Thanks all for the encouragement. Checking back in as I was out of town all of last week at a symposium. Eating keto was not too much of a challenge whilst on the road. Eggs and sausage at the hotel for breakfast, mixed greens and a protein for lunch, etc. I ended up not losing any while away, but I also did not gain any. I am doing strength training every other day (lifting weights), and generally becoming more active (5 mile walks with SWMBO and Lucas (pitbull)) on the weekends. This weekend I intend to get my bikes out and dust them off. Have a mountain bike and a street bike. I gen get a bike ride in after work for a little while until we loose daylight. Yesterday I saw the doctor for the first time in longer than I would like to admit. I am due for another colonoscopy, and I am anxious to get the blood work results back. To date I am about 15 lbs. lighter. Enough of the diet/health stuff.
I have done a few things shaving related. The Saturday before I left for the symposium, I managed to make a 1 lb. batch of shaving soap. I must say that digging into the tallow and the coconut oil with my scoop made me hungry. I am calling this batch Beta 1.2.1 as it is a variation of the lot of soap I initially made that I felt performed the best. The modifications to this one is that I decreased the coconut oil, increased the Shea Butter to 15%, have 5% Lanolin and I cooked it with 0% super fat. Shea Butter and Lanolin both have non-soponifiable fats in them that will support post shave conditioning. I scent is lavender with orange and a pinch of Clove for a spice note. I have to say that I am enjoying this scent quite a lot. Nothing in your face about it, but I would give it a 3-4 on the SOS scale.
Well I must say that the 1.2.1 lot is performing pretty good. My major complaint with the first lots that I made was in the area of residual slickness. This lot is improved, but not drastically so. The residual slickness is in no way off the charts, but it is clearly slick and very adequate. The post shave feel is very good, and the other lather properties were as expected from my initial attempts. All and all, this attempt was a big success.
This past Monday was a milestone for me of sorts. As last Friday was a travel day, I did not shave, then over the weekend, I also was a slug. On Monday I shaved with my 6/8" BRW and the result was a full on grail shave. I was facturbating well into the evening with much of the face still BBS. This week I had to through in a couple of ATT SE2 shaves as my workouts in the morning make me running a little late.
Best,
