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Kingfisher's open blade (straight razors and shavettes) journey

Woohoo, we're on an upswing!!
Most excellent, Randall!
Great rebound shave Randall!
Randall goes for the recovery, he’s running...it’s goooood!
Nice one, Randall.

Thanks, guys.

Shave 117/154 this morning.

Razor-wise, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, I guess. Went with the Noonan again and it delivered again.

Changed it up a bit with the software by using Mike's OCBP. Made a nice lather and it shaved great. Post-shave face feel is very, very good. The scent is understated, but nice. Lather stability is just a touch lower than Soapy Science, but I think that's true for almost every soap I've tried. Second- and third-pass lather with Soapy Science is crazy good. Having said that, although the Mike's lather looked thinner, it was plenty slick and plenty protective to provide a great shave.

My second pass, especially on the cheeks, has morphed into a rapid, long-stroke affair. I combine Gillette sliding (if one can call it that when using a razor made before the company Gillette even existed, lol) with "windshield-wipering." It's hard to describe, but it's quick and efficient. Third pass is a more carefully done straight XTG from nose to ear, with a very light touch.

I'm still evolving the various passes on the neck and jawline, looking for what will end up working the best. Almost every day I experiment a little bit, gently, with different directions or different approaches. I hope to incorporate and perfect the approaches that seem to work best.

I'm getting much more comfortable with the patch under the left jawline where I go straight S to N on the first pass. This scared me a ton the first time I did it, but as I repeat it over and over again and everything is fine, I get more assured.

End result today was a CCS+/DFS- at worst. No irritation, no weepers, no problems.

I'm curious to see how many good shaves I can get out of the Noonan before I have to refresh it again. I'm not even sure how many I've had since the last refresh but I'm thinking it's about 8 or so. I guess I can go back through the journal to find out when I refreshed it last. (Maybe I should keep track of this sort of thing, or maybe I should just keep shaving until it feels dull and then refresh it. I dunno.)

Have a great day.
 
Nice one Randall...keep up the great progress with the straights!
Thanks, Josh.

118/155 this morning.

Stuck with the Noonan again today. Used Soapy Science in the DSB scent. Amazing.

Three passes to CCS+/DFS- without any problems. My wife was in the bathroom with me and she didn't say a thing. Big win.

Tomorrow is my day off of open blades. I'll be going with a Britsih Raised Flat Bottom NEW loaded up with a Polsilver. I usually use Stirling Peach on Sundays but tomorrow I may give the AoS lemon cream another try, since I've had a suggestion about making a better lather and I'll be using a DE.

Have a great day.
 
You’ve been riding the Noonan streak for a while. Yep, if it ain’t broke...
 
A streak has begun! Hope it continues tomorrow with the Lemon!
More on that, below.

You’ve been riding the Noonan streak for a while. Yep, if it ain’t broke...
Agree. Amazing to me how long the blade is holding its edge.

Great couple of shaves and reads Randall!
Thanks!

Great shaves with the Noonan, Randall!!
Thanks.

So, Sunday is my DE or SE shaving day, and, as promised, I used the RFB NEW with a Polsilver blade.

I decided to try the AoS lemon shave cream again (I had two prior bad lathers with it). Chris had mentioned that soap users tend to over-hydrate creams, so I deliberately added water very slowly and tried to make sure I didn't over-hydrate it. As a result, the first pass lather was a tiny bit too dry, but it worked better too dry than it had when it was too wet, that's for sure. Second pass and touch-up lather was perfectly hydrated, and it shaved great. The lather left over in the breech of the brush was really nice, and the post-shave feel of this stuff is really good.

I did one pass WTG, a second pass XTG, and a bit of clean-up for an easy DFS-. And I've decided to keep the lemon cream and keep it in the rotation. I just have to remember that it doesn't take anywhere near as much water as most of my soaps do.

Have a great Sunday, gents.
 
Glad you got that AoS Lemon cream to work for you. I also have the matching aftershave balm, and it smells great initially, but fades before you even walk out the door. But that's actually not a bad thing because it allows for a non-competing post frag; and it's a rather nice feeling aftershave balm.
 
Great stuff Randall...glad to hear that you were able to dial the cream in from a hydration standpoint!
 
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