SOTD October 5 - October 11, 2020

[drmoss_ca]

Zowada 7/8 cocobolo, Pehaligon's English Fern soap and aftershave, Simpson CH2 Manchurian:

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD MONDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 5, 2020

Well, it’s Monobilt Monday at TSD this morning! And I’m glad it was. The Cooper Monobilt is just such an excellent blade holder! Loaded with a fresh Polsilver it made very short two pass (ATG, ATG) work of my 24 hour dome stubble velveteenizing my scalp beautifully! Oooh, so smooooth! Me likeee! The Alpha Shaving T-400 equipped with the two band badger fan ferrule produced a lovely, slick MWF lather for the Monobilt to ride on. But that’s not all, folks! I selected my Feather DX for my mug work this morning, and it delivered every bit as close, if not even a little closer shave. The wood handle on this razor just felt really good in hand, and with the Schick Proline AC blade really delivered the three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) goods on this bright, beautiful sunny day in the Philadelphia suburbs! The perfect close to such a great shave was the great Aqua Velva splash ending! Enjoy your day today my shave brothers and sisters!

RAZOR: Feather DX Wood Handle (Mug), Cooper Monobilt OC (Dome)
BLADE: Schick P-30 Proline AC (Mug), Polsilver DE (Dome)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil.
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute w/ Two Band Badger Fan Ferrule
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Aqua Velva (Spanish Version)

[drmoss_ca]

Zowada 7/8 damascus ebony, homemade soap, Simpson Colonel, T&H Freshman:

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 6, 2020

This morning’s shave featured my H. Boker & Co Cast Sheffield Steel razor, newly returned yesterday from its beauty treatment in the highly skilled hands of Glen Mercurio (@gssixgun). I can’t believe it's the same 150 yr old razor. The blackened, chipped blade with the age-oranged scales have been transformed. Glen recovered the blade etching and returned the scale color to its original ivory color. And the three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) shave that scooped up the slick, purposefully thin MWF mug lather was extremely smooth and comfortable. I’m really developing a warm feeling for Sheffield cast steel razors. Or maybe it’s just something about the way mid 19th century straight razors were created?

The Viking Silvertip Badger whipped up a very different consistency of MWF lather for the dome shave, slick, thick and yogurty. The Christopher Bradley fitted with its OC D plate cleaned away the dome stubble in a slow and luxurious, two pass (ATG, ATG) shave knocking it off right at the skin line. Lather consistency matters a great deal, depending upon the shave tool selected. Thin, slick lathers are my preference for straight shaving my mug, whereas a thicker lather seems to work better for my noggin shaves. The post shave skin feel MWF and Nancy Boy provide can’t be beat.

Pannacrema Nuavia Blu and yes, even Tabac, provide a similar, slightly sub par post shave experience, but they stink too much for my taste. The scents I prefer in a shave soap or cream are lime and lavender, thus my affection for the two Castle Forbes creams featuring those scents. My preference is always for a nice, clean, soap smell, or an AS/balm with scent fade. This, of course, puts me at odds with probably 95% of all other wet shavers, but my response will always be, “de gustibus non disputandum”, my version of YMMV. This morning’s shave left me feeling clean, smooth and velveteen!

RAZOR: H. Boker & Co. Cast Steel 5/8 (Mug), Karve Safety Razor D-OC (Dome)
BLADE: Sharp Star DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Alt-Innsbruck.

[drmoss_ca]

Zowada damascus 6/8 ebony, homemade soap, Simpson E3, Crown Perfumery Eau de Russe:

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 7, 2020

Great shave this morning! The jasper stone edge on this Puma never lets me down and delivered an epic velveteen mug shave. My tub of Nancy Boy Signature shave cream gave up the ghost to the depredations of my MrEE Monster Synth! Time to open a fresh tub! There was still plenty of lather for my dome shave. I realize it’s OC October, and I guess the shave Gods do as well. I decided (hubris) to use my Vector, a SB AC razor, and was punished with a set-down error. Actually, SWMBO popped in just as I was beginning the dome shave, and startled me. Quite minor, but a definite reminder to shave earlier. Despite this very minor initial mishap, the rest of the shave was stellar leaving me feeling clean, smooth and velveteen!

RAZOR: Puma Solingen 5/8 (Mug), Blackland Vector (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super AC
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil.
BRUSH: MrEE Monster Tuxedo Synth
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys WH. Finished with Nancy Boy Signature Balm!

[drmoss_ca]

Early Zowada damascus 7/8 cocobolo (note 'TZ' is on the blade not the shank), homemade soap in large scuttle, Grosvenor 2-band, Trumper Milk of Flowers:

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 9, 2020

Our weather here in SE Pa. has been glorious over the last week or so. I've been having such great shaves lately with a few of my cast steel Sheffield English and German straight razors that I have been neglecting my two Japanese straights. For this morning’s shave I selected my Silver Steel Tanifuji Airi 11/16 and my Valet VC2. I love shaving with both razors. I touched up the Tanifuji on a pasted and then a leather strop, and stropped the Feather FAS-10 carbon steel blade in the VC2 50 strokes. The result was an amazingly smooth, velveteen shave of both mug and noggin. The straight razor shave was as whisker-meltingly glorious as the morning. The Valet Auto Strop VC2 dome shave only confirmed why I love these safety razors; it was just as close, clean and velveteen as its preceding mug shave. I do believe that the stropping capability of these razors with a carbon steel blade elevates their shaving capabilities. Have a great and enjoyable day, my shave brothers and sisters!

RAZOR: Tanifuji Airi 11/16 (Mug), Valet Auto Strop Model VC2 (Dome)
BLADE: Feather FAS-10
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: MrEE Monster Aluminum Tuxedo Synthetic
CREAM: Castle Forbes Lime
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH and Osage Rub. Finished with Royall Lyme AS Splash.

[adhoc]

Razor: Vintage Gillette
Blade: Astra
Soap: Trumper's Almond Shaving Soap (tallow)
Brush: Simpson Commodore x3
Post Shave: Floris Bay Rum

Trumper's Almond Shaving soap has become my favourite in terms of scent out of all the other Trumper soaps.

[drmoss_ca]

Forgot to post this yesterday! Hart 7/8, homemade soap, Simpson Colonel, Musgo Real:

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[drmoss_ca]

And for today, Livi Damasteel briarwood, homemade soap, Omega boar, Pecksniff's Fougere:

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[Actor07]

Razor: iKon Slant Razor

Blade: Wilkinson, the Blade (41)

I had to retire this blade after 40 shaves, the 41st shave was getting rough.

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2020

Today’s shave was excellent. I broke out my first straight razor, the Dovo Special. This was the razor that caused me to shy away from straight razor shaving for five years. I’m glad I returned, and have really enjoyed my shaves since. The mug shave was smooth and velveteen, as was my dome shave with my Christopher Bradley razor from Karve Shaving. I didn’t get to post this because this morning I went on a long bike ride, and this afternoon played a round of pickle ball with my bride. In any case I feel cool, smooth and refreshed.

RAZOR: Dovo Special 5/8 (Mug), Karve Razor w/ Wide-body Cap D-OC Plate (Dome)
BLADE: Sharp Star (1)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Rooney Ebony Pure Badger
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 A&E Post-Shave Serum.

[drmoss_ca]

Livi Damasteel 7/8 abalone, TGR Standard cream, Simpson Major, Cacharel Pour Homme:

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 11, 2020

Although the day was dreary, my shave certainly wasn’t. I realize that the theme this month has been Open Comb (OC) October. The safety razor I selected for my dome shave has a very unique head design. The LaResche 77 was designed with what can only be described as a reverse open comb (ROC) head design. The highly arched head design has influenced modern artisans either directly or through later design mods (e.g. Italian Barber’s BBS). The razor is somewhat rare, but delivers an exquisitely close shave as my dome attests this morning. For my mug shave, I chose my somewhat newly acquired Saito SK3. This is my second outing with this smiling blade which left me smiling as well with the results. My son owned two; now I own his less desirable model. Regardless, it delivered a great shave which in combination with the LaResche 77 left me smooth, refreshed, clean and velveteen.

RAZOR: R. Saito SK3 (Mug), LaResche 77 (Dome)
BLADE: Polsilver
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: JR Rosewood Two Band Badger #378
CREAM: TOBS Peppermint
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with PAA Frost Byte AS Splash.

[CMur12]

Sunday night:

Razor: Rockwell 6C (on setting/plate 2)
Blade: Tíz (excellent blade from Iran)

Brush: Semogue 1305
Soap: Mystic Water Lime

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

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

- Murray