FFFMM (Fixed Four For March Madness) 2020 Edition

[ChrisPL68]

My twenty-eighth FFFFMM shave 3/28/2020. 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 (9)
Cream: Proraso White

 

[Cal]

I'm having a Fixed related problem...

My Zenith Manchurian brush is not getting entirely dry.

After day one of the Fixed, the next morning it was bone dry. However, we've been having lots of rain and I'm sure the humidity is very high. My brush has been not quite dry the last couple of mornings.

I'm concerned. My opinion and what I've always heard is brushes must be allowed to dry. Brush mold is way off my wish list.

I'm going to make extra effort to dry it immediately post shave as thoroughly as possible. Not that I've not always done that, but I'll overdo it. I'll use, for instance, a bone dry (newly laundered and never used post shower) towel to rub the tips into. Etc.

I could also do a second towel dry in the evening after it's had all day to dry from the first towel dry, done that morning. I'd use a very dry towel in the evenings of course.

I thought you might enjoy this post from @Rudy Vey, Jim.

 

[Invicta]

Razor: Merkur 34C
Blade: Rapira Super Stainless #8
Brush: Vulfix 2335S badger
Soap: Cella
ASB: Nivea

 

[BobbyB]

Day #29

FIXED FOUR FOR MARCH MADNESS​
Razor:	Viking Captain
Brush:	Omega 11126
Blade:	Astra SP (3 rd shave on 6th blade)
Soap:	Van der Hagen (using rain water)
Prep: Results:	Liquid Antibacterial face and hand soap. Rating 9.5 DFS+ Slight hint of coarseness with blade.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

Still In with:

Mixed Carden Farms Glycerine and Oster Tallow soap
Vie Long Horsehair (50/50) brush
Personna Med Prep (second blade for the month. One brand, but two units)
Above The Tie S2 open comb slant razor

And, going to keep on with this razor from 4/1 thru 4/15 at the least. After that, it might be back to the Fasan Double Slant. The rest is my usual setup since 2014 when I finally got the Vie Long brush to replace my Boar brush from circa 1980. The soap mix came about in 2012 IIRC. I picked up my Fasan in 2013.

Yeah, no real challenge for me when it comes to FFFMM.

Stan

 

[Schnitzel52]

FFFMM Day 29
Fat Handle Tech
Rapira Platinum Lux (1)
Haslinger’s Meeresalgen
Colonel x2L

 

[cryhavoc]

FFFMM Day 29 Shave 29

Gillette '48-'50 Aristocrat
Dorco ST-301 (2)
TOBS Avocado
Yaqi Blue 24mm 2 Band Fan Badger

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I thought you might enjoy this post from @Rudy Vey, Jim.

Thanks, Cal. I did enjoy reading Rudy's post, but...and this is the problem...read the information in the post immediately after his (and some of the other other posts in that thread).

As my wife reminds me, her grandfather had one and only one brush his entire life (meaning from her memory of the segment of his life she shared). He was a cheap lad.

I've never seen brush mold, but don't want to either.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[chillybase]

March 29 - Shave 14

Prewar Fat Handle Tech
GSB (2) - Third blade of the month.
Arko
Yaqi 22mm brush

I nicked myself near my nose because I started to knock something over and tried to catch it. There was also a weeper under my chin. Oddly enough, the rest of my face and neck seem fine. No major irritation. I think today I had the best lather. Not the best technique today even though I think I have some areas smoothed out that I didn't have before.

I've used a total of 3 blades during this challenge. I still want to work on extending the life of the blade. I know they are cheap but times have changed very quickly and drastically. My little Excalibur goals will be to reduce the number of blades to hit my one blade a month milestone. Then my next milestone would be to change blades every other month. And so on.

The Arko stick has hardly a dent in it. If times get tough this will be my go-to.

I think using the fixed setup has both made me realize the value of sticking to the four main components. It has also made me realize why some like to rotate things around. From a utilitarian standpoint, the fixed setup offers you a chance to hone your technique within set parameters. Having these limitations make it easier to adjust small variables to improve the shave. You can really evaluate whether or not you want to stick with any of these components long term. With all of the lather available (soaps, creams, etc.) from different makers, it can be hard to settle into one thing and I totally understand why some shavers want to do that.

 

[fhalden]

Shave 28

Prep: Hot shower, Kiehl's Facial Fuel, Proraso Red Pre-shave cream
Razor: Rex Supply Envoy
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (1)
Soap: Mitchell's Wool Fat
Brush: Parker Long Loft Badger
Post-shave: Osma Tradition Alum Block, cold water rinse
Aftershave: Spieck AS

Although the end is in sight, I'm still loving this lineup!! Four pass BBS.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Chevy Novacaine]

Shave 16
Fine; this was in line with the last few, with nothing of note to record.

Shave 17
Shave of the month, maybe even nigh-perfect. I am skeptical I will be able to replicate this with any kind of consistency, but here's hoping. I don't know if it's because I had an extra day's worth of growth or if I'm improving my methodology (or perhaps both), but this was undoubtedly the best shave I've experienced in the Fixed Four.

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

 

[Cal]

Shave of the month, maybe even nigh-perfect. I am skeptical I will be able to replicate this with any kind of consistency, but here's hoping. I don't know if it's because I had an extra day's worth of growth or if I'm improving my methodology (or perhaps both), but this was undoubtedly the best shave I've experienced in the Fixed Four.

Chevy, from MY point of view, I say always look forward to your shaves but don't slip into autopilot. Do your best to be aware of your shaves at all times. This way you really enjoy the great ones, and LEARN from the not so great ones.

I do my best to keep my Shaving White Belt (SWB) clean at all times. But, being human (like most of us are), my SWB does get a little grubby now and then.

 

[Cal]

Thanks, Cal. I did enjoy reading Rudy's post, but...and this is the problem...read the information in the post immediately after his (and some of the other other posts in that thread).

As my wife reminds me, her grandfather had one and only one brush his entire life (meaning from her memory of the segment of his life she shared). He was a cheap lad.

I hear you Jim. And it reminds me of the times before I got to grips with my "stand-your-spoon-up-in" hard tap water. The disgusting chemical soup (called tap water) would coat the hairs/bristles/fibers of my brushes, and retain some shaving soap along with it (no matter how well I thought I'd rinsed and dried them).

This is what all my (meticulously cared for) brushes would do:

Since employing the Citric Acid trick my brush problems are now far behind me. When brushed over by hand NO DUST APPEARS, when sniffed they smell simply CLEAN rather than of the last shaving soap I used, and THE HANDLES DON'T CRACK ANY MORE.

 

[HighSpeedSpoon]

29-MAR-2020 SOTD
FFcFMM shave #15​

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 (3)
POST CARE .. no care needed except styptic powder for one minuscule but strangely obstinate weeper;
............ skin is otherwise fantastic - like I didn't even shave.
FRAGRANCE .. Stirling Executive Man EDP

BBS shave today, smooth and effortless except for one very tiny dot that bled like it had OD-ed on crazy pills.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The way I figure it...



It's one or the other.

No shave today, but I honed my Torrey 136 Snap to Close straight on the hard, finishing side of my Double Convex Arkansas 8x3 for about 25 round trips.

The razor was not honed immediately before the Fixed, but I knew it was sharp and up to the task. It was honed a very little bit a couple of weeks ago. Today's two or three minutes on the stone were mostly to prepare the razor for storage. It didn't need to be sharpened, but better too soon than too late.

I've very much enjoyed the Snap to Close Torrey 136 razor throughout the Fixed. I was quite familiar with it before the Fixed but my familiarity with it has increased. It's a very good shaving, American made, and good looking razor. I believe another of my Torrey 136 straights is perhaps prettier, but none are better shavers.

I'd like to be able to report a quantum leap in my technique but I'd be fibbing. Still, I am aware than the Fixed has improved my shaving at least a little bit. I'm spending a lot less time with each shave and yet getting good enough shaves - mostly N-S, mostly more or less ATG, mostly and kinda sorta one lathered pass - good enough shaves to take to work.

Besides that, my straight razor shaves are Damn Comfortable Shaves. A DCS is always my number one objective with a razor.

I've not shaved since Friday morning, and look like a street bum. Well, yeah, I probably would look much the same dressed as I am in an old bathrobe, tired out from a weekend of studying to fulfill government mandated requirements, and knowing the weekend is about over having been no weekend at all...much the same had I shaved.

I'm pretty sure I will make it through the Fixed unless I forget what I'm doing Monday or Tuesday and pick up the wrong kit.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[ChrisPL68]

My twenty-ninth FFFFMM shave 3/29/2020. 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 (10)
Cream: Proraso White

 

[theid59]

FFFMM SOTD 3/29/20 | Shave 23
Smooth, comfortable shave. DFS+.

 

[Invicta]

Razor: Merkur 34C
Blade: Rapira Super Stainless #9
Brush: Vulfix 2335S badger
Soap: Cella
ASB: Nivea

 

[cryhavoc]

FFFMM Day 30 Shave 30

Gillette '48-'50 Aristocrat
Dorco ST-301 (3)
TOBS Avocado
Yaqi Blue 24mm 2 Band Fan Badger

 

[BobbyB]

Day #30

FIXED FOUR FOR MARCH MADNESS​
Razor:	Viking Captain
Brush:	Omega 11126
Blade:	Astra SP (4th shave on 6th blade)
Soap:	Van der Hagen (using rain water)
Prep: Results:	Liquid Antibacterial face and hand soap. Rating 9.0 Continuing hints of coarseness with blade, Glass stropped for one more shave.