May 2020 Gentlemanly Restraint Until Month End (GRUME)

[Tomo]

Still in

and still trying to master the straight razor. Starting to get the hang of it. This could be the way forward.

 

[rbscebu]

Still in.

This morning's shave was with:

Titan 1918 ACRO T.H. 70
Chinese synthetic genuine badger brush
Sanofi shave cream
And all finished off with a splash of Clarifiance



Result was another DFS with nil irritation.

Due to its high hardness, the edge of this razor took a lot of work to get it to my acceptable level of smoothness. The $2 brush still amazes me with its performance and the $3 / 75g Australian shave cream performs almost as well as Proraso green. The $4 / litre splash is locally manufactured using mainly witch hazel and ethanol.

 

[Timeclo]

Still in!

I just got a puck of MWF that I traded for and boy, is it tough. It feels like moisturized and nicely scented Williams, haha. I got an idea though and will be lathering til I get this down.

 

[rbscebu]

.... and still trying to master the straight razor. Starting to get the hang of it. This could be the way forward.

No one can ever "master" a straight razor. All you can do is to work on taming it so that it mostly does your bidding.

 

[Roedeer]

Still in; good result with a Rockwell 6S, R4 and an Astra SP #2.

Determined to beat the upper lip and side of mouth ATG challenge, see also Upper lip ATG? - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/upper-lip-atg.587434/

Tried using the Rockwell R1 plate (0.2 mm gap) on it, and that went well. This plate "feels" useless to me, with even less horsepower than a Bic Sensitive, but that's good for confidence: "this thing won't nick me". It was cutting hair, with plenty of audio feedback.

If I can get comfortable with that as a daily routine, I'll soon escalate it up to the R2 plate, and so on...

This is the final area that is stopping me declaring a full BBS.

 

[Chef455]

Still in!
Today-
Gamechanger .68
Feather
A Forgotten Lavender & Peppermint Soap Sample
Yaqi Timber Wolf

 

[Ridpath]

Still in; good result with a Rockwell 6S, R4 and an Astra SP #2.

Determined to beat the upper lip and side of mouth ATG challenge, see also Upper lip ATG? - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/upper-lip-atg.587434/

Tried using the Rockwell R1 plate (0.2 mm gap) on it, and that went well. This plate "feels" useless to me, with even less horsepower than a Bic Sensitive, but that's good for confidence: "this thing won't nick me". It was cutting hair, with plenty of audio feedback.

If I can get comfortable with that as a daily routine, I'll soon escalate it up to the R2 plate, and so on...

This is the final area that is stopping me declaring a full BBS.

That’s one good thing about the Rockwell 6S, the flexibility to try out different base plates as you get better at using it. The audio feedback was a dealbreaker for me though; I’ve reached for mine less than a dozen times after acquiring it.

Good shout on using different plates for the shave, I find that using two razors per shave definitely yields better results in a consistent basis. I was able to get reasonably close to what you could consider BBS with R3 going ATG (Derby Extra blade, so probably R2 with a better blade), if memory serves. Hope you figure out which plate combination works best for you!

 

[Timeclo]

Still in. Had a irritating shave with the Fat today. Still figuring it out but boy, is it challenging.

 

[pbrmhl]

Still in, though I did order some hand sanitizer from Stirling yesterday...

 

[cryhavoc]

Still in

Schick Krona
Wilkinson Sword (2)
Mike's Bay Rum
Omega 40033 Mighty Midget Boar
Pinaud Clubman VIBR

 

[Tomo]

Still in

and getting faster with my morning straight razor routine. I’ve started doing all stropping in the evenings the night before. Have mapped out my plan of attack to minimize the amount of times I change hands during the shave. Wiping rather than rinsing the blade now. Still going slow and steady on the shaving strokes themselves but with a clear plan of where you are going next, less time is wasted doddering between strokes. The result this morning was excellent. Definitely getting there.

 

[FoolishMortal]

Still in

and getting faster with my morning straight razor routine. I’ve started doing all stropping in the evenings the night before. Have mapped out my plan of attack to minimize the amount of times I change hands during the shave. Wiping rather than rinsing the blade now. Still going slow and steady on the shaving strokes themselves but with a clear plan of where you are going next, less time is wasted doddering between strokes. The result this morning was excellent. Definitely getting there.

View attachment 1099212

Congrats, I'm sure that feels good!

 

[Roedeer]

Still in, despite email from the usual places.

That’s one good thing about the Rockwell 6S, the flexibility to try out different base plates as you get better at using it. The audio feedback was a dealbreaker for me though; I’ve reached for mine less than a dozen times after acquiring it.

It is noisy. The velcro-ripping noise on ATG neck hair sounds like it ought to hurt. At least you always know whether it is cutting or not, so I'll treat it as a feature.

Loaded up a fresh Boots blade in the zinc Rockwell 6C.

Did all the routine stuff with the 6S, R4, Astra SP #3, and then repeated the difficult areas ATG experiment using the 6C and R1.

Much better result this time. I re-applied plenty of shave oil as well as foam, just in case. Did the upper lip, side-of-mouth, and chin area ATG.

I think I'd call that a BBS.

 

[rbscebu]

Another lesson learned this morning with my SR shaving.

This morning I shaved with a slightly flatter blade angle to the skin, just a tad less than my normal. This gave me a BBS shave in just two passes - WTG & XTG.

Not what I wanted. Now I'll probably have to wait 36 to 48 hours before I'll have something to shave again!

As an aside, the rumor has it that my barber might be opening up again next week . Would having a barber shave put me out of this GRUME?

 

[Ridpath]

I think so, unfortunately - that’s the reason @Schnitzel52 has been listed for failing out, although I think he did pick up some shaving supplies as well at the same time.

Going away for a few days, and tempted to bring a kit along to keep my head clean shaven. I don’t have a travel kit, since I stay put for the most part. Tempted to just bring the electric one along and call it a day!

 

[cryhavoc]

Still in

Schick Krona
Wilkinson Sword (3)
Mike's Bay Rum
Omega 40033 Mighty Midget Boar
Old Spice

 

[Schnitzel52]

I think so, unfortunately - that’s the reason @Schnitzel52 has been listed for failing out, although I think he did pick up some shaving supplies as well at the same time.

Going away for a few days, and tempted to bring a kit along to keep my head clean shaven. I don’t have a travel kit, since I stay put for the most part. Tempted to just bring the electric one along and call it a day!

Yes. My Barbershop has reopened and I went in to get a haircut. The shop is now carrying razors, brushes, and Taconic shave soap. I picked up a tin of the Bay Rum soap to support their efforts. It’s good soap.

 

[rbscebu]

Yes. My Barbershop has reopened and I went in to get a haircut. The shop is now carrying razors, brushes, and Taconic shave soap. I picked up a tin of the Bay Rum soap to support their efforts. It’s good soap.

Although your support was a noble gesture, being a purchase of equipment used in shaving put you out of this GRUME.

I (hopefully) will not be buying any shaving equipment from my barber. It will be a shave and haircut only. He will however be consuming some of his software while shashaving me and I will be paying him to shave me.

 

[Schnitzel52]

Although your support was a noble gesture, being a purchase of equipment used in shaving put you out of this GRUME.

I (hopefully) will not be buying any shaving equipment from my barber. It will be a shave and haircut only. He will however be consuming some of his software while shashaving me and I will be paying him to shave me.

Well it just got worse.
Since I was “off the hook” I ordered an Omega 10066.
Connaught was out of stock on the 100842.
I 3017d the Ogallala Bay Rum a couple weeks ago and didn’t think I needed to replace it.
I wanted to support the barbershop. At least that’s what I told myself. But, the soap is good. And a new brush on the way. Maybe I can find repentance...

 

[Ridpath]

Well it just got worse.
Since I was “off the hook” I ordered an Omega 10066.
Connaught was out of stock on the 100842.
I 3017d the Ogallala Bay Rum a couple weeks ago and didn’t think I needed to replace it.
I wanted to support the barbershop. At least that’s what I told myself. But, the soap is good. And a new brush on the way. Maybe I can find repentance...

Same here, as soon as I failed out I sort of shrugged and figured ‘why not’.

Another Simpson M7 (synthetic) on the way. They probably don’t need it, but I figured I would do my bit to support the craftsmen at Simpson.