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FFFMM (Fixed Four For March Madness) 2020 Edition

My twenty fourth FFFFMM shave 3/24/2020. Two passes north to south and one pass east to west.
Razor: Gillette NLC with custom handle.
Brush: Made Rite #44 24mm Silvertip (restored)
Blade: Astra SP (5)
Cream: Proraso White

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24-MAR-2020 SOTD
F3M2 shave #13

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PRE ........ Hot Water
BRUSH ...... Omega EVO Marble Ovale (E1855)
SOAP ....... Wholly Kaw Rebelle (Siero Tallow)
RAZOR ...... Supply V2 with 3 Dot Plate, Schick Proline B-20 (7)
POST CARE .. Speick AS
FRAGRANCE .. Penguin Premium Blend

Nice DFS shave today. I retired the previous B-20 thinking it had good life left even after seven commendable shaves, but today's fresh B-20 was noticeably better. Nevertheless, I am very impressed with these Proline blades.
 
Only 10th shave of the month for me. Still in with my combo of the Muhle R89 with Astra SP blade and WCS Glogg soap. Purposefully loaded my brush very dry and it worked well for me. Easy two pass shave and was left with comfortable results. I've figured that two passes with some touch up seems to hit my point of diminishing returns. A third or fourth pass seems to have such marginal improvement in the closeness of the shave and increases my likelihood of nicks. Think I'll be sticking to face lathering and two pass plus touch ups for a while after this.

Helps that my shaves don't have to be super close right now with working from home.
 
Shave 24

Prep: Hot shower, Musgo Real Lime Glyce Soap, Noxema Classic Clean
Razor: Rex Supply Envoy
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Soap: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Brush: Parker Long Loft Badger
Post-shave: Osma Tradition Alum Block, cold Water Rinse
Aftershave: PAA Atomic Age Bay Rum

Four pass BBS. Man, do I love this Bay Rum!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
Shave 13

Quality shave with some expected irritation, as I could tell I had inadvertently exerted some pressure on my later passes. Still no nicks, which surprised me a bit. I love my soap and I don't plan on buying any new soap until I've gone through the bulk of my current stock, but I am looking forward to going back to some oldies I haven't used in awhile to see how they lather in comparison.

Razor: Fatip Piccolo SE
Blade: Astra SP
Brush: Stirling Synthetic 2-band
Soap: Declaration Grooming Massacre of the Innocents
 
March 25 - Shave 12

Prewar Fat Handle Tech
GSB (7)
Arko
Yaqi 22mm brush

The blade seemed dull today. I had to do a lot of touch up. After my shave, I swapped out the blade for a fresh GSB. I got one extra shave over the last fresh blade swap. Marginal gains. Overall a pretty good shave. Still some rough parts.

Keep up the good work everyone. We are almost to the finish line of this FFFMM.
 
Shave 14

It was a pretty good shave until I got cocky and decided to do some ATG passes on my neck, which has always been a disaster in the past. The pass was rough and uncomfortable, which I lay at the feet of my thinning lather and angle of attack. I was amazed when it ended up being a bloodless shave with only a little more irritation than usual. Still, I think I'll stick to avoiding ATG for the foreseeable future as I just don't think it's in the cards for me, although trying it on the seventh shave of a blade wasn't the brightest move. Otherwise, a solid shave, but I think it's going to take me more than a month to nail down a lather consistency that I am consistently satisfied with. My current plan is to exhaust every tub of soap in the house and then treat myself to some Martin de Candre to see what all the fuss is about. If it lasts as long as everyone claims, it's not near as expensive as it seems.

Razor: Fatip Piccolo SE
Blade: Astra SP
Brush: Stirling Synthetic 2-band
Soap: Declaration Grooming Massacre of the Innocents
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
View attachment 1078169
24-MAR-2020 SOTD
F3M2 shave #13

View attachment 1078171

PRE ........ Hot Water
BRUSH ...... Omega EVO Marble Ovale (E1855)
SOAP ....... Wholly Kaw Rebelle (Siero Tallow)
RAZOR ...... Supply V2 with 3 Dot Plate, Schick Proline B-20 (7)
POST CARE .. Speick AS
FRAGRANCE .. Penguin Premium Blend

Nice DFS shave today. I retired the previous B-20 thinking it had good life left even after seven commendable shaves, but today's fresh B-20 was noticeably better. Nevertheless, I am very impressed with these Proline blades.

I think you may have more experience with the Evo brush than anyone I know. I hope you'll do a little write up on the brush when you feel like its time.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
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Bet I'm not the only one evaluating the benefits of this month's Fixed.

Most of us know by now if we didn't know already that a Fixed Four is hard.

I'm not finished with it yet so I don't want to count too many chickens just yet, but I'm noticing some of the things I've learned.
  • My brush is not always completely dry by the next shave.
  • However, if I had to shave with just one brush every day, I'd buy three of these and alternate 'em so they'd get dry.
  • The Zenith copper handled Manchurian begins life with the the backbone of a jackhammer, and with considerable scritch, and is a handful even if you're expecting what it brings.
  • I do not mean to say this is news to me, but this brush is now unbelievably soft, and yet also deliciously scrubby in a totally good way.
  • This knot is beyond luxurious.
  • What a wonderful shaving brush.
  • I doubt there's a better brush on the planet.
  • No, there's zero sign of mold or anything else going wrong with the brush.
My brush is better than your brush!

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...the obvious.

More later, God willing and the creek don't rise, about what this Fixed has taught me.

You?

Happy shaves,

Jim
 

Raven Koenes

My precious!
View attachment 1078468

Bet I'm not the only one evaluating the benefits of this month's Fixed.

Most of us know by now if we didn't know already that a Fixed Four is hard.

I'm not finished with it yet so I don't want to count too many chickens just yet, but I'm noticing some of the things I've learned.
  • My brush is not always completely dry by the next shave.
  • However, if I had to shave with just one brush every day, I'd buy three of these and alternate 'em so they'd get dry.
  • The Zenith copper handled Manchurian begins life with the the backbone of a jackhammer, and with considerable scritch, and is a handful even if you're expecting what it brings.
  • I do not mean to say this is news to me, but this brush is now unbelievably soft, and yet also deliciously scrubby in a totally good way.
  • This knot is beyond luxurious.
  • What a wonderful shaving brush.
  • I doubt there's a better brush on the planet.
  • No, there's zero sign of mold or anything else going wrong with the brush.
My brush is better than your brush!

View attachment 1078487

...the obvious.

More later, God willing and the creek don't rise, about what this Fixed has taught me.

You?

Happy shaves,

Jim
It's telling me I have to wait until April to try my slant Jim...to try my slant. :crying:
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
It's telling me I have to wait until April to try my slant Jim...to try my slant. :crying:

That's not anything but the hard part...We knew that going in to the Fixed, right, except we didn't know when Connaught would stock 'em.

My sources indicate an anti-Fixed | anti-BOSC | anti-Fatip conspiracy. Headquartered in the City of London.

Not that I know for sure, but Big Nurse is pretty reliable, if not pretty.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Although officially out, having great time shaving with my usual set:
Razor: EJ89 Bulbous handle
Brush: matching Silvertip
Soap: Núavia Rosso
Blade: Croma Diamant.

Three passes, silent alum.
Zen-like.
 
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