Nice mail call! The bowl looks fantastic as does the razor. I hear you about using only one new thing at a time, but it is very hard when the mail call is so wonderful.
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Sent via Tapatalk from phone
Ya like Dags? My foray into wet shaving and the honorable order of aquisition
- Thread starter Dagwoodz
- Start date
Great mail call! The Dubl Duck is a beauty!
I find it very challenging to do ATG in this area with any of my razors because of the irritation it causes- I usually just let it go at the DFS stage in these areas but once in a while I get lucky and it works out BBS with a little coaxing. Great writeup keep up the good work. I have never tried a TOBS cream maybe I'll start with this one!
- Thread starter
- #24
I find it very challenging to do ATG in this area with any of my razors because of the irritation it causes- I usually just let it go at the DFS stage in these areas but once in a while I get lucky and it works out BBS with a little coaxing. Great writeup keep up the good work. I have never tried a TOBS cream maybe I'll start with this one!
I have very little experience with TOBS as well. Point in fact, this was the first TOBS cream I've tried, which is a blessing and a curse, as the bar for them has been set so high. I have the grapefruit, coconut and a sample of Eton College I've yet to dig into. Thanks for the encouragement...I plan on doing other reviews / comparisons in the future. I enjoy doing them as it's a break from the, albeit enjoyable as it is, routine of shaving daily.
- Thread starter
- #25
Today, being Sunday, was another day for a shave from one of my straights. Today, after daily stropping, the W&B was up to bat. I had spent the past week working on it on the CrOx and strop daily for 50-100 passes. I did the same the night before and did a tree topping test on my leg and it was (quietly, as near wedges are wont to do) taking hair off at over 1/4". The original plan was to go with the Razorock Classic. But last night, I took some time to test lather it up as I hadn't used it in a while. The result was not quite a slick as I was looking for or remember, regardless of how little/much water I added. So I made the decision to go with Mickey Lee Soap Works - The Drunken Goat. I was a little apprehensive about this, as last time I had used this, (from a sample container from Maggards), I couldn't get the water ratio quite right. I concentrated on adding my water little at a time, and was able to get a good stable, slick lather. I love the smell of this soap...carmel and vanilla top notes, with a pleasantly muddy middle note, and ending with a nice musk, very reminiscent of a stout beer we all know and love.
The set up:
Prep: Hot shower, Lucky Tiger Face Scrub
Pre-shave: Shave Secret, Hot towel
Soap: Mickey Lee Soap Works - The Drunken Goat
Razor: Wade & Butcher 6/8" with Walnut Scales
Brush: Edwin Jagger Super Badger
Bowl: Classic Edge Scuttle in Creamware
Post-shave: Alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: The Blades Grimm Smolder Aftershave
View attachment 681163
I was planning on just a two pass shave, WTG and XTG. The first pass went by and the W&B was doing fine, taking off the stubble without a hint of tugging or resistence. XTG, I found myself wanting to buff a little around the mouth, but resisted for the most part. Some of my strokes were a bit hesitant, and the stubble caught them around the moustache area, so a little buffing was required after re-asserting my confidence. Following my second pass with a hot rinse, I checked the results, and they were SAS to CCS. My neck was still fairly stubbly and there were a couple of spots on my chin which were not all that well done. I could feel some very minor irritation around the mouth, but nothing significant like I had used a feather blade. So, I lathered up once again and went for a hybrid ATG pass. (ATG everywhere except for the corners of my mouth/moustache and my neck). No buffing, and a minor nick under my neck. I ran the alum over my face, expecting it to scream at me, but was only given minor feedback around the mouth and slightly more under the chin, but still very minimal. The weeper closed very quickly with the alum. I finished up, used a cold towel to clean up the alum, threw witch hazel on and followed that with the AS.
I checked out how I did after the AS dried, expecting to be DFS on the face and CCS on the neck and was suprised to see that I was BBS everywhere except on my neck, which was DFS. Even 10 hours after my shave, I'm till DFS on my face and CCS on my neck. By far this was my most successful straight shave, and gives me quite a bit of confidence going forward. I possibly will move one of the weekday's to a straight day as well...either Tuesday or Thursday. The angles are getting easier to figure out, and it's a fun challenge to ensure you are confidently stroking with the straight, while maintainig both good angle and pressure.
Coming up over the next few months will most likely be a couple months of restraint, as I have 3 full tubs of soap, 8 samples of soap, 3 brushes, 2 straights, 7 AS samples, 2 full bottles of AS and a bottle of cologne on the way...more than enough to last for the next year. The only thing I may pick up is a large pack of Personna DE blades, once my Personna sampler arrives and I can try some of the med preps and IP's. As a good C.E.C. operative however, I will be doing my part to ensure others indulge as much as possible. Those who can't enable themselves, enable others...
The set up:
Prep: Hot shower, Lucky Tiger Face Scrub
Pre-shave: Shave Secret, Hot towel
Soap: Mickey Lee Soap Works - The Drunken Goat
Razor: Wade & Butcher 6/8" with Walnut Scales
Brush: Edwin Jagger Super Badger
Bowl: Classic Edge Scuttle in Creamware
Post-shave: Alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: The Blades Grimm Smolder Aftershave
View attachment 681163
I was planning on just a two pass shave, WTG and XTG. The first pass went by and the W&B was doing fine, taking off the stubble without a hint of tugging or resistence. XTG, I found myself wanting to buff a little around the mouth, but resisted for the most part. Some of my strokes were a bit hesitant, and the stubble caught them around the moustache area, so a little buffing was required after re-asserting my confidence. Following my second pass with a hot rinse, I checked the results, and they were SAS to CCS. My neck was still fairly stubbly and there were a couple of spots on my chin which were not all that well done. I could feel some very minor irritation around the mouth, but nothing significant like I had used a feather blade. So, I lathered up once again and went for a hybrid ATG pass. (ATG everywhere except for the corners of my mouth/moustache and my neck). No buffing, and a minor nick under my neck. I ran the alum over my face, expecting it to scream at me, but was only given minor feedback around the mouth and slightly more under the chin, but still very minimal. The weeper closed very quickly with the alum. I finished up, used a cold towel to clean up the alum, threw witch hazel on and followed that with the AS.
I checked out how I did after the AS dried, expecting to be DFS on the face and CCS on the neck and was suprised to see that I was BBS everywhere except on my neck, which was DFS. Even 10 hours after my shave, I'm till DFS on my face and CCS on my neck. By far this was my most successful straight shave, and gives me quite a bit of confidence going forward. I possibly will move one of the weekday's to a straight day as well...either Tuesday or Thursday. The angles are getting easier to figure out, and it's a fun challenge to ensure you are confidently stroking with the straight, while maintainig both good angle and pressure.
Coming up over the next few months will most likely be a couple months of restraint, as I have 3 full tubs of soap, 8 samples of soap, 3 brushes, 2 straights, 7 AS samples, 2 full bottles of AS and a bottle of cologne on the way...more than enough to last for the next year. The only thing I may pick up is a large pack of Personna DE blades, once my Personna sampler arrives and I can try some of the med preps and IP's. As a good C.E.C. operative however, I will be doing my part to ensure others indulge as much as possible. Those who can't enable themselves, enable others...
Catching up on your journal - a belated WELCOME! Wow, you really jumped in the deep end head first - love it! BTW, I've used Stone Cottage Shaving Cream before. I'm primarily a soap guy, but I use a cream every now and then. The SC is good cream, and for me, a better performer than TOBS. I tried several SC samples, and the scent that I liked best was the "hesperide" - it's a very nice citrusy/floral scent.
Always good to see a fellow army vet around these parts!
Always good to see a fellow army vet around these parts!
- Thread starter
- #27
Catching up on your journal - a belated WELCOME! Wow, you really jumped in the deep end head first - love it!
Always good to see a fellow army vet around these parts!
Thanks for the welcome! Yeah, I've been told when I get into something I tend to go overboard. But it's all good! My overboardness fits in quite well with the AD's around here.
Likewise, it's great to see other Army vets around here!
Josh, I love the walnut scales on that W&B, very classy. Sounds like you are getting some great shaves in, and looking forward to reading about your progress!
- Thread starter
- #29
They certainly do look nice, though whomever rescaled it didn't line them up quite right, as they are a little off. It matters little as the blade is nice and tight in there and centers when closed. I had to run it quite a bit on the CrOx and strop before it was truly shave ready, but now that it is, boy, what a nice shave it gives!
Very nice shave and setup. I think the more you use the straight the faster your shaves will be without sacrificing the quality of the shave.
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Sent via Tapatalk from phone
- Thread starter
- #31
Thanks Dan! Right now it's going to be a little while, but I have a few irons in the fire IRT to job opportunities back home that at least one of them will pan out. Might be back for Xmas for a couple of weeks...
- Thread starter
- #32
Today was just a weird shave. Before I get into what happened, here's the set up:
Prep: hot shower, Lucky Tiger Face Scrub
Pre-Shave: Shave Secret, hot towel
Soap: Dapper Dragon - Arctic Wyrm
Razor: '55 Super Speed Red Tip
Blade: Astra SP (2)
Bowl: The Shaving Place - Mountain Blue Glazed Lather Bowl
Brush: Excalibur Rustics (Rob Gubber) 24mm Super Silvertip
Post Shave: Alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue
View attachment 681325
I was looking forward to this mornings shave, and using the Dapper Dragon soap again. Last week, the lather was so slick, thick, cushion-ey and just great to use. This week, I don't think I used quite enough product. The lather was weak, thin and not very protective. I went with it though, doctoring the lather where I could, accepting that I would just have to constantly re-apply. I finished a full three passes with the Red Tip, not feeling anything overly irritated. After a hot water rinse, I checked to see how the shave was and was dissapointed with only a CCS. I had enough in the bowl for another pass, debated just taking the shave as is, but like always, said "screw it", and lathered up for a fourth pass, fully expecting about a minute of pain come Alum time. I cleaned up and checked again, and saw I was DFS for the most part with a couple of BBS sections. When I applied the Alum, I was shocked to get next to no feedback. I re-wet the Alum bar and re-applied it...same result. I continued my clean up, cold towel, Witch Hazel and AS.
I'm pretty sure I know what I did wrong with the soap, and that was just not enough product. I am pleased with the quality of the shave, albet in 4 passses. I chalk that up to the lather problems. My technique is obviously improving, so the shave, while initially not as satisfying as I would have liked, ended up just fine. The more I think about it, the more I realize what a good shave it was. Not even a month ago, this type of shave would have left me red faced from irritation and weepers.
Tomorrow I'm going to be using a cream, either TOBS Grapefruit or Cocounut, I did get a Personna sampler pack in today that I'm wanting to get to. (5xea. Personna Med Preps, IPs, and Platinum Chrome's) I'm not sure if I'm going to go with one of those or go to the W&B again tomorrow morning...we'll see how I feel in the morning.
Prep: hot shower, Lucky Tiger Face Scrub
Pre-Shave: Shave Secret, hot towel
Soap: Dapper Dragon - Arctic Wyrm
Razor: '55 Super Speed Red Tip
Blade: Astra SP (2)
Bowl: The Shaving Place - Mountain Blue Glazed Lather Bowl
Brush: Excalibur Rustics (Rob Gubber) 24mm Super Silvertip
Post Shave: Alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue
View attachment 681325
I was looking forward to this mornings shave, and using the Dapper Dragon soap again. Last week, the lather was so slick, thick, cushion-ey and just great to use. This week, I don't think I used quite enough product. The lather was weak, thin and not very protective. I went with it though, doctoring the lather where I could, accepting that I would just have to constantly re-apply. I finished a full three passes with the Red Tip, not feeling anything overly irritated. After a hot water rinse, I checked to see how the shave was and was dissapointed with only a CCS. I had enough in the bowl for another pass, debated just taking the shave as is, but like always, said "screw it", and lathered up for a fourth pass, fully expecting about a minute of pain come Alum time. I cleaned up and checked again, and saw I was DFS for the most part with a couple of BBS sections. When I applied the Alum, I was shocked to get next to no feedback. I re-wet the Alum bar and re-applied it...same result. I continued my clean up, cold towel, Witch Hazel and AS.
I'm pretty sure I know what I did wrong with the soap, and that was just not enough product. I am pleased with the quality of the shave, albet in 4 passses. I chalk that up to the lather problems. My technique is obviously improving, so the shave, while initially not as satisfying as I would have liked, ended up just fine. The more I think about it, the more I realize what a good shave it was. Not even a month ago, this type of shave would have left me red faced from irritation and weepers.
Tomorrow I'm going to be using a cream, either TOBS Grapefruit or Cocounut, I did get a Personna sampler pack in today that I'm wanting to get to. (5xea. Personna Med Preps, IPs, and Platinum Chrome's) I'm not sure if I'm going to go with one of those or go to the W&B again tomorrow morning...we'll see how I feel in the morning.
Catching up the last couple of days, and great shaves Josh! That W&B is a looker. I've had shaves that made me scared to splash on the aftershave afterwards, and about half of them were like yours, without any pain. It's oddly satisfying lol.
Pretty brave to go for that last pass there! I probably would have chickened out. Glad it worked out for you, though.
- Thread starter
- #35
I was lucky with the WTH pass. Sometimes lucky is better than skill though!
- Thread starter
- #36
I was looking forward to today's shave. After the previous day's discussion regarding music, I decided it was time to break out some tunes during the shave. I had everything laid out the night prior, and ready to go. Here's the set up:
Prep: hot shower, Lucky Tiger Face Scrub
Pre-shave: Baume.be Pre-shave Gel, hot towel
Razor: Wade & Butcher 6/8" near wedge
Soap: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Grapefruit Shaving Cream
Brush: Semogue 830 Boar
Bowl: The Shaving Place - Mountain Blue Glazed Lather Bowl
Post Shave: alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Castle Forbes Lime Aftershave Balm
Tunes: Them Crooked Vultures (self titled album)
Song of the Day: Mind Eraser, No Chaser
View attachment 681548
For some reason, and it wasn't the music, I couldn't get into my routine. The lather, for a TOBS product, was being a little more finicky than I was expecting. Then, I forgot my first hot towel pass after applying the preshave gel. By the time I had realized it, I was already most of the way to applying my lather. I pushed on, and the WTG pass went very well, without incident, aside from the lather drying out a bit, which was solved by simply re-applying fresh lather. After that was done, I rinsed the lather off, and applied the hot towel. Touching up the lather a little with some water to ensure it wouldn't dry out this time, I re-applied. For the XTG shave I was having a little issue keeping a good angle on the blade. A little bit of irritation sprung up under the nose. I also caught a mole I have by the right corner of my mouth. This is the first time I've done this with a straight. A little pink lather, but no pain. The rest of the pass went by without a problem. With how the shave had gone to this point, I was debating just throwing the towel in, but after running my hands over a few spots, decided that wouldn't do. So on to pass 3 and ATG, (no fool's pass, though). Again, I was having issues keeping a good angle, though the lack of pressure was saving my skin, (literally), from getting overly irritated. I finished up, and went to grab the alum, which I forgot to take out along with the witch hazel. The alum gave a bit of feedback, but not quite as badly as I thought it might. After rinsing that off and applying the WH and ASB, (I really like the CF Lime ASB...) I checked out how I did. I ended up with a BBS everywhere except for 2 spots, my normal trouble spots (right side of mouth and corners of my chin) which were DFS.
I'm actually pleased with the results, but the shave was more frustrating than I would have liked. The combination of the lather difficulty, lack of routine, angle awareness...all things to work on in the future. Ah well, it could have been worse. I could have walked away with a new surgical beauty mark.
On a positive mark, the music was a nice background to the shave. It wasn't so loud I could not hear the feedback from the razor. Them Crooked Vultures released this album, their first major release, back in 2009/2010. It's very Stone Temple Pilots'esque, sound-wise, and the lead song off the album sets the tone very well. In retrospect, it fit my mood upon getting out of bed perfectly.
Prep: hot shower, Lucky Tiger Face Scrub
Pre-shave: Baume.be Pre-shave Gel, hot towel
Razor: Wade & Butcher 6/8" near wedge
Soap: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Grapefruit Shaving Cream
Brush: Semogue 830 Boar
Bowl: The Shaving Place - Mountain Blue Glazed Lather Bowl
Post Shave: alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Castle Forbes Lime Aftershave Balm
Tunes: Them Crooked Vultures (self titled album)
Song of the Day: Mind Eraser, No Chaser
View attachment 681548
For some reason, and it wasn't the music, I couldn't get into my routine. The lather, for a TOBS product, was being a little more finicky than I was expecting. Then, I forgot my first hot towel pass after applying the preshave gel. By the time I had realized it, I was already most of the way to applying my lather. I pushed on, and the WTG pass went very well, without incident, aside from the lather drying out a bit, which was solved by simply re-applying fresh lather. After that was done, I rinsed the lather off, and applied the hot towel. Touching up the lather a little with some water to ensure it wouldn't dry out this time, I re-applied. For the XTG shave I was having a little issue keeping a good angle on the blade. A little bit of irritation sprung up under the nose. I also caught a mole I have by the right corner of my mouth. This is the first time I've done this with a straight. A little pink lather, but no pain. The rest of the pass went by without a problem. With how the shave had gone to this point, I was debating just throwing the towel in, but after running my hands over a few spots, decided that wouldn't do. So on to pass 3 and ATG, (no fool's pass, though). Again, I was having issues keeping a good angle, though the lack of pressure was saving my skin, (literally), from getting overly irritated. I finished up, and went to grab the alum, which I forgot to take out along with the witch hazel. The alum gave a bit of feedback, but not quite as badly as I thought it might. After rinsing that off and applying the WH and ASB, (I really like the CF Lime ASB...) I checked out how I did. I ended up with a BBS everywhere except for 2 spots, my normal trouble spots (right side of mouth and corners of my chin) which were DFS.
I'm actually pleased with the results, but the shave was more frustrating than I would have liked. The combination of the lather difficulty, lack of routine, angle awareness...all things to work on in the future. Ah well, it could have been worse. I could have walked away with a new surgical beauty mark.
On a positive mark, the music was a nice background to the shave. It wasn't so loud I could not hear the feedback from the razor. Them Crooked Vultures released this album, their first major release, back in 2009/2010. It's very Stone Temple Pilots'esque, sound-wise, and the lead song off the album sets the tone very well. In retrospect, it fit my mood upon getting out of bed perfectly.
Ah yes - the "discombobulutated shave" 
Always good to see the positive after a frustrating shave. That razor makes me want to get working on my W&B near wedge. It's a 5/8 but similar to yours in shape. It's got some nice etching on the face, but the pitting is so prevalent that I'm going to end up removing it.
- Thread starter
- #39
It took a little while to get it to where it was shaving decently. It would only tree top just above the skin when I recieved it, and, not having any stones out here, or at the time film, it was a lot of CrOx, linen, and stropping to get it to where it is now. Once I get back stateside, I plan on having it shipped out to a honemeister to have the bevel reset (one side has a HUGE, and uneven bevel) and get it honed right. For the time being though it's pretty expeditious about taking the stubble off without complaining. The one tricky thing about it is it will sucktion to your face if you get the angle too shallow. It scared me the first time it did it as I thought I had dug into my face, but it was just the blade and cream creating a mini vaccum seal.
I've had that vacuum seal happen before, usually with some of my smaller blades. Glad to hear you were able to get a good result, even if the road wasn't as smooth as you would have liked.
