Gus's Shave diary

**sanfranciscian** · 04-05-2012, 06:55 AM

I couldn't agree more with you erik, I have tried a goodly number of soaps while DE shaving and was surprised how many didn't make the cut when moving to straights. Tabac still seems to rule the roost though and not to go into any long soap stories but if you haven't tried pdp or arko give them a shot, they seem to meet my and apparently your criteria for taking the water needed to get them to that spot just short of running off my face without breaking down. and both are slick as *** and the pdp seems to leave my face feeling happy. must be the cocoa butter or sumthin.

Ian

**Gustav** · 04-05-2012, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by sanfranciscian

I couldn't agree more with you erik, I have tried a goodly number of soaps while DE shaving and was surprised how many didn't make the cut when moving to straights. Tabac still seems to rule the roost though and not to go into any long soap stories but if you haven't tried pdp or arko give them a shot, they seem to meet my and apparently your criteria for taking the water needed to get them to that spot just short of running off my face without breaking down. and both are slick as *** and the pdp seems to leave my face feeling happy. must be the cocoa butter or sumthin.

Ian

I have got Arko but up until now I have not had and luck with it. I will try mashing it into a bowl and see if that improves the situation. as for PdP, if I remember correctly it is not available in Europe.

**sanfranciscian** · 04-05-2012, 02:16 PM

Hi erik, with the arko i grate and smush it in a bowl and that is the only way i know having never tried it as intended as a stick, the other pdp is pre de provence which is a french soap so pretty sure you got it there. you might be thinking vdh which is van der hagen which i happen to have a truck load of so if you shoot me a pm with an address i will send some along. the vdh is great, to be honest its only fault? IMHO is that it is too slick, I can hardly grip my skin even with the use of alum. tons of great and easy lather.

Ian

**Gustav** · 04-05-2012, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by sanfranciscian

Hi erik, with the arko i grate and smush it in a bowl and that is the only way i know having never tried it as intended as a stick, the other pdp is pre de provence which is a french soap so pretty sure you got it there. you might be thinking vdh which is van der hagen which i happen to have a truck load of so if you shoot me a pm with an address i will send some along. the vdh is great, to be honest its only fault? IMHO is that it is too slick, I can hardly grip my skin even with the use of alum. tons of great and easy lather.

Ian

Thank you for that kind offer which I might get back to you on. Obviously this works both ways so if there is something from this side of the bond you are dying to try just drop me a pm and I will send it along.

**Gustav** · 05-08-2012, 02:10 AM

Shave #275

Heljestrand 5/8 wedge
Floris SS superlathered with Palmolive Classic
HJM Boar Brush
Balea ASB

I decided to try the wedge again, this is probably my heaviest razor on account of the all steel scales. I do not know what it is but I cannot seem to grow very fond of this razor, perhaps it is the lack of sound as it plows effortlessly through the stubble or maybe it is just a touch too heavy. The first times I used this razor I remember it leaving a trail of blood especially around places I had touched up such as the nostril area, lips and sideburns (cuts on my earlobes when going ATG), so this time I took it really easy and whilst this time it was bloodless it did not feel as close as with the hollow blades. All the same I will keep it around since I have no other wedge, who knows one day it might grow on me.

**Luc** · 05-08-2012, 04:34 AM

Originally Posted by Gustav

Shave #275

Heljestrand 5/8 wedge
Floris SS superlathered with Palmolive Classic
HJM Boar Brush
Balea ASB

I decided to try the wedge again, this is probably my heaviest razor on account of the all steel scales. I do not know what it is but I cannot seem to grow very fond of this razor, perhaps it is the lack of sound as it plows effortlessly through the stubble or maybe it is just a touch too heavy. The first times I used this razor I remember it leaving a trail of blood especially around places I had touched up such as the nostril area, lips and sideburns (cuts on my earlobes when going ATG), so this time I took it really easy and whilst this time it was bloodless it did not feel as close as with the hollow blades. All the same I will keep it around since I have no other wedge, who knows one day it might grow on me.

I got the same with my wedge. I tried a few, they work but I prefer 1/4-1/2-3/4-full hollow...

**global_dev** · 05-08-2012, 07:28 AM

i wasn't around for the great wedge vs hollow dust-up that caused joel to create that kron-punkt video about hollows giving a good shave.. i don't get the argument for coarse beards needing a wedge... i haven't really heard a solid discussion on it though...

**Gustav** · 05-25-2012, 06:33 AM

Shave # 285

No name Solingen 6/8 full hollow
Palmolive SS
Vie long horse hair brush
Balea ASB

I am approaching 300 shaves and it never ceases to amaze me that I keep finding ways to improve on the shave. Lately I have found that I can get rid of the third pass and still get a very decent DFS shave. Thus I now only do a WTG followed by a XTG and some touch ups on difficult spots on both passes. Funnily enough, it seems easier for me to shave the strip on my neck between the chin and the chest and the whole chin area clean going ATG as a touch up on the first pass whilst the stubble is still quite thick and resilient. I just need to carefully push through it. After the second pass, I touch up on sideburns and moustache areas by dabbing fresh lather on each spot in turn and shaving it directly afterwards leaving no time for the lather to deteriorate.

With this way of shaving, I can cut down both total shave time and skin irritation and still get only a marginally worse shave. I think I will stick to this for a while and see how it goes.

**Grips** · 05-25-2012, 06:55 AM

Congrats on the 300 shave mark. I'm only around the 90 mark and am always trying new things to get that better , more comfortable shave.

**Gustav** · 05-26-2012, 06:56 AM

Originally Posted by Grips

Congrats on the 300 shave mark. I'm only around the 90 mark and am always trying new things to get that better , more comfortable shave.

Do not worry, if you shave every day it will only take you around a year to catch up with me since I only shave every other day!

**Gustav** · 06-25-2012, 12:09 AM

Shave #301 Starting on my fourth century!

Heljestrand M&K no 2
L'occitane SS
Vie Long Horse hair brush
Balea ASB

I have been doing the 2 pass plus touch-up routine for a month by now and although the three pass shave is better is still gives a very decent shave and has the benefit of being much faster. I also went on a short trip and found the Dovo shavette to be a very practical alternative to the regular straights: its lightweight, does not need any maintenance equipment and should it get destroyed or lost in luggage handling, I can live with the loss.

**Gustav** · 08-20-2012, 02:33 AM

Shave #327

Boker 6/8
Floris no89 SS superlathered with Wilkinson SC
HJM Boar brush
Balea ASB
Result: decent DFS shave

I have been on a break during which I did some interesting shaving related things: I found a Heljestrand M&K no 2 and a 5/8 Edv. Neiström with a bit of a frown at an antique store, pics to come soon. There were some other straights also but they were in pretty bad shape. I also visited an old carpenter friend of mine to see if he could make scales out of a particular wood derived from birch trees in which a growth defect produces a spotted pattern which is most appealing to the eye. He is also going to take a look at the odd shaving box I found two years ago and which is mentioned at length in some posts in earlier pages of this thread. The idea is to restore it and make a copy of it.

Apart from that, shaving is pretty routine nowadays. I do a two pass job with touchups. I used to do three passes but even if some parts of the face were better shaved, it took more time and gave me more irritation. To spice things up a little I am going to do a second batch of honings, this time I will leave the BBW on the shelf and use a Coticule instead. I am looking forward to it tremendously.

**Luc** · 08-20-2012, 06:25 AM

I would be curious to hear the results on the copy of the shave box! And good work on the shave mate!

**Grips** · 08-21-2012, 11:21 AM

Good stuff Gus. Good luck on your projects.

**Doc226** · 08-21-2012, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by Gustav

Shave #275

Heljestrand 5/8 wedge
Floris SS superlathered with Palmolive Classic
HJM Boar Brush
Balea ASB

I decided to try the wedge again, this is probably my heaviest razor on account of the all steel scales. I do not know what it is but I cannot seem to grow very fond of this razor, perhaps it is the lack of sound as it plows effortlessly through the stubble or maybe it is just a touch too heavy. The first times I used this razor I remember it leaving a trail of blood especially around places I had touched up such as the nostril area, lips and sideburns (cuts on my earlobes when going ATG), so this time I took it really easy and whilst this time it was bloodless it did not feel as close as with the hollow blades. All the same I will keep it around since I have no other wedge, who knows one day it might grow on me.

Wedges do no like me either, I can't get a comfortable shave

Originally Posted by Luc

I got the same with my wedge. I tried a few, they work but I prefer 1/4-1/2-3/4-full hollow...

Yep

**Gustav** · 10-30-2012, 12:33 AM

I have not been posting for a while because I have been utterly submerged with work. When I am not working my daughters keep me busy, somuchso that I have not been able to do any of the things I really like doing except for shaving. I managed to lap my coticules, which turned out to be pretty easy but I have not honed anything yet.

Shave quality is pretty consistent, yesterday (shave 354) I used the 6/8 Le Grelot together with Joris SS which is nice and slick, makes nice lather but is slightly lacking when it comes to protection. I have also been using Arko but I just cannot seem to find the sweet spot on this one. Sometimes I get Tabac quality lather but most of the time it is very sub-par. Recently I got myself some Wilkinson shave soap and the first few trial runs were very satisfactory. The lather is more protective than Palmolive and it has that creamy consistency that you get from SIM or Tabac. Great stuff, a definite must try if you have not already. I will chime in again when I have something more interesting to report.

**Grips** · 11-02-2012, 09:06 PM

I have been swamped with work and kids myself Gus. Hopefully I can make a decent update in my journal soon as well.

**Gustav** · 02-06-2013, 11:09 PM

Yesterday I had some free time all for myself for the first time in a very long time and so I thought it is now or never. I got out my Coticule hones and two small Heljestrand no 2 razors. I honed them both using the dilucot method using 10-12 dilutions respectively. I was not sure if the dilutions were doing anything because the slurry got so grimy from metal particles that it was difficult to determine if there was any thinning going on. Whilst the HHT was not really convincing on the first one the TPT was. The second one is this evenings shaver, it seems very promising indeed. I cannot wait to try it out. At some point I must get a hold of TWGW iPhone and shoot some pics. Apart from that, before Xmas I spotted a very nice TI on the rasurpur.de page I just had to have. I will post a picture of that too to see what you make of it.

**Luc** · 02-07-2013, 03:58 AM

Nice!

**Gustav** · 02-07-2013, 10:58 PM

Shave #392

Well, that went as well as can be expected, the freshly honed Heljestrand no 2 which is a 4/8 full hollow, sure was shave ready. I treated myself to the regular two full pass WTG, XTG shave followed by the ATG touch up pass where I shave a section at a time to prevent the lather from drying out. Now 12 hours afterwards, I am inspecting my DFS with the satisfactory feeling you get when you have shaved with a self-honed blade. I also finally unlocked the secret of Arko. I used to think this was a lousy soap until on a whim, I thought to myself: let's see what happens if I load my face with so much lather that I look like the chap on the package? It takes a bit of doing but it is well worth it because you will be rewarded by a slick and protective coat, slightly better than palmolive and nearly as good as Tabac.

Next up a further no2, this time a M&K no2 from the same manufacturer with slightly less dilutions on the hone, it feel less sharp on the TPT but it should still do the job. I'll keep you posted.