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Kingfisher's open blade (straight razors and shavettes) journey
- Thread starter kingfisher
- Start date
Randall Congrats on 100, it is smooth sailing and wonderful shaves from here
Catching up Randall, from being way behind.
Great shaves and reads. I used to golf but got a sign from above when someone stole my golf clubs out of the garage and nothing else. I'm always reminded of what Bagger Vance said, "What I'm talkin about is a game... A game that can't be won only played... ".
Oh and
Great shaves and reads. I used to golf but got a sign from above when someone stole my golf clubs out of the garage and nothing else. I'm always reminded of what Bagger Vance said, "What I'm talkin about is a game... A game that can't be won only played... ".
Oh and
You have a comedian in the house, lol!
Congrats on the 100th! Way to go sport!
Randall Congrats on 100, it is smooth sailing and wonderful shaves from here
Thanks, everybody!Catching up Randall, from being way behind.
Great shaves and reads. I used to golf but got a sign from above when someone stole my golf clubs out of the garage and nothing else. I'm always reminded of what Bagger Vance said, "What I'm talkin about is a game... A game that can't be won only played... ".
Oh and
Sunday was my DE day. Went with Stirling Peach and a British flat-bottom Tech. Two passes plus touch-up to DFS. Simple as pie.
This morning was straight razor shave number 101, open blade shave number 138.
I enjoyed the Stirling Peach so much yesterday that I fired it up for this morning's shave, too. Used the ZY again. Did two passes with it. Reduction was not as good as I would have liked, but otherwise everything went well. I was running late, so I used the Tech to finish the job. End result was DFS. I had one tiny spot of redness on the left cheek just in front of the sideburn; don't know whether I irritated this with the straight razor or with the DE on the third pass. No matter I guess, since it's just a very small bit of what I would call razor burn.
Back to work today, unfortunately. I hope everybody has a great day.
Thanks. I think you are right.
Ha! No golfing this week. Right now I'm the only Peds ID doctor in Southeastern Virginia, as both of my partners are out of town. Not a lot of free time for golf.Congrats on the 100!
And don't worry about all the golfing. Someone needs to live up to the doctor stereotype
Thanks!
One of my all-time favorites!
So, last night I stropped up the Noonan. After yesterday morning's shave I was ready for the change. This morning, I did shave 102/139.
Used Soapy Science in the Lollipop Citrus scent. Once again, I got an awesome lather.
Did my usual shave, except that this morning I did two things I had never tried before. I have a small patch just under the back of my mandible on the left side where the hairs grow upward. The entire rest of my neck they go mostly down (with some sideways). I know a lot of guys have neck hairs with grain going up, but I only have this little patch. First pass downward there is really an ATG pass, which I like to avoid whenever possible. On the other hand, the idea of holding a blade so that it faces the ceiling and moving said blade upwards on the neck has always been really scary for me.
But this morning, I did that little patch in just such a fashion. At least I tried. All things considered, it went OK.
The other thing I did this morning that was new was an XTG pass on the left side of the face from the ear toward the nose, cross-handed. I've been doing XTG from the nose to the ear. This morning I just thought I'd try something different to see how it went. It went well.
I cleaned up a bit with a flat-bottom Tech and called it good. CCS+ throughout, without irritation or weepers. Finished the shave with Stirling Lime balm, which pairs perfectly with the Lollipop Citrus. A good start to the day.
Have a good one, gents.
Tried it again this morning and it was slightly less so.
Interesting. I can do N-S without any problem at all, but S-N is still frightening.
Thanks!
Shave 103/140 this morning.
Back to Soapy Science in the DSB scent today. Got the soap/water ratio juuussssttt right this morning; made a perfect lather for a straight shave.
First, second, and third passes on the cheeks, and first and second passes on the neck went great except that I grazed a little growth I have high on my cheek on the right side of my face. I always remove the lather where it is to avoid shaving it. I did that again, carefully, for the first pass. But on the second pass I didn't. I just caught it with the tip of the razor. Didn't even bleed, but I could feel that I hit it, and after the shave there was a tiny red mark there. I've got to get to the dermatologist and have the thing frozen. I had one on the left side of my face in the sideburn area that made shaving there treacherous, but at the last visit I had it frozen and it just disappeared. Besides the one on the right cheek there are a couple of other small ones here and there, mostly not in the shaving areas. Now that I know the freezing worked really well, I should have the doc freeze all of them for me.
Anyway, the shave went really well otherwise. I just have to remember where those stupid things are (can't remember what they're called; they are totally benign and because they are flesh-colored, not really even noticeable, which is another reason why they are hard to avoid when shaving).
I feel like today's journal was mostly TMI rambling. I apologize.
Overall, a good shave. Have a great day, gents.
104/141 this morning.
Switched it up slightly by going with Mike's in the Orange/Cedarwood/Black Pepper scent. Got the ratio just right and had a fantastic lather. Given that, and the fact that Mike's soap has pretty much stayed the same all these years made me think of the following (sung to the tune Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall):
We don't need no reformulation......
We don't need no 2.0........
No otter's milk or buckthorn berry........
People leave Mike's soap alone.....
Hey! People! Leave Mike's soap alone!
All in all it's just a--nother very smooth shave.
Anyway, I had a fantastic two-pass neck and 3-pass cheek shave. Wonderfully comfortable and smooth. No irritation whatsoever and a nice, soft face after the final rinse.
Stirling lime balm was the cherry on the sundae for this shave.
Have a wonderful day, gents!
Switched it up slightly by going with Mike's in the Orange/Cedarwood/Black Pepper scent. Got the ratio just right and had a fantastic lather. Given that, and the fact that Mike's soap has pretty much stayed the same all these years made me think of the following (sung to the tune Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall):
We don't need no reformulation......
We don't need no 2.0........
No otter's milk or buckthorn berry........
People leave Mike's soap alone.....
Hey! People! Leave Mike's soap alone!
All in all it's just a--nother very smooth shave.
Anyway, I had a fantastic two-pass neck and 3-pass cheek shave. Wonderfully comfortable and smooth. No irritation whatsoever and a nice, soft face after the final rinse.
Stirling lime balm was the cherry on the sundae for this shave.
Have a wonderful day, gents!
105/142 this morning.
You would think that after one of the best straight shaves of my life (yesterday's), I would go with the same set-up for today's shave. But you'd be wrong.
Instead, I changed EVERYTHING up. Different brush, different soap, different razor, different aftershave. I used What the Puck? in orange scent, dusted off the Tilquin razor, and used Mysol F./Extra aftershave.
Verdict?
Shoulda woulda coulda stuck with the prior set-up. The lather was OK, I think. The aftershave is awesome. The razor on the other hand........not so great.
The difficulty started yesterday evening with stropping. The blade is slightly warped, which makes stropping difficult for me. I think I did a decent job, though. First pass was a bit rough, with some tugging and only fair reduction. A couple of places on the neck I couldn't really get the lather like I usually do, and I did those with the Tech at the end of the first pass. Second pass went OK, but after two passes I still had a fair bit of stubble. I did a pure XTG on both cheeks and still wasn't satisfied, so I finished up with the Tech.
The Myrsol was wonderful, and the end result of the shave was CCS+ without irritation, but the shave was quite unsatisfying.
I'm thinking about getting rid of the Tilquin. I'll probably try refreshing the edge and using it a few more times before I unload it, but I don't hold out much hope that the razor is going to stay in the rotation.
Hope you have all had a good day.
You would think that after one of the best straight shaves of my life (yesterday's), I would go with the same set-up for today's shave. But you'd be wrong.
Instead, I changed EVERYTHING up. Different brush, different soap, different razor, different aftershave. I used What the Puck? in orange scent, dusted off the Tilquin razor, and used Mysol F./Extra aftershave.
Verdict?
Shoulda woulda coulda stuck with the prior set-up. The lather was OK, I think. The aftershave is awesome. The razor on the other hand........not so great.
The difficulty started yesterday evening with stropping. The blade is slightly warped, which makes stropping difficult for me. I think I did a decent job, though. First pass was a bit rough, with some tugging and only fair reduction. A couple of places on the neck I couldn't really get the lather like I usually do, and I did those with the Tech at the end of the first pass. Second pass went OK, but after two passes I still had a fair bit of stubble. I did a pure XTG on both cheeks and still wasn't satisfied, so I finished up with the Tech.
The Myrsol was wonderful, and the end result of the shave was CCS+ without irritation, but the shave was quite unsatisfying.
I'm thinking about getting rid of the Tilquin. I'll probably try refreshing the edge and using it a few more times before I unload it, but I don't hold out much hope that the razor is going to stay in the rotation.
Hope you have all had a good day.