Thread: Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey

Never mind the shave talk me through the dinner ( especially the brown substance on the plate at bottom right and the cube of meat? at 5 o'clock on the same plate)

LOL

The plate at bottom right is mostly various types of tofu, formed into different tastes and textures. The square of "meat" at 5 o'clock is actually tofu. The brown substance on the left of the plate is pig's blood patty (congealed pig's blood). The other stuff on the plate, without an obvious shape, is cabbage.

The plate on the bottom left is full of wontons. And, the plate on the upper left is fried tofu skin. (My wife is a vegetarian, so I get more than my fill of tofu).

The food was actually pretty good, but it doesn't scream Christmas.

Thanks Jake and have a stress free and Happy 2014

Originally Posted by TaipeiJake

Attachment 150605

However, as you might notice, I don't have a very elegant solution for hauling my shave brush around. I borrowed one of my wife's old cell phone cases. It worked - but it was a bit lacking in manly aesthetics.

personally, I think A) You gotta be PLENTY manly to sport a bunny bag. A sissy would get pounded! and B) Who ever made the decision as to what "manly" is anyway? I for one think if it works, its fine! If you don't like it, I'll take it!

Thanks, I think the fuzzy bunny shave brush holder might be a keeper. I'll definitely be blazing my own trail there.

Just a quick note to wish one and all a safe and joyous New Year.

Shave #65 - Not Good

I think the edge on the J. A. Henkels ought to be better.

Ogallala Bay Rum, Limes &. Peppercorns Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
J. A. Henkels 94 - 9/16" (11)
Alum
Baxter of California AS Balm

I planned on only doing a 2-pass shave, but there was no way. My first N-S pass didn't eliminate enough whiskers to allow me to go straight to a S-N pass. Actually I ended up doing 4 passes just trying to get an okay shave. In the end I finally ended up with a DFS, but it did seem like I had to struggle excessively for it.

I have to admit to being a bit confused. The edge just doesn't seem to be there, but with only 11 shaves on the blade it should still be okay. The Henkels has never enjoyed heavy growth, and I had a few days growth. I did notice that the 2nd, 3rd and 4th passes were progressively better as the growth lightened up. Heavy growth might have contributed to the problems. I was tempted to pull the Henkels out of the rotation until I can try to touch it up, but at the end of this shave the alum really surprised me by being dead silent and the shave results were rather good...

So, I guess I'll give it one more shot on a lighter growth day. See what happens, before I start mucking about with the edge. I did notice that I wasn't pulling my skin as tight as I should have been. The Don Jae that I've been shaving with lately doesn't really require it. But, on my last pass today I pulled my skin very tight and the Henkels seemed to respond. Could the problem be so simple?

Shave #66 - That's a Load Off

My wife has been dealing with health issues lately. The doctors found a tumor on her thyroid, when she was having a CT Scan for something unrelated. So, it has been a stress filled few weeks getting further tests and waiting...and waiting... for results. But, today we found out that everything seems to be okay. Oh my, what a relief that is. I didn't even realize how much stress I felt, until it released.

Ogallala Bay Rum, Limes & Peppercorns Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
J. A. Henkels 94 - 9/16" (12)
Alum
Baxter of California AS Balm

The quality of my shave last night was better than I thought. My face was a pretty nice and comfortable DFS all day today. Certainly there was less irritation last night than a person would expect if the edge was off on my J. A. Henkels. So, I gave it another go today.

Three very quick passes (N-S, nose-to-ears, S-N). The result was a comfortable DFS with no excessive tugging or pulling. So, I won't fart around with this edge for a little while.

I did a bit of experimenting with the lather. I found that the Ogallala soap was drying my skin and irritating me a bit. Very disappointing since I adore the scent. Often when I'm walking by the shave den, I'll lift the lid off the soap bowl and give the soap a sniff - simply divine. Last night and today I tried adding what I would consider to be ridiculous amounts of water to the soap while lathering - 1-2 palm fulls of water on top of the very wet badger brush. To my amazement the soap did not break down. In fact it produced huge volumes of lather that was slick without being too runny. Best of all the wetness of the lather kept it from drying or irritating my skin. Just goes to show an old dog can learn new tricks. I started wet shaving, lathering from a puck of shave soap, when I was 12. That would be back in the days of the Trac II. I guess I must have been an eccentric kid, but I just liked using a brush. (Of course, as a kid I made no effort to make a science of lathering, I just got in there and slopped around). I'm 46-ish now, and still learning new things.

All right, off to celebrate with my better half. Have a nice weekend everyone.

Shave #67 - Is That Razor Burn?

Got home a bit early and indulged in a nice hot towel shave.

Ogallala Bay Rum, Limes & Peppercorns Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8" (30)
Alum
Baxter of California AS Balm

Four passes and I'm BBS on the face and DFS++/BBS on the neck. But, the alum really rang my bell today. It was a surprise to me as the shave felt nice, light and smooth. But, now a half hour later I do feel a smidge of razor burn.

Anyway, I had been wondering about my DOVO's edge, but it seemed to perform fine today. The razor burn was undoubtedly operator error. So I did my habitual mega stropping after today's shave, 100 on rough leather followed by 300 on smooth leather, as I do every 10 shaves. I'm confident that I'll get at least 10 more shaves from it before it needs a trip to the pasted strop. (I'm not sure why the last few shaves I was getting results that made me question the edges of my razors - but all seems to be well for the moment. I guess it was just gremlins).

Shave #68 - A New 4-Passer

L'Occitane Shave Soap + Pomelo Essential Oil
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8" (31)
Alum
Gentlemen's Tonic AS Balm

Had a few days growth going and decided to whack it down with my freshly mega stropped DOVO. The shave was great. The pomelo smelled awesome and gave a nice pick me up. Right now I'm enjoying an all over BBS. I did four passes today, but I did then different than normal:

Pass #1 - My normal N-S pass guillotining towards the nose on both sides of my face. The neck was N-S guillotining from right to left all the way around the neck.

Pass #2 - XTG from my left ear all the way around to my right ear. Then on the neck, I started on the left side of my neck shaving upwards and scything towards the nose. When I reached the center of my neck, I shaved straight across, and began scything downwards as I approached my right ear - essentially transcribing a semi-circle on my neck that basically went WTG. The entire pass was performed with my right hand.

Pass #3 - XTG from right ear to left ear on the face. On the neck, I did the exact opposite of pass #2, transcribing a semi-circle in the opposite direction, approximating an ATG pass. The razor was held in my left hand throughout the pass.

Pass #4 - My normal S-N pass guillotining from ear to nose on both sides of my neck and face.

A wee bit of touch up on the chin and...BBS. These two new ways of doing the XTG passes really sped up the process for me. I didn't have to switch hands at all during the passes. None of that getting the soap off the hand about to receive the razor, aluming up my new stretching fingers, etc. It was fast enough that I could lather the whole face and finish the pass before it dried - another time saver, that also feels nicer. (I did 4 passes and a little touch up in just a touch over 30 minutes. For me, that's blisteringly fast. But, I didn't feel that I was shaving any faster than normal, no feelings of being rushed or agitated). The alum was dead silent and the edge on the DOVO felt great. All is right with the world.

Shave #68.5 - Oh the Agony

Age sucks! Yesterday I ratched my knee sitting down on the toilet. Then I threw my back out bending forward about 5 degrees, of all things. So today I can barely move. I'm flying to Canada later today, so packing is a real nightmare, since I can barely move. Not looking forward to 12 hours in cattle class on the plane.

I had planned a nice luxurious straight razor shave. Alas, standing in the shave cubby for any length of time did not appeal, so...

Castle Forbes Pre-Shave
Proraso (Green Tubed) Shave Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
Mach III

A quick and adequate shave.

I will be separated from my straights for about a month. I will be using the shavette I bought for travel, and a DE that is waiting for me in Canada. So it is a great pity I couldn't do a straight razor shave today.