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Doug's Journal of Shaving Happiness v2.0

Journal Entry #556
2020 Shaves (DE: 113, SE: 19, Straight: 9, Cart: 0, Skipped: 6)

05/28/2020
Pre: Hot shower/splash of cool water/PAA Cube 1.0 mentholated pre-shave
Razor: Gillette Aristorcrat
Blade: Shark Platinum (2)
Bowl: Fine Lather Bowl
Brush: Yaqi 24mm Two Band Silvertip, mountain lake handle
Soap/Cream: Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh (8)
AS 1: Thayer's Coconut Water Facial Toner
AS 2: Nivea Sensitive ASB & Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream
AS 3: TOBS Sandalwood splash
Fragrance: none

Overview
Still trying to improve my neck technique

SOTD Pic
None

Shave Quality
Today's shave was really good. I am calling it BBS- after two passes. There is a tiny bit of irritation going on, but it is only really evident when I touch my neck. I think that I am doing too much buffing all over the place. I am trying to focus on doing that less. The lather was great and the slickness is off the charts. I think I have the water dialed in correctly.

Gear
I agree with Chad's 100-pack assessment on the Shark Platinum. It is a very good blade.

After using some of the modern synthetics, badgers feel rough on my face.

Other Thoughts
The stones are coming. I have a coticule coming from the UK via eBay. I have an 8x3x1/2 Surgical Black Ark coming from Best Sharpening Stones. I have a 6x2x1/2 Trans Ark and a 8x3x1/2 Black Trans Ark coming from Natural Whetstones. I want to get one or two more Coticules and maybe the 5k, 8k, and 12k Shapton Ha no Kuromaku stones, then I think I am more than set. Well, perhaps I will also get a 8x2x1/2 Trans Ark from Dan's... As with all things shaving related, I am a crazy collector.

I am hoping that, once lapped, the Best SB is as good a finisher as my Dan's 8x2x1/2 SB Ark. Heck, I hope that for all the incoming Arks...


Thank you for reading and commenting on my journal. I hope you have a great day and stellar shaves, Cadre.
 
Have you ever thought about a primitive stone from Dan's Whetstone's? It's a rock that's finished on one side only, so the cost is far below what the regular stones go for. Here's my surgical black primitive, I bought it a few years back and think I paid around 55 for it.IMG_20200529_011246.jpg
 
Galaktus said:
Have you ever thought about a primitive stone from Dan's Whetstone's? It's a rock that's finished on one side only, so the cost is far below what the regular stones go for. Here's my surgical black primitive, I bought it a few years back and think I paid around 55 for it.
Click to expand...
I was unaware of the primitive stones. I will see if they are still available.
 
You have to email them and ask if they have any. They will send you a few pics of the actual one you can buy
 
Journal Entry #557
2020 Shaves (DE: 114, SE: 19, Straight: 9, Cart: 0, Skipped: 6)

05/29/2020
Pre: Hot shower/splash of cool water/PAA Cube 1.0 mentholated pre-shave
Razor: Gillette G2 Fatboy @5
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (1)
Bowl: Fine Lather Bowl
Brush: Yaqi 24mm R1818 Aqua High Mountain Silvertip Badger
Soap/Cream: Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh (9)
AS 1: Thayer's Coconut Water Facial Toner
AS 2: Nivea Sensitive ASB & Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream
AS 3: TOBS Sandalwood splash
Fragrance: none

Overview
Happy Fatboy Friday!

SOTD Pic
None

Shave Quality
Once again I did a little too much blade buffing and have some residual irritation on my cheeks and a couple of areas of my neck. It would have been BBS-, but I am going to call it DFS with the irritation. I can do better. The lather was amazing, so it should have been an off the charts good shave. As with many of us, I am my own worst enemy. I need to keep the idea of "whisker reduction vs. whisker removal" idea in my head while shaving and take fewer swipes at my skin. Things are improving on my neck, however, now that I am paying more attention to it during pre-shave and lathering. I am getting much less redness and irritation, today's results notwithstanding.

Gear
The Lab Blue blade is excellent in the Fatboy. I can see why many people love this blade. It gave a sharp and smooth performance today on top of the Sudsy Soapery lather.

Today's badger was really soft but there was still some scritch as I was lathering. Maybe those super soft synthetics have spoiled me.

Other Thoughts
Got confirmation of my order from Natural Whetstone today. They will be reopening their factory in a couple of days and will be cutting my stones shortly thereafter. I did not realize that they cut to order. I can't wait to see what they look like.


Thank you for reading and commenting on my journal. I hope you have a great day and stellar shaves, Cadre.
 
I wasn’t aware of the primative stones either, that is pretty cool.

I also didn’t know the others were cut to order.
 
MilkCrate said:
I wasn’t aware of the primative stones either, that is pretty cool.

I also didn’t know the others were cut to order.
Click to expand...
Yeah. We'll see if they respond to my email at all. A primitive stone could be really cool.

I was a bit surprised that Natural Whetstone doesn't have pre-cut stock. But, that could be due to the Covid-19 shutdowns. Whether or not this is normal, it is kinda cool. However, it also means that the stones may come to me in need of lapping to remove tool marks. All good either way. I am prepared to use some elbow grease on them if necessary.
 
Journal Entry #558
2020 Shaves (DE: 114, SE: 19, Straight: 10, Cart: 0, Skipped: 6)

05/30/2020
TSC Straight Shave #38
Pre: Hot shower/splash of cool water/PAA Cube 1.0 mentholated pre-shave
Straight: Dovo Shavette - the blue one
Shavette Blade: Dovo long blade
Strop: none
Razor: Gillette G2 Fatboy @5
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (2)
Bowl: Fine Lather Bowl
Brush: Yaqi 26mm Rainbow Handle, Brown Hair Synthetic
Soap/Cream: Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh (10)
AS 1: Thayer's Coconut Water Facial Toner
AS 2: Nivea Sensitive ASB & Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream
AS 3: TOBS Sandalwood splash & Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh ASB
Fragrance: none

Overview
Slow moving train wreck shave

SOTD Pic
IMG_20200530_132230469[1].jpg

Shave Quality
I haven't used a Dovo Shavette in quite a while and remembered them giving me good results. The razor got me to BBS- on my face and DFS on my neck. However, the heel of the blade got me on my left cheek as you can see in the picture above. I felt it bite down and moved wrong. It removed a small sliver of skin and bled quite a bit. It doesn't hurt and I thought the shave was decent despite this nick until about 20 minutes after the shave. The razor burn didn't set in right away and I thought I was going to have less than I do, but it hit about 20 minutes afterwards. I had to apply a second round of aftershave balm. It would have been BBS and DFS+ if not for the nick and the irritation on my neck. I had even glassed the corners of the blade before installing it.

Gear
Even though it bit me hard today, I like the Dovo shavette. The long blade is a bit easier to use than a standard 1/2 DE blade. Also, the toe of the blade is covered by the plastic blade holder. It makes the Dovo a little milder than other shavettes. You just have to look out for that heel. My face will heal and I will use this razor again. Eventually I will get better results on my neck.

The synthetic knot did great things with the lather today. It makes me think I should sell all of my badgers. ... We'll see about that.

Other Thoughts
One of my new SB Arks arrived today. I will make a separate post about it.


Thank you for reading and commenting on my journal. I hope you have a great day and stellar shaves, Cadre.
 
Journal Entry #559
2020 Shaves (DE: 114, SE: 20, Straight: 10, Cart: 0, Skipped: 6)

05/31/2020
Pre: Hot shower/splash of cool water/PAA Cube 1.0 mentholated pre-shave
Razor: Supply 2.0 SE razor w/1-dot plate
Blade: Personna Injector (3)
Bowl: Fine Lather Bowl
Brush: The Tech Hive Synthetic Tuxedo Beehive 26mm
Soap/Cream: Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh (11)
AS 1: Thayer's Coconut Water Facial Toner
AS 2: Nivea Sensitive ASB & Lucky Tiger Vanishing Cream
AS 3: Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh ASB
Fragrance: WSP Barbershop EdT

Overview
Starting to recover from the train wreck

SOTD Pic
None

Shave Quality
The shave was pretty good today. I would call it DFS. The lather was great and I am trying to take fewer swipes at my face. My neck is still irritated, so I may skip tomorrow's shave. We will see how I feel in the morning and how bad my neck still is.

Gear
The Supply SE is perhaps the best Injector ever built. That may be slightly hyperbolic, but it is a fabulous shaver. If you are in the market for an Injector you won't go wrong to buy one.

I really like WSP's Barbershop scent but I can't use more than a couple of spritzes of the EdT. Last time that I tried the soap and AS it reacted badly with my face. It is a great scent, however.

Other Thoughts
My fingers are rather sore today. I spent several hours last night lapping three Chinese slate hones, from 400 through 3000. But now, when you look at them from a very shallow angle they do have a mirror finish. They are quite smooth. I am not sure they will be better than my Arkansas stones, but they should all be good finishers.

IMG_20200531_144816754[1].jpg
After all the lapping, I don't think these things could be any flatter. They were sticking to the paper and marble tile as I was finishing them up last night.

The two unmounted ones I got from Woodcraft on clearance recently. It is hard to tell from the picture, but the middle one is thinner than the one on the right. That is because as I started lapping them last week the stone cracked lengthwise and a chunk about 1/4 of an inch came off. There must have been a fault within the stone. It was a ton of work to get that side flat again. I am sure the stone will be better for it.

Now I need to spend some time polishing my Arkansas stones. I want to make sure they are all flat so that I can hone a razor completely on Arkansas stones, Soft -> Hard -> Surgical. It should make for a very nice edge, but we will find out. I am getting spoiled by Coticule edges.


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