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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving

Busy morning this morning but I really wanted a great shave so I made time. Since time was of the essence I went straight for my par shave and didn't test out a PIF item.

Today's Shave: Shave #75

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic (Larger knot from KJ's PIF)
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic) From KJ's PIF
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 12 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Master Bay Rum / Superior 70 semi-bootlegger
mix on the neck only. Every Man Jack AS balm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.

My lather was a bit on the watery side this morning, but I just kept lathering until it got where I wanted it. Something I've noticed with MW Soaps is that about when I want to give up lathering is precisely when I need to keep lathering for a few more minutes because the lather hasn't quite matured yet to where it needs to be. Early on I was stopping my lathers there and they weren't getting where they needed to be.

I cleaned my razor before I slipped in a new Gillette SB blade. WTG pass was beautiful. I've begun J-hooking a bit at the jaw line as I do my passes to grab more beard growth. For me, I've figured out over the last few shaves that the better and closer I can feel in the first couple of passes the less chance I'll have irritation and redness. My 2 pass shave quest taught me this, to be more efficient and get as much as I can with each pass. XTG & ATG pass went very well. I left the razor set at 2.0 with all 3 passes and had a nice BBS shave when done.

For the post shave I enjoyed my semi bootlegger mix of Bay Rum AS and because it was cold and dry this morning I went for the extra moisturizing EM Jack AS balm. It's a great combination when I need to set out in the cold.

On the personal side of things I'd been given a powder horn form someone who got it in a box of junk at a garage sale. Since I make powder horns (not many but when the mood strikes me) I received it well and was thankful for it. It was missing the wooden plug in the large open end but was scrimshawed with the date "Mar 4th '71" and JLS as the initials. Everyone, including me at first glance, figured this was made in 1971 by some muzzleloading shooter but when I started inspecting it I saw all the correct signs that this powder horn was way older than that. I suspect that this could be dated to 1771 as I do not think this was being used in 1871. At any rate I decided to restore it to its original glory and put in a new wood plug for both ends, forged the same style square nails that went into the holes and forged a simple field expedient ring to go through the hole in the top. The goal was to make it look old and appropriate. So far it looks great and I only have to finish off the small spout end plug and get the color right. I have a possibles bag and some powder horn straps on the way that ordered with gift cards so I should have a nice looking start to an old mountain man gear set. Some day I want to buy a long rifle kit and do one of the old flint locks. They cost a lot of money so I'm a long way off from that I love old stuff and making new stuff look old so this is part of what I do for fun. The challenge of getting it to look old is what is so much fun.
 
Yes! Pics! You must show Pics! At one time I wanted a Pennsylvania Long Rifle SOOOOO BAD!!! It still may one day be in the picture. But that powder horn...man that is something special! So glad it found it's way into the hands of someone who appreciates it!
 
I'll get some pictures taken after lunch today of the powder horn.

This morning I had a really good shave and an interesting PIF item to review.

Today's Shave: Shave #76

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic (Larger knot from KJ's PIF)
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic) From KJ's PIF
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 13 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Master Bay Rum / Superior 70 semi-bootlegger mix on the neck only. Chatillon Lux's La Quatrieme Ville Post Sha
ve Salve to the face only. Mammoth Painting.

Today I was pressed for time but got up early to get in a good shave. The lather was nice and I got it just right this morning. I almost went for a PIF brush, but didn't feel like trying something that extreme in my routine. WTG I set the razor at 2.0 and really let the weight of the razor do the work. Sometimes I forget that. Something I've noticed with the Variant is that a grip right up close to the cap is not the optimum place, but rather a smidge ahead of dead center on the handle locks in that optimum angle for me. XTG I decided to set the razor at 2.5 for the face and back down to 2.0 for the neck. This works well with J hooking in places on the cheeks. I think the problem area on my cheeks where I see redness the hair there grows in a swirl so the J hooking strokes really go a long way to get those areas smooth. ATG was great and I did minimum clean-up this morning. I still acheived a BBS shave everywhere except the adam's apple area which was a solid DFS.

Post shave was excellent and I love my routine here. The witch hazel and the bootlegger's AS really work well with my skin.

PIF Item Reviewed: So, I'm looking at this tiny jar of stuff and without my glasses I could make out post shave so I'm thinking it's a balm - cool I'll try this out this morning. Well, only after applying it seeing how dry it was (I had to wet my face to get this stuff to spread out) did I take the jar out into the light with my glasses did I realize it was a post shave salve
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Have a good laugh everyone, yup I applied a salve to my whole face but it felt pretty good and being all natural with shea butter and hemp and all that I immediately struck a yoga pose involuntarily
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But seriously it worked well but I do believe a salve would be to treat a cut or irritation and not a whole face application. It's a keeper and I will use it as a salve from now on and treat those sore areas or cuts when they occur. The scent wasn't all that great, but it did go well with the Bay Rum so I gotta keep it for that reason alone. I'm the Bay Rum Meister!
 
Lol, that could have gone way worse; I’m glad the mystery salve turned out to be along the lines of what you thought it was.
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Good of nothing the grip on the razor. Little details like that make a difference!
 
Blade-meister said:
Have a good laugh everyone, yup I applied a salve to my whole face but it felt pretty good and being all natural with shea butter and hemp and all that I immediately struck a yoga pose involuntarily
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But seriously it worked well but I do believe a salve would be to treat a cut or irritation and not a whole face application.
Click to expand...

You we’re using it correctly! It’s meant for your whole face as a post shave. Being a salve, it just has a different consistency than a balm, and you’ll use less.

This is from their website:
Scoop a small amount, then rub it between your palms until it reaches body temperature. Massage it into your skin. To aid in spreadability, apply to slightly damp skin. Make sure you take the time to really work it in for 45 seconds to a minute, which helps with absorption and allows you to enjoy the blooming scent. Depending on the dryness of the skin, the absorption time will vary.
 
I had a truly great shave this morning after trying out some new strokes during my 3 passes.

Today's Shave: Shave #77

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic (Larger knot from KJ's PIF)
Soap: Mystic Water Lavender Lime
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic) From KJ's PIF
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 12 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Barbasol Pacific Rush AS on the neck only. Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to th
e face only. Mammoth Painting.

I prepared a great lather this morning and everything was just right with it. I set the razor at 2.0 and got right to my WTG pass. During this pass I continued to do some J hooking but am stopping in the problem areas on the cheeks and sides of the neck and am doing tighter J's there, more half circle turns as sort of a clean-up as I go. Those areas are really liking that treatment. I set my razor at 2.5 and got right to my second pass which I modified a little. XTG pass I did more of the small J's on the cheeks and when I got to my neck on this pass I went ATG as the second pass. For me that's an ear to chin stroke on the sides of the neck which equates to a XTG pass under the chin. Under the chin I did more small J's. All that felt great. So my last pass was an ATG pass on the face moving S to N from the neck right on up. I set the razor back to 2.0 and went for it. For the neck it is ATG under the chin and XTG on the sides while the face it's an ATG / ATG&XTG for some areas. More small J's and stroke to clean-up going from nose to ear. This all felt really great. Smooth and without irritation.

Something I noticed about the soap today is it feels like it is a little metholish, but not unpleasant. It really feels a mild coolness that might just be the lime working but feels nice & cool.

Review of PIF Item: This morning I had Aqua Velva AS out but I smelled it and then the Pacific Rush and I really felt the PR complimented the MW Lavender Lime better. This was my first dance with Pacific Rush AS so on it went. Quite a sting at first, and then the cooling effect hit which was a little much at first but by the time I left the bathroom it felt really nice. I really like this stuff. Too bad it's so hard to get these days.

On the personal side, I finished the powder horn last evening. I had to scratch the plug, pick at it some, do some coloring and selective burning, then use wear sanding, then the final dye stain. For the added touch I took some 1800's leather and added it to it to make it look even more convincing. She's a keeper for sure.



I also took my old black plastic salsa bowl and added some rings to the inside of the bowl using my handgun grip stippling equipment. I like my handgun grips to have a really positive grip so that in situations where my hands are sweaty, or worse, that my grip is sure. For those who know nothing about handguns, stippling is basically a hot tipped tool that melts little dots into plastic to give it texture. You can do designs such as a spider or an axe or just about anything into plastic by creating a template and stippling inside the template. I'll test out the rings in the salsa bowl and see how it works and report back. My black salsa bowl is slightly bigger than the PIF one from KJ, but was really smooth inside and it took me longer to work up a lather in it.
 
Spider said:
You we’re using it correctly! It’s meant for your whole face as a post shave. Being a salve, it just has a different consistency than a balm, and you’ll use less.

This is from their website:
Scoop a small amount, then rub it between your palms until it reaches body temperature. Massage it into your skin. To aid in spreadability, apply to slightly damp skin. Make sure you take the time to really work it in for 45 seconds to a minute, which helps with absorption and allows you to enjoy the blooming scent. Depending on the dryness of the skin, the absorption time will vary.
Click to expand...

Thanks KJ! I'm glad I'm not a complete dingle berry and sorta used it right. I did have to work it in and it did feel great all day so it's great stuff and I'm going to keep it. Seems most of the things you sent I will be keeping so you really did great by me in the things you put in that PIF.<br/>
 
Today I was interested in seeing how the newly textured black salsa bowl works for lathering.

Today's Shave: Shave #78

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic (Larger knot from KJ's PIF)
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Black Salsa Bowl (plastic) w/ textured rings inside
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower, OZ Shaving Woodsman PS oil
Total Razor on Face Time: 14 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. My Bootlegger's Bay Rum Mix AS on the neck
only. Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.

Lathering went really, really well with the new textured rings in the salsa bowl. Instantly the lather started building. Historically with this bowl it was so slick it would just sorta swish around. The lather was all bubbly either which was my fear, but I think sanding the textured rings was the key so that they weren't rough but had more of a rounded edge texture. This works for sure. A poor man's stippling device is just simply a cheap Harbor Freight woodburner with a very small tip if you decide to try it. Extremely light touches are all you need, anymore than that and you will have large pock marks instead of texturing. Perfect lather.

With the razor set at 2.0 I got right at my WTG pass after working the lather into my face with the brush. Definitely my last use of this blade, but I went easy and smoothly with it. I did more of those small J hooks or small swirls with the razor and this really helps in all the problem areas. XTG / ATG pass went well. I'm really liking getting to the ATG pass on my neck because I found when I did it as the last pass it caused more redness oddly enough. My last pass was ATG (face) & XTG (neck). A really nice shave and BBS everywhere except for my top lip which I forgot to do a third pass on so it's only DFS at best. I realized this post shave and said the heck with trying to go back and lather up more soap or cream to go get it.

Review Of PIF Item: The Oz Preshave Oil was, well, pre shave oil. It performed as predicted and I like the Woodsman scent. I didn't notice any difference in my shave even after applying it right before applying the lather to my face. It's a keeper for me though as it's good slick and thick oil.
 
GearNoir said:
Great moment of inspiration with the salsa bowl. Glad it paid off!
Click to expand...

It works well for sure. I could do all sorts of designs in bowls like that from spiders to crazy patterns. I might just fool around with it and then PIF one or BST list it. It'd be a fun project.

Spider said:
Glad you liked the oil. PSO is just not something I ever use.
Click to expand...

I don't really use it either. I keep hoping it will improve the shave but so far I haven't found that it has. I like to have some around though in case I get irritated and can't skip a shave that particular day.
 
Wow, back to normal life and being busy. Great shave though. Wow, can't believe I'm almost at shave 80! Shave # 100 is closing in fast, then I'll quit and go back to the carts......just kidding
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Today's Shave: Shave #79

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic (Larger knot from KJ's PIF)
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Black Salsa Bowl (plastic) w/ textured rings inside
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 12 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. My Bootlegger's Bay Rum Mix AS on the neck only. Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.

I know, I know how boring it's basically the same shave as yesterday but hey I had to jump back into normal life after the holidays so I wanted boring an predictable
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On the lather I had a bit of trouble this morning and had to add more water to get the lather going. I must have loaded more than I thought into my brush, but after feeling like my arm was going to fall off from working the brush, I finally got the lather where I wanted it.

WTG pass was set at 2.0 with a new SB blade and went very well. I'm continuing the little J hooks on the cheeks and neck which really was a breakthrough for me. XTG & ATG passes were great as well. I spent a little too much time cleaning up this morning so I had a few sore spots, but hey I was BBS everywhere so it was worth it.

On the post shave I discovered that if I want less of a glycerin feeling after my shave I just pat the neck with my towel after letting the bootlegger's mix sit for a minute or two. That was perfect! I'm really liking the EM Jack lately because it's cold and dry here and my face feels great all day with this stuff.

No PIF review due to being back to normal life, but maybe this weekend I'll try something else.

On the personal side of things, I spent some birthday money and finally bought something I've wanted for years.... a leather possibles bag. For those who don't know, possibles bags were carried here in America from the 17th century on by hunters, soldiers, and especially mountain man trappers. It help anything you could possibly need (hence the name) on an outing in the woods. I have an assault pack for woods walking, but there are many days where I just want the basics, my gun of choice, knife of choice, and my tomahawk to go for a walk out in the woods. The possibles bag gives me that option. It came with some modern looking wooden beads so I took them off and replaced them with a bear tooth and claws. Not sure I like it yet so I may have to make some deer antler beads. It hangs with the very first powder horn I ever made (not the one pictured in this journal). When not in use I think I will fill it with period items I have. I guess I'm just a mountain man at heart and born a few centuries too late
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