Thread: Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey

Shave #123.7 - Next Time

My next shave will be with a straight razor, but this time...

RazoRock Bay Rum Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Feather Blade (2)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum

A nice shave. My normal 3 passes on the face and 4 on the neck, with a bit of touch up. I'm close to BBS. There is a little spot on my jawline, in front of my right ear (a trouble spot for me), that is not quite there. I did manage to nick my nostril, first time I've ever done that. Rushing, I guess.

I can tell when I've been lax with my shaving, my thread bounces off the front page, and I have to search around for it. During the summer it was pure laziness, and now it is busyness. I find myself just trying to squeeze in a quick shave here and there. Hopefully soon I'll have a bit more time to enjoy my shaving ritual, and then my straights will feature more prominently.

Shave #124 - As Advertised

I did a quick little 2-passer with my DOVO. It felt nice.

RazoRock Bay Rum Shave Soap
Semogue 2012
DOVO Palisander 6/8" (50)
C&E West Indian Lime AS Balm + Captain's Choice Bay Rum

I went more-or-less N-S for the first pass, followed by more-or-less S-N for the second pass. Of course, I put a bit of English on the blade, scything and guillotining here and there. The results were okay, considering I'm a bit out of practice. My skin is comfortable, my face is DFS, and my neck is DFS-.

Right now I'm just enjoying the smell of the Bay Rum AS combined with the West Indian Lime balm. I love the way these scents combine. I mix them together in my hands and then apply them to my face - what a treat.

Shave #124.1 - Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Getting ready for my early morning trip to work tomorrow.

Tabac Original Shave Soap
Semogue 2012
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Feather Blade (3)
Hulk's Smash

No drama, just a nice smooth shave. A 3-passer, with 4 on the neck and a touch of clean up finds me with a comfortable BBS. I'm ready for work tomorrow. Nite all.

Shave #125 - A Luxury Shave

I spent much of the afternoon conducting a mega stropping on my DOVO and WISS. Between shaves I strop 20 laps on the rough leather side of my modular paddle strop, followed by 70 laps on the smooth leather side. But, every 10 shaves I do a mega stropping. What this involves has evolved a bit over time. This time I did 100 laps on newspaper, 100 laps on rough leather, and finally 500 laps on smooth leather. This has kept my DOVO going strong for a good many shaves, though I think the end of this run may be approaching. But, for this shave...

Tabac Original Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8" (51)
Alum
Hulk's Smash
Baxter of California AS Balm

...still pretty darn fine. I did a 4-pass luxury shave and the DOVO felt pretty good throughout. The first (WTG) pass I had quite a few whiskers to wack through. There was no tugging, though I might have wished it had cleared the whiskers a bit more thoroughly on the first pass. Nonetheless, all the subsequent passes were a dream, with everything popping off nicely.

At the end of 4 passes I'm going to call it DFS++. I'm not sure whether the slightly lower results than I'm used to from a 4-passer should be attributed to the user or the beginnings of a drop off in sharpness. But, since I can't remember the last time I gave myself a 4-pass straight razor shave, I'm leaning towards user error.

Tomorrow I'm doing family portraits. I'll have to see if I need to do a touch up in the morning with my DE.

Shave #125.1 - A Quickie

Tabac Original Shave Soap
Semogue 2012
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Feather Blade (4)
Alum
Hulk's Smash

I was going quick and skimped a bit on prep, so I'm about DFS+ after my normal shave routine. But, rushing and can't chat - next time.

Shave #125.2 - Pre-Photo Shave

My family portrait got put off until today, so I needed a shave this morning to try and squeeze every ounce of handsomeness out of my mug possible.

Synergy Cavendish Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Astra Platinum (1)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum

I had to be extra careful not to give myself a weeper, particularly going S-N under the nose, which is when I am likely to cause myself problems. The results are pretty good, around DFS+, just a smidge of stubble on the neck.

Post shave I had the idea to pull the blade out of the razor, dry everything, and store the blade in my room. Dropped the razor blade in the sink and scuffed the edge trying to get it out. So, that's a throwaway. I normally take terrible care of my razor blades, keeping them in the razor after shaving. I normally just rinse the razor and go. But, I noticed the sharpness went off my Feather rather quickly last time.

Shave #126 - Great Shave

Today was time to get the WISS out and see how it performed post-megastropping. Admirably.

Synergy Cavendish Shave Soap
Semogue 2012
WISS Ugly Duckling 9/16" (31)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum
C&E West Indian Lime AS Balm

Today was a quick 2-passer (N-S & S-N). I was watching the World Chess Championship until late and wanted a quickie - how about that Vishy? I hadn't shaved for awhile and had quite a bit of stubble, but the WISS mowed it down nicely. The first pass cleaned it up nicely, and I contemplated stopping there, as I have no need of a fine shave at the moment. But, I decided that the brush was full of soap and I was a bit scraggier then I could live with, so I proceeded on to a S-N pass. The result was a close, comfortable and SAS.

Don't let the result fool you, getting to a SAS from where I started from, in 2 passes, is a victory.

Shave #126.1 - Now We Might Have a Match

Doing a quick shave before round 4 of the World Championships. After Vishy's win yesterday things have opened up a bit and we might be in for a bit of excitement (hopefully).

Synergy Cavendish Shave Soap
Semogue 2012
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Feather Blade (1)
Hulk's Smash

My normal DE shave routine and I'm a very nice BBS. I did lop off a pimple on my upper lip, but it seems to have clotted naturally. This time I successfully removed the blade, dried it and am storing it back in its paper sleave. We'll see if I get a couple more shaves out of it, and whether that's worth the irritation of the process.

Shave #127 - A Refresher

Synergy Cavendish Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8" (52)
Hulk's Smash
Baxter of California AS Balm

A quick evening 2-passer, as much for refreshment value as anything. I went straight N-S and then straight S-N, no touch ups. Before the shave my stubble was still in pretty SAS condition, post shave I think it is approximately a better version of SAS. My prep wasn't the best and I think it shows in the results. I should have been able to creep into DFS territory. Oh well, next time. The shave itself was an enjoyable and refreshing prep for bed.

Nite.

Shave #127.1 - Heading Out

I needed a rare morning shave, as we're heading out for lunch with another couple.

Synergy Cavendish Shave Soap
Semogue 2012
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Feather Blade (2)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum

I really like the smell of this Cavendish soap. At first I wasn't so sure, but I've really come to love it.

A nice shave. My skin is comfortable and BBS. Separating the blade from the razor and storing it in a drawer between shaves made a slight, but noticeable, improvement in preventing edge deterioration. We'll have to see how it plays out over the life of the blade.