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Ya like Dags? My foray into wet shaving and the honorable order of aquisition

I always hate when I shut the alarm off in a doze and then wake up a couple hours later, but I've had a couple instances of dreaming that I shut the alarm off, then wake up an hour before it actually goes off thinking that I'm late. Adrenaline rush, insert expletive here, look at the clock and realize that I'm missing prime sleep, then be unable to resume the slumber due to the adrenaline shot lol. I'm not saying that happened this morning, but I'm not going to say it didn't either. Great stuff Josh!
 
Josh your shaving adventures are pretty incredible! Your incorporation of jnats has my AD rising as does the bigger blade have been wanting to try one. Who do you send out your razors to when you go that route? I saw the name Karl? There are a few of my nicer razors that I'd like to have done by a pro and just maintain. Others are my projects but I just can't bring myself to hurt a fine instrument just yet...

Thanks Owen!

I always hate when I shut the alarm off in a doze and then wake up a couple hours later, but I've had a couple instances of dreaming that I shut the alarm off, then wake up an hour before it actually goes off thinking that I'm late. Adrenaline rush, insert expletive here, look at the clock and realize that I'm missing prime sleep, then be unable to resume the slumber due to the adrenaline shot lol. I'm not saying that happened this morning, but I'm not going to say it didn't either. Great stuff Josh!

LOL...the nice thing about sleeping in, is at least the routine takes up a decent enough time that I wasn't but 10 minutes late for work! That "Oh crap, I'm late" feeling is...unsettling.

Nice set up, shave and software choices, Josh. Good Stuff

Thanks Dave!

Good stuff Josh as always and a real SOTD picture! Enjoy the week!

Danke schoen Dan! Glad to see you get into the CF C&S today!
 
Monday, 24 October – Stirling Piacenza – Straight shave #49

It was a blessedly early night last night, so, after speaking with the wife and kids, I grabbed my nightly lather equipment. I opted for what came in the mail yesterday from Stirling. Another three samples (Orange Chill, Stirling Spice, and Autumn Glory) as well as two brushes, a 24mm synthetic (for my dad’s shaving kit) and one of their 24mm badgers. I washed and conditioned the badger brush yesterday, and holy cow does this thing bloom! I grabbed that as well for the lather, and the brush whipped up a nice slick lather in no time. The scent is definitely unique, and not unpleasant at all. I would be hard pressed to really describe it, other than it does remind me of autumn. I topped it off with some Old Spice. One thing I haven’t been talking about is the soap I’ve been using to scrub my face prior to lathering, and that is the Stirling bath soap samples they’ve been sending. I’m about to come to the end of the second one, Rosemary Mint, (the first being Executive Man). It’s actually done a really good job of cleaning the oils from my face and leaving it nice and ready for the lather, and the mint aspect gives it just that slight cooling effect. I have two other samples, Oatmeal Shae Butter and Sterling Spice…not sure which one I’m going to grab first when the Rosemary is done.

Prep: hot shower, Stirling Gentleman
Pre-shave: Baume.be Pre-shave Gel, hot towel
Strop: 3” Premium Red Latigo strop, CrOx sprayed hard felt strop from SRD
Razor: Eiko 6/8”
ATG neck Razor: Merkur Futur (setting 6)
ATG neck Blade: Personna Blue Lab (4)
Soap: Stirling Piacenza
Brush: Semogue 830
Bowl: The Shaving Place Mountain Blue Glazed lather bowl
Post-shave: alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Stirling Piacenza
Fragrance: Acqua di Parma Colonia Intensa
Album of the Day: The Who - The Ultimate Collection
Song of the Day: I Can See for Miles
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After a couple of days where my shaving schedule was just off, I was looking forward to getting back to the Eiko, and the fourth shave with it. I still had minimal growth from the previous day’s shave, indications that it was indeed a BBS, but I still went for a full three passer. The Piacenza gave a predictably great lather with the Semogue, which has broken in wonderfully, to the point that the tips of the boar hair when wet are as soft if not more so than almost all of the badgers I own. The first two passes went without issue. After reverting in previous shaves to 100% right handed shaving, I again worked on shaving with my left hand for the WTG/XTG passes. On the ATG pass, I kept the straight razor to working the moustache, chin and cheek areas, and grabbed my Futur, (set to the max setting of 6), for the neck area, as I just can’t find the right grip/angle to shave ATG on my neck, as the grain in that area runs from L-R the entire way. I finished up, and gingerly grabbed the alum, only to find that it felt just like water. The AS gave a bit more feedback, along with a nice gentle menthol kick. I did happen to miss a spot on my right jawline at the corner of my chin, but that’s a spot I have routinely missed. I think I’ve found what works for me, at least for the time being, in getting as close a shave as possible with minimal irritation, and that is doing a hybrid ATG pass with both the straight and a DE. This is actually very exciting, as I can use both my straights and my DE’s in each shave, and not feel like I’m neglecting them.

The Who provided the musical backdrop to the shave this morning, with great songs such as “My Generation”, “Magic Bus”, “Pinball Wizard” and “Baba O’Reilly”. The Who really were a groundbreaking band at the time, and their music stands the test of time, as the songs can be equally applied to contemporary times. Pete Townsed’s driving guitar, Roger Daultrey’s signature lead vocals, and the phenomenal music compositions are huge influences on today’s music. “I Can See for Miles” gets the nod for the song of the day, even though I like “Baba O’Reilly” better as a song. It’s still playing in my head, and is giving a great start to the day.

Mail call yesterday was another good one, from Stirling Shaving. A few more samples, (this makes it 12 that I’m currently working through), and a couple of brushes. The finest badger got glowing reviews, and was relatively inexpensive, so I took a stab at it to see what the fuss was about. I also picked up one of their synthetics for my father’s shaving kit. The badger looks great out of the box. It’s the same kind of knot as my Rudy Vey, with a much higher loft setting (51mm). I was expecting a decent bloom out of it, but what ended up happening blew me away…it is HUGE. I can’t imagine what the 26mm knot (54mm loft) blooms to! The synthetic knot looks to be identical to the 26mm Razorock Plissoft, albeit 2mm smaller, and should be a good all-around brush for my Dad. I was going to post some pictures of the brush pre and post bloom, but work hasn’t allowed the opportunity to break away long enough to get the pictures uploaded. Hopefully tomorrow...

Speaking of tomorrow, that will mark my 50[SUP]th[/SUP] shave with a straight, halfway to the 100 shave milestone where people really start to understand their straights. B&B and the members here have increased my learning curve exponentially, so I am much further along in my straight journey than I would be otherwise. I can't thank all of you enough for your support and friendship through this...it's been frustrating at times, admittedly, but I'm constantly learning something new, and enjoying the process!
 
Great Narrative Josh, congrats on 50 as well, you are doing Great!

Thank you Dave! It's been fun learning this new (old) skill.

I do enjoy reading your thoughts! We must have similar brain patterns. Congrats on the half-century mark! :thumbsup:

Danke schoen Rich!

50 already, why I remember your first; how time does fly :lol: Josh your journal has been a fun ride for us all and we know the next 50 will be even better!:thumbup:

The journal's inception has a lot to do with your influence, Dan! Without your mentoring and recommendations, I wouldn't have started it! It's been a big help to me, writing about my experiences and getting the feedback from you, Dave and the rest of the crew!
 
Wednesday, 26 October – Fine Platinum – Straight shave #50

Yesterday I promised to show some pictures from the mail call the other day and the bloom of the Stirling badger brush. As promised:
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Crazy day at work yesterday. Obviously I can’t go into any amount of detail, but the only thing I was able to do was break away to get all five of the auction items I donated mailed off. I did, however, take 30 minutes after work to put the CVH to the JNAT for a touch-up with a misty tomo nagura slurry gradually working to water only then a little lather (ala CBLindsay). The nightly lather allowed me to finish off one of the Stirling samples (Piacenza) that was hanging around. Now to work on the Executive Man sample and get that finished.

Prep: hot shower, Stirling Gentleman
Pre-shave: Baume.be Pre-shave Gel, hot towel
Strop: 3” Premium Red Latigo strop, CrOx sprayed hard felt strop from SRD
Razor: C.V. Heljestrand Mk 31
ATG neck Razor: ’55 Gillette Super Speed Red Tip
ATG neck Blade: Personna Blue Lab (5)
Soap: Fine Platinum
Brush: Rudy Vey 26mm Butterscotch “Chubby” TGN Finest 2-band
Bowl: The Shaving Place Mountain Blue Glazed lather bowl
Post-shave: alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Fine Platinum
Fragrance: Club de Nuit Intense Man by Armaf (Aventus clone)
Album of the Day: Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood
Song of the Day: Kickstart My Heart
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After the work on the CVH and a little stropping last night, I was looking forward to seeing how the edge came out. The Fine Platinum got the call today, along with the matching AS and frag. I went with what has become my most reliable brush, and along with the Semogue, my favorite, the Rudy Vey TGN finest 26mm. The lather was whipped up in no time flat. The first pass was a little drier than I liked, but that was easily remedied with a little water refresh, and the same to the lather for the remaining passes. I did the same thing as yesterday, using the straight for 2.5 passes, and completing the third pass with the DE. I got a little heavy handed with the Red Tip this morning pursuing BBS and knew I was in for a bit of burn with the alum and AS, both of which registered maybe a 3/10 on the neck and a 1/10 everywhere else. It’s time to toss the DE blade I’ve been using, as it’s lost a bit of keen-ness it had. If I can get 5 uses out of each blade, I’m more than happy. The result of the shave was BBS- as there is a tiny bit of micro stubble on that right corner jawline, and I did have a bit of irritation. The AS and frag went on, I felt good going to work.

The verdict on the edge is that it can get smoother. I didn’t strop as much as I have been right after the stones, so that might be the primary culprit. The keen-ness was good, however. It had no issue swiping the stubble off. The Swedish Stubble Swiper. The CVH handles so much more different than the Eiko, it took me a pass and a half to get the angle right, and pressure was a bit of an issue through the entire shave. But it was nice to get back to it, like coming back to an old friend…it’s just so comfortable in the hand.

I’m going to be alternating between these two until I can get another one of my straights into shaving condition, when I’ll throw it into the rotation. I’ll do this until I get all of them fit in…a full 15 blade rotation when all is said and done. This way I’ll get to use each straight twice a month, for the most part. Eventually I have two razors that need to get sent off to Karl for restoration and new clothes (a Mk 31 and Mk 32). First things first though. I have about 5 razors that are close but need some final touch-ups on the JNAT.

I wasn’t quite sure what to play for music today. I was scrolling through the different albums and artists on my computer, debating on The Beatles, Of Monsters and Men, Poison, Maroon 5, Warren Zevon, The Killers…until I came to the Motley Crue folder. I could hear Kickstart My Heart playing in my head, and it seemed like it fit. Yeap…that was the ticket! Dr. Feelgood has maybe 7 or 8 songs that got pretty good playtime on the radio, and it sounds just as good now as it did then. Of course, Kickstart My Heart got the nod for song of the day, as it was the impetus for me to choose the album in the first place. Have a great hump day everyone!
 

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How do you like the Stirling 2band brush? I have the 26 mm and I really like it.

I've only used it once for a nightly lather, so I don't have a real grasp of how it performs. It's going to get pulled tomorrow morning, so I'll have a better idea after the shave! I can say that the size is about right, and since I already have two 26mm brushes (1 synthetic and 1 TGN finest by Rudy Vey), I wanted a 24 mm badger in finest as well.
 
Josh, it seems like all you need is time to hone to get the other blades in shape. I'm really impressed with how quickly you have taken to honing and how well you are doing. Your "razor usage plan" is similar to mine, but mine will get used once a month. I'm looking forward to seeing everything you've acquired cleaned up and photographed! Enjoy the day!

Thanks Dan! You aren't the only one looking forward to getting everything shave ready. LOL I'm working on two of the razors right now and should have them ready to go within the week, taking the total tally of useable shavers up to four.
 
Thursday, 27 October, 2016 – Stirling Spice – Straight shave #51

No picture today as I couldn’t find the time to upload one….but did want to get a post in. I was able to start honing one of my blades yesterday, but it’s going to need at least another full progression of nagura to get where it needs to be. I was also able to finish up another one of the blades and get it at an HHT5 along the entirety of the blade. Hopefully it’s not too keen. I ran it for quite a bit on the strops…with 15 laps on the CrOx and .25 diamond felt, with 60/120 nylon / leather. It will get another long stropping session in the morning prior to the shave.

The English Football League is made up of four professional divisions (considered League divisions) The Premier League, The Championship, League One and League Two, and has 92 teams which are a member. Below this are 5 “non-League” divisions of 24 teams each. There are regional leagues below this, with a total of 140 leagues across England with over 7,000 professional and semi-professional teams competing. Quite impressive if you consider the size of the country. Every year, there is are two tournaments which take place in English domestic soccer, The Football Association Cup (FA Cup) which all 7,000 teams are eligible to play in and a tournament which all “League” teams are a part of, called the English Football League Cup, or League Cup for short. This week was the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] round of the League Cup, and Newcastle had drawn Preston North End, a fellow Championship (2[SUP]nd[/SUP] tier of English soccer) team, and the match was played Tuesday night.

The funny thing is, we play PNE this Saturday as well. Both sides made large changes to the squads from the previous weekend, (9 for PNE and 7 for NUFC), and Newcastle ended up winning at a canter, 6-0. The remaining three fixtures of the round were played last night, with the draw for the quarter finals immediately afterwards. With Premier League teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Southampton and West Ham United still in the competition, odds were that we were going to have a tough draw. Leeds United were the only other Championship team left in the tournament, with Hull City taking up the 8[SUP]th[/SUP] spot. Hull is another Premier League side, but are doing extremely poor in the league, lying in the relegation zone with only 2 wins from 9 matches. We ended up getting a very favorable away draw with Hull. This will be the first away match in the tournament, but our away form is pretty strong this year, so I’m cautiously optimistic about our chances of moving on to the semi-finals. The other matches were Leeds United at Liverpool, West Ham at Manchester United, and Arsenal at Southampton. Newcastle are playing well at the moment, so if they keep it up, there is a possibility they can walk away with their first piece of silverware in over 60 years (1969 Fairs Cup, the precursor to the current day Champions League). The fixtures should be played the week of the 28[SUP]th[/SUP], following Thanksgiving. Anyways, sorry for the rambling about futbol....back to the shaving.

Happy with the draw, I grabbed one of the Stirling samples for the nightly lather, Autumn Glory, along with the EJ Super Badger. A wonderful wash and lather followed by some Fine L’Orange Noir and it was smell good time heading to bed. As far as the nightly lather and whether it helps with the shave in the morning, the jury’s still out. But what it does is give a nice, relaxing night cap to the day, so it’s something that I will most likely continue when I get back home to the family.

Prep: hot shower, Stirling Gentleman
Pre-shave: Baume.be Pre-shave Gel, hot towel
Strop: 3” Premium Red Latigo strop, CrOx sprayed hard felt strop from SRD
Razor: Eiko 6.8”
ATG Razor: ’55 Gillette Super Speed Blue Tip
ATG Blade: Personna Blue Lab (1)
Soap: Stirling Spice
Brush: Stirling 24mm Finest
Bowl: The Shaving Place Mountain Blue Glazed lather bowl
Post-shave: alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Old Spice Original
Fragrance: Hot Water by Davidoff
Album of the Day: Darius Rucker - Learn to Live
Song of the Day: It Won’t Be Like This for Long

Since I used the Mk 31 yesterday, this morning I grabbed the Eiko for the shave. I also went ahead and threw a new blade into the Blue Tip Super Speed for the ATG pass, as I was running a tad late. Three passes later, with no bloodshed, I reached for the alum and found the only irritation of note was on the moustache area where I might have gotten a bit hasty with the DE ATG pass. Everywhere else was only a 1/10 at the most. I would class the shave as a DFS+, as I missed some ATG action on my left cheek/sideburn area. The aftershave gave about the same amount of irritation as the alum, and I threw a healthy amount Hot Water on top of it, with three vasily’s on the chest, and some dots on the wrist and inner elbows.

Darius Rucker provided the soundtrack to the shave. His voice brings back memories of my high school days when he was with Hootie and the Blowfish. The country songs he is writing now, in my opinion, fit his voice so much better. Many of the songs are very easy listening, and the track “It Won’t Be Like This for Long” got me a little misty eyed thinking about my girls back home. Sorry for the bit of sentimentality…aside from some Skyping sessions, I haven’t seen them since April. Too long. Anyways, this definitely gets the choice as Song of the Day, as even though I was a little melancholy, thinking of them always gets me smiling.
 
I love watching EPL games on Saturday and Sunday on NBCSN and catching occasional matches during the week on Fox Sports 1. Good breakdown of crazy number of teams that are in England. I really do not have a favorite, but like what Manchester City is doing with their style of play. I will root for the Spurs, and like to see Chelsea doing OK now that Mourinho is with Man United. Being a Red Sox fan - I probably should be rooting for the Fenway Group owned Liverpool, but can't do it - although Jurgen Klopp is fun to watch in the tactical area.

You are taking to the honing and seem to be getting good results out of the JNats - which is very cool. I have to admit that to learn that much about the varying stones would give me an ice cream headache.

I hope you will get some time as the year winds down to get back to CT to see the family.
 
Thanks for the soccer update, the English League is my Sunday morning guilty pleasure! Nice shave as well.

Thanks Dan! I'm pretty excited that NUFC is doing as well as they are. Hopefully they can keep it up through the rest of the season and get promoted back to the Premiership.

Great Read Josh, and how can you go wrong with Darius! Great way to start the day

Thanks Dave! It was a good shave, and anything that gets me thinking of my girls is a good thing and was the perfect start to the day.

I love watching EPL games on Saturday and Sunday on NBCSN and catching occasional matches during the week on Fox Sports 1. Good breakdown of crazy number of teams that are in England. I really do not have a favorite, but like what Manchester City is doing with their style of play. I will root for the Spurs, and like to see Chelsea doing OK now that Mourinho is with Man United. Being a Red Sox fan - I probably should be rooting for the Fenway Group owned Liverpool, but can't do it - although Jurgen Klopp is fun to watch in the tactical area.

You are taking to the honing and seem to be getting good results out of the JNats - which is very cool. I have to admit that to learn that much about the varying stones would give me an ice cream headache.

I hope you will get some time as the year winds down to get back to CT to see the family.

Thank you Pete! I work with a pretty die hard Manchester United fan, so while I'm not their biggest fan personally, outside of the league cup, I'm all about rooting for them as a sympathetic supporter. I can't really stand Citeh, though Pep Guardiola is getting them to play attractive soccer, and Liverpoop as always been a team I've never really liked. Klopp is fun to watch. There aren't really very many teams that I can stand, with the exception of NUFC's main rivals, Sunderland, and Middlesborough. Hopefully I'm able to make it home soon...

Great shave and read Josh. That Eiko seems to be doing well for you, and you can't go wrong with Stirling! :thumbup:

Thanks Eric...the Eiko is a fun blade to shave with and Stirling always performs.
 
Friday, 28 October, 2016 – Mitchell’s Wool Fat – Straight shave #52

An unexpectedly later night again last night even though I was done with work at a normal time meant that I couldn’t work on any of my razors outside of a very long stropping session. I still went ahead with the nightly lather, trying to use up the rest of the Executive Man sample from Stirling. I’ve got it down to a donut, so maybe a few more lathers will get it done. I followed it up with a splash of Fine Platinum prior to bed.

9:50am – I’m going to make this a running commentary on the day and see how it works out.

10:30am - I had a feeling the late night was going to translate into a sluggish morning. I hate it when I’m right. Unlike the other morning when I had no clue why it was as late as it was, I actually remember “waking up” and turning my alarm off. I keep the alarm clock on the other side of the room specifically to force the wake-up process. Apparently I’m either A) genius in my stupor B) the absolute definition of sloth C) a mix of the two, because I’m sabotaging this. With me waking shortly before work call, I forewent the morning ritual in favor of an on-time work call. A little water spritzed on the hair and on the face for a wake up, and a splash of PAA’s The Beach AS/EdC to stave off the BO gods….I’ll get to the shave a little later on in the day, possibly during my lunch break.

4:55pm – Aside from going out to grab some food to eat at my desk, I’ve been in the weeds for the past six hours, so no time to break away for a shower and shave. Hopefully here in the next hour or so…we’ll see. An injector I ordered off of the ‘Bay came in a couple of hours earlier, but the blades are still yet to arrive. The razor needs quite a bit of clean up. The old blade was left in it, so that’s going to need to be extracted. Whenever the blades show up, I’ll figure out where to put it in rotation. I’ll definitely be devoting some time to learning how to use it properly, as it’s my first SE. (I won another injector off of the Auction, almost NOS, but still waiting for that one.)

5:30pm - I was finally able to break away for my shower and shave. I finished up the Torrey last night and had it popping hairs like crazy, so it got the call today. I wanted to test the brush with a more difficult soap, so I pulled MWF. In retrospect, I should have gone with a less difficult soap for today, as the lather was an issue today, not necessarily due to the brush but user error. I think it started out too wet and never got to the nice creamy lather I’ve been able to get with it in the past. Much lather touch ups and spot shaving. The blade was spectacularly good, however, and even with the poor lather took care of the whiskers quite well. This is the lightest razor I have, and is quite nimble around the face, so was a joy to shave with. I used the Blue Tip for the full ATG pass, still spot shaving. The result is a silk tested BBS shave everywhere except the corners of my mouth. I did have one weeper under the chin, so total grade would be DFS. The alum gave very little feedback, and the Pinaud a little more. Topped off with Sung Homme, which paired nicely with the Clubman, and I’m back to work for the remaining six hours of work.

Side note...while I do enjoy the Fat, and it does perform well, I have so many other soaps I enjoy more and perform just as well for me., it really isn't going to get used all that often. I think it's time for a PIF. First one to claim it gets it...I'll send it out here in the next few days. It is used approximately 10 times, but still has a LOT of life left in it. (figure you'll get another 90 lathers out of it at least...if not close to 2x that amount) It comes in the MWF ceramic dish, and has been smooshed to fill the bowl.

Prep: hot shower, Stirling Gentleman
Pre-shave: Baume.be Pre-shave Gel, hot towel
Strop: 3” Premium Red Latigo strop, CrOx sprayed hard felt strop from SRD
Razor: Torrey 5/8” shoulderless
ATG neck Razor: ’55 Gillette Super Speed Blue Tip
ATG neck Blade: Personna Blue Lab (2)
Soap: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
Brush: Stirling 24mm Finest
Bowl: The Shaving Place Mountain Blue Glazed lather bowl
Post-shave: alum, cold towel, Thayers Cucumber Witch Hazel
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman
Fragrance: Sung Homme by Alfred Sung
Album of the Day: A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step
Song of the Day: Blue

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The music today consisted of A Perfect Circle’s 2003 release Thirteenth Step. The lead singer is the same from Tool, and for the genre of music, hard alternative rock, his voice is quite melodious. A great album, though no songs of particular note came of it. Blue is the fourth track on the album and gets the nod for Song of the Day.
 
Reading about long watches and such brings back memories.. I'll not comment if they are pleasant or no. :lol: Great shavin' though! Improvisin' Adaptin' Overcomin' etc etc.. +1 on liking the Torrey. Nice razors.
 
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