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Flask's newbie adventure

Eagerly awaiting weather daily shaving can become a thing for you. Brother Desertcat from the Church of Mr. Shavington may have help to offer.

Well, yeah. Total fail!!

Yesterday morning I was accosted by an exploding phone at 5:45am alerting me to work outage. The network at a remote site had lost its mind and the first two network teams couldn't figure it out so they escalated to me - - even though I've been out of operations for like two years now :). Come on guys.

Took me half the morning to track it down from home, some clown had brought in his home router and plugged it into the network, and by then I was fullly in the flow of work.

I was sweating the time, knowing I was slowing getting outside my 24 hour shave window. I even told a co-worker "dude, if we don't get this fixed by 10am I'll miss my shave window!!" lolol.

He was unsympathetic.

Technically I could have shaved at lunch and probably called it good for the daily driver evaluation but I would have missed a lunch walk with my friends. I can't afford to miss too many walks!! They take priority. And at that point was like, screw it I'll just wait till the morning.

So here tonight I'll be posting up this morning's 48 hour shave. Which was great!! Zero irritation, a fun shave really with that much growth. Its funny, I used to go a week, easy, between shaves, no big deal. Now at 48 hours I felt like chewbacca walking around.

slaps chewie GIF


So I'm going to start my evaluation over starting with today's shave and we'll see how long we can get with dalies this time.

I'm sort of excited, I got a delivery in the mail today from fleabay - Something for a future experiment and writeup!

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Honestly, I didn't pay that much more than the sticker price. Which I find amusing, murphy's was gouging customers! Maybe that's a fleamarket tag though?

After FFFMM I'll follow in @lasta's shoes a bit and try out some vintage steel!
 

lasta

Blade Biter
Well, yeah. Total fail!!

Yesterday morning I was accosted by an exploding phone at 5:45am alerting me to work outage. The network at a remote site had lost its mind and the first two network teams couldn't figure it out so they escalated to me - - even though I've been out of operations for like two years now :). Come on guys.

Took me half the morning to track it down from home, some clown had brought in his home router and plugged it into the network, and by then I was fullly in the flow of work.

I was sweating the time, knowing I was slowing getting outside my 24 hour shave window. I even told a co-worker "dude, if we don't get this fixed by 10am I'll miss my shave window!!" lolol.

He was unsympathetic.

Technically I could have shaved at lunch and probably called it good for the daily driver evaluation but I would have missed a lunch walk with my friends. I can't afford to miss too many walks!! They take priority. And at that point was like, screw it I'll just wait till the morning.

So here tonight I'll be posting up this morning's 48 hour shave. Which was great!! Zero irritation, a fun shave really with that much growth. Its funny, I used to go a week, easy, between shaves, no big deal. Now at 48 hours I felt like chewbacca walking around.

slaps chewie GIF


So I'm going to start my evaluation over starting with today's shave and we'll see how long we can get with dalies this time.

I'm sort of excited, I got a delivery in the mail today from fleabay - Something for a future experiment and writeup!

View attachment 1619075

Honestly, I didn't pay that much more than the sticker price. Which I find amusing, murphy's was gouging customers! Maybe that's a fleamarket tag though?

After FFFMM I'll follow in @lasta's shoes a bit and try out some vintage steel!
I don't think steel ages like wine, but Super Stainless' are all very tasty!
 
I don't think steel ages like wine, but Super Stainless' are all very tasty!

Of course, I haven't even tried all of the modern blades I have yet! This was pretty much pure blade acquisition disorder.

To go along with the RAD, right? I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I should mention here that I've put myself on the Athena waitlist in the April batch. @Guido75 and @desertcat both inspired me with their jump up with their Timeless razors. :)

Pretty exciting! I was inspired by @Phoenixkh and asked for my birthday serial number which is 10/1, so it'll be 23-101.

And it looks like I'll be stepping into the GEM world later in the year, there's a stunning mint GEM available to me to take for a spin when I'm ready. Spring/summer? I can't wait to trade GEM notes with @thombrogan and @Tanuki!
 
I forgot to mention this in my shave summary post earlier but I hit it in my SOTD post. I'll hit the headline here for completeness :)

I consciously adopted a higher grip on the razor this last shave, inspired by some grip discussion in another journal post. It definitely made it easier to maintain the shallower angle I've been trying to use with the GameChanger. Definitely a big help, I could tell this grip positions the hand in a way that a "better" angle is easier to maintain.

My grip has been pretty random so far, this was an excellent experiment. Science!
 
To go along with the RAD, right? I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I should mention here that I've put myself on the Athena waitlist in the April batch. @Guido75 and @desertcat both inspired me with their jump up with their Timeless razors. :)

I was remiss not to mention how appreciative I am of @Phoenixkh and all his patience and good advice. He fielded dozens of messages as I circled around this choice. Thank you Kim!! As has been said here many times you are a gentleman and a scholar.
 

thombrogan

Lounging On The Isle Of Tugsley.
Glad to read that your shave streak was broken because you were saving the world in the small hours and toddling with pals at noon. If one’s going to miss happy razor fun time, those are more important reasons in my opinion.

After FFFMM, I’m trying an Injector blade in my Micromatic Open Comb.
 
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Rosseforp

I think this fits, Gents
even though I've been out of operations for like two years now
LOL, I used to know that feeling.:facep:
I don't think steel ages like wine
Steel ages better than wine... burying for decades in dirt, then submitting to cryo-temps and vibrations to stabilize after heat treatment is always an improvement. Old wine turns to vinegar.
And it looks like I'll be stepping into the GEM world later in the year, there's a stunning mint GEM available to me to take for a spin when I'm ready.
I find that using my Gem blades in my Bullet Tip before moving the blade to my MMOC is always a good move.

~doug~
 
Highly approve of your Lambda commitment! So tempting now that I have read up on that guy and have seen the whole package he provides. Actually, a steal for you early adopters. You are going to be Spoiled a couple of ways once FFFMM is well and truly over.

Pat the Rabbit for me!
 
Highly approve of your Lambda commitment! So tempting now that I have read up on that guy and have seen the whole package he provides. Actually, a steal for you early adopters. You are going to be Spoiled a couple of ways once FFFMM is well and truly over.

Pat the Rabbit for me!

Thank you my friend!! I appreciate your approval here, it's kind of a big step and you are my Alpha shaving mentor. :)

I figured if, for some reason, it didn't work out the Athena would be easy to unload. But by all reports I don't think I'll find it wanting :). The packaging and presentation is so out of hand on top of a really good looking and high performing razor, it seemed like a safe partner to jump into the deep end with.

Others have mentioned this is probably the "oh, remember when they were half the price?" period for Lambda in the big thread on this razor, you could be totally right thinking that. Hope so :).

I need to stop lollygagging and go for my walk. Yes, I'm taking my FFFMM shaving kit with me in a backpack just in case I get a good photo opportunity :)
 
FFFMM Shave 7
SWS Shave 5

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Preshave: Bowl O' Borg
Preshave Brush: Zenith Unbleached 502 Boar
Razor: GameChanger 68-P
Blade: Gillette Platinum (6) I flipped the blade today, I've read some guys do that.
Soap: Mike's Barber Shop (29)
Brush: Omega Jade Boar (47)
Post: @Tanuki's Twelve Demon Brew

Today was day two of the Daily Shave Sprint (Redux) and it was great. I'm still adjusting to this new choked up grip on the razor but it's getting more natural. This morning's shave had a For-Science! focus seeing just how little pressure I could actually apply. It's hard to use no pressure, in the sense that consistency is a big challenge for me there. I'm looking forward to a future where I'm at @Ligeti's level and don't have to think too much about that grip/angle/pressure muscle memory anymore 🙇‍♂️

But I tried to concentrate, in my radioless shaving palace, on pressure and angle. And trying to listen to catch what smooth sounds like. Smooth is not silent, I don't think, but it's not the loud scraping that I thought "success" was earlier in my journey that's for sure. It was a full three pass shave today: N-S WTG, a slanted XTG then S-N ATG. These orientations work great and the XTG is able to get the two problem spots on my neck. It's nice to have both a two pass and three pass sequence starting to groove in. FINALLY.

This is the first real outing for the unbleached boar and I like it! It's a little soft but not Semogue SOC Boar soft. Less firm than the Omega Jade though, for sure. This resin 502 handle is fantastic, it's super comfortable and a good size for my XL hands.

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I've preshaved with both of these new Zeniths now and I've come to the conclusion I like the butterscotch 502 handle but prefer the knot of the white 507, which is lofted just a tad shorter - I realize it doesn't really look like in this photo, but it's a little smaller on the face and has a bit more scrub than the 502. According to the specs it's 2mm lower lofted and 27.5 vs 28mm, which seem like pretty insignificant differences.

I need to spend more time with both brushes, but particularly the white 507 and see if I can find a grip that feels a bit more natural and fluid. I'm surprised, I had anticipated I was going to much prefer the 507. I wanted to like the 507 more. But nope. YMMV is right!

So, a week or two ago @Tanuki and I are talking and he whips out a bottle and hands it to me. "Here you go, enjoy! Tanuki-style!"

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I take it and say "Thanks man! But it's a little early for me, you know? Plus I haven't drank in, oh, 20+ years I think." He starts laughing and tells me, no, you definitely don't want to drink this.

As a wonderful and thoughtful gift, he brewed up his signature custom snakebite aftershave for me! Well, at the time I thought it was wonderful and thoughtful, let's put it like that. I decided to try it today and a few minutes after I splashed on a generous amount, as I was crawling across the floor near the mirror to see if my face was actually licked in icy flames, I found myself trying to picture what @Tanuki has got going on over there. Does he mix up race fuel as a different hobby?

breaking bad television GIF


We all have that first time with Snakebite and I love that mine was this custom homebrew. As I recall he told me it was a devil's concoction of vodka, witch hazel, probably a pound of menthol crystals and a some mint leaves. I have to say my face felt GREAT about 15 minutes later, super tight and shiney. I applied some moisturiser later as I could feel the Zelyony zmei ("Green Serpent") wicking away the water in my skin as effectively as the being on the surface of Mars might.

Thank you @Tanuki!!! That was a memorable shaving moment and I'm looking forward to trying it again soon! Maybe this summer though :).

Wow, long saturday night post! Sorry!
 
But I tried to concentrate, in my radioless shaving palace, on pressure and angle. And trying to listen to catch what smooth sounds like. Smooth is not silent, I don't think, but it's not the loud scraping that I thought "success" was earlier in my journey that's for sure. It was a full three pass shave today: N-S WTG, a slanted XTG then S-N ATG. These orientations work great and the XTG is able to get the two problem spots on my neck. It's nice to have both a two pass and three pass sequence starting to groove in. FINALLY.
IMO trying to concentrate is counterproductive. Simply be fully aware of what you're doing/feeling/etc in a relaxed fashion.:wink2:
 
"there is no try"
Dang, Yoda is so fuzzy! Not even trying to shave.

I was "not do" on shaving yesterday, but at the end of the day this thread had me pulling out my Texas 10X snakebite potion to test my immunity. Made to the same recipe as the Stoli of Death I thoughtfully concocted in my subterranean labs for Flask. But I'm down to my last 20ml.

F8091EBD-2CD3-45C9-9700-25A37ECEC32D.jpeg
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The secret is to discover the maximum amount of menthol that can be dissolved in 50ml of vodka. A tiny scale, such as addled drug dealers have been known to leave in the bushes in our local parks, makes repeating the formula child's play. Mine has 0.01g precision. It's great to live in a mild climate, where even the nervous drug felons are outdoorsy.

Anyway, Flask, you can be confident that the Stoli is at absolute menthol saturation. Does Fine give that guarantee?
 
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