How Many Shaves to the bottom of a Shave Stick?

[Bobtrumpet]

First shave with Cherry is complete; he was a little grumpy getting up this morning. VERY strong cherry fragrance out of the stick. I can definitely pick up the tobacco scent while applying the stick, but it is still dominated by the cherry.

I had no problem with any reaction or irritation to the soap or scent. I usually don't, so this wasn't unexpected.

The soap lathered up very well (used my Omega 10005 boar brush); a nice surprise as I sometimes have trouble lathering soaps, either on the puck on on the face. I had lather for two passes and would have for three, but I used too much water on the second pass. I'll try to be more discerning with my water use tomorrow.

The lather was pretty cushioning, but not as slick as I get with creams. I think this has to do with my water and my body chemistry more than the soap itself. I get get a nice shave, but it could have been better. I was using a new (to me) blade/razor combo (Gillette 7 O'clock Indian green / 1957 Super Speed), so this could be a contributing factor to the shave quality.

I'll use Cherry again tomorrow and Friday. I have several things to mail Saturday, so if the next person on the list (not sure who that is?) would chime in with a PM'ed address I'll try and get it out over the weekend.

Thanks for the opportunity!

 

[bbarton713]

The next gent in line is Koso.

 

[Bobtrumpet]

The phone rang this morning, right after my 3rd and final shave with Cherry (Omega 10005 boar, Gillette SS w/Personna Lab).

"Is Cherry there?" the woman on the other end asked. She struggled to be calm, but there was a certain edge in her voice.

"Yes, I'll get him," I answered.

Cherry took the phone, and became more gruff and agitated as he listened. Finally, he hung up and said, "I need a drink."

Well, he needed a couple. Big ones. He asked me to join him, but I politely declined (7:30 A.M. is a little early for me). He muttered something under his breath; the only thing I could make out is "How'd they find me after all this time?" He would not elaborate further, even under the influence of about 8 fingers worth of Jameson's.

Anyway, Cherry will be off to see Koso tomorrow. I hope that's soon enough for him to avoid any "un-pleasantries."

 

[bbarton713]

You can be sure that there are plenty of skeletons, or ex-wives, in his closet!

 

[koso]

Cherry has arrived in Northern California. He's already talking about going up to Lake Tahoe and putting it all on red. Says it's his lucky color. Weekend is coming up, we'll see what happens.

 

[Bobtrumpet]

Glad to hear he made it safely!

Keep an eye on him near any gambling establishment. Just sayin'.

 

[koso]

"C'mon man, don't be a wet blanket. I'm feeling lucky. This is casino country, let's get rolling. By the way, do you know where I can change some Canadien money?"

So Cherry chided me last night after my second shave.

"I usually like to hang out with the family on Friday nights."

"Wuss."

"Oh, OK. But I don't want to drive all the way to Tahoe. There's a major Indian casino ten minutes away, would that scratch your itch for you?"

Cherry agreed.

In a few minutes we had arrived at Thunder Valley Casino and Resort. Cherry seemed impressed.

"Hey, it's just like a Vegas joint in here. Let's find the roullette table."

Before I knew what had happened, Cherry was plunking a large pile of chips on red. "Maybe you'd better go easy, Cherry." "Hey, you bet your money, I'll bet mine."

Winner. How else would it go with a debonaire gent like the old-school tobacco-scented stick?

"Is that a craps table over there? I'm gonna roll this up. Those Cubans don't come cheap, y'know."

We found a couple of spots at the table. I put a red chip on the Come bar. Cherry started yammering about 'hopping' and 'hardway' like he'd done this before. "Bring me a Wild Turkey on the rocks, toots!"

I became the shooter and sevened-out quickly.

Cherry picked up the dice and went on a run they'll still be talking about years from now. He made number after number. The crowd around the table was going wild. Players from other games drifted over until the table was surrounded three people deep. We were all high-fiving, filling our trays and coloring up chips when we had no more room for stacking.

I noticed Cherry now had his arm around the cocktail waitress who'd been serving us earlier. She must have finished her shift and knew who the big player in the place was.

At last, the inevitable happened and Cherry rolled a seven. By this time there wasn't a player at any other game in the vicinity. Everybody was watching as Cherry came near to breaking the bank.

"Hey look Koso, Brenda here is going to drop me off later. You'll be OK by yourself, right?"

Assuring him I would be fine, Cherry and his new friend vanished.

That was last night. I'm sure Cherry will be home soon. Then I'll have my third shave and send him on to the next gent.

I just can't keep up with him.

 

[koso]

The shaves: I think it was unfortunate timing that Cherry arrived while I'm taking up the straight razor and still within my first dozen shaves. Love the scent but the lather is disappearing before I can finish. I also am getting the burn on my second and third passes. I would probably fare better with a DE but don't want to switch back at the moment.

While I write Cherry has dragged himself in the door. I made him pose for a picture, "The gents will want to see what's left of you. How was your night?"
Cherry assured me that Brenda and her roommate were nice girls and they had a wonderful time.

I will take shave #3 this weekend, then be ready to send Cherry on to the next fellow.

 

[mblakele]

Thanks for the story. Hmm... I wonder if Cherry realizes that extradition still works on Indian-owned land?

 

[bbarton713]

Great story! I'll have to try out Cheri tomorrow since I'm at the same point of my use of straights!

 

[mharris127]

Koso, is that the plastic stick holding mechanism I see in that picture? I guess my estimate on how many shaves may have been optimistic.

 

[koso]

Yes, that's the base peeking over the edge angling slightly upward left to right.

 

[mharris127]

I take it we are at approximately 35 shaves at the current time, then?

 

[koso]

I did 3. Who's on deck?

 

[Bobtrumpet]

Hmmm . . . after the call he got at my place, I'm surprised he was willing to be so public. Then again, perhaps that was his plan all along - hide in plain sight.

Seems like burning the candle at both ends and in the middle is SOP for ol' Cherry.

 

[mharris127]

I did 3. Who's on deck?

We are through the list. Since Cherry is so close to being consumed I would say why not let Koso finish him off? If there were more shave stick remaining I would attempt to find a few more participants but since the stick is down to its last 3-5 shaves anyway IMO it isn't worth the postage or the time to find more participants here.

How would people here feel about a Palmolive EU stick as the next stick in this thread? I happen to have an extra and would be willing to part with it to keep this thread going. I know merchants and soap makers have donated the soaps used here to this point but other than maybe St. Charles (Sue) and Mystic Waters (Michelle) we have pretty much depleted our possible volunteer list. Of course if Sue or Michelle chime in here with a donation I wouldn't turn it down -- in that case I can hold on to my stick for later or we can have two sticks in the next pass-around installment.

 

[bbarton713]

I look at that stick and think that there is probably a good 20 shaves left but I agree that we are probably at the end of any interest to continue. A Palmolive stick sounds good.

My spreadsheet is on my MacBook and I won't be checking to see the winner until Sunday.

 

[mblakele]

If no one else speaks up for Cherry, I could take a second turn. The shipping time should be short, since I am not far from Koso. I am somewhat curious to see if the burn has toned down since January.

A Palmolive stick sounds good to me too. I have several, but I have yet to finish one so it would be useful to know how long they last. Per http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Shave_stick it is a 50-g stick, and I suspect it will last fairly well. To speed things up, shall we do 5 shaves per turn? It might also help if we could minimize the number of times the stick crosses international borders.

 

[mharris127]

I propose that anyone interested in the Palmolive stick pass-around post in this thread that they are interested and we can send the stick out in an order that reduces the number of times that the stick crosses the Canadian and Mexican border to once each. All US residents would get their turn; then send it on to a Mexican participant, passing it around to all of the Mexican participants; last but not least the Canadian participants would get their turn. I would limit this to US, Canadian and Mexican residents at this time due to the high cost of sending overseas.

I propose having a one week waiting time before sending the stick to the first participant to allow people to sign up, then I or some other volunteer would organize the list by country of residence. If there is any objection to my proposal, please PM me or post here using appropriate language.

I don't object to the five use per participant rule.

Note to participants: To send the stick Priority Mail two-day mail in the US it will cost $5.15 each time it is sent. The price of postage to Canada and Mexico is likely higher. Each sender will be asked to cover the postage to send the stick on to the next participant. I wish there was a cheaper way to do this but even Parcel Post was over $3.00 and that option takes about a week to send cross-country (and no guarantee that the package will actually make it to the next participant as happened once already).

 

[bbarton713]

I propose that anyone interested in the Palmolive stick pass-around post in this thread that they are interested and we can send the stick out in an order that reduces the number of times that the stick crosses the Canadian and Mexican border to once each. All US residents would get their turn; then send it on to a Mexican participant, passing it around to all of the Mexican participants; last but not least the Canadian participants would get their turn. I would limit this to US, Canadian and Mexican residents at this time due to the high cost of sending overseas.

I propose having a one week waiting time before sending the stick to the first participant to allow people to sign up, then I or some other volunteer would organize the list by country of residence. If there is any objection to my proposal, please PM me or post here using appropriate language.

I don't object to the five use per participant rule.

Note to participants: To send the stick Priority Mail two-day mail in the US it will cost $5.15 each time it is sent. The price of postage to Canada and Mexico is likely higher. Each sender will be asked to cover the postage to send the stick on to the next participant. I wish there was a cheaper way to do this but even Parcel Post was over $3.00 and that option takes about a week to send cross-country (and no guarantee that the package will actually make it to the next participant as happened once already).

Interested.