The adventures of a new shaver first wet shave feb 10, 2018

[apriliamille]

Happy Easter
gsb blade again
used the barrister and mann reserve spice sample with a wolf whisker knot brush
i took some out of the sample jar and rubbed it into my slightly wet face.
took the brush and slowly painted in water until i could see through it and then started the splaying
that darned stuff exploded

here is the crazy thing. i did 4 passes. yes 4! but i was sissy with the passes. it was for science.
rubbing the soap into my skin from the sample jar with no brush load i wanted to see how many passes i could get with no loading of the brush.
3 solid soap passes. the 4th i squeezed out the soap from the brush and did a very timid 4th pass. that stuff is interesting

 

[apriliamille]

Birthday mail call

SV opuntia soap and AS
T+S Boreal soap
Tiki volcano
CF Panda

 

[DocHoliday0831]

Nice mail call! I have the CFG Civet and the opuntia


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[apriliamille]

Thank you

 

[apriliamille]

well had several shaves this week just didnt bother to type everytime about it. Monday was my birthday and i opened up my asd2 and used it. ive now used my whole DE inventory now and i love them all but if i was to rank them it would probably be in this order. Rocnel, Timeless, Charcoal, ASD2 and then the Viking. I am going to try and get the l1 plate for the charcoal and use it instead of the l2 and it might then swap spots with the timeless. im not liking aggressive razors i guess.

I have finally used the almighty Kai blade for the first time and im not peachy about it. i think im fortunate because of all the blades i have used outside of the vikings blade one i have had rather good success with all of them. But the Kai, i dont see what it is going to bring to my shaves for the price that i am seeing exceed feather blade prices. Besides the fact they are blank with no logos on the blade how would i ever know if i have a counterfeit.

so far i think my preference of blades if i was to choose would be
Feather
Polsilver
Personna Israeli redbox
GSB
Kai

I still have a Nacet to try yet though. After i try a Nacet for a few shaves im going to go to the Rocnel Elite and cycle through all the blades again on that one, then go through each razor with each blade. Up untill now i have randomly picked a razor for a few shaves in a row then swap.

 

[DocHoliday0831]

Have you tried Astra SP blades yet?


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[apriliamille]

Have you tried Astra SP blades yet?


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Oh I forgot I got a few of those will try after nacet

 

[apriliamille]

Well nacet is out after 1 shave for me it's on level with Vikings blade razor blades bloody mess. haven't had this experience since week one. after I heal for a few days ill try astra

 

[apriliamille]

Forgot to post my mail call from other day
Charcoal Goods aluminum brush with cashmere knot, level 1 baseplate, stand and Epsilon blue which I heard is an homage/remake vif Floid blue

I have another box I get yesterday still to ooen

 

[apriliamille]

I'll try Astra blade next Friday as I only try new to me blades on Friday so I can recover over the weekend.

My Sunday church shave was

WK Lav Sublime
ASD2 with new polsilver
Thayers that has lime and lavender essential oil

Followed by Epsilon blue AS

 

[apriliamille]

Mail call
B+M Reserve Cool to go with Epsilon Blue Med

And the Boellis Panama 1924 in the ceramic. I love Panama the best and have the brick version so I added the ceramic

It came in a two bundle bubble wrap and was very protected

 

[apriliamille]

Mail call. Panna crema nuavia nera
It smells nice first lather of it with no bloom was a success

 

[apriliamille]

Broke my stubbornness and loaded up the nacet in the asd2 and tried it again with nuavia soap. Much better results this time after having a shave on the blade already.

I'm really liking the nuavia but I don't think it will beat my Boellis for number one in my den. I think the Boellis cost is less and slightly ahead in performance

 

[apriliamille]

Have you tried Astra SP blades yet?


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tried the astra yesterday. it is alright. didnt cause weepers but i dont think it cut as good as some of the higher dollar blades

 

[DocHoliday0831]

tried the astra yesterday. it is alright. didnt cause weepers but i dont think it cut as good as some of the higher dollar blades

They work really well for me in a really aggressive razor. They are much much milder than some others. GSB is my favorite DE blade by far.



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[apriliamille]

Had a mail call but forgot to take a pic

Tallow and steel IPA and Himalaya

Panda Crema Verde

IPA has a really interesting scent I think polar at first I didn't like it but after lathering I actually enjoyed the scent

 

[apriliamille]

For the next couple of days i am going to ponder my best lists. that way in a year i can try and compare what i think are the best compared to what i think the best are after 2 months of wet shaving

 

[apriliamille]

in regards to razors and blades i have come to the following conclusion so far

Rocnel for me works best with a feather blade. i have really no complaints about any blades that are used as they all seem to work good. the polsilver is the second best blade i think for the Rocnel. these blades give the closest shave.
the Rocnel is also the razor i have used the most and have tried all my blades in it. its my "Darling Razor" if that makes sense. its kind of rare and hard to get and is a pure pleasure and treat to admire. The feather blade can almost give me a 2 day shave

the timeless .69 scallop is my second most used razor. so far the blades i have used in it are the feather and the personna red box Israeli blade. i have only 1 shave on the personna so im going to give a few more shaves on it then revisit the feather to compare. one observation was with the personna, i had no real use to do two days in a row shaves as there was not much beard to bother with.

The Charcoal Goods right now is kind of a hangar queen. i had to try it but now it sits and waits for some occasion to celebrate like the AS-D2 was opened for my birthday on April 2. I am concerned that it might not get used and end up like the AS-D2. I wanted it just like I wanted the Rocnel. something that is not normal. esoteric might be the word.

The AS-D2 was opened for my birthday and has been pretty much used 3 or so times. Do to my baby soft skin, i "break in" a new blade with an AS-D2 for one shave then pretty much transfer it to what ever razor i am going to use that week. The AS-D2 in my opinion is a very "safe" razor. i am not an expert but i would recommend the AS-D2 to anyone who wants to explore DE shaving and can afford it and not have a bad experience to start.

For curiosity i re visited the Vulcan from my very first DE shaving experience a week or so ago. and there were weepers and not a comfortable shave and not a good shave experience. If someone is serious about doing DE shaving go straight for the AS-D2 and do not look back when starting out.

With my Radio Control and watch hobby, I can now add DE shaving to the age old experiences i have gained from the first 2 hobbies. Cost matters for your pleasure. Buy right the first time and save money or buy twice when trying to save money when starting.

 

[apriliamille]

Mail call. Tatara Masamune

 

[apriliamille]

Local shop purchase. They merged the two stores into one and had 25% off caties bubbles and buy one get one 50%. Off barrister and Mann, fine, and razorock. Good score today