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SOTD "FREE WEEK" February 10th - February 16th, 2020

Love this soap base, love the scent and love the brush 😊

A wonderful start of the weekend 😉

Soap : Nantahala - Black Mountain / Murphy and McNeil
Sotd : 15-02-2020
Razor : Rex – Ambassador
Blade : Gillette Silver Blue (5)
Brush : Omega - EVO Silvertip fibre - Special Veteran
Aftershave : Nantahala - Black Mountain / Murphy and McNeil
Eau de Toilette : Nantahala - Black Mountain / Murphy and McNeil
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Saturday
Prep: Warm Shower-Stirling Sandpiper
Soap: Bulgari Man in Black (2nd Puck)
Razor: Vintage Gillette NEW Long Comb
Blade: Vintage Gillette “Spoiler” Super Stainless (5)
Brush: RazoRock/Zenith Chubby Extra Silvertip-21mmx56mm
Aftershave: Bulgari Man in Black EdT

WTG-XTG-ATG (adjusted angles for my beard)

Bulgari Man in Black today. 20 seconds to load the RazoRock/Zenith Chubby Extra Silvertip brush. Easy, thick, slick, lather. Gillette “Spoiler” SS in the Gillette NEW Long Comb. Excellent smooth, close, shave. I finished with Bulgari Man in Black EdT.

Bob


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Razor: Viking Chieftain TTO
Prep: Liquid hand face soap
Brush: Omega 11126
Blade: Viking Mild (6th and final shave with it. Blade left noticeable stubble, and felt dull) On to blade #2.
Soap: Proraso Red (using rain water)
A/S : Aqua Velva Musk
Rating: 8.0 Went from BBs to CCS in three shaves worn out blade replaced for tomorrow's shave.
 
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SOTD 02/15/20

The mantra in the 30 Day Concentration (30DC) thread at The Shave Den (TSD) is “technique trumps tools”. My concentration this month has been the daily use of MWF. After discovering my grail razor (LaResche 51) and experiencing 7 consecutive, bloodless, irritation-free BBS shaves, I’ve also noticed that my face and dome surfaces appear shiny, soft and well-hydrated. Two shaves with the LaResche 77 yielded much the same result albeit with some minimal heat. So I asked myself, if soap used is part of our technique, how much of my shave results should I attribute to the daily use of my favorite soap?

To test this theory I decided to use my 115 yr old Gillette Single Ring. This old girl’s nickname is “The Weeper Maker”. She always delivers a very close shave, but I’ve never escaped without at least one weeper. In order to maintain at least the semblance of consistency, I loaded the same blade I’ve been using, a Wizamet Super Iridium, a relatively sharp and smooth blade from my remaining stash of 200 original Polish blades.

The Viking Silvertip Badger brush generated its usual thick MWF paste. This paste was applied to the shaving surfaces and then face and head lathered with sufficient amounts of warm water over the prior scrub of the those surfaces with PAA’s Cube Preshave Soap.

I then picked up “The Weeper Maker” and launched into the first WTG pass. She sang through that first whisker reduction with aplomb. A careful examination afterwards revealed no blood on either face or noggin. I relathered and completed my second XTG pass with no blood and some minimal roughness in the usual spots - the Adam’s Apple and the middle of the back of my head.

Now I asked myself, should I tempt fate? I decided to only lather the two rough spots for some ATG buffing. I proceeded gently and carefully to bloodlessly eliminate the roughness. A check with the alum block upon completion yielded some slight stinging in the back of the head and no irritation at all around the troublesome Adam’s Apple! Unbelievable! More power to MWF! I feel clean, smooth and refreshed!

RAZOR: Gillette Single Ring 1905 Vintage
BLADE: Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Preshave Cube Soap
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Fine Accoutrements Lavender Pour Homme AS Splash
 
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Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
View attachment 1063262
SOTD 02/15/20

The mantra in the 30 Day Concentration (30DC) thread at The Shave Den (TSD) is “technique trumps tools”. My concentration this month has been the daily use of MWF. After discovering my grail razor (LaResche 51) and experiencing 7 consecutive, bloodless, irritation-free BBS shaves, I’ve also noticed that my face and dome surfaces appear shiny, soft and well-hydrated. Two shaves with the LaResche 77 yielded much the same result albeit with some minimal heat. So I asked myself, if soap used is part of our technique, how much of my shave results should I attribute to the daily use of my favorite soap?

To test this theory I decided to use my 115 yr old Gillette Single Ring. This old girl’s nickname is “The Weeper Maker”. She always delivers a very close shave, but I’ve never escaped without at least one weeper. In order to maintain at least the semblance of consistency, I loaded the same blade I’ve been using, a Wizamet Super Iridium, a relatively sharp and smooth blade from my remaining stash of 200 original Polish blades.

The Viking Silvertip Badger brush generated its usual thick MWF paste. This paste was applied to the shaving surfaces and then face and head lathered with sufficient amounts of warm water over the prior scrub of the those surfaces with PAA’s Cube Preshave Soap.

I then picked up “The Weeper Maker” and launched into the first WTG pass. She sang through that first whisker reduction with aplomb. A careful examination afterwards revealed no blood on either face or noggin. I relathered and completed my second XTG pass with no blood and some minimal roughness in the usual spots - the Adam’s Apple and the middle of the back of my head.

Now I asked myself, should I tempt fate? I decided to only lather the two rough spots for some ATG buffing. I proceeded gently and carefully to bloodlessly eliminate the roughness. A check with the alum block upon completion yielded some slight stinging in the back of the head and no irritation at all around the troublesome Adam’s Apple! Unbelievable! More power to MWF! I feel clean, smooth and refreshed!

RAZOR: Gillette Single Ring 1905 Vintage
BLADE: Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Preshave Cube Soap
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Fine Accoutrements Lavender Pour Homme AS Splash
Great experiment on lather properties.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
SOTD, Sat Feb 15th 2020

Razor: Razorock game changer .84 - Mfg 2018>
Blade : Personna red (6)
Soap : Gillette Pure cream
Brush: Yaqi Tuxedo knot 24 mm "Sagrada Familia" named after famous Barcelona Cathedral in Spain.
Pre shave: Brush wash my face with CeraVe hand bar soap +a dollop of clear aloe Vera gel on beard area.
Prep: Cold water rinse after each pass of 3.
Post Shave: Alum + cold water rinse.
Post Shave : Fine fresh Vetiver with witch Hazel + Nivea Men balm.
Results : CCS,DFS,BBS + Alum indicated no irritation + no weepers = :a17:
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Have some great shaves!
 
Razor: Eversharp Eagle double edged razor
Blade: Astra Superior Stainless
Brush: Supply Silvertip Synthetic
Pre-Shave: Proraso White
Lather: Dr. Jon's Black Label
Aftershave: Gillette Series Cool Wave
Additional Care:
Thayers Facial Tonic Witch Hazel Unscented
Pinaud Finest powder
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BRUSH: Thater #00
SOAP: Klar, original
RAZOR: Muhle R89 (Polsilver)
AS: Proraso green splash
COMMENT: the scents of Klar original and Proraso green splash are actually very compatible. I am re-discovering the pleasure of DE shaving, while I am trying to find time to hone my straight razors.

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Saturday, 2/15:

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Razor - Above the Tie Atlas, R1 plate
Blade - Voskhod
Brush - Craving Shaving "Black Gold" 26mm Fan Fiction 2-band badger/synthetic hybrid fan
Soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
A/S - Brickell toner & Brickell unscented balm

A second consecutive shave with noticeable irritation. Both happened to be with MWF, but I'm pretty certain it's not the soap. For one, I've used it before with great results, and second, I'm pretty certain I already know what's caused the irritation both times. Today was most certainly brush burn. Despite the Fan Fiction knot being half synthetic-half 2-band, it is a very scritchy brush. I've heard it breaks in and softens up over time, but this being only its second use, it's still very scratchy. I should've bowl lathered with it, but I face lathered instead, and after working Mitchell's into a nice thick lather, I could already feel the irritation under the lather. The first several strokes with the ATT confirmed this was going to be a tender shave, and it was. By the pickups, the razor strokes were plainly uncomfortable. Now I know, unless this brush really does break in, this will have to be a bowl-only brush, because boy was that unpleasant.

The positives were that the brush is very good at loading and generating a lather quickly, and it paints very well. I loaded a more appropriate amount of Mitchell's this time, so I got the lather I wanted without the fuss of yesterday's lather explosion. And the Voskhod actually performed reasonably well in the ATT. Same sort of mild drag as the Shark, so I think Astras will be my go-to blade in this razor, but it still did fine. And despite the irritation, which is only starting to diminish now some three hours later, the shave was incredibly close and there actually was hardly any redness. Gotta take the bad with the good sometimes. I may actually skip a shave tomorrow to give my face a chance to fully recover. At the very least, I'll probably be bowl lathering for the next few shaves.
 
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