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Steve's Journal: The Saga Continues....

Journal Entry #23

I was going to take the night off, but I'm taking buddy to look at another house tomorrow. His parents are going to be joining us, so I thought I should look somewhat professional lol.

So I went with this week's setup of the Stirling C3PO (DE3P6) loaded with a fresh Kai blade. Kingsley pure badger brush. RazoRock Mudder Focker.

Taking a page out of Milkcrate's book, I went with all very slow and deliberate strokes. I don't know if going slower helps to grab all the whiskers or anything like that, but I do think it helps you concentrate on angle and pressure a lot more than a quicker stroke.

This, combined with a fresh blade helped lead me to a solid DFS+ with just a little bit of irritation towards the bottom edge of the hairline on my neck. This seems to be the worst spot as far as irritation goes for me.

So hopefully this run of good shaves turns into a run of great shaves. And hopefully it turns into some luck with my buddy and his house hunt!
 
Journal Entry #24

Today was supposed to be my day to switch things up, but I decided to wait until tomorrow. I'm sitting an open house today for another agent in my office, and I didn't want to take a chance with a new setup. I was also pretty hungover this morning. The wife and I went out for a few drinks last night and a few turned into a lot. We had a good time though. Now on to the shave...

Sticking with the same hardware set up of the Stirling DE3P6/Kai razor and blade combo and the Kingsley pure badger brush, I did decide to switch up the software. I went with the always dependable Ghost Town Barber. I just love this soap. It lathers effortlessly, doesn't seem to dry up as quick as some others I've tried, and just smells great! I also went with the GTB AS sample that Milkcrate was kind enough to send my way, I'll get to that in a minute...

So the shave was, thankfully, very uneventful. Possibly the least amount of irritation I've ever gotten. An almost BBS across the board, but I would probably still have to call it a DFS++. Not quite BBS. Also, not what I was really shooting for. I just wanted to look presentable and not end up with a ton of irritation. I definitely got more than I had hoped for!

I noticed that I had a much lighter touch today, and I really think it was because I was hungover haha! But either way it made a huge difference.

My post shave routine gave me very little feedback today, which was surprising. Usually I get a decent amount of tingle/burn with the alum and AS. But today it was very minimal. Obviously due to the minimal irritation.

The GTB AS was not at all what I expected. I didn't realize that it was a cooling splash. I'm assuming there's menthol in it. It was definitely a surprise, but I did like it. The scent was also very strange. Right out of the bottle, it didn't smell like GTB at all. I'm not very good at describing scents, so I won't attempt to say what it smelled like. But it definitely wasn't GTB. It didn't start to take on the GTB scent until about 15 minutes later. Not sure what that was all about, but it ended up being pretty good.

So the streak of good shaves is still alive! Tomorrow we'll find out if I can keep it going with a setup change. Stay tuned!
 
To quote the great philosopher John “Hannibal” Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Interesting thing about the full size bottle, it is shaped like the small hip pocket whiskey bottles.

Great shaves, keep it up!
 
It's not too unusual for an AS and other scents to smell a bit, or a lot, different after dry down.

You know some real estate agents bake fresh cookie just for the aroma during an open house. They make a GTB candle. Just sayin'
 
MilkCrate said:
To quote the great philosopher John “Hannibal” Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Interesting thing about the full size bottle, it is shaped like the small hip pocket whiskey bottles.

Great shaves, keep it up![/QUOTE

Love the A-Team reference! I knew the full size bottle AS looked familiar haha!

NurseDave said:
It's not too unusual for an AS and other scents to smell a bit, or a lot, different after dry down.

You know some real estate agents bake fresh cookie just for the aroma during an open house. They make a GTB candle. Just sayin'
Click to expand...

You might be on to something there Dave....GTB themed open houses!
Click to expand...
 
Great read and shave Steve!

MilkCrate said:
To quote the great philosopher John “Hannibal” Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Click to expand...

Well Tim beat me to my line.
 
Journal Entry #25



Pre Shave: Hot shower, shampoo'd beard area.

Shave: Fatip Grande, Voskhod blade, Kingsley Pure Badger, WSP Formula T Bay Rum.

Post Shave: Cold rinse, alum, Cold rinse, witch hazel, Stirling Bay Rum AS

Tonight's shave continued the streak of good shaves. It did drop a notch, but I suspect it's due to a lack of experience with the Fatip. While I've had the razor for a while now, I've definitely favored my Stirling.

That being said I still got a DFS (not a plus unfortunately lol) with minor irritation.

I did however nick myself once when the razor slipped in my hand while too close to my face.
This was simply an accident and not due to any issues with the equipment. Strictly user error!

Hopefully it won't take long to dial in the razor. As for the blade, the Voskhod was very smooth. Not tugging or biting. I've only used this blade once before, and it was a good experience then as well.

On to the WSP Bay Rum: this is actually the "ugly" sale version of the soap. It is advertised as not meeting appearance standards, but otherwise being the same as the regular Formula T Bay Rum. Performance wise it's just as good as the Blackbeard and Ol' Kentucky that I've used. Slick, lathers easily, doesn't dry out very quickly. I also prefer the WSP Bay Rum over the Stirling. WSP doesn't use clove in their scent, and that's fine with me since I don't particularly enjoy cloves.

The Stirling Bay Rum AS however, does have clove in it. My wife is not a fan. After shaving I walked into the bedroom and she asked if I used something different tonight scent wise. I told her I did, Bay rum, to which her response was: "You smell like a ham". So needless to say, the Stirling Bay Rum scent is out for me lol.

All in all another victory. Very fitting since I also watched the Phils take one from the Braves tonight to come within a half game of first. Gonna be a good series!
 
Catching up on a week or so of reading, all sounds wonderful Steve, sorry I got behind
 
Hey, ham is good stuff!

Clove reminds me of my obsession with the The Rocketeer movie and Beeman’s Gum when I was younger.
 
Sans the user error, nice shave! As far as SWMBO saying you smell like a ham...if she likes ham, that could be a very good thing!
 
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