SOTD April 20 - April 26, 2020

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD Friday, April 24, 2020

This morning I decided to shave with one of the more neglected razors in my rotation, and probably one of the best values in wet shaving today, the Fine Accoutrements “Marvel” DE safety razor. It is aptly named! I bought it for my youngest grandson, this last October, but his father, my oldest son had already gifted him with the OneBlade Core that I had gifted to my son! Go figure! In any case, Ben, my son, had already upgraded to the OneBlade Genesis, so there I was, stuck with what I thought was just another ho hum starter razor.

Since we were headed for Tybee Island, one of my favorite places in the world, I brought the new razor along after mailing myself some DE blades. I had already disposed of the slippery Chrome handle that came with the razor and replaced it with the extra Occam’s SS DE Barber pole handle I had lying around. The combination worked beautifully, and the razor head design delivered a beautiful unexpected BBS. I was sold! I used it daily for the remaining 13 days of that vacation, and put the razor into the regular rotation.

For today’s shave, I loaded the Marvel with a fresh Suneko blade, soaked the tips of my Omega Pro48 Boar brush in warm water, and had my shower. I began the shave with my regular cold water rinse. I then added 3 drops of M-Bomb to my Mentholated Kapo shave cream, and whipped up a glorious cooling lather which was then applied to both face and dome. Two and a half passes (WTG, XTG, ATG) later put the baby to bed, leaving me with a lovely BBS. The Alum revealed some slight heat at the location of yesterday’s weep below my Adam’s Apple, but otherwise, the Marvel left me feeling cool, smooth, clean and refreshed!

RAZOR: Fine Marvel DE Head w/ Classic Shaving’s SS Barber Pole Handle
BLADE: Suneko
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: Omega Pro48 Boar Brush
CREAM: Kapo Menthol salted w/ 3 drops of M-Bomb
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Thayers Lavender WH and Stirling Iced Pineapple AS Splash. Finished with A&E Post-Shave Serum

[TRBeck]

Shavemac 2-band silvertip 24/50
Haslinger Sandalwood shave soap
Rockwell 6S double-edge plate 5
Personna Med Prep blade day #6
Thayer's Original Witch Hazel as
Comme des Garcons Vettiveru

On a roll with badger

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD Saturday, April 25, 2020

Great shave yesterday with the Fine Accoutrements’s ‘Marvel’ razor. In that same spirit I decided to work through the rest of my rotation through the end of the month! For today’s shave I selected a wonderful razor that I learned of through my shave brothers at TSD, Classic Shaving’s “Occam’s DE Razor”. I purchased the full kit of three baseplates and two top caps on the run up to the Christmas holidays this last December, supposedly for my son, but after a series of rave reviews at TSD and elsewhere decided to give it a shot. Classic Shaving recommended the use of a Feather blade for it’s use. I was not disappointed! I prefer the aggressive plate with the ridged top cap, which purportedly is designed to help newer shavers master the correct shave angle. I just like it’s looks. In fact I enjoyed the razor so much, that I purchased the heavier gold embossed handle, and swapped the original for the awful chrome handle that came with the ‘Marvel’.

Mainstream shave products are sometimes looked down upon by collectors of high end artisan soaps and matching aftershaves. Pacific Shaving Co.’s caffeinated shave cream and aftershave, however, can’t be compared to the canned, pressurized junk, with the exception of Barbasol, of course. After my shower, I began my shave with the regular cold water rinse. After salting the shave cream with 6 drops of M-Bomb, my Jayaruh #372 Boar brush whipped up a great cooling lather which was then applied to both head and noggin. This would have been a bloodless shave, until my canine companion, Gromit, decided to drop his cold rubber chicken on my right foot in the middle of an ATG upstroke below my Adam’s Apple, resulting in me reopening the healing weep from a few shaves ago. In any case, despite the “Grom”, I ended up with a very pleasant BBS after 2 1/2 passes (WTG, XTG, ATG). I feel cool, smooth, clean, and refreshed.

RAZOR: Occam’s 316L SS DE
BLADE: Feather (2)
PREP: Cold Water rinse
BRUSH: Jayaruh Custom #372 Boar
CREAM: Pacific Shaving Co.’s Caffeinated Shave Cream
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Thayers Lavender WH and Pacific Shaving Co.’s Caffeinated AS. Finished with A&E Post-Shave Serum

[TRBeck]

Shavemac 2-band silvertip 24/50
Cyril Salter tallowate shave soap
Rockwell 6S double-edge plate 5
Personna Med Prep blade day #7
Lucky Tiger Aftershave and Tonic
Prada Luna Rossa Eau de Toilette

The Shavemac is a grand brush. The soap, well, it always works. Great Saturday shave.

[CMur12]

Sunday night:

Razor: Rockwell 6C (on setting/plate 2)
Blade: Treet Dura Sharp

Brush: Semogue 1305 (boar)
Soap: Tim's Soap, Prototype S6

Lather made on top of the soap
Two-and-a-half passes

Aftershave: Cold water rinse and Thayer's Peach Witch Hazel

- Murray

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2020

Welcome to Wool Fat Friday my shave brothers and sisters. Last night I did something I thought I’d never do, and that’s strop a razor mor than 40 strokes. I still disliked it, but the 70 strokes really brought back the edge back to the Dovo Special. The razor finally shaved as it’s supposed to. I've discovered that my two Feather Barber’s razors are sharper than any of the straights I’ve used. But I still was able eke out a decent two pass (WTG, ATG) DFS.

I’ve decided to ship all three straights currently in my possession out for rehoning and edge checks. I recently swapped a fairly beat up Gillette Single Ring for a recently honed Genco 35 straight razor. Included in the deal are two new bottles of Osage Rub I’ll be adding to the den. My shave buddy and I are both happy with the swap. I’ll be shaving with the two Feather SS Barber’s razors until the Genco arrives.

For my dome shave I opened up the Rex Ambassador all the way. I really believe my straight razor experience has helped improve what I always thought was pretty decent safety razor shaving. It has to do with a greater appreciation for the zero pressure shave. I was a bit hesitant at first, as my usual Rex setting is 4.5. I began the head shave with fairly conservative strokes, but very quickly developed a greater sense of comfort, despite one minor set-down error in the back of the dome. The result was an incredibly close VBBS. I feel cool, clean and velveteen!

RAZOR: Dovo Special (Mug), Rex Ambassador (Dome)
BLADE: Suneko (1)
BRUSH: MrEE Aluminum Handled Hybrid Knot #007
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub w/ Rabid Banana Preshave Cube
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat w/ 6 drops of M-Bomb
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub. Finished with Fine Accoutrements Platinum AS splash.

[TRBeck]

Semogue 620 boar brush
Tim's "Irish Spring" soap
Rockwell 6S on plate 5
Medical Prep shave #6
Lucky Tiger Face Tonic
Swiss Army Classic EDT