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Open Blade Shave #175:

Gear: Feather AC SS, Feather Pro blade (3), RR Game Changer, Dorco Stainless Platinum blade (2), RR Big Bruce, Proraso Green soap, Alum block, generic witch hazel, Fine Snake Bite AS, and Fine Platinum EdT to finish!

Today’s shave inspired by Rich’s Snake Bite shave from his video yesterday!

Great 3 pass shave, typical 2 Feather and 1 GC. No variance in strokes that were really noteworthy. I did get excellent reduction off of the Feather today; easily CCS to DFS by the end of the second pass.

I did notice, quite astonishingly that the Dorco did not seem to perform well today for its second use. It was still smooth, but it felt like it was not cutting stubble well at all. I had very little irritation even from careful cleanup, and even though the shave was pretty decent, there were some relatively easy spots that the Dorco should have wiped clean and it felt like it did not. A bit strange. I’ll continue with it tomorrow though and see how it goes. Like I said, I still didn’t get much irritation or feedback from the Alum.

Today was my first use of the Fine Snake Bite. I got a little sample in my last AS lot. Oh man, the mentholated goodness of this AS! I can see why Rich loves it (though it’s crazy he made it even more intense). It came in a little spritz dispenser...ended up spraying a bit in my eye trying to get it to prime and work lol! Felt great though; great intense burn, but pleasant. With the remnants of the Proraso Green on my face, things were definitely kicked up a couple levels! Snake Bite will definitely be a future purchase!

Today was also the first use on the Fine Platinum EdT. I’ll tell you what...if they just put the AS in the bottle and called it EdT, they’d have me fooled. The scent is an exact match to the Aventus clone goodness of the AS! It’s obviously a bit more dry on application, the spritzer helps with that. 1 and 1/2 pumps on my chest and a little dab on my wrists...perfect cap to the day’s shave! I hope the longevity is similar or better than the AS; we shall see!

Still no news on the car front. The lease we are supposed to be returning, the company has been seriously slacking in communication. I mean it’s great we get to have 2 cars a while longer, but I’m sure we’ll be paying a pretty penny for that extra time. The missus is pretty set on the Leaf now, still trying to carefully plan finances around that though.

Did go with my wife to a local college. She is interested in their Christian Leadership bachelor’s courses, so we had an appointment today to get a tour and a little run down. Expensive of course, but potentially a 19 month program to graduate, one 4 hour night a week on campus, 3-5 classes a semester (classes are 5 weeks long each). She doesn’t want to do it right away, but in the next year perhaps. We’ll see how that goes!

Have a great day all!
 
Nice read Chris. The Snake Bite is too intense for me. Hope you end up in the Leaf. I am driving a 2018 Hyundai Ioniq it is a hybrid and I am getting 60MPG. I am loving it. Great commuter car.
 
Cvargo said:
Nice read Chris. The Snake Bite is too intense for me. Hope you end up in the Leaf. I am driving a 2018 Hyundai Ioniq it is a hybrid and I am getting 60MPG. I am loving it. Great commuter car.
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Thanks Chad! Yes I figured the level of menthol in something like Snake Bite would have your face folding inward on itself in preservation mode. It was almost unbearable for me, it doesn’t hurt the eyes, but my the burn on my face was on the edge of heavenly/unpleasant.

Good to heat the Hyundai is doing well for you! I’ve (personally) just been leery of the brand’s quality because I remember all the issues I heard about with some of their models in the early 2000s. But since they’ve expanded into luxury, sports, and hybrid models they’ve seemed to improve greatly.
 
Great shave Chris! That squirt in the eye was for the water shave. The global soap consortium was not amused. JK ?

Good luck with the car shopping. We recently picked up a Hyundai Veloster. Fun car.
 
Open Blade Shave #176:

Gear: Feather AC SS, Feather Pro blade (4), RR Game Changer, Dorco Stainless Platinum (3), RR Big Bruce, LNHC Coconut Oud artisan soap, Alum block, generic witch hazel, Fine American Blend AS, and vintage Avon Excalibur frag sample to close!

Lather redemption day for the LNHC Coconut Oud!

Pretty good 3 pass today, typical split between Feather and GC. I loaded the soap much less than last time, about 15 seconds max, no blooming, dampened brush only. This soap continues to be unlike any other soap in my den, in an interesting, but very good way!

It is very hard for me to tell how much I have loaded into the brush because of the way it seems to coat instead of gather in the bristles. I thought that I barely had anything after the load, but I went with it anyway and was proven quite wrong. The building is quite a process as I learn the soap’s preferences. It starts out as a sticky, almost gummy paste, then as more water is added bit by bit, becomes like a ultra smooth peanut butter, then like a very fine mud pack, then into a rich, slick, and very cushiony lather. It takes a ton of water and I probably could have pushed it even more than I did. Great stuff!

The Fine AB was a first use today. Really nice, fresh scent, not too powdery as some barbershop types can be, but simply emits a cleanly, pure, scent. The menthol in it works very well for its purpose. It’s definitely a future purchase, at least as an AS. It could pair with anything.

Today is my Wednesday. The week has been insanely more busy than I anticipated as my immediate co-worker/semi supervisor has been out sick a couple of days. That leaves me to, more than usual, make sure things come together properly for the various events on the grounds. It’s tiring, but at least my time is filled and things are still operating smoothly!

Have a great Thursday all!
 
I definitely start out with a wetter brush when I lather LNHC Artisan line. It doesn't seem to take too much more water after that.
 
Chris I was wondering, why normally only two passes with the SS, but three when you skipped soap? Seemed that that went pretty well and you could do three with soap no problem most of the time.
 
Dave in KY said:
Great shave Chris. Sounds like your getting the soap dialed in.
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Thanks Dave, workin in it! It’s quite a different beast for me, unlike any other soap I have.

NurseDave said:
Chris I was wondering, why normally only two passes with the SS, but three when you skipped soap? Seemed that that went pretty well and you could do three with soap no problem most of the time.
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I made that choice mostly because I still wanted to give my DEs some use. There may be a period where I go back to the full 3, but I’m enjoying the combo right now.
 
I did forget to mention, the Fine Platinum EdT pump I sprayed yesterday had pretty decent longevity, so I’m pleased about that. I was able to actively catch the fragrance for about 4 hours, with it toning down to occasional surprise whiffs after. I still was catching random smells of it up to 8 hours later (keep in mind that I had only sprayed one pump on my chest/neck area prior to putting a shirt on for work). The scent did not change a lick until it died out.

This Fine AB AS is something else too...every bit of freshly pleasant even up to now. Just as long lasting as the Platinum AS though a bit more subtle. And this was from about 3 little sprays from a miniature sample bottle.

I must say that Fine really does impress!
 
Good stuff, Chris. I love fresh, real apple cider. So much better than apple "juice" they sell in the grocery stores.
 
Open Blade Shave #177:

Gear: Feather AC SS, Feather Oro blade (5), RR Game Changer, Dorco Stainless Platinum (4), RR Big Bruce, SS Citrus & Bay, generic witch hazel, and Pitralon Classic AS to finish!

A perfect Clubman-like shave for a non-Clubman Friday!

Normal 3 passes of course. The Feather Pro continues to perform, though the edge did feel a tad rough here and there, there were no negative effects from it. The Dorco continues to perform a bit strangely. It feels like it is not cutting as well as it actually is? I don’t know how to describe it. The edge does feel like it’s on its way out, but I am still getting good results with no irritation.

SS Citrus & Bay made a perfect lather today to cover any lapses in technique.

Today was the first use of Pitralon Classic. Wonderful juice! If Clubman were higher end, it might be something like this. Not entirely the same profiles scent wise, but slightly reminiscent upon application and post cool down. The middling phase is very bright pine/citron almost. And it has menthol! A nice little cooling effect.

Two days left in the work week for me. No early closing today sadly, but it’s for a good reason. The church is holding a 2 day marriage conference, lots of couples signed up to come, so that’s heartening news!

Hope your Friday goes well!
 
Minor update to the shave today:

Did throw on some moisturizer. Finished off with a spritz of MK High Intensity: Ocean.

I also decided to try the Pinaud hair styling gel I was passed along. Scent is a mixture of normal gel smell and something a bit powdery/citrus. Not unpleasant, just different. We’ll see how it holds up to work rigors.
 
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