SOCTOBER 2021

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The SOC boar is not my favorite boar by any means but it's still a very good brush.

It's been a long time since I used a boar. (For no good reason.) I greatly enjoyed today's boar choice.

Love the SOC handle. It's one of the very best.

SOCTOBER 2021 - I'm in with my SOC(s) exclusively in SOCTOBER
"SOCool"
1) JAHE
2) hairless wonder
3) Rhody
4)TBoner
5) bjm

SOCTOBER 2021 - I'm in every now and then (SOCs in rotation with other brushes)
"SOCially Acceptable"
1) Multum in parvo
2) Contact_vs_Feedback
3) Atlantic59 (SOC Finest Mistura | SOC Finest Badger)
4) linty1
5) Neilzebub
6) TAARHEEL_85
7) FoolishMortal (SOC Taj Boar)
8) Tanuki (SOC boars, cherry and ash(?))
9) Abz88 (SOC Taj Boar)
10) Jim@Chan Eil Whiskers

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[TBoner]

No time for a pic today.

TSN LE tortoise SOC silvertip
Valobra tallowate soap
Long-Handled Gillette Adustable
Perma-Sharp blade
Bigelow Dr. Galen Tonic
Houbigant Duc de Vervins Extreme

 

[Contact_vs_Feedback]

My first Soctober entry.

Using the Feather Artist Club Kamisori razor and enjoying the shaves. I gave the boar brushes their quarterly deep cleaning and pampering session a few days ago.

Result is a spectacular lather from a genuine lather hog - SOC Boar (no pun intended), so much that I took the picture of just the lather for today's SOTD.



The soap also worked exceeding well, a truly terrific soap and it's fan following is justified (at least for me).

Arko

 

[JAHE]

SOTD #245/2021
03-10-2021

>> SOCTOBER / OCtober <<

Preshave: shower, frigid tap water
Brush: Semogue Owners Club Mistura Taj
Soap: Stirling Soap ~ Deep Blue Sea
Razor: Razorock SLOC
Blade: Gillette Platinum (1)
Post shave: frigid tap water, Stirling Soap Deep Blue Sea AS & psb

Nothing special to report - just a dramafree and smooth shave. Did I already mention I love the Mistura...?

Happy SOCTOBER SUNDAY, y'all!

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Wonderful knot and brush.

 

[TBoner]

2-band Finest in Cherry for me today. I lucked into this thing through the thread about a ridiculous deal on Amazon - $29. Worth 4x that. An unbelievably good brush. I’ll pay full price for a backup with pleasure and still feel like I’m getting a screaming deal.

 

[JAHE]

2-band Finest in Cherry for me today. I lucked into this thing through the thread about a ridiculous deal on Amazon - $29. Worth 4x that. An unbelievably good brush. I’ll pay full price for a backup with pleasure and still feel like I’m getting a screaming deal.

Wow. Now that was a stunning deal. One never sees this brush below 55 Euro on our side of the pond (if on sale). It's absolutely worth the price, though.

 

[Tanuki]

Yesterday's shave, the first step to breaking in my ash handle SOC boar. It is a bit big for me at 25mm diameter.
I used it for prep and pass 1, then went with my experienced Semogue 1250 for the detailed shaving.

 

[hairless wonder]

Last night, I had shave #2 with blade #2 of the Polisilver Stainless Steel blades. The blade was held in place with a Fendrihan Kingston razor head on a West Coast Shaving 79BR handle.

I used Tabac (Tallow) shaving soap for the first time ever. I made a much better lather but still may have added too much water. In any case, the lather was still slick and provided pretty good cushion. I managed to get an irritation free BBS shave.

Prior to the shave, I showered with cold water and also used cold water to soak my Semogue Owners Club cherry wood handle finest badger brush. Additionally, I poured some cold tap water on top of the soap. I figured to bloom the soap a little bit (not quite as much as last time, but still a little bit of blooming). It was better this time, but I think I may have bloomed it too much, still. I'll cut back even more on the bloom water next time.

After the bloom water turned filmy with soap, I squeezed my brush dry, picked up the soap puck in one hand, and then swirled the brush across the top of the puck for a minute. I then set down my brush and dumped the bloom water from my shaving bowl into an empty yogurt cup. Next, I scooped up all the protolather still on the puck and transferred it to the shaving bowl where I began to swirl my brush while gradually adding some of the bloom water (along with more cold tap water) to make my lather. I added a smidge too much water, but the Tabac just drank up all the extra water, as before. When my lather was good to go, I applied a little of the bloom water to my face by hand before each lather pass.

I did my usual two pass (WTG and ATG) shave and buffed my trouble areas. I wound up feeling the blade a little less than with the last shave, but it was still a little more than with my prior shaves (with both my TOBS (Sandalwood) and Captain's Choice (Venture) soaps and my Proraso (blue) cream). Still the shave was really smooth.

I cleaned up my shave with my usual alum block pass before washing it off and applying aftershave splash (Stirling Spice) and aftershave balm (Nivea Men Sensitive Soothing Post Shave Balm). Again, I felt no real sting from the alum block and only the barest hint of a sting from the alcohol in the splash.

I'm pretty sure that once my lather is dialed in, I can get better shaves with this blade--even as it pushes 30 shaves. Also, I have decided to use Tabac for all of my October shaves. It's just too enjoyable not to use all month!

All in all, I would give this shave a 98/100.

 

[Tanuki]

Today's shave

The SOC is still apprenticing. I fed it some Murphy&McNeil Ouroboros. It ate it all. Rinsed the sorry remains from the bristles. I tried RazoRock 'For Chicago' and, voila, instant lather. Strange. For actual shaving, I applied a tallow Tabac stick and used a black badger plus a Wade & Butcher/Gillette Cavalier/Platinum(1) combo. Nice shave.

 

[Multum in parvo]

Tabac and the Mistura work like a dream together

 

[linty1]

Fatip lo Storto Originale (aka FOCS)
Gillette 7 O'Clock SharpEdge (yellow)
Fine Platinum
SOC 2-Band Finest

What a great shave today! Of my remaining badger brushes, the SOC is hands-down my favorite. I still have a Shavemac Beagle new in the box so the final ranking is not complete. The SOC just felt awesome from the first pass to the last. For those of you fortunate enough to grab one recently for the ridiculously low sale price I say CONGRATULATIONS!

I anticipate being pretty busy for the next few weeks and won't be able to submit SOTD pics so here's my SOC lineup for the month...

View attachment 1337895

I had considered using the badger exclusively, but the boars kept calling out to me. It looks like some sort of rotation will be happening after all. Be well and stay safe...

Wow looking how broken in those brushes are! Lovely.

 

[JAHE]

No shave today - but the SOC boar already is queued for Tallow Tabac Tuesday

 

[bjm]

Wow looking how broken in those brushes are! Lovely.

Thank you. It took a while to get there, but daily palm-lathers with a grated bar of Ivory bath soap helped them along. They are now really soft with very little backbone and I have to remind myself to load a little longer for a three-pass shave but they perform really well. Some people describe them as being floppy but I just ensure the bristles are damp and not dripping wet.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Mistura. Wow!

 

[TBoner]

SOC Boar in ash today with Captain Fawcett Scapicchio soap. The boar is coming along but still a ways from fully broken in.

 

[Sinnbad11]

Last night's shave,
SOC Butterscotch, I will be using this brush for the first and last week of the month.
This boar brush is not yet broken in completely, combined with the fact that I moved and have new, harder water means that it devoured some clown fruit last night. In the end I had barely enough lather for three passes but I was a bit excessive in application with pass one. Still, it resulted in a very pleasant shave.

 

[FoolishMortal]

SOTD

• FOCS Chrome - OCtober
• Nacet (1)
• Tallowbac - Tabactober
• SOC Taj Boar - SOCtober
• WH w/menthol, LTFT
• Stirling Orange Chill ASB
• Vintage Avon Bay Rum AS

Four days ago, I used a GSB in the Rockwell 6S; the shave was sublime. Feeling emboldened, I used the GSB for my first OCtober shave in my FOCS; the shave was a bloody mess (literally and figuratively).

I waited a few days to let things heal, then shaved with a fresh Nacet today; all the other kit was the same. As expected, the Nacet behaved as a blade should. It was efficient, present, but not bitey. One pass (just to be conservative) and I was out the door with SAS+.

So. Much. Better.

Tomorrow will see a return to my usual two-passes-with-touch-up routine, using my preferred-for-a-reason Nacet.

Onward!

 

[Tanuki]

I used my ash SOC boar for the prep and full shave tonight. Once again, it utterly ate the Murphy&McNeil Ouroboros as I put the measly lather on my stubble. I swapped to RazoRock For Chicago to get lather for prep. Tabac stick for the shave required two heavy applications. Even with 3 or 4 times as much Tabac as I usually would need, the lather was breaking down quickly.

So, much the same as yesterday.

Big boar = extended break in.

 

[JAHE]

Why don't you clip off the single black hair?