The Shaving Cadre

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Down in the Heart of Texas!

Great write up, Pat!

I'm a little curious on how you lifted the tub 4 inches. Telekinesis, sorcery, did you instructor the gremlin to lift it for you? I need to know because reasons! Reasons, Pat!

Telekinesis would be awesome, but unfortunately I don't have that gift. Indo have a gift that cats do not and that is...thumbs. The counter is about 4-6 inches below my waist line so all I did was grab the tub, lift it to my waistline, and take a big sniff. If you have any other questions Ben please let me know! 🤣
 
Good job Pat! Haven’t tried my Master Barber pucks yet, waiting for some open tubs...really looking forward to them!
 
Telekinesis would be awesome, but unfortunately I don't have that gift. Indo have a gift that cats do not and that is...thumbs. The counter is about 4-6 inches below my waist line so all I did was grab the tub, lift it to my waistline, and take a big sniff. If you have any other questions Ben please let me know! 🤣
Your willingness to feed my ridiculous sense of humor has been noted. You're on my radar, Pat. Reasons. 🤣
 
Nice review!
Thanks Tim!

Good job Pat! Haven’t tried my Master Barber pucks yet, waiting for some open tubs...really looking forward to them!
I really enjoy that base. It is a little softer than the Tonsorial line and more firm than the Premium line. I think it is the best of both worlds between the Tonsorial and Premium bases. I like the scents that we got in the 2nd Anniversary box, but I would love to see some other scents from that line.
 
TSC Community,

I figured I would give it a shot at a shave journal after reading some of y'alls this weekend. I also thought it may be fun to track my own shaves and see if there is anything y'all are doing that I don't do or should improve on. I liked how some of y'all do an update on your shave and then give an update on the homefront, so I think I will do the same.

Background:

I first got into wet shaving when I became a supervisor at UPS. There all management and drivers have to be clean shaven everyday. Prior to that I had grown a beard and had not shaved in about 4 years. I started out with a cartridge and gillete gel in a can, but I kept getting razor burn and ingrown hairs. Then I switched to an electric trimmer, but UPS said that was not good enough.

So I went to Walmart to browse their shaving section and saw a Vander Haagen starter kit. It had the bowl, brush, stand, and soap. Convienently right next to it was the DE razor. I bought the kit, razor, Aqua Velva blue aftershave and shaved right before work. I had no idea how to lather so my first shave was really rough.

Fast forward three months and hundreds of hours of research and I had bought a straight razor, strop, badger brush, three new soaps, new aftershave without alcohol, and all sorts of stuff. I was pretty nervous to shave with a straight because I never used one and neither did my dad, so I learned from youtube. After I got the hang of it my shave started to become meditative. I would put a dip in, turn on some Texas Country and enjoy my shave.

Two years later and I am having even more fun than when I began. I have acquired a couple new brushes, more soaps, more aftershave splashes and balms, another razor, bowls, and other gadgets. I look forward to my morning shaves and I look forward to trying out new products.

Homefront:

A little about me, I am 26 and I am from El Paso, TX. I got my bachelors in biology and I am about to go back to school to get my education certification. I come from a long line of teachers and football coaches so that is what I want to do.

I met my wife 5 years ago in San Antonio and we got married last July. We bought a little house and have been fixing it up little by little. About a month after we got married we got news that our first baby was on the way. We found out early and we are having a boy! I was pretty excited when we found out. Someone to pass this new hobby of mine down to. He will be the first boy on my wife's side of the family since her father and he will be the fourth grandson for my parents. So this year has been filled with doctors appointments, sonograms, and shaves.

Thank y'all for reading and for welcoming me to this community! I will document my first shave entry tonight when I can put a picture of what I used today.

Fantastic reading, I enjoyed that!

I live in the UK but I recognised El Paso, I've never been there although I have a few cowboy boots handmade in El Paso. Texas is one place I'd love to spend time visiting, maybe that will never happen but I keep hoping :-) I've been to Dallas and Houston but I think I'm looking for smaller towns.

I also listen to country music, not as much as I'd like to though.

PAA do some fantastic "western" soaps, I have the Dapper Doc's, Tombstone, Mal Pais, and Tack Room, I love them all and highly recommend.

Also into straight razor shaving :-)

cheers

Rick
 
Fantastic reading, I enjoyed that!

I live in the UK but I recognised El Paso, I've never been there although I have a few cowboy boots handmade in El Paso. Texas is one place I'd love to spend time visiting, maybe that will never happen but I keep hoping :) I've been to Dallas and Houston but I think I'm looking for smaller towns.

I also listen to country music, not as much as I'd like to though.

PAA do some fantastic "western" soaps, I have the Dapper Doc's, Tombstone, Mal Pais, and Tack Room, I love them all and highly recommend.

Also into straight razor shaving :)

cheers

Rick
There are tons of towns smaller than Dallas and Houston. If you drive about 45ish minutes away (we measure distance in time here) from the center of either of those cities, you start seeing small rural towns with smaller populations.
 
Fantastic reading, I enjoyed that!

I live in the UK but I recognised El Paso, I've never been there although I have a few cowboy boots handmade in El Paso. Texas is one place I'd love to spend time visiting, maybe that will never happen but I keep hoping :) I've been to Dallas and Houston but I think I'm looking for smaller towns.

I also listen to country music, not as much as I'd like to though.

PAA do some fantastic "western" soaps, I have the Dapper Doc's, Tombstone, Mal Pais, and Tack Room, I love them all and highly recommend.

Also into straight razor shaving :)

cheers

Rick

Hey Rick! As Ben said there are quite a few towns that are smaller than Dallas and El Paso. The town I live in now is about an hour north of Dallas and it is super small.
However, El Paso is not a bad place to visit, and they have the best Mexican food! El Paso is right on the US-Mexico border so you can get a pair of boots made just across the border for a great price if you ever had skins that you wanted a pair of boots made out of.
Also if you are a fan of country music please check out some of the legends from mainstream country and then check out Texas/Red Dirt Country. A lot of stuff from the past few years on mainstream radio is more poppy than I prefer.
As far as the PAA western soaps I have not tried them, but they are on my radar. I just tried my first PAA CK-6 soap about a week or 2 ago and that was a very surprising and enjoyable shave!

One of these days I will be making it to your neck of the woods to tour around with my wife. She has ancestors from Scotland and my family is from Ireland so we want to visit those places as well as other parts of the EU!

Thank you for commenting on my journal and I hope you are staying safe out there!

-Pat
 
Journal Entry 68
(DE:4 SE:12 SR:4)

Pre-shave: Hot Shower
Razor: Occam's OREN
Blade: Feather ProGuard (4)
Brush: @Smattayu AoG PIF #5 Synthetic
Bowl: N/A
Soap: PannaCrema- Nuavia Rossa
Aftershave: Osma Alum & Stirling Tea Tree, Witch Hazel, Aloe splash & Proraso- Red splash
Moisturizer: CeraVe Moisturizing Cream & Hyaluronic Serum drops
Fragrance: D&G The One

Results:

Day 3 of the re-creation experiment and wow what a shave. @BarberDave I can definitely see why Nuavia Verde took the top spot. This stuff is absolutely incredible.
Strength of Scent- Off the charts. This stuff is powerful. As soon as you take off the lid it is right in your face from start to finish. The scent is very strong similar to Dragonsbeard in profile and strength. I love it. I feel like it us stronger than my last two shaves, but I dont know if that is because this soap is more of a winter scent or if it is the actual strength. I'll have to think about it before I give my final score.
Ease of Lather- This soap took a little longer than ETHOS and CBL and required a little bit more water. In total it was 5.0 mL and 4 brush tip dips. I guess that is why they send instructions...
Cushion- On par with ETHOS and a little better than CBL. Very protective and I did not feel the blade at all.
Slickness- Honestly I thought this soap was about as slick as ETHOS and a little less slick than CBL when properly hydrated. It was just difficult to keep this soap hydrated since I had never used it before. Very slick soap though and very enjoyable.
Residual Slickness- The residual slickness was very nice. Not as slick as CBL and about even with ETHOS again. Very nice and left no irritation.

Overall this felt like a very luxurious shave and I can definitely see what all the hype is about. I am a believer now. This will definitely put up a fight with the two previous tested soaps.
20200530_181920.jpg
Pictured above is everything used in the shave. Everything except the brush was purchased by myself. The brush was a generous PIF by Eric and passed on to me by Mr. Kentucky.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope y'all have a great weekend!
 
Good , Stuff, and I still love you, although you delusional statement about El Paso Mexican Food must be forgiven
#repent, #confess, #tucsonhasthebestmexicanfood:p
 
Good , Stuff, and I still love you, although you delusional statement about El Paso Mexican Food must be forgiven
#repent, #confess, #tucsonhasthebestmexicanfood:p

My little brother lives in Tuscon now and he still goes back to El Paso for the Mexican food! One thing we can agree on is Dallas and San Antonio Mexican food is not real Mexican food.
 
I would never presume to question the supremacy of the Mexican food in either El Paso or Tucson, as I've never had the pleasure of visiting either place. I would, however, as crazy as it sounds, like to put in a good word for Baltimore, MD. Since around 2000, East Baltimore has developed a community of around 40,000 Mexican immigrants sufficient in size to warrant groceries and restaurants. One in particular serves delicious Mexican fare, located in a storefront they never bothered to adapt from the previous tenant. Yes, there is great Mexican food to be had in Baltimore at, "Scratch And Dent Furniture." Now, if we're talking crab cakes or steamed crabs, I'll put Baltimore's Faidleys, Costas Inn, or Jimmy's up against the world for being the best. Up the road a few miles, a superb crab cake is to be had at Box Hill Pizzeria. Other than these four, I've never found a serious challenger. Sorry to derail here. I'm hungry and homesick.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
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