SOTD February 10 -February 16, 2020

[Mike R]

Monday

Brush: Rooney Stubby 1
Soap: Tabac
Razor: '54 Z2 Super Speed
Blade: Indian Wilkinson
A/S: Vintage Avon Brisk Spice
Cologne / Fragrance: one million

Mike

[jgreenepa]

99C38533-C03F-4F00-A516-C73F4A56F232.jpeg (458.49 KiB) Viewed 3558 times

SOTD 02/10/20

What can I say? It’s day five of what turned into another face and dome two pass, irritation-free BBS. This is the grail razor for me! All I can say is the LaResche family knew their business! Maybe it’s my continued focus on MWF? Whatever it is; I’ll be sticking with this divine shaving tool until first blood or boredom, whichever comes first, and given how well the shaves are going, I suspect it will be boredom.

RAZOR: LaResche 51 Luxe
BLADE: Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Preshave Cube Soap
BRUSH: Rearden Razor 316L SS Synthetic
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Florida Water AS/Cologne

[Mike R]

Tuesday

Brush: Rooney Stubby 1
Soap: Tabac
Razor: '54 Z2 Super Speed
Blade: Indian Wilkinson
A/S: Power Stick (Dollar Tree balm)
Cologne / Fragrance: Hugo Boss Number One

Mike

[jgreenepa]

82D6FDC9-80DA-4A1D-BF65-C2BA4E355ACC.jpeg (449.67 KiB) Viewed 3548 times

SOTD 02/11/20

And so it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut was wont to say! I admit it; I’m both baffled and beguiled by this surprising shaving tool. The blade sits flat against the baseplate, but also sits on the end bars which themselves sit slightly above the inner teeth of this surprisingly subtle OC design. Does this slight gap explain the extraordinary efficiency and smoothness of this razor? It’s now day six of of a bloodless, two pass, irritation-free BBS shave of both dome and face! I would welcome any insights based on my photography or your knowledge that those of you out there would be willing to share about this grail razor of mine!

RAZOR: LaResche 51 Luxe
BLADE: Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Preshave Cube Soap
BRUSH: Jayaruh Custom Boar
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Ogallala Bay Rum (SWMBO left very early this AM)

[John Rose]

Tuesday SOTN

razor - British Aristocrat Junior
blade - Astra SP (23)
soap - Fendrihan "Aloe Water"
brush - Simpson Special 1
post - warm water rinse, "Pure & Natural" Alum stick, cold water rinse
AS - Mennen Skin Bracer
music - streaming "Surf Rock Radio" with TuneIn Radio app

[Mike R]

Wednesday

Brush: Rooney Stubby 1
Cream: Yardley Gold
Razor: '54 Z2 Super Speed
Blade: Indian Wilkinson
A/S: Dollar Store Splash - Green / "Original"
Cologne / Fragrance: Bvlgari Soir

Mike

[jgreenepa]

18870319-87AD-49CA-ADCD-9FCA84A9B319.jpeg (454.96 KiB) Viewed 3528 times

SOTD 02/12/20

Well it’s lucky seven with this amazing razor. This is day seven. Seven consecutive two pass, bloodless BBS shaves. Where do we go from here? Some might be content to shave with their grail razor for the rest of their days. What does one do if he’s just reached the US actuarial maximum of his mathematically allotted days of life eight days ago? I’ll tell you! He switches off to assess whether his last week of perfect shaves may be attributable to the use of his favorite soap, MWF over the last 12 days. In any case, I still have 358 actuarial days in this leap year remaining to enjoy my favorite pastime before I go to my actuarial reward! LaResche is acknowledged to have designed two superb superb safety razors - one open comb design (cf LaResche 51) and one safety bar design (cf LaResche 77). The 51 presents as my grail razor, after seven perfect irritation-free shaves. I will admit that I’ve only shaved with the 77 a few times, but they were also great shaves. Tomorrow I’ll begin a week of shaves with the LaResche 77 for comparative purposes. I will continue my focus on MWF.

RAZOR: LaResche 51 Luxe
BLADE: Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold Water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Cube Preshave Soap
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Aqua Velva Sensitive 5 in 1 AS Balm

[John Rose]

Is this Wednesday already?
Whatever...

razor - Edwin Jagger DE-87
blade - Astra SP (24)
soap - Crabtree & Evelyn "Sienna" (a mere ring around the bottom of the tub)
brush - Simpson Wee Scot (because there's not much Sienna left ... anywhere)
post - warm water rinse, "Pure & Natural" Alum stick, cold water rinse
AS - Stetson Original AS splash, plus a few drops of Stetson Original EdC

[Mike R]

Thursday

Brush: Rooney Stubby 1
Cream: Taylor - Sandalwood
Razor: '54 Z2 Super Speed
Blade: Super-Max Platinum
A/S: Barbasol Pacific Rush
Cologne / Fragrance: YSL Opium

Mike

[jgreenepa]

8FB5BFCD-47C4-4A6E-95C8-11D33ED88696.jpeg (508.84 KiB) Viewed 3508 times

SOTD Thursday 02/13/20

Thought I’d begin today’s shave with some closeups of the only safety bar design LaResche ever made. The 77 model has a sharply arched top cap fitting on a narrow baseplate. The only modern razor that is similar is the Fine Marvel. Both are formidable looking razors. And surprisingly, both are smooth and highly efficient shavers. The Model 77 has a thinner top cap which is subject to bending and thus delivering a highly aggressive shave according to some of the experts on B&B. Mine delivers a smooth highly efficient shave, so I suspect does not possess a bent top cap. The blade gap is easily more than 2mm.
The shave was epic. The Viking brush generated its usual thick, yogurty, glistening lather. of which the Model 77 made good use. I kept my shaving strokes purposefully short and ended up with a bloodless, two pass BBS, albeit one that took a great deal longer than my shaves with the Model 51. It was not irritation-free, however, as the alum block revealed some slight heat around my usual trouble spots - the Adam’s Apple and middle of the back of my head - which the Fine Snake Bite reinforced. I attribute that to operator error in relearning my way around this razor. In any case, I feel clean, smooth, cool, and refreshed.

RAZOR: LaResche 77
BLADE: Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Cube Preshave Soap
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers LavenderWH and finished with Fine Accoutrements Snake Bite AS Splash

[brothers]

SOTD Strop Shoppe Alpine Frost 13Feb2020 1.jpg (1.24 MiB) Viewed 3501 times

[jgreenepa]

F41830FF-D337-45E4-9FEF-7C53C6DCD302.jpeg (508.84 KiB) Viewed 3494 times

SOTD 02/14/20 Valentines Day

RAZOR: LaResche 77
BLADE: Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Preshave Cube Soap
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Fine Accoutrements Snake Bite AS Splash

[jgreenepa]

SOTD Strop Shoppe Alpine Frost 13Feb2020 1.jpg

How’s that Colonial General V2 shaving for you, Gary? I have one on order due next month!

[Mike R]

Friday

Brush: Rooney Stubby 1
Cream: RazoRock XXX
Razor: '54 Z2 Super Speed
Blade: Super-Max Platinum
A/S: Family Dollar Brut clone
Cologne / Fragrance: Aspen

Mike

[brothers]

How’s that Colonial General V2 shaving for you, Gary? I have one on order due next month!

It gives me my best shaves. I've learned some techniques (now occurring almost subconsciously) that seem to bring out the best in the V2 in addition to the best results from the Kai and Schick blades.

[jgreenepa]

How’s that Colonial General V2 shaving for you, Gary? I have one on order due next month!

It gives me my best shaves. I've learned some techniques (now occurring almost subconsciously) that seem to bring out the best in the V2 in addition to the best results from the Kai and Schick blades.

I have a Blackland Vector and RR Hawk. I use Prolines almost exclusively. The Vector is my current preferred AC SE razor. Looking forward to trying the General. Heard nothing but good things about it.

[jgreenepa]

CF8792B7-26A6-4F2C-871B-1FF48F5408CC.jpeg (424.21 KiB) Viewed 3466 times

SOTD 02/15/20

The mantra in the 30 Day Concentration (30DC) thread at The Shave Den (TSD) is “technique trumps tools”. My concentration this month has been the daily use of MWF. After discovering my grail razor (LaResche 51) and experiencing 7 consecutive, bloodless, irritation-free BBS shaves, I’ve also noticed that my face and dome surfaces appear shiny, soft and well-hydrated. Two shaves with the LaResche 77 yielded much the same result albeit with some minimal heat. So I asked myself, if soap used is part of our technique, how much of my shave results should I attribute to the daily use of my favorite soap?

To test this theory I decided to use my 115 yr old Gillette Single Ring. This old girl’s nickname is “The Weeper Maker”. She always delivers a very close shave, but I’ve never escaped without at least one weeper. In order to maintain at least the semblance of consistency, I loaded the same blade I’ve been using, a Wizamet Super Iridium, a relatively sharp and smooth blade from my remaining stash of 200 original Polish blades.

The Viking Silvertip Badger brush generated its usual thick MWF paste. This paste was applied to the shaving surfaces and then face and head lathered with sufficient amounts of warm water over the prior scrub of the those surfaces with PAA’s Cube Preshave Soap.

I then picked up “The Weeper Maker” and launched into the first WTG pass. She sang through that first whisker reduction with aplomb. A careful examination afterwards revealed no blood on either dome or noggin. I relathered and completed my second XTG pass with no blood and some minimal roughness in the usual spots - the Adam’s Apple and the middle of the back of my head.

Now I asked myself, should I tempt fate? I decided to only lather the two rough spots for some ATG buffing. I proceeded gently and carefully to bloodlessly eliminate the roughness. A check with the alum block upon completion yielded some slight stinging in the back of the head and no irritation at all around the troublesome Adam’s Apple! Unbelievable! More power to MWF! I feel clean, smooth and refreshed!

RAZOR: Gillette Single Ring 1905 Vintage
BLADE: Wizamet Super Iridium
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with PAA’s Preshave Cube Soap
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and finished with Fine Accoutrements Lavender Pour Homme AS Splash

[jgreenepa]

B5A12EE5-4AA0-4227-BC1A-5CCAD2797FF7.jpeg (318.24 KiB) Viewed 3436 times

SOTD 02/16/20

My MWF focus this month continues with one of my less well-behaved razors, my MMOC. This razor never fails to deliver an excellent close shave, but also requires attention to its use. If that attention wanders Madame Micromatic will bite!

In this case, I chose to forgo my usual PAA Preshave Cube prep and simply stuck to my cold water rinse before lathering up for my first WTG pass! I used careful short strokes and avoided long sweeping ones, as those never failed to incite a bite in the past.

The Pella PTFE Gem Blade swept through the whiskers like Sherman through Georgia! The result was a bloodless first pass that totally cleaned up the dome and left very slight roughness around the Adam’s Apple, which has proven problematic with this razor in the past.

I relathered that area as well as the back of my head and did some ATG buffing. When I finished there was no heat at my throat and minimal stinging at the back of my head, but again, no blood! BBS with minor heat. So onward and upward!

I just received back my repaired Rex Ambassador! The last time I used that razor, it wreaked havoc. I was unable to shave the dome for almost three days! So that’s on the docket For tomorrow. Today I feel clean, smooth and refreshed!

RAZOR: Gem MMOC
BLADE: Pella PTFE Gem
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and PAA Mentholated Mysterium Serum