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Shave #349 (38 Open Blade Shaves) of 2019:

Gear: Feather AC SS folding, Feather Pro blade, Gillette Slim, Astra SP blade, RR Big Bruce synth brush, CBL Blind Test #3 soap, generic witch hazel, Thayer’s Medicated, Lucky Tiger, and Chatillion Lux Lavande Poivre to finish!


Today was the first use of the CBL #3 test soap!

- Basic lather character: slightly thicker/more substantive lather than #2, seemed to take more water, slightly more difficult to wash off, left behind slickness layer
- Basic shave qualities: felt a touch more protective than #2, slightly slicker for passes than #2, slightly better residual slickness than #2, surprisingly lather did not feel as light/silky as #2
- Post shave feel: skin did not feel as dried or “worn” post shave, skin felt more “healthy” and “nice” than #2
- Other observations: overall, first use, I would call #3 a “better” soap right off the bat, the differences from #2 were noticeable, though still slight, soap would be categorized as likely on par with decent artisan soap vs classic drug store

 
Shave #350 (385 Open Blade Shaves) of 2019:

Gear: Feather AC SS folding, Feather Pro blade, Gillette Slim, Astra SP blade, RR Big Bruce synth brush, CBL Blind Test #3 soap, generic witch hazel, Thayer’s Medicated, Lucky Tiger, and Le Labo Bergamote 22 to finish!


Today was the second use of the CBL #3 test soap!

- Basic lather character: slightly thicker/more substantive lather than #2, seemed to take more water, slightly more difficult to wash off, left behind slickness layer
- Basic shave qualities: felt a noticably more protective than #2, slightly slicker for passes than #2, noticeably better residual slickness than #2, surprisingly lather did not feel as silky as #2
- Post shave feel: skin did not feel dried or “worn” post shave, skin felt more “healthy” and “nice” than #2
- Other observations: overall second use confirms and solidifies thoughts, especially since my Slim shaves (used yesterday) are more rough than my GC (used today) shaves, I would call #3 a superior soap over #2, the differences from #2 were better noticeable today, soap would be categorized as likely on par with decent artisan soap

Back to work today. Christmas schedule is solidified, sadly not ideal for me, but someone’s got to do it - I’ll be closing up Christmas Eve (final service will end around midnight), we have Christmas off, then I’ll be opening the day after Christmas. Needless to say, Christmas Day will be a rush - a quick Christmas morning at home, then off to visit both sets of grandparents and sides of the family, then back home at a reasonable hour hopefully that night. At least there won’t be much happening besides the Christmas Eve services and a few of the regular meetings.

Have a great Tuesday all!
 
Ya, tough when your job supports what people do on holidays. My dad used to say the Christmas services were like his Super Bowl.
 
Shave #351 (386 Open Blade Shaves) of 2019:

Gear: Feather AC SS folding, Feather Pro blade, Gillette Slim, Astra SP blade, RR Big Bruce synth brush, CBL Blind Test #1 soap, generic witch hazel, Thayer’s Medicated, Lucky Tiger, and Jean Philippe 1 Million clone to finish!

Today was the first use of the CBL #1 test soap!

- Basic lather character: not as silky as #2 but maybe more so than #3, probably most substantive/most structure of the trio, took more water than #2 but slightly less perhaps than #3, washed off a tad easier than #3
- Basic shave qualities: good in-shave slickness, residual slickness was good enough for limited light touch up (slightly improved with a little wetting)
- Post shave feel: face feels very similar to how it did for #3, maybe slightly less, a little more dry/worn from shave (both blades have a lot of shaves on them), skin still feels supple though
- Other observations: interesting to note with soap #2 & #3 - scraping #2 out of the bowl, it was flaky/semi-crumbly, scraping #3 out of the bowl, it was much more like putty and easier to manipulate, overall I might say that #3 is ever so slightly superior

Call me crazy, Insurgent smells good off the sample but once I lathered it, there’s something slightly reminiscent of the way Night Music smells off the puck. It caught me by surprise when I whiffed it lurking very quietly in the background, but it was there.

Followup doctor’s appointment from some bloodwork today, then in a bit early to work. Going to be a slow, rainy day, and I’m OK with that!

Have a great Wednesday all!
 
Shave #352 (387 Open Blade Shaves) of 2019:

Gear: Feather AC SS folding, Feather Pro blade, Gillette Slim, Astra SP blade, RR Big Bruce synth brush, CBL Blind Test #1 soap, generic witch hazel, Thayer’s Medicated, Lucky Tiger, and Humorous TDH clone to finish!

Today was the 2nd and final use of the CBL #1 test soap! Yesterday’s findings mostly confirmed, though today’s shave was slightly better than yesterday’s.

- Basic lather character: #1 had probably the same amount of protection/cushion as #2, but with better slickness, structure not as silky as #2 but more substantial than #3, washed off a easier than #3, not as slick or residuals slick as #3
- Basic shave qualities: decent in-shave slickness, residual slickness was OK enough for limited light touch up (slightly improved with a little wetting)
- Post shave feel: face feels very similar to how it did for #3, maybe slightly less, a little more dry/worn from shave (both blades have a lot of shaves on them), skin still feels supple though and finishes normalizing quickly enough for me
- Other observations: interesting to note with soap #2 & #3 - I will say that #3 is noticeably superior because of its slickness and residual slickness

For anyone counting or who hasn’t, this sets #3 at the definite top, #1 in reasonably close second, and #2 definitely, solidly last for shave/face feel preference.

Off to work in a bit.

The oldest had his last high school preview visit this morning and has settled on his top two choices for next year. Both have decent MESA-ish programs, which is what he’s interested in. Apparently these days, no one really goes to their neighborhood school anymore. Everything is planned out. It’s both silly and sad. Silly because having to plan a school path from birth to graduate school is ridiculous. Sad because it partially due to education funding and lack of quality education at some levels.

Anyways...have a great Thursday all!
 
NurseDave said:
Wait til he switches your usual coffee with Folgers crystals
Click to expand...
Funny! At work all I get is the single serve instant stuff. It’s pretty much useless for caffeine and taste, probably tricks my senses for all of an hour. It’s a good carrier for creamer though lol.
 
Shave #353 (387 Open Blade Shaves) of 2019:

Gear: RR GC .68, Wizamet blade, Yaqi SF synth brush, CBL Roasted Oatmeal Stout soap, generic witch hazel, Thayer’s Medicated, and Old Spice to finish!

Truly a nice shave experience to get back to one of CBL’s premium bases after those 6 days of trial testing! I did make one boo-boo on my shave test posts, I only used the Slim one time, I just forgot to switch the text back to the GC after.

Going in early today for work; it’s gonna be pretty dead this weekend except for a memorial and Sunday services. Going to have to find a nice project to keep everyone busy.

News is official from some out of state family, one of my sisters-in-law, after a good 10 years or so in Tennessee, their house is sold and they are on the road with their moving truck, headed to CA. My wife’s family is ecstatic that it’s finally happened. They’ll be here by Monday hopefully!

Have a great Friday all!
 
Shave #354 (387 Open Blade Shaves) of 2019:

Gear: RR GC .68, Wizamet blade, Yaqi SF synth brush, CBL 50 SoV soap, generic witch hazel, Thayer’s Medicated, Fine Platinum AS, and Fine Platinum EdT to finish!

Off to work soon, for an early day!

Refreshing shower n shave this morning. Keeping with just the GC probably through tomorrow. Time to change the Wizamet though I think. Trying to become more comfortable with doing less cleanup occasionally. It’s really a pain to get everything on the mustache area and the chin without roughening your the shave a bit; and with my hair/skin combo, even if I walk away BBS, I still have a slight shadow. Also trying to get over my miserly ways of not using nice things on work days. Who says a custodian can’t smell good?!

Family has the sniffles and coughs...trying not to succumb.

Two days off after this, then I work Christmas Eve (we have 4 services that day - 5, 7, 9, and 11), then Christmas off, followed by 3 days back at work. Looking forward to the big C-mas day!

Have a great Saturday all!
 
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