Al's Straight Journal
- Thread starter Al_S
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #663
Thanks guys, though I'm not in here as often as I was, it's always nice to see friendly faces when I do pop in.
152 (Wednesday night)
I was invited to offer a prayer at the national Day of Prayer on the base I work at Thursday, so I figured it might be a good idea to clean up a little. I leave the house really early Thursday mornings (0515ish) so I decided late Weds night that it'd be a safer bet to shave Weds night rather than leaving it to the morning. Not wanting to slice myself up, I went with a known lineup: Wacker, AI pre/post, EdC and CRSW PF. 2 pass, BBS shave. In retrospect, while writing this, I wish I would have touched up with the Veg in the morning. Oh well...
152 (Wednesday night)
I was invited to offer a prayer at the national Day of Prayer on the base I work at Thursday, so I figured it might be a good idea to clean up a little. I leave the house really early Thursday mornings (0515ish) so I decided late Weds night that it'd be a safer bet to shave Weds night rather than leaving it to the morning. Not wanting to slice myself up, I went with a known lineup: Wacker, AI pre/post, EdC and CRSW PF. 2 pass, BBS shave. In retrospect, while writing this, I wish I would have touched up with the Veg in the morning. Oh well...
Fantastic shave and a Huge Amount of respect for the Prayer offering at the base my Friend
Wacker - yes!.....probably good thing to having omitted the Veg 
- Thread starter
- #667
So it seems that yesterday was my 1 year mark with straight shaving--I thought it was today. At any rate, I'll be celebrating an anniversary shave tonight. It probably won't be much different than any other shave, but whatever.
Way to go, Al!
Awesome Al and Happy Shave-A-Verssary my Friend, very awesome watching the journey as it unfolded.
Congrats, Al. A shave is a shave is a shave. 
- Thread starter
- #672
So I'm a little behind on posting some shaves:
153- This was the anniversary shave. I didn't get to it until Saturday (5-14). I took my time, did three passes with AI pre/post, CRSW, AI edC and of course the Wacker. An easy BBS. I did have a minor weeper under the chin.
154- I did this shave the next night. Probably too soon for a follow-up shave due to lack of growth. Two passes. I slipped slightly with the blade on the ATG upper stroke, which caught the edge of the red part of my lip and a little bit of the moustache area above the corner of the mouth. Small cut, but no red lines. Frustrating, but that's life. Other than that, BBS shave.
5/21 I shaved with a Mach 3 (something I haven't done since straight shaving and only once or twice since starting wet shaving about 18 months ago). I never used to use cream or soap, but since I had a week of growth, I decided to use CRSW. Not a bad shave, DFS.
155- This one was Tuesday (5-24). A quick 2 pass. I used a sample puck of Stirling Glacial Spearmint, a soap I enjoyed when I bought it last year. It's been sitting in the open. No scent remaining, and very little menthol. Still, it lathered well. I used Trumper lime skinfood pre and post and TOBS Victorian Lime. Shave was BBS with a minor weeper under the chin again.
156- Thurs night. I went back to the CRSW, but used lime skin food again pre and post and followed up with the RR OneX. good shave, but fell short of BBS. Minor weepers again under the chin. I think I need to touch up the Wacker with the balsa strop.
153- This was the anniversary shave. I didn't get to it until Saturday (5-14). I took my time, did three passes with AI pre/post, CRSW, AI edC and of course the Wacker. An easy BBS. I did have a minor weeper under the chin.
154- I did this shave the next night. Probably too soon for a follow-up shave due to lack of growth. Two passes. I slipped slightly with the blade on the ATG upper stroke, which caught the edge of the red part of my lip and a little bit of the moustache area above the corner of the mouth. Small cut, but no red lines. Frustrating, but that's life. Other than that, BBS shave.
5/21 I shaved with a Mach 3 (something I haven't done since straight shaving and only once or twice since starting wet shaving about 18 months ago). I never used to use cream or soap, but since I had a week of growth, I decided to use CRSW. Not a bad shave, DFS.
155- This one was Tuesday (5-24). A quick 2 pass. I used a sample puck of Stirling Glacial Spearmint, a soap I enjoyed when I bought it last year. It's been sitting in the open. No scent remaining, and very little menthol. Still, it lathered well. I used Trumper lime skinfood pre and post and TOBS Victorian Lime. Shave was BBS with a minor weeper under the chin again.
156- Thurs night. I went back to the CRSW, but used lime skin food again pre and post and followed up with the RR OneX. good shave, but fell short of BBS. Minor weepers again under the chin. I think I need to touch up the Wacker with the balsa strop.
Nice to see your posts again, Al. How many Wacker razor shaves since the last hone or refresh?
Very Excellent Work Al and congrats on the Milestone my Friend
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- #676
Morning gents,
It's been a long time since I've posted in here. After attempts to grow out a beard in June while my wife was out of country, I found myself shaving it off before her return, but didn't manage to make it back to the journal. There's little in life as satisfying as watching a straight erase a beard.
At any rate, over the last 8-9 months I've been fairly lax when it comes to my shaving. Though things have varied at times, most weeks I only find myself shaving once or twice. I started working in the r41 more often. Over the last month or two, as the Wacker's edge has approached the need for stones, I've moved more exclusively to the r41.
Last night I remembered that my EA Berg still has a fairly fresh edge on it, so I decided to shave with that. At first, I searched my shave drawer & couldn't find it. I'd kept it in another area because of the ivory scales, but we'd tossed that cabinet earlier this summer. I began to worry that my wife may have tossed the Wacker and another ivory-scaled razor that needs some work. She has a habit of tossing things she thinks I don't need.
Then I remembered that I'd packed up a bunch of stuff when we had our bathroom redone--come to think of it, that's why I didn't start posting in the journal again. The time I took the beard off coincided with the remodel & I was shaving from a different location. At any rate, I dug through the boxes and located my EA Berg, fortunately still in one piece. I had a great two-pass shave that reminded me I need to break out the straights more often. }
Without the journal, I've lost track of my straight shave count, but I hope to be poking in here more regularly nonetheless.
It's been a long time since I've posted in here. After attempts to grow out a beard in June while my wife was out of country, I found myself shaving it off before her return, but didn't manage to make it back to the journal. There's little in life as satisfying as watching a straight erase a beard.
At any rate, over the last 8-9 months I've been fairly lax when it comes to my shaving. Though things have varied at times, most weeks I only find myself shaving once or twice. I started working in the r41 more often. Over the last month or two, as the Wacker's edge has approached the need for stones, I've moved more exclusively to the r41.
Last night I remembered that my EA Berg still has a fairly fresh edge on it, so I decided to shave with that. At first, I searched my shave drawer & couldn't find it. I'd kept it in another area because of the ivory scales, but we'd tossed that cabinet earlier this summer. I began to worry that my wife may have tossed the Wacker and another ivory-scaled razor that needs some work. She has a habit of tossing things she thinks I don't need.
Then I remembered that I'd packed up a bunch of stuff when we had our bathroom redone--come to think of it, that's why I didn't start posting in the journal again. The time I took the beard off coincided with the remodel & I was shaving from a different location. At any rate, I dug through the boxes and located my EA Berg, fortunately still in one piece. I had a great two-pass shave that reminded me I need to break out the straights more often. }
Without the journal, I've lost track of my straight shave count, but I hope to be poking in here more regularly nonetheless.
Welcome back Al. I too took a hiatus from journaling for quite a time. But I was using straights almost exclusively during that time. I never knew exactly how many straight shaves I had when I started journaling so my current count is probably accurate +5 shaves or so. Using a straight so much of the time made the calculation fairly accurate, I think. Glad you found your razors.
Al, great to hear from you!!
- Thread starter
- #680
Thanks for the warm welcomes back, gents. I've had two shaves since my last post.
The first was last Tuesday night and what a horrible shave it was. As I'd previously stated, I want to start shaving more than once or twice a week, so I set out to do that. I think my big mistake was using soap in the shower to prep my face. Of course I've doe this many times, but I think I forgot to rinse it off before getting out, lathering, etc. At any rate, the first pass went ok, but I wound up with quite a few weepers and the second pass was downright horrible. Partway through, I called the shave & broke out both the alum stick and block.
My next shave was today, this shave was on the opposite side of the scale and was one of the best I've had in some time. I used the tabula rasa, a croap I have used on numerous times, but its been pretty dormant in my rotation. I prepped with Mikey Lee Peppermint face butter, then lathered up for a real nice two pass shave resulting in BBS. I followed up with lime skinfood and the Veg.
The first was last Tuesday night and what a horrible shave it was. As I'd previously stated, I want to start shaving more than once or twice a week, so I set out to do that. I think my big mistake was using soap in the shower to prep my face. Of course I've doe this many times, but I think I forgot to rinse it off before getting out, lathering, etc. At any rate, the first pass went ok, but I wound up with quite a few weepers and the second pass was downright horrible. Partway through, I called the shave & broke out both the alum stick and block.
My next shave was today, this shave was on the opposite side of the scale and was one of the best I've had in some time. I used the tabula rasa, a croap I have used on numerous times, but its been pretty dormant in my rotation. I prepped with Mikey Lee Peppermint face butter, then lathered up for a real nice two pass shave resulting in BBS. I followed up with lime skinfood and the Veg.
