer's 'Clean Day' Lemon-Verbena. And the great lemony-summery theme is a great mood-elevator and the clean feeling is level-10/10 from this scent profile all the way through to the gin-tonic/pine/lemon/tinge-of-mint scent of Creed's Royal Water fragrance.

Now, to the shave...Starting out the shave I was SUPER tenative. Second guessing my angles. Correcting my angle before applying the blade. Shaving my right cheek first with my more steady right hand was odd. I knew I couldn't use all the angles in the videos due to my muttonburns and goatee. This was going to be a long shave and I couldn't get impatient.

There is a new respect you get for straight razor shavers when you get to your neck in the shave. I went with the grain and because of the longer length of the blade compared to DE-shavers, the only safe angles I could take were with the grain. I could get only a tiny slant angle in a few spots and chose not to get too daring with this being my first shave with this open blade.

The left side. In the videos where I thought the shavers were most skilled, they tended to use the right hand for the right side and the left hand for the left side. This is where I got concerned. My left hand is not great at finite control, but oddly, it turned out that the left hand did better than my right because it was more difficult to restrain the movement/strokes when I began them. And by the time my left hand was part-way through I felt my left hand was already getting some skill.

The second pass side grain strokes. I could only do my cheeks with the side grain strokes. I got a very small weeper on my neck by trying to do a little side-grain action and then quickly abandoned it when the weeper appeared after a minute. I found that once I started that second pass my hands were starting to get confidence. I found that 'some' spots, where the blade had good exposure, the accuracy was better than a DE shaver.

I only did two passes on my face as that was enough to give perfect results.

The back of my neck. When I shave, I do both the back of my neck and a little detail work on my eyebrows so that I don't look like Brezhnev with the unibrow. The back of the neck with one mirror in one hand and a straight razor in the other is quite a tightrope walk, but I pulled it off with careful corrections and re-angling based on good guesses. The eyebrow work I don't recommend with a straight razor, or at least don't try until you have substantial skill. I managed to give myself my first and only legit cut of this shave. Also, having a large exposed blade near my eyeballs wasn't something I liked. So, when it comes to the eyebrows, I'm going to use only a DE and not take another chance with the straight razor. Too much risk if I managed to slip.

This shave was a daring departure from my normal routine. I felt I owed it to this hobby to try a straight razor shave and miraculously I emerged to tell the tale with only the most minor bloodshed.

Thanks again to Daltongang. My smooth face thanks you and I will be revisiting this shave kit and blade again, most likely next Saturday.

 

09/09/2017
Jamie's Night Shave...
1. Stirling LIME pre shave oil.
2. Stirling Glacial MITA soap.
3. Stirling Boar Brush.
4. GEM CLOG-PRUF w/new PAL Carbon blade.
5. Thayers Medicated Witch Hazel.
6. Stirling MITA after-shave.
7. Stirling unscented Glacial aftershave post balm.

 

Congrats on stepping out of your comfort zone! Take your time, add strokes as you feel comfortable, and feel free to use a razor you know to do edges and clean up passes. Good job, Sir!

 

Smells like the Drug Store SEptember!!!! (Stirling Booster)

September 9

Razor - Schick Injector M2
Blade - (2)
Soap - Stirling Barbershop
Brush - WSC Synthetic
ASOD - The Mighty Veg

Second shave with the Schick and another very fine one it was. Smooth and very effective with little to no irritation. Near-BBS shave with the Stirling Barbershop scent that may be my favorite of their soaps. I'm very nearly out of the sample so a purchase may be in my near future. The West Coast brush did its usual fine job. I'll use the Veg in the morning to try and make Sunday a better sales day than today was. After a fine shave with the Injector and Barbershop scent I thought this picture might be appropriate. Have a great Sunday!

 

09/10/17 Shave of the Day
Face Wash with Crabtree & Evelyn Indian Sandalwood Triple Milled Soap
The Holy Black Caswell-Massey Regents Shaving Soap Collaboration
Wolf Whiskers Blue Train Custom 24mm Silvertip Badger Brush
Creative Flame Pottery Stoneware Shaving Scuttle
Wolfman WR1-OC .74mm Gap Polished Stainless Steel Razor with Darwin Handle
Personna Blue Comfort Coated Blade - 2nd Shave
RazoRock Alum Stick
Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel Toner
Lucky Tiger After Shave and Face Tonic
The Sudsy Soapery 100% All Natural Sandalwood & Citrus Creamy Aftershave Balm​