ELEVENTH ANNUAL "One Blade in February" Challenge - 2020 Edition

[Dog Whiskerer]

• Gillette E-1 Fatboy, set to 3
• NOS Schick Super Chromium blade (21)
• Pecksniff's shave cream pre-shave
• Long Rifle Hawkeye shave soap w/ an Omega boar brush, face lathered
• Pinaud Clubman After Shave Lotion

The three-weeks-worth-of-shaves milestone.

As a blade deteriorates, I find myself moving up the ladder of aggression and squeezing a little more life out of a blade. We aren't at that stage yet. Got a good shave with the Gillette at a fairly low setting, which means the blade is still sharp.

 

[T.Orso]

Bic Chrome Platinum is still performing perfectly at 21 shaves.

I too had the idea to move it along to a more aggressive razor by now, but I have been completely satisfied with my grandfather’s prewar tech. I just get better shaves the longer I use it. I think I will stick with it for the duration.

 

[Roedeer]

Friday 21st Feb, used a new Astra SP.

Preshave: Hot facecloth, H & B Vitamin E oil
Brush: None
Soap: Gillette Mach 3 Gel lathered in a bowl
Razor: Rockwell 6S, Plate R5
Blade: Astra SP (1)
Postshave: Warm rinse, Nivea Sensitive Balm, Boots Freshwood AS.

Near-BBS result. Astras tend to be a bit sharper than they need to be, and not quite as smooth as I'd like them to be, on #1, and settle in on #2.

Conclusions from the old blade: I couldn't tell any difference between the first and the second week. The third week was mostly OK, until there was obvious drop-off.

I think the automatic "change blade at the end of the week" could just as easily be "change blade at the end of two weeks", so long as I use Astras.

 

[Demolition]

Day 21, Shave 21. Same setup as before.

I must say that shaving with a fixed setup is getting kind of boring. It's not like the old days when I stayed with practically the same setup for decades because I had no idea that there were so many other types of razors/brushes/soaps/etc.

That is, until I discovered B&B. Now, I've become incredibly spoiled by the variety.

Having said that, the shaves have been excellent. I think that I picked a well-matched combination of hardware and software. I probably could keep going like this, indefinitely. But, I'm still looking forward to the end of February.

 

[GaryTha]

For Astra SPs, I think the habit of changing a blade at the end of the week could be changed to change the blade every four months. This blade is still on the first edge, and there is no drop-off in shave quality or efficiency. Astra SPs are the only type of blade I use.

Behind every great blade is a great soap. Williams is the only soap I use. It's one of the favorites in the Excalibur Club. It's prized for its slickness. I don't want to overstate the case. There are other favorites, just not in my den.

Behind every soap is a great brush. I exclusively use a Cremo horsehair.

Something has to hold the blade. I exclusively use a Van Der Hagen razor (short handle).

 

[JAHE]

Shave no. 19 with the german Wilkinson is in the books. Since I do three passes per shave this sums up to almost 60 passes plus several touch ups.

I am quite impressed to say the least.

The blade is still sharp enough for some more shaves, but I feel I have to switch razors tomorrow in order to equal the increasing loss on the sharpness of the blade with a more aggressive razor.

I guess I might complete the month...

Gesendet von meinem SM-G800F mit Tapatalk

 

[abj]

Day 22, shave nr 20.
Normally I don't use a blade so long, I got bored. But I'm considering to keep this one as long as the shaves are good, this is more fun then I expected.

 

[JeffJ]

I swapped blades yesterday. Had a lot of irritation for the last week. It could be three weeks of three pass shaves on one blade (likely with less than stellar Excalibur technique) or the new soap (Speick). Both are out while my face heals and I'll add things back one at a time.

 

[psfred]

Shave # 21 today. Finally getting shaves without weepers, this Shark is pretty sharp! Should finish the month on the first edge (unless I've lost track, this razor very symmetric). Will easily last 40 shaves, maybe 60, or decidedly average for me.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

I think I will make this my last day with the Med Prep in the ATT S2. 23 WTG one-pass shaves with some areas of ATG touch up. Problem is, the amount of touch up is increasing. I think I shall put it into the Fasan DoubleSlant tomorrow and see if I can get it to go until the end. The Fasan has a much greater helix than the ATT (or any other Slant for that matter). It might do a bit better. And, it'll be fun to see. I haven't had another type of Slant to compare with the Fasan since 2013.

Stan

 

[FarmerTan]

I shaved for the 4th time in February with a Silver Star blade that was actually it's 14th use. It's still going strong. I believe it was provided to me by @geneaut , though I could be wrong. Excellent blade. If I get off my lazy carcass today I'll post about it in my "Shaving like Grampa" thread. Or whatever it's called, lol.

 

[FarmerTan]

Hi,

I think I will make this my last day with the Med Prep in the ATT S2. 23 WTG one-pass shaves with some areas of ATG touch up. Problem is, the amount of touch up is increasing. I think I shall put it into the Fasan DoubleSlant tomorrow and see if I can get it to go until the end. The Fasan has a much greater helix than the ATT (or any other Slant for that matter). It might do a bit better. And, it'll be fun to see. I haven't had another type of Slant to compare with the Fasan since 2013.

Stan

I'll bet the razor change will give it new life. Always seems to work for me.

 

[Dog Whiskerer]

Saturday -- skipped shave

Today:

• Vintage Merkur 37 slant razor
• NOS Schick Super Chromium blade (22)
• Haslinger Sandalwood soap w/ an Simpson Berkeley badger brush, face lathered
• Witch Hazel

The Merkur is one of my recent acquistions and I've only had a handful of shaves with it. Today's, with two days of growth, was the best to date with this slant (my only slant, for that matter). I think the duller yet smoother blade accounts for the close and comfortable shave.

 

[Brianc0428]

SOTD
Prep: Wash face with PAA Cube 2.0
Pre-Shave: Wet face. Apply PAA Cube Mentholated
Soap: Aion
Brush: Razorock Big Bruce
Razor: Blackland Vector
Blade: Kai Captain Titan Mild ProTouch MG(7)
Thayers WH Toner Rose Petal & Witch hazel splash
Aftershave : MAOL Frankenlime
Moisturizing: GD Rejuvenating Serum

 

[Roedeer]

Sunday 23rd Feb

Preshave: Hot facecloth, H & B Vitamin E oil
Brush: Cheap Boots (Men-U)
Soap: Palmolive stick
Razor: Rockwell 6S, Plate R5
Blade: Astra SP (3)
Postshave: Warm rinse, Nivea Sensitive Balm, Boots Freshwood AS.

Excellent performance from the run-in Astra, as expected.

A closer shave using real soap, but also worse irritation than I'd get with canned stuff. This subsides , so it's more like an alkali intolerance than razor burn.

Maybe persistence is the way to get immunity?

 

[Ryanshh]

Shave #2 on a semi-fresh Rapira. I tried a few things and wasn't loving the shave quality earlier this week. Swapping to a new blade of the same type was the best part of my weekend. The shave was close, comfortable and effortless, many of the things I thought might be poor technique may have been blade degradation (I still assume that most of it was my noobishness.)

 

[Esetter]

I'm still in, I'll have to look at a calendar to see how many shaves I'm in, but tonight I had one of my best shaves ever on the original setup...British Wilkinson, Pre War Tech, and Stirling Soap.
Other than flipping the blade every Sunday, I've done nothing special. It feels less sharp, but so smooth, and still extremely close.
I'm getting bummed out they don't make them anymore..I may have to save the other one for next year and start mid January.

 

[GaryTha]

Still on the first edge. I was going to switch on the 45th shave. Then the 50th. I promise...60 is the limit.

Today, I purposely mixed a thin Williams disappearing lather to see what happened. Answer: nothing dramatic. The shave was still close. I just had to shave more quickly.

 

[JAHE]

I swapped blades yesterday. Had a lot of irritation for the last week. It could be three weeks of three pass shaves on one blade (likely with less than stellar Excalibur technique) or the new soap (Speick). Both are out while my face heals and I'll add things back one at a time.

I believe the blade (and/or to much pressure/passes) was the reason. Speick soap is basically not known to cause heavy irritation (up to my knowledge).

Hope you get well soon.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

I decided to try the Flip The Blade idea in the ATT S2 before moving it to the Fasan. It works for some folks, but I can't say as it made any difference for me. So, into the Fasan it goes tomorrow morning for shave number 25.

Stan