SOTD Oct 23-29 2006

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:17 am

EJ razor
Floris brush
Trumpers Lime shave cream
B&B Milk
Crown Perfumery Spiced Limes EDT

wenestvedt · Post by **wenestvedt** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:26 pm

Curling? Awesome! I grew up in Minnesota, and we have the St. Paul Curling Club among others. It astounds effete easterners that anyone would curl for fun. *sniff* What do they know...

This morning's shave was a Feather blade, Fraser's cream, and regrettable haste. The cut on the very point of my Adam's Apple bled endlessly, and I do believe that this undershirt is ruined. (The Styptic Pencil Shock nearly blew me backwards through the bathroom wall.)

The only good shaving news of the day was a post at slashdot.org about the application of Moore's law to razor blades, where I was pleased to find another SMF man already posting.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/26/1936250

Oh, and the new SMF brush tempts me, but I fear it may exceed my budget. *sigh*

rustyblade · Post by **rustyblade** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 2:57 pm

It is too early to say whether hard water equals a better shave, today's shave didn't seem as satisfying as it has been these last couple weeks. I got a few small nicks in my usual spots that have been a rarity for the last fortnight . I used a fresh blade today and opted for the Kent BK8. With soft water it is easy to make mountains of lather, but it is still possible to make a nice lather with hard water and possibly it is more 'concentrated'.

Floris #89 is hiding there in the background.

Goosemeplease · Post by **Goosemeplease** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 6:00 pm

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 6:24 pm

Friday:

Gillette classic Superspeed & Israeli Personna blade
Plisson #14 White
Trumper's Rose hard shaving soap
D R Harris's shave stick
D R Harris's A/S Milk
Penhaligon's Hammam Bouquet

Gordon

Bargepole · Post by **Bargepole** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 6:30 pm

Saturday: another early start in Blighty: 0230 over here. (Book publication day on Tuesday; working 18-hour days.)

Penhaligon English Fern
Plisson HMW #16
Slant
Coral
Trumper "Lazy Scalp" hair tonic (old bottle, still good.)
Caron Tabac Blond (theoretically SWMBO's but she's asleep.)

What I need is for Trumper to bring out Provigil Skin Food: glycerin, rosewater, menthol and modafinil. (The stuff the media is amazed & horrified to find that fighter pilots have been using to stay awake.

dszpiro · Post by **dszpiro** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:11 pm

Proraso pre-shave (in the shower)
QED "Espresso" shaving soap stick
Simpson's Chubby 2 in Super
Gillette Adjustable Aristocrat
Israeli Personna (day 2)
Home-made witch hazel / aloe gel / glycerin wipe
T&H Coral Skin Food ASB
l'Occitane CADE AS

Cheers,

scarface911 · Post by **scarface911** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:24 pm

rustyblade wrote:

It is too early to say whether hard water equals a better shave, today's shave didn't seem as satisfying as it has been these last couple weeks. I got a few small nicks in my usual spots that have been a rarity for the last fortnight . I used a fresh blade today and opted for the Kent BK8. With soft water it is easy to make mountains of lather, but it is still possible to make a nice lather with hard water and possibly it is more 'concentrated'.

Floris #89 is hiding there in the background.

Welcome back Richard,

In my neck of the woods the water is very hard. Only rarely do I get the mounds of lather that all others receive. I mean RARELY!.

Thankfully I like the thicker lather. If I showed you a pic of one of my bowls with the lather I use you would be surprised. It seems as if theres nothing there but when I scrub it on my face it goes on nice and thick.
It also provides me with a much smoother and comfortable shave then a wetter lather.

rustyblade · Post by **rustyblade** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:49 pm

scarface911 wrote: Welcome back Richard,

In my neck of the woods the water is very hard. Only rarely do I get the mounds of lather that all others receive. I mean RARELY!.

Thankfully I like the thicker lather. If I showed you a pic of one of my bowls with the lather I use you would be surprised. It seems as if theres nothing there but when I scrub it on my face it goes on nice and thick.
It also provides me with a much smoother and comfortable shave then a wetter lather.

Rajeeve, I get the same water as you, in Bolton we get our water through the Region of Peel which comes from Lake Ontario through Mississauga. We have a water softener though. What you say is exactly what I witnessed with hard water. Not much lather creation in the bowl, but builds on the face, nice and thick, but not overly fluffy like you get with soft water. I am beginning to think that mounds of fluffy, non-concentrated lather, may look great, but does not necessarily put the horsepower to the pavement so-to-speak, in the best way possible.

I will try using my travel brush tomorrow with the same setup and see what happens. I have been thinking about a comment Joe Lerch made about shaving oil causing the blade to 'skip-over' (or something like that) the whisker. I noticed that today I had more missed whiskers than I experienced in my travels.

Could it be that soft water makes the skin too slick? Is low concentrated super-fluffy lather to blame? Did the scrubbing action of the small Savile Row brush make a difference? Soft water may make a picture-perfect lather, but does hard water provide a better shave?

With hard water my face would dry very quickly after a pass and I could then stretch the skin easier with my other hand. I can't do this at home because the soft water keeps my skin wet and slick for longer. While I was away I also noticed the razor itself "gripped" more, you would think this would lead to more nicks, cuts, and irritation, but it was quite the opposite. The whiskers got mowed down instead in a very efficient manner.

Interesting finer points of shave-geekery. I don't think I will be getting rid of the water softener any time soon, that could lead to divorce. I may have to create a by-pass with a special hard-water spigot in the bathroom, but then the water would be cold.

Bargepole · Post by **Bargepole** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 4:33 am

rustyblade wrote: I may have to create a by-pass with a special hard-water spigot in the bathroom, but then the water would be cold.

Small fission reactor under the bathroom basin and bypass the feedline through a heat-exchanger. Mrs Blade couldn't possibly object.

crackstar · Post by **crackstar** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 5:51 am

Saturday:

Omega brush
Dovo straight razor
De Vergulde Hand soap stick
St-Ives Intensive Relief moisturizer
Givenchy Gentleman edt

a Dutch treat today, and a beautiful shave!

Jeff

rustyblade · Post by **rustyblade** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:05 am

Hmm... Interesting. A fantastic shave this morning. I replicated exactly my routine while on holiday, even down to bypassing the scuttle and using a ziplock container as a bowl. I ended up creating a drier lather that didn't fluff everywhere (using soft water). The result? The same drying on the skin after a pass, but remarkably, a better shave. The same results could be performed with my BK8 for sure. I have a tendency to make mounds of lather with the BK8 by adding more and more water. It is so easy with that brush to do so.

I remember Gordon mentioning that straight users preferred a drier lather, this proving to be true for myself also. I just wish I knew the reason why it makes a difference.

Brett G · Post by **Brett G** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:48 am

Saturday,

CAR Cube to wash face
Plisson #16 Horn Handle HMW
Moss Scuttle
Proraso green in tube
English Wilkinson Blade
Gillette 1958 TV razor
CAR lime tonic and lime moisturizer
Dominica Bay Rum

If someone stuck a gun to my head and told me that I must get a perfect shave or else this might be the rig that I try it with.

madmedic · Post by **madmedic** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 6:53 am

Merkur HD with Israeli Blade
Shavemac 23 mm in Pure
Arko Soap
Alum Block
Simple light Moisturiser

LT Piver Cuir de Russie

Brian

wenestvedt · Post by **wenestvedt** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 7:36 am

Saturday:
- Merkur HD w/Feather blade
- Proraso green (sorry, Richard) lathered right on my face
- Corn Husker's Lotion

Ahhhhhh, wonderful!

scarface911 · Post by **scarface911** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 8:30 am

Saturday:

dszpiro · Post by **dszpiro** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 8:34 am

Proraso pre-shave (in the shower)
AOS Lemon shaving cream
Simpson's Super PJ3 (first use)
Gillette Adjustable Aristocrat
Israeli Personna (day 3)
2-pass Weekend shave (i.e., N-S & E-W: no ATG/S-N)
Home-made withch hazel / aloe gel / glycerin wipe
AOS Lemon ASB
Arko Cool AS

Cheers,

TomH · Post by **TomH** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 8:50 am

Saturday:

-Merkur 34c w. SHARP blade (2/1)
-SCS brush
-OLIVIA's Chill-Out shaving soap
-Swiss Pitralon A/S
-OLIVIA's A/S balm
-Grigio Perla EdT by La Perla

Thomas

P.S.A Happy weekend everybody...

Goosemeplease · Post by **Goosemeplease** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 8:55 am

reggiano · Post by **reggiano** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:51 am

Saturday!

Rooney Style 1 Small Super
1959 Gillette Fatboy w/Feather
Knize Ten Soap
Thayer's Rose WH
Fresh Skin Soother
Knize Ten EDT