Sharp’s Tales: There Will Be Blood

[Sharp's]

Back in 2013, I was suffering from all sorts of RAD, BAD, BrAD and SAD disorders.

I had to hone it all and deal with my syndromes. At the Start of 2014, I started to join restraints and 3017ing my soaps so I could get to know them plus use what I had.

Then it hit me ... All the hype I heard about DrH soaps and how great they were. I was sitting on a puck of Windsor. There was a joint push to 3017 DrH, and I was in full throttle with a DHR Windsor.

It took me weeks before I could dial this soap in. This was not a joy but I would stay the course. This puck was tough and would not give in. Finally, on October 31, 2014, I gave up and used the very last of it as a bar of soap. Though I won the battle overall, I lost the war. This puck sucked all the joy I would gain from wet shaving.

The next day I started in with a puck of Pre de Provence. I was in heaven once again. But little did I know the scars that the Windsor gave me carried over to this puck. My shaving got down to 2-3 times a week of One pass shaves. Knicks and weepers haunted me. Get it done.

That puck lasted me; I kid you not 3 Years, 7 months and 23 days. The idea of 3017ing something was becoming dead to me. Well that was until I tried a puck of Valobra Menthol. I did not want this feeling to end. This test run is to set me up for how I want to tackle 2019.

Though I still believe in using what you got I learned of a new concept(well new to me). The Fixed 4 for a week. I look to use a hybrid of this methods.

For the balance of 2018, I will be using 1 Razor, 1 Brush, and 1 Blade per week while 3017ing the chosen soap. Matching as best I can the blade to razor . I plan to do this for the balance of 2018. And post thoughts and reviews throughout the month.

The Line up for the beginning of Nov1 -10 ( just to balance it out) is as follows.

Blackland Blackbird SB Black Oxide

Morris and Forndran Polo 2 Band 27mm

Personna Red
Strop Shoppe Black Tie w/Tallow

My goal is to find the perfect setup for each razor. Matching Blade to Razor and dialing in the soap to perfection.

 

[dangerousdon]

Wow! What a HAUNTING Halloween shaving tale! It is definitely FRIGHTENING!!!

I think your Fixed 4 is mighty ambitious for a guy who vows to never 3017 something...but I am looking forward to your adventures! I think this is a good plan!

 

[Dave in KY]

Nice read and surprised you still 3017 anything. I have trouble going more then a week without soap variety. Looking forward to the reads from your journal !!

 

[DocHoliday0831]

If i use the same soap 2 days consecutive you can guarantee it is because I am on vacay and my travel setup only has room for one stick at a time.

 

[Spider]

\nThe idea of 3017ing something is now dead to me.\n\nFor the balance of 2018, I will be using 1 Razor, 1 Brush, and 1 Blade per week while 3017ing the chosen soap. \n

\nThat Does Not Compute!\n

 

[Sharp's]

That Does Not Compute!

Oh was lost in the moment.. The addrall hadn't kicked in yet. Please note the edit.

"That puck lasted me; I kid you not 3 Years, 7 months and 23 days. The idea of 3017ing something was becoming dead to me. Well that was until I tried a puck of Valobra Menthol. I did not want this feeling to end. This test run is to set me up for how I wish to tackle 2019".

 

[Spider]

OK, I'm tracking now. Welcome to the Journals!

 

[Sharp's]

You all seemed to catch that 3017 brain fart huh? Well it has been edited. Um Yeah, well ok now. Well seems standards are set very high here at the Cadre?. I am going to have to be ontop of my game.

 

[Spider]

You all seemed to catch that 3017 brain fart huh? Well it has been edited. Um Yeah, well ok now. Well seems standards are set very high here at the Cadre

. I am going to have to be ontop of my game.

\nWe don\'t miss a thing. We\'ll pounce on a funny typo faster than.....\n\n

 

[NurseDave]

If i use the same soap 2 days consecutive you can guarantee it is because I am on vacay and my travel setup only has room for one stick at a time.

This, I even thought of a 2nd shave yesterday because I wanted to get to more samples!

 

[dkeester]

It is great to have another 3017er join the Cadre! Welcome! I like your idea for the hybrid Fixed 4. I might even join you. Even if I don't, I am looking forward to sharing your journey.

Also, I have a full puck of Pre de Provence sitting in my soap stash. I shave every day with two passes, so my usage will be higher than yours was, but I really hope that 3017ing that puck doesn't take me nearly as long as it did you.

Oh and don't pay too much attention to the banter. Most of the guys here have soap ADD. They can't seem to focus on using the same soap two days in a row. Ever.

 

[Sharp's]

It is great to have another 3017er join the Cadre! Welcome! I like your idea for the hybrid Fixed 4. I might even join you. Even if I don't, I am looking forward to sharing your journey.

Also, I have a full puck of Pre de Provence sitting in my soap stash. I shave every day with two passes, so my usage will be higher than yours was, but I really hope that 3017ing that puck doesn't take me nearly as long as it did you.

Come along for the ride. I am back up to a two pass, plus some touch ups again. Plus shave at least 4 times a week. But the PdP sure does last.

 

[GearNoir]

Great start to the journal! Good goal of finding perfection for each razor too.

Looking forward to seeing more!

 

[Cvargo]

3 years one soap??? I did that it was called edge shave gel until I was enlightened!

 

[Sharp's]

3 years one soap??? I did that it was called edge shave gel until I was enlightened!

It wasn’t a happy three years

 

[Sharp's]

To give a quick Bio of face/beard type I am a 50-year-old man with few wrinkles or distinguishing difficult parts of my face to shave. My jaw line is the toughest because my growth goes from chin to ear across the jaw.

I started shaving in the 7th grade and prided myself on Fred Flinstone like 5 o'clock shadow. Left alone my bread has become a salt and pepper shade of thick, coarse hairs that with DFS starts to grow back about 10 or 11 pm after a morning shave. This beard can beat up a blade and I usually don't like to go more than 3-4 shaves per blade. Why risk a bad experience at hand just to stretch out one more shave.
My skin, on the other hand, is babishly soft and if not careful can be prone to weeper, on the chin and goatee area or irritation on the neck and jaw line.
Let's call it tough beard/sensitive skin.
I tend to like a medium aggressive blade and for the past 4-5 years have been using exclusively a Tradere Gen 2 OC. I was using a Grand Shave King that I loved, but my kid dropped it on me, and the handle broke off.

I also usually only shave about 3-5 days a week but for this period I will try to make it 5-6 days depending on skin condition.

 

[Spider]

Eek! Tough beard/sensitive skin is probably the worst combo for trying to find a razor/blade combo that is going to work for you.
So, you started shaving right when carts had taken over. Did you start with a cart, or did you by chance try a DE when you were younger? And when did you start your traditional shaving renaissance?

 

[Sharp's]

Eek! Tough beard/sensitive skin is probably the worst combo for trying to find a razor/blade combo that is going to work for you.
So, you started shaving right when carts had taken over. Did you start with a cart, or did you by chance try a DE when you were younger? And when did you start your traditional shaving renaissance?

Ah the begining,

It was actually 1981 or around then. DE's were on there way out and Electric Shavers were all the rage.
But since we were a family of small means I had to default to Bic Disposible Single Blades, and Good News razors. Though I loved and followed the consept of a mug and a brush. Went to the local stationary store and got myself a cheap bader and an Old Spice Mug. Great days.

The first time I remeber shaving was early in 7th grade and my GN got stuck on the center of my upper lip. It was a bleeder. No matter how much TP I applied there was no hope.

I had to go to school TP tab stuck to face. Eveyone asked and assumed I cut it shaving. I responded with the quickest lie I could come up with.. Uh no, I smacked into a door this morning and it won't stop bleeding. The uproars of lafter were unnerving. I would have been better off telling the truth.

.

This is the Ad that got me.. I was a succer for it
The next faze of shaving came the following Christmas, when I asked for and recieved a Norelco Electric with the three Floating Heads. Promising the "closer than a blade." Let me just say this. There is no truth in advertising

Finally I discovered the Gillette Atra. Followed by the Sensor, Sensor 3, Mach 3, Mach 3 Turbo, Fushion and Fushion Power. It was about there when I realiezed I was chasing nervanna and would never get it. Plus the cost of a cart was at least $3.50 a blade.

A friend turned me onto the idea of a DE razor, emphazing that the blades were only about $.10 each while providing a shave closest to that of a straight. Think of the money I would save. Well $3000 +/- that later I am where I am at today.

 

[GearNoir]

Lol great read Sharp!

I used an electric for the longest time because my dad always told me about the time he tried razor shaving and made hamburger out of his face. Boy was I missing out all those years!

 

[DocHoliday0831]

\n\nA friend turned me onto the idea of a DE razor, emphazing that the blades were only about $.10 each while providing a shave closest to that of a straight. Think of the money I would save. Well $3000 +/- that later I am where I am at today.\n\n

\n\n

The greatest trick this wet shaving devil ever pulled!