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Doug's Journal of Shaving Happiness v2.0

Journal Entry #552
2020 Shaves (DE: 109, SE: 19, Straight: 9, Cart: 0, Skipped: 6)

05/24/2020
Pre: Hot shower/splash of cool water/PAA Cube 1.0 mentholated pre-shave
Razor: PAA Starling SE V2
Blade: GEM PTFE (1)
Bowl: Fine Lather Bowl
Brush: Sorrentino Brushworks Custom Tuxedo 24mm
Soap/Cream: Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh (4)
AS 1: Thayer's Coconut Water Facial Toner
AS 2: Nivea Sensitive ASB & Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream
AS 3: TOBS Sandalwood
Fragrance: none

Overview
Another off shave

SOTD Pic
None

Shave Quality
My face is beat up, especially my neck. The soap was fine. It is not as good as the SV, but it didn't make my face burn. So, that is a win. The SS Triple-Butter formula is quite slick and performs well. I think I needed a bit more water. The razor ripped me up, however. Six nicks and lots of irritation. I finished up BBS- and smelling good, but I am irritated and it is going to last.

Gear
The PAA Starling SE V2 takes a GEM blade. Apparently I can no longer use GEM blade razors. Every shave for the last year when I have used one has left me ripped up. I have wanted this razor for a while and picked it up recently. I was hoping that a modern razor would treat my face better than the vintage GEM razors have lately. But, no dice. It is well constructed and comes with both a closed comb and open comb baseplate. However, I can no longer get good shaves from any of the GEM razors that I own. I give up. They will be coming to a BST near you soon.

Sudsy Soapery makes good shave soap. Today's shave was good lather-wise. It whipped up quickly and was plenty slick. I think I needed more water because the residual slickness was a bit on the sticky side. I like the soap and just need to dial it in more. I have had this tub for quite a while (several years) but it still smells good, very subdued but good. It had something like 2-3 shaves on it before today. It is not as good of a soap base as SV, but it is going to be great moving forward.

Other Thoughts
I am really hating my luck with certain products lately. I guess, moving forward, I will have to be careful with any product that has a complex scent. I seem to do well with simpler products, like the Sandalwood & Myrrh from today, or the Peppermint from the last month. Things like SV Felce Aromatica with a multi-faceted, complex scent profile are going to be a crapshoot. Unfortunately, I have several things in my den which I haven't tried yet that fall into that complex category. We will see what happens when I get around to those.


Thank you for reading and commenting on my journal. I hope you have a great day and stellar shaves, Cadre.
 
Odd, you would think a guy that can handle the hot nuts like nothing would be made of steel.
 
Journal Entry #553
2020 Shaves (DE: 110, SE: 19, Straight: 9, Cart: 0, Skipped: 6)

05/25/2020
Pre: Hot shower/splash of cool water/PAA Cube 1.0 mentholated pre-shave
Razor: Merkur 34c
Blade: Isreali Personna (2)
Bowl: Fine Lather Bowl
Brush: Sorrentino Brushworks Custom Tuxedo 24mm
Soap/Cream: Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh (5)
AS 1: Thayer's Coconut Water Facial Toner
AS 2: Nivea Sensitive ASB & Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream
AS 3: AOS Sandalwood ASB
Fragrance: none

Overview
Better...

SOTD Pic
None

Shave Quality
My neck was still a little irritated this morning, but I shaved anyway. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow. The shave was DFS overall, but I did not increase the irritation on my neck much. It was a satisfying shave. Although, I did make the lather a bit too airy. I went from not enough water to too much. The slickness was there in large quantities, however.

Gear
Everything was good today.

Other Thoughts
Why am I thinking about getting another strop? I really don't need one. I am thinking about picking up one of the 3 inch latigo strops from WCS while they are on sale. I am happy with my Tony Miller, why spend the money?


Thank you for reading and commenting on my journal. I hope you have a great day and stellar shaves, Cadre.
 
Sorry to hear about the SV woes. It would have taken you the rest of the year to 3017 that bar anyway. I am sure it will find a good home. I have a puck of SV Opuntia that I want to try soon. Hoping I don't have the same issues.

Sudsy Soapery makes a good soap. Maybe one of the best Veggie soaps out there. I have a tub of the Sandalwood and Myrrh also that is a few years old and I haven't used it in a while. The scent of that is intoxicating, but very simple and like you say...subdued. Sudsy Soapery's Tallow version is a lot better in the way of performance in my opinion.
 
dangerousdon said:
Sorry to hear about the SV woes. It would have taken you the rest of the year to 3017 that bar anyway. I am sure it will find a good home. I have a puck of SV Opuntia that I want to try soon. Hoping I don't have the same issues.

Sudsy Soapery makes a good soap. Maybe one of the best Veggie soaps out there. I have a tub of the Sandalwood and Myrrh also that is a few years old and I haven't used it in a while. The scent of that is intoxicating, but very simple and like you say...subdued. Sudsy Soapery's Tallow version is a lot better in the way of performance in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I am a fan of Sudsy Soapery's products. I haven't tried the tallow formula yet, however.

I will probably pick up some stuff from them in the future, once I have more room for new stuff.
 
Journal Entry #554
2020 Shaves (DE: 111, SE: 19, Straight: 9, Cart: 0, Skipped: 6)

05/26/2020
Pre: Hot shower/splash of cool water/PAA Cube 1.0 mentholated pre-shave
Razor: Merkur 15c
Blade: Isreali Personna (3)
Bowl: Fine Lather Bowl
Brush: VIG Shaving 24mm Silvertip Badger
Soap/Cream: Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh (6)
AS 1: Thayer's Coconut Water Facial Toner
AS 2: Nivea Sensitive ASB & Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream
AS 3: AOS Sandalwood ASB
Fragrance: none

Overview
Two in a row, yay.

SOTD Pic
None

Shave Quality
Still working on the irritation on my neck. If I were to skip a day, it might go away faster. But, at least today I didn't add any to the irritation. This is also helping me pay more attention to my neck and my overall technique. I can't be careless if I want to avoid making my neck worse. It feels like DFS+ today, but that is fine with me. The lather was way, way too wet today. The Marco method with a badger brush is a recipe for a thin but very slick lather.

Gear
I like badger brushes, but synthetics are really where it is at for me.

Israeli Personna (i.e. Platinum Chrome) blades are really nice on my face.

Other Thoughts
Time to get a nice cup of tea and get some work done.

Here is an interesting article that I read this morning: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...3ca71e-9c5b-11ea-a2b3-5c3f2d1586df_story.html


Thank you for reading and commenting on my journal. I hope you have a great day and stellar shaves, Cadre.
 
Skimmed through the article and found some interesting points in there. The fact is though that people in New York have been leaving the City and State for a while now and moving to places like Florida because of the high taxes. California is in the same boat. This pandemic has made things only worse.
 
Too bad Doug I have never heard and SV soap causing irritation however it has to be something in the plant family like conifer or a sensitivity to one of these:

felce.JPG

I am guessing the Silver Fir or Ginger maybe too
 
Journal Entry #555
2020 Shaves (DE: 112, SE: 19, Straight: 9, Cart: 0, Skipped: 6)

05/27/2020
Pre: Hot shower/splash of cool water/PAA Cube 1.0 mentholated pre-shave
Razor: Merkur 42c
Blade: Shark Platinum (1)
Bowl: Fine Lather Bowl
Brush: VIG Shaving 24mm Silvertip Badger
Soap/Cream: Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh (7)
AS 1: Thayer's Coconut Water Facial Toner
AS 2: Nivea Sensitive ASB & Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream
AS 3: AOS Sandalwood ASB
Fragrance: none

Overview
A little too much

SOTD Pic
None

Shave Quality
It was a great two pass shave. It was a less good three pass shave. I would have been fine had I stopped at two. I have some all over razor burn. I think it will go away quickly, but we will see. However, I am full-on BBS.

Gear
The Shark Platinum is a fine blade. I would say that it is definitely on the same level as Parker Platinum or Astra SP. Maybe not quite as good as an Astra.

The 42c handle can get a little slippery in a soapy environment. The high level of slickness provided by the Sudsy Soapery definitely can cause grip issues.

Other Thoughts
I like four day work weeks.


Thank you for reading and commenting on my journal. I hope you have a great day and stellar shaves, Cadre.
 
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