SOTD March 2 to 8, 2020

[CMur12]

Post your SOTDs here.

- Murray

[Mike R]

Tuesday

Brush: Made Rite Pure Bristle #5
Soap: Tabac
Razor: '54 Z2 Super Speed
Blade: Indian Wilkinson
A/S: Dollar Store Splash - Green / "Original"
Cologne / Fragrance: Myth

Mike

[Mike R]

Wednesday

Brush: Made Rite Pure Bristle #5
Soap: RazoRock XXX
Razor: '54 Z2 Super Speed
Blade: Indian Wilkinson
A/S: Afta Fresh
Cologne / Fragrance: Bowling Green

Mike

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Well, here I am, back again after a brief 6 day health blip with 6 days of whisker growth to remove. And ironically, the razor chosen for the job was my Rex Ambassador, my former nemesis, until Razor Emporium worked their magic and sent me back what to all intents and purposes is now an entirely different razor. So much so, that I found myself shaving with it every day upon its return. The Gibbs #17 used to be my favorite adjustable, but no more! Rexie’s my boy, and he sure knows his business. Back to today’s shave!

This being the first day of the month, I opened my new PannaCrema Nuavia Blu and followed their directions for bowl lathering, which is not my normal approach, but when in Rome! They recommend 3 grams of soap to 7 grams of water. I have the RazoRock 400 Special Edition Black Plissoft Synthetic here in the condo, and it did a spectacular job whipping up a very rich-looking, glistening lather. Which I then applied, following my customary cold water rinse, after inserting a vintage Polish Wizamet Super Iridium,

I set Rexie on 6 and had at it! My customary setting is 5 for my face and 3 for the noggin, but given the density and heaviness of the whiskers, I stepped up one level for that first pass. It was the right decision. 6 and 4 did the trick! Those old Polish Wizamets - I’m down to my last 70 or so blades - are amazingly smooth and quite sharp. Rexie swept through those whiskers like the Romans through Gaul. That bloodless WTG first pass left me at the DFS+ level. Amazingly, an Alum check revealed minimal, if any, heat, so I decided to go for it.

For my second ATG pass, I set Rexie at my regular 5 and 3 for an uneventful, bloodless BBS finish to the first shave of March. An adjustable razor is the perfect tool for six days of growth. This new soap has an incredible post shave feel. My post shave cold water wash with the Nuavia Blu brush squeezings left me with the same luxurious skin softness I have after a MWF shave. I do think I’m going to like this soap. I feel smooth, clean and refreshed.

RAZOR: Rex Ambassador (6,4; 5,3)
BLADE: Vintage Polish Wizamet
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: RazoRock 400 Special Edition Plissoft Black Synthetic
SOAP: PannaCrema Nuavia Blu
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by T.N. Dickenson’s Witch Hazel and finished with Fine Accoutrements Lavender AS Splash

[adhoc]

Razor: Gillette Aristocrat
Blade: Astra
Brush: Vintage Floris Super Badger
Soap: Floris 89 (vintage tallow formula)
Post: DR Harris Pink AS, vintage Floris 89 EDT & Floris 89 talc

[John Rose]

Wednesday SOTN

razor - Single-Ring Old
blade - Astra SP (The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything)
soap - TOBS Mr Taylors - still one or two shaves left in the tub
brush - Simpson Special 1 BB
post - warm water rinse, "Pure & Natural" Alum stick, cold water rinse
AS - Pinaud Clubman
music - streaming Gem Radio New Wave

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD Thursday, March 5, 2020

Another excellent BBS shave on what is rapidly becoming one of my favorite razors. It’s the second and final shave on this vintage Polish Wizamet. I never use any DE blade for more than two shaves. I’m quite curious as to how the Russian manufactured version will compare. I may order a tuck or two in the future to check them out.

There’s really not much to say about the technical shave itself - another bloodless, two pass (WTG, ATG) relaxing shave. It’s the soap, PannaCrema Nuavia Blu, that I really enjoyed. Rather than wax on about hints of this and layers of that, and in staying true to my olfactory barbarian ways, let’s just say it has a strong smell. Perhaps a bit too strong, as SWMBO complained about it.

It does provide a wonderful post shave feel, one that is quite comparable to MWF. My only concern is the softness of the soap. It’s clearly not triple milled. MWF never lets me down. My only concern would be the soap’s staying power. It’s strong smell, however, moves it out of regular use category, since SWMBO can’t tolerate it. So it’s back to my faithful MWF tomorrow. Today I feel clean, smooth and refreshed!

RAZOR: Rex Ambassador (5,3)
BLADE: Vintage Polish Wizamet Super Iridium (2)
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: RazoRock 400 Special Edition Black Synthetic
SOAP: PannaCrema Nuavia Blu
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Dickenson’s WH and finished with Fine Accoutrements’s Lavender Pour Homme AS Splash

[Mike R]

Thursday

Brush: Made Rite Pure Bristle #5
Soap: Tabac
Razor: '54 Z2 Super Speed
Blade: Indian Wilkinson
A/S: Gillette Aftershave Lotion, Sensitive Skin
Cologne / Fragrance: Realm Intense

Mike

[Mike R]

Friday

Brush: Made Rite Pure Bristle #5
Soap: Williams
Razor: '54 Z2 Super Speed
Blade: Indian Wilkinson
A/S: Gillette Aftershave Lotion, Sensitive Skin
Cologne / Fragrance: Lagerfeld Classic

Mike

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD Friday, March 6, 2020

I had been hoping to try a new soap (Imperial for @Hembree) and brush (courtesy of @MrEE) combination, but those danged Kildares had seen something for rule-out, and asked me to come in quite early this morning for their customary prodding and poking. Gromit and I are definitely returning home today, because he misses his cat buds, and I miss my single malt.

Back to today’s shave which was delayed. Since SWMBO was present with her fragrance allergy, I selected a relatively new tube of one of my favorite traveling creams, C.O. Bigelow, great stuff and unscented, or at least below my bride’s scent threshold. After my regular cold water rinse, the RazoRock 400 Special Edition Synthetic generated a rich face and dome lather which Rexie swept away with his customary aplomb on that first WTG pass.

After relathering, the second ATG pass was business as usual and delivered my hoped for all-around BBS with one slight weeper to the right of my Adam’s Apple, which closed up after application of the astringent witch hazel. Fine Accoutrements Lavender Pour Homme put the baby to bed, and left me feeling clean, smooth and fresh. Great shave!!

RAZOR: Rex Ambassador (5, 3)
BLADE: Vintage Polish Wizamet Super Iridium (1)
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: RazoRock 400 Special Edition Black Synthetic
CREAM: C.O. Bigelow
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce soap followed by Dickenson’s WH and finished with Fine Accoutrements Lavender Pour Homme AS Splash

[John Rose]

Friday SOTN

razor - Fendrihan All-Stainless "Scientist", with original Mk I head
blade - Astra SP (44 - and done)
soap - Mitchell's Wool Fat
brush - Wilkinson Sword (boar with black oval handle)
post - warm water rinse, "Pure & Natural" Alum stick, cold water rinse
AS - Reuzel
music - none, too late in the day and somebody sleeping in next room

I'm amazed at how limp that brush gets once it goes into the hot water. That's why I don't use it much.

I do kinda' like the handle though, as far as the shape goes.
I might be tempted to replace the boar with a tuxedo knot.

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD 03/07/20

Pretty good shave today with a new brush from Evan (@MrEE) and a new soap, Imperial Glycerin soap. The new brush performed beautifully and whipped up what at first glance appeared to be thick lather. When I shave I lather up both face and noggin, and start my first WTG pass on my face and then proceed to the dome.

My problem was that by the time I finished the first pass on my face, the lather on my dome had pretty much faded away, requiring me to lather up the dome again. Once freshly lathered, the first dome pass required me to keep lathering. After finishing the sides, I noticed that the lather on the back of my head had faded, and required a fresh coat. Thus I finished that first pass, and liked the soap’s slickness and glide when freshly applied but the need to continue relathering was annoying.

For my second pass, I thought that I should devote more time to the actual lather generation. So I spent a few minutes lathering away. Unfortunately, I had the same experience with the second XTG pass on the dome again. The face shave was relatively uneventful, but it was the noggin scrape which was the problem again.

For my final ATG pass I decided to wait to lather the dome until after completing my face. But again, even with lathering the dome shortly before that third pass experienced lather fade on the back of my head. I will say that when the lather was fresh the glide and slickness was fine.

The continual need to keep reapplying lather on the dome was annoying. The shave itself ended up as a very good DFS+. The post shave feel was good, but I guess I’m spoiled. I just love my MWF. I’ll give this soap one more swing tomorrow with the first pass, but I’ll make sure my MWF is handy if I reexperience the lathering issue. The new Badger/boar brush is excellent! I feel clean, smooth and refreshed.

RAZOR: Rex Ambassador (5,3,3)
BLADE: Vintage Polish Wizamet Super Iridium (1)
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: MrEE #007 Badger/Boar
SOAP: Imperial Glycerin
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Florida Water AS/Cologne Splash

[John Rose]

Saturday SOTN
What a treat tonight's shave was.

• razor - Edwin Jagger DE87
  blade - Feather (1)
  soap - Fendrihan "Aloe Water"
  brush - APShaveCo 24 mm SynBad
  post - warm water rinse, "Pure & Natural" Alum stick, cold water rinse
  AS - Mennen Skin Bracer
  music - streaming CHMA Campus Radio

Since it was a brand-new Feather, I thought I'd cork it.

I did not slice it as deeply as he did (on a real cork); maybe just to the top of the bevel.
I don't know it it really helped but I got a BBS with no weepers or irritation.

[pausted]

Tabac soap
SilkSmoke synthetic brush
Colonial General razor
Kai Captain Original blade
Tabac aftershave splash

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD 3/8/2020

Excellent shave this morning. Tried starting with the Imperial, but it was a no go with the same issues as yesterday. It must be my well water. I spent 5 minutes attempting a bowl lather, but the result was a thin wispy lather that kept fading away. I even attempted using my MWF face and head lathering technique, but couldn’t build up a thick enough paste. So out came the MWF, and the new brush from Evan (@MrEE), which by the way worked fantastically well with the the MWF.

I grabbed my Colonial Silversmith which has been sadly neglected and loaded a Vintage Polish Wizamet Super Iridium Blade. Then a brisk cold water rinse followed by a thick, yogurty lather applied with my new hybrid Badger/boar brush. This razor never ceases to amaze me with its seeming mildness coupled with such high efficiency.

That first WTG pass left me at the DFS+ level, and the second ATG pass was all that was necessary for a lovely, bloodless BBS shave. I feel clean, smooth, refreshed and ready for church. I wish everyone an amazing day!

RAZOR: Colonial Silversmith
BLADE: Vintage Polish Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: MrEE 007 Badger/Boar
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with A&E Post-Shave Serum