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Doug's Journal of Shaving Happiness v2.0

dangerousdon said:
Oh man! I love me some Pho! We have some really good Vietnamese restaurants her in southern Louisiana if you can believe it. We have a HUGE Vietnamese population here as many decided to reside here because of the similarities to Vietnam.
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We have a large Vietnamese community around here in Denver, which I really like. Vietnamese is my favorite ethnic cuisine. I average about one meal a week at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant.
 
You’re milking that tub for everything it’s got!

I have a tuck of Parker blades. I used one a while ago but my technique was still pretty poor. After yours and Chad’s praises, I might have to break one out next!
 
Only 22 shaves. Do you think you overloaded? I was hoping it would be closer to 30, one month.
 
Cvargo said:
Only 22 shaves. Do you think you overloaded? I was hoping it would be closer to 30, one month.
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I do tend to load heavy, but I wasn't trying to really "hate load" with this soap. Honestly, I was hoping to get a few more shaves out of it also.
 
Journal Entry #191

Pre: Hot shower/splash of cool water/Williams modern soap
Razor: GIllette J3 Flare Tip Super Speed
Blade: Parker Premium Platinum (2)
Brush: WCS 26mm Tortoiseshell Silvertip badger
Soap/Cream: CBL Cigar Shop Cowboy (22)
AS 1: Thayer's Rose Witch Hazel
AS 2: Aqua Velva Sensitive 5-in-1 ASB
AS 3: Pinaud Clubman SR
Fragrance: none

Overview
I've hit tub bottom.

SOTD Pic
none

Shave Quality
The final crescent of soap got pulled up by the brush today, so I had to stop and squish it into my Turkish shave mug. I then added some water and built my lather as usual. It was a great lather to finish the tub on. The shave was great. The Parker PP blade works well in the Flare Tip. I am just barely BBS- and very happy with it.

Gear
The WCS Silvertip is definitely a face-lathering brush. It works okay for bowl lathering, but I find myself having to spend more time building on my face because the lather coming out of the bowl is too airy. It just might not have enough backbone for bowl use. I like the brush and I need to break it in more, but if it doesn't produce the lather that I want coming out of the bowl it may not see much use in the future except on those very, very rare days when I feel like face-lathering. Maybe I just need to dial the brush in better. It is my first high-end badger knot after all.

Other Thoughts
If I can't get the results that I want out of this WCS brush, what does that mean for my eventual Paladin purchase? I am not in a hurry to get one, and I do think that they are overpriced. (Yes, I said it.) And I do think that Eric Sorrentino's handles are much better looking and more artistic. But, I do want to see what I am missing out on (if anything). If I can't get the lather I want out of the WCS Silvertip will I get better bowl results from a Paladin? I am a bowl lather guy, not a face lather guy and I love the bowl results I get from boars and synthetics. Maybe I should start a thread on this in the brush forum...

Also, I have been thinking that we could use a blade library for swapping tucks of blades. It would be like the TSC Soap Sample Library, just for tucks of blades. I was thinking tucks would be better than single blades, since places like TryABlade are a thing. Is this a good idea?

Thank you for reading and commenting on my journal. I hope you have a great day and stellar shaves, Cadre.
 
Good shave Doug. Farewell salute to the CSC.



Good idea about the blade exchange. I’m sure there’s plenty of tucks hidden away in the books and crannies with these folks! ?
 
I like the idea of doing a blade swap. Not sure what the best approach is either single or tucks of blades. The problem I see is tucks of blades come in 5 or 10. Which is why I think most places do single. If you have any ideas send em to me and we can explore it more if there is enough interest to getting it up and running. The soap sample swap is a great program and super easy to use. I think it would be used more than it is but people here are just darn generous.
 
Cvargo said:
I like the idea of doing a blade swap. Not sure what the best approach is either single or tucks of blades. The problem I see is tucks of blades come in 5 or 10. Which is why I think most places do single. If you have any ideas send em to me and we can explore it more if there is enough interest to getting it up and running. The soap sample swap is a great program and super easy to use. I think it would be used more than it is but people here are just darn generous.
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Well, I was thinking that the blade library would list the number of blades in a tuck and the swap would be done on that basis. If you want a tuck that contains 10 blades you must donate either a 10 count tuck of something else, or 2x 5 count tucks of one or more blades. So, for example, I get a 10 count tuck of Red Personnas from the library and send in a 5 count tuck of Parkers and a 5 count tuck of GSB. If I donate a 10 count tuck of blades, I get two 5 count tucks out.
 
Dave in KY said:
As long as KJ doesn't unload all his Graham Field Blades on the library
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I believe those blades are now listed in the geneva convention.
 
dkeester said:
Other Thoughts
If I can't get the results that I want out of this WCS brush, what does that mean for my eventual Paladin purchase? I am not in a hurry to get one, and I do think that they are overpriced. (Yes, I said it.) And I do think that Eric Sorrentino's handles are much better looking and more artistic. But, I do want to see what I am missing out on (if anything). If I can't get the lather I want out of the WCS Silvertip will I get better bowl results from a Paladin? I am a bowl lather guy, not a face lather guy and I love the bowl results I get from boars and synthetics.
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Yes, the Paladin brushes are overpriced, as are many badger brushes. Since you are an exclusive bowl latherer, I don't think you're missing out on a high end (meaning high dollar) brush. Not at all. As a matter of fact, the synthetics of late, and of course boar brushes, whip up the best bowl lathers out there, IMHO.
 
cmh737 said:
Yes, the Paladin brushes are overpriced, as are many badger brushes. Since you are an exclusive bowl latherer, I don't think you're missing out on a high end (meaning high dollar) brush. Not at all. As a matter of fact, the synthetics of late, and of course boar brushes, whip up the best bowl lathers out there, IMHO.
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That is the conclusion I am starting to come to. I am imagine that a Paladin, or other super high-end brush, is worth it if you are predominantly a face latherer since the brush spends so much time in contact with the face.

I decided to go ahead and start a thread to help answer this question:
https://www.theshavingcadre.com/post/bowl-vs-face-lathering-which-knots-are-best-for-which-use-9949977
 
I'm with you on a Blade Swap. But the tuck versus blade has it's pros and cons. As a person who ran a blade exchange for a time elsewhere I have some insight to this. And to be clear...I have enough loose blades and varied to get this thing started right now if we need to. One thing about sending and receiving full tucks is that you know exactly what blade you are getting. Single blades don't always have exactly what blade is inside. Sharks for example...I can't recall exactly which ones...but the Shark blades I have seen are wrapped the same (individual blades) so you don't know what you have unless you have the box that they came in or you have to open the individual wrap to find out.

The really bad thing about exchanging tucks though...is that you have to have space. This sounds simpler than it really is. I tried to keep my blades organized the best that I could and ended up with about 10 of those containers you buy at part sores that have the little tiny square compartments. Having a bunch of tucks like that and keeping it organized might pose some issues.

Just a couple of thoughts.
 
dangerousdon said:
I'm with you on a Blade Swap. But the tuck versus blade has it's pros and cons. As a person who ran a blade exchange for a time elsewhere I have some insight to this. And to be clear...I have enough loose blades and varied to get this thing started right now if we need to. One thing about sending and receiving full tucks is that you know exactly what blade you are getting. Single blades don't always have exactly what blade is inside. Sharks for example...I can't recall exactly which ones...but the Shark blades I have seen are wrapped the same (individual blades) so you don't know what you have unless you have the box that they came in or you have to open the individual wrap to find out.

The really bad thing about exchanging tucks though...is that you have to have space. This sounds simpler than it really is. I tried to keep my blades organized the best that I could and ended up with about 10 of those containers you buy at part sores that have the little tiny square compartments. Having a bunch of tucks like that and keeping it organized might pose some issues.

Just a couple of thoughts.
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I own, in bulk, 12 different blades. I have around 3000 blades as we speak. I use the plastic fishing containers (https://www.flambeauoutdoors.com/Fishing/Divider-Systems/Tuff-Tainers/4-fixed-compt-with-adjust-div-remove-latches-with-zerust) to organize them. I wouldn't mind expanding into something bigger in order to manage something like this, since I am already at least part of the way there.

EDIT: Thanks for your thoughts. They do help.
 
I like the idea of the blade swap. Maybe. Give a tiered scoring system 3 levels? Just a thought

That way someone just doesn’t send it 5 or 10 derbies and walk away with all the good blades.

Doug what are the dementions of the brush? I think you just have to dial it in a bit. And maybe break it in.

Is it fan or bulb? Fan are better bulb latherers. Bulb better face.

I bet it has to do with using, getting to know and breaking in that brush
 
Sharp's said:
I like the idea of the blade swap. Maybe. Give a tiered scoring system 3 levels? Just a thought\n\nThat way someone just doesn’t send it 5 or 10 derbies and walk away with all the good blades. \n\nDoug what are the dementions of the brush? I think you just have to dial it in a bit. And maybe break it in.\n\nIs it fan or bulb? Fan are better bulb latherers. Bulb better face. \n\n I bet it has to do with using, getting to know and breaking in that brush
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\nThis is the brush. https://www.westcoastshaving.com/collections/silvertip-badger-shaving-brushes/products/wcs-tortoiseshell-collection-torch-shaving-brush-silvertip
 
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