Thread: SOTD Sep 24 - Sep 30

Originally Posted by mparker762

Tue:

hair conditioner
Rooney finest small style 1
Harris Arlington soap
HandAmerican strop
7/8 Heljestrand square point
Harris face milk

Normally I lather up before stropping to give my beard a chance to soften. This morning I swiped a bottle of the wife's hair conditioner and marinated my face with that while stropping, then washed it off and lathered up and shaved. Great shave, the extra softening really helps with the tough beard in my goatee area and on either side of my adams apple.

The new handamerican strop is finally conditioned and broken in, and it's seriously the bomb. The padded D ring handle is extremely comfortable and forgiving.

The Heljestrand is on its sixth shave since being finished on the translucent arkansas hone, and so far it's holding steady. Normally I'm looking at a refresh in about 3-4 shaves so I'm pretty impressed. Still shaving with no appreciable deterioration during the shave, the fin seems extremely strong.

I've been using hair conditioner for the better part of a year. I apply it in the shower and leave it on until right before I exit. It does make a difference!

RT

Ilija, missed your post. I assume you talk about a Norton 1-5. I am actually only using the Lithide for this.

So I tried the DUCK!!!

Shower
some hair conditioner
Tabac soap
Omega Silvertip (Peachy)
Dubl Duck Goldedge 6/8
Trumpers Alum block
ice cube
Lucky Tiger AS Toner
L'Occitane CADE AS balm

The 6/8 Goldedge feels fab and fits very nicely in my hands! I feel like it were made for me, despite the fact that I am biased against celluloid and brass! I haven't had such a strong perception with any of my other razors, and I do have other cult brands / models... I thought I prefer wedges, but I still love how this hollow razor shaved. I MAY have used inferior angles at times, as the razor came to me through a very respected forum member, but I did sense some pulling. Clean shave but did not go BBS, as I prefer less redness and irritation...

Omega is a bit floppy but holds lots of water, makes lots of foam, which I like after the C&E beautiful boar disaster... Tabac is, as we all know, great. Alum block burned a bit in some areas, which again tells me I had less than optimal angles in some instances. Nevertheless, redness was soon gone after I applied toner and AS balm.

And now for the conclusion: (DRUMROLLLL)

0, as in ZERO, Nicks / Cuts! That's a first!

WTG Ivo! Here's another tip. Try gradual reduction instead of elimination. That reduces irritation and generally gives you better shaves.

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

...Try gradual reduction instead of elimination. That reduces irritation and generally gives you better shaves.

I do this, Ilija

Will work on the W&B tonight
Cheers
Ivo

Friday

Shower
Aveda Conditioner while stropping
Vulfix BB
Peabody Mountain soap
Challenge 5/8 spike
AOS Sandalwood Gel
C&E Sandalwood EDT


Great shave!! This plain jane razor was my first (thanks J Chandler) and remains one of my best shavers.

Jordan

Friday:

Continuing the translucent arkansas experiment...

Loreal for men conditioner
Rooney small style 1
Gold-Dachs soap (classic shaving "rivivage")
HA strop
7/8 square point Heljestrand
Harris face milk

After the last shave I refreshed the helje on the translucent arkansas, it went 7 shaves before needing a refresh and may have gone more. That is 3-4 more than I usually get. I don't know whether my last shave suffered from sucky prep (I used harris face milk instead of hot towels or pre-strop lather) or the edge was beginning to fade. I took the safe route and changed the prep and refreshed the blade. The refresh consisted of 20 laps on the translucent arkansas (10 light pressure, 10 no pressure). Not sure if this was optimal; it's possible I could have done without the light pressure laps.

Anyway, got another great shave. Same general results with no edge fade during the shave. The conditioner helps soften those really tough flat-lying whiskers on my neck so I don't need to do a touch-up pass on them (I can't go against the grain here because of the wierd angle). I put the conditioner on after washing my face and leave it on while stropping, then apply the hot towel on over the conditioner, wipe off and lather up.

I really like the gold-dachs soap, not as much as Harris or T&H, but quite a lot anyway. My Harris Arlington was about gone with just a thin layer around the edge of the wooden bowl, so I dropped the gold-dachs in on top of it (fit perfectly) giving me a arlington-gold-dachs lather. My only knock against the gold-dachs is that the lather collapses a bit quicker than does the Harris or T&H soaps. Shaves great, though, and smells incredible. According to the ingredients, it looks like it's scented with sesame and lavender.

Hot shower

Proraso pre shave
silvertip badger brush
4/8 Femaud
Lemon & Cedar shaving cream

witchhazel