Shave of the day?

Pre shave: hot shower followed by prasoso pre shave cream
Soap: L'Occtaine Cade soap
Brush: Omega Boars Hair
Razor: !948-1950 Gillette Aristocrat
Blade: Dorco ST-301
Aftershave Balm: The Gentleman's Reserve Standard

So I gave my face a bit of a break, and it is feeling much better. I tossed the Feather and have sworn them off. The Aristocrat is a fairly aggressive razor, or at least of the 4 razors I own, and even with the mild shaving Dorco blades you can feel the difference in how it shaves. I went with my normal 4 pass shave today, and was able to give a bit of a touch up and buffing. The end result silky smooth shave no burning, no weepers and no blood at all. Tomorrow I will be going to the 1938-1941 Gillette Tech again, but I will be using the exact same blade that is in the Aristocrat. I want to see just how mild the tech is compared to the Aristocrat.
 
I tried a Shark chrome last night for the first time in my Merkur. Had a little more trouble cutting through my beard than with my Personnas, but much more forgiving, and very smooth. I liked it. Anyway, they package these with little globs of adhesive holding the blade to the wrapper. they're in an unsupported area of the blade so they shouldn't affect the quality of the shave, but they're hard to completely remove. Should I worry about them from a sanitary perspective?
 
Have no worry about the glue dots. Most blades have them. They keep the blade centered in the wrapper. Without them, the sharpened edges of the blade may rub on the folded-over wrapper and dull the blade. Keep in mind as you unwrap a blade not to drag the edge on the wrapper.

Otherwise, don't worry about the glue dots or try to remove them.
 
this is wht im running tonight as i just finished honing it and the epoxy is set on the matching brush
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its wedge ground
honed with one layer to tape to not mar the spine and is honed to 16k grit (the honed edge in most places is tween .005 and .010 tall )

on the SS razors i found that makig the total edge angle a bit thicker then a HC blade makes for a better shave and off the top of my head the spine is liek .220 and the grind hight is about 6/8

its the nicest SS razor shave to date (will test a HC on next rotation to see how they stand )
 
Nice.., real nice!!
I just can't see myself holding a blade like that to my own throat..., I can see all the blood going down the shower now, LOL!!
I am intrigued by straight razors, but not brave enough to try it:)
Maybe I will try a professional barber one day, but then I can not picture me allowing someone else to hold a blade to my throat either. If I don't trust myself, it is going to be hard to give someone else the go ahead with a blade, LOL!!
But seriously, I will try it- one day, but not by my own hand, at least not the first time, LOL!!
 
Wash face with hot water and palmolive soap while Tweezerman brush soaks in the water.
Queen Charlotte Key Lime cream face lathered, seems to work with with QC.
Used a brand new Personna Speed 3 razor, last of the pack I had purchased at the dollar store some time ago.
I don't use aftershave, the wife is sensitive about scents, just rinsed my face off with warm water.
I got a very comfortable shave, no irritation at all.
Nothing expensive or exotic about this setup.
 
Shower, then some almost unbearably hot face flannel:eek:

Vulfix Sicilian Limes Cream. Hadn't used this for months, it has a really nice citrus zing to it but I've always been a bit disappointed by the lather.It whips up like meringue but I've found it drying.Today I just quickly whipped it up in the mug and left it more watery.MUCH BETTER result:thumbup: wonder if this applies to other creams too??

Vulfix Badger brush

Merkur Traveller

Feather

Cold water then face moisturizer. Excellent result, super close and no nicks or irritation.I'm going to use this hot flannel technique again.
 
Pre Shave: hot shower, lather with Williams Mug Soap, and Prasoso preshave with hot towel
Soap: L'Occtaine Cade soap
Brush: Omega Boars Hair
Blade: Dorco 301-ST
Razor: 1949 Gillette Rocket, EJ89L (yes 2 razors)
After Shave: The Gentleman's Refinery After Shave Blam

In my never ending quest for the perfect shave and it being a beautiful Sunday morning I decided to give my normal routine a bit of a twist. I started out with the normal hot shower, but I decided to wash my face with some Williams Mug soap that I have around just for that vintage sent, its what my father used. Will wshing my face with the Mug soap I thought what the heck and grabbed a cheap brush I had bought for camping and did a full lather and let it sit till I had finished my shower. Then I dried off wet my face with hot water and applied the Prasoso preshave and wrapped my lower face with a hot terry towel while I made my lather. Once I had my lather ready I washed off the preshave with hot water and lathered up.
I started my shave with my Rocket with a Dorco 301-st blade in it and it didn't feel like it was doing anything, I couldn't even hear it cutting:confused: I took a couple more swipes and gave it a rinse. Low and behold it was cutting, this was going to be a good shave. I did my normal S-N, opposing angle, N-S, and ATG passed with the Rocket. Rinsed and gave a feel.It was close but there was room for improvement. The Rocket seems a little less aggressive with the Dorco blade in it, so I reached for the EJ and did a N-S blade buffing, followed with touch ups in the hard to get spots along my jaw line, then hit my face up with a cold rinse and my balm. What I ended up with is the best irritation free shave I have had next to the one time I paid for a straight razor shave while I was in the army. I use to think I was getting BBS, but it must have just been a DFS. I was so impressed that I did the cotton ball test and left no fuzz behind.

I wont go through this everyday, it was nearly an hour from start to finish, but I will do it for those special occasions like the day after coming home from a 3-5 day hike where you just don't shave or you just do a pass or two to keep the beard in check.
OK now I am off to make a knife in celebration:D

Once the Slim gets here I wont have to use more then one razor
 
Pre Shave: hot shower and Prasoso preshave with hot towel
Soap: L'Occtaine Cade soap
Brush: Plisson Pure Badger brush
Blade: Dorco 301-ST
Razor: H3 Gillette Slim Adjustable
After Shave: The Gentleman's Refinery After Shave Balm


So I received my Slim Adjustable today, gave it a quick clean and polish, then a disinfectant bath before shaving with it. I should have really taken pictures of it while it was all cleaned up instead of after shaving wit it:o

I have borrowed a badger brush from a friend to see if I would like it or not, and aside from the smell I like this brush. It is a little more scrubby then my broken in boars hair brush, but it is softer at the same time. It also makes a great lather.:thumbup:

While I know that Dorco blades are the redheaded step child of the shaving world, I like them enough to buy 100 of them so thats what I will be using for a bit. And even though I have 100 of them I don't keep a blade in each of my razors, I just move the one I have in use between razors. Its not that I am cheap, but I that I have 6 razors now and I tend to only use 3 of them with any regularity. Every now and them I throw the blade in the Aristocrat or the Tech, but they usually just sit on the shelf.

SO I took the blade I had been using and put it in the Slim and started my pre shave prep with out thinking that this would be the 7th shave on that blade. I finished my prep and set the Slim on 4 for that first pass. It slid across my face mowing down whiskers like they weren't even there, pass two more of the same thing, but I backed the adjustment down to 3 for my neck as it is the one place that I get some irritation. On pass three I turned the razor up to 5 for my cheeks and jaw line, back down to 3 for my neck chin and under my nose. Pass four which is against the grain for me was done at 3, and I finished up with a blade buffing set at 2, followed by a touch up on my tough areas.

When I was done I had a bit of irritation, but I realized that I had just put 7 shaves on a blade, I normally change out after 5 so I guess that I can't blame the razor for it, just my own excitement. Despite the mild irritation I still got a great shave, and with a new blade things should be problem and irritation free. I think I may have found the razor that does it all for me, but I am not going to be getting rid of any of the others, in fact I am building a nice little shaving cabinet for them, and my brushes. Tomorrow I am buying two badger brushes and I am going to offer to buy the one I borrowed so I need a nice place to keep everything.

The new razor
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Preshave:Hot water face wash, Proraso Preshave Cream
Brush: Frendrihan Classic Super Badger
Soap: Col. Ichabod Conk Bay Rum
Razor: H3 Gillette Slim Adjustable
Blade: Dorco ST-301
Aftershave: Musgo Real Aftershave Balm

I took a shower late last night so I didn't take one this morning before shaving, and all of my face clothes are in the wash, so I was stuck just hand washing my face with hot water. After giving my face a good soaking with hot water I applied a light coat of the Proraso Preshave cream. While I was washing and soaking my face I had filled up my shaving bowl with hot water and but a little bit on top of my soap to let both my new brush and soap soak for a bit.

With the preshave applied and the brush and soap having soaked for about 5 minutes, it was time to make some lather. I poured the water from the tip of the soap into my bowl and have the brush a light shake and squeeze, then lightly wiped the top of the soap 12 times and began to make my lather. With my old boar bristle brush the 12 light wipes wouldn't have even made anything close to a lather but this new super badger turned that little bit of soap into half a bowl of rich luxurious lather.

With my lather made it was time to start the shave. I set my slim to 3 for the first pass, north to south, rinsed and re-lathered for each pass, and bumped the adjustment up one click with each pass. First north to south, then diagonally from ear to chin, followed by a diagonal in the opposite direction. Pass 4 for my beard is east to west, and the last is a blade buff going south to north. I don't bump up the adjustment for the blade buff I leave it at 6 for that.

I finished up with a cold water rinse leaving my face damp and applied the Musgo Real Aftershave Balm. The end result is a DFS, not BBS, but real close. No irritation nicks or weepers, but the real test will be later when I head out to pay some bills. I was chasing my BBS shave today and that has been leaving my with some weather related irritation not long after stepping into the cold. With the little bit of beeswax in the Musgo I am hoping I can continue to chase BBS shaves with out the worry of feeling like my face is on fire once I set outside.

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I slowly melted my Col. Ichabod Conk soap into the small bowl using a a make shift double boiler, it took about 15 minutes once a slow boil was established and constant stirring
George
 
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Preshave:Hot water face wash, Proraso Preshave Cream
Brush: Frendrihan Classic Super Badger
Soap: Proraso Aloe and Green Tea
Razor: H3 Gillette Slim Adjustable
Blade: Dorco ST-301
Aftershave: Musgo Real Aftershave Balm

I seem to have settled on shave settings for the Slim, I start at 3 for the 1st pass and bump up one each pass after till I get to 6 and stay there for the last pass and blade buffing. I have been tempted to start at 4 ad finish at 7, but 6 with a blade buff is getting me BBS in all places but one.

My BBS test isn't just rubbing my hand across my face either. I test with a cotton ball on a dry face in all direction, and there is only one place I get any lint and that is against the grain on the right side just under the jaw line. For some reason that is my trouble spot and no amount of buffing seems to get it BBS:confused: I must be loosing my angle in that one area

PS I am loving the Musgo aftershave balm, Nice mild manly sent and leaves my face feeling great even when chasing that BBS shave
 
Shower, face washed with an olive oil shower gel then hot flannel treatment.
New Feather
Merkur Barber Pole 38. Can't really get used to this heavy long handled razor,prefer short handles easier to move around. But I thought it was time to let it have a go again. One small but unpleasant nick....
Col.Conk Almond soap. Really like this one, inexpensive and produces decent lather with a smell I go for.
Cold water and Nivea after balm.
Despite the nick, a good burn free shave that is Feather close,very close.
 
willgoy said:
Merkur Barber Pole 38. Can't really get used to this heavy long handled razor,prefer short handles easier to move around.
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I mostly use my Merkur Futur which has a fairly long handle too. Don't forget that, just as you do with a knife for fine work, you can "choke up" on a razor for finer control in tight places.
 
Gollnick said:
I mostly use my Merkur Futur which has a fairly long handle too. Don't forget that, just as you do with a knife for fine work, you can "choke up" on a razor for finer control in tight places.
Click to expand...

Very true. Think I need to get new scales put on it though, I fancy Primitive Bone or Stag...maybe some spine notches too :D:cool:
 
i would post more to the SOTD but i hardly change the gear i use

rest assured that i am straight shaving nearly every other day
 
Preshave:Hot shower, hand lather in shower with Williams Mug soap, Proraso Preshave Cream
Brush: Frendrihan Chassic Super Badger
Soap: Col. Ichabod Conk Bay Rum
Razor: Frankenrazor (Canadian #77 New Gillette Head with Probak Handle)
Blade: Dorco ST-301
Aftershave: Musgo Real Aftershave Balm

This was the maiden voyage of the frankenrazor that I got earlier in the week. It was also my first try with an older Gillette open comb razor. I must say I was impressed, this thing mows down beard like there is no tomorrow, halfway through my first pass I knew I was in for a good shave this morning. I was also impressed with how well balanced the mix matched razor was, it was almost like the two were meant to be with each other even though they came from different companies. I am so impressed with this razor that I will be looking for more Gillette New razors in the near future, some how they seem to be both aggressive and gentle at the same time. It did give me a small weeper, but that is because I wasn't paying attention for a second but it reminded me very quickly. It wont knock the Slim off of the top of the pile, but its a close second along with my regular Rocket.

George
 
Rather than start a new thread, I thought it would be OK to include this in the Daily Shave section.

Do any of you have experience with shaving sticks? These certainly could be useful when travelling, as pucks of soap or bowls of cream do take up a lot of room. I've just got a stick from the Bay in Europe a Spanish soap called La Toja Jabon de Afeitar. 50g nice and compact stick with 'drying holes' at the top of the cover, a useful thing when travelling. Inexpensive too. Haven't used it yet but it smells a bit old biddyish...let's see:D How do you use these sticks? just rub on the face and lather in situ? Don't favour that method much as I prefer whipping it up in an old tea cup!

If I find it practical, what other sticks are available? Wonder if Taylor or Proraso do them? What's your experience? And, enjoy the Yuletide Season:thumbup:
 
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