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The Shave Journal of Nick from Long Island

NickCard

NickCard

Sr. Shave Member
Post #1 September 8, 2020

After perusing many of the shaving journals posted on The Cadre, I decided to give it a try. Whether I have anything useful to add or say remains to be seen.

As background, I am 56 and have been wet shaving for 7 years. I started just before I turned 50 and haven't looked back. Shaving went from being a daily chore to something I look forward to doing.

I am married. I have three daughters: two from my first marriage that ended in 2001 and one from my second marriage in 2004. My oldest daughter is in her last year of law school in NY. My middle daughter is in her last year of a Master's program for a degree in Occupational Therapy. And my youngest is just about to start High School.

My wife just retired after 32 years of teaching.

I am a lawyer in NY. My practice area is litigation, primarily personal injury defense litigation. I have been an attorney for 32 years. Most of my career was spent with one firm but that ended in May of 2019 when financial troubles struck. Since then, I have been with two other firms. My current firm seems to be working out well and hopefully continues.

Today's shave was excellent all around. The brush was made by my good friend, Dean Markwalter. I have many of his brushes. He is an artist turned brush maker and a wonderful man.

The boar knot is slowing breaking in. I don't mind the scritch of boar knots and feel that they help with exfoliation during the shave. That being said, the luxury of a good badger cannot be denied!

The razor is a Haircut & Shave PO76 Titanium. This is a new acquisition. So far, I really enjoy using it. The razor is smooth and the resulting shaves have been quite good. I have not settled on what blades work best. Today, I used a PermaSharp and I have zero complaints.

The soap and aftershave splash were from A&E. The Undersea is a very nice aquatic scent and the performance of A&E is well known.

Overall, today's shave was excellent.

That's all for today. Time to return to the world of litigation!
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Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Welcome to the journals section!! I am glad that you decided to join in the journaling fun.

Your setup looks great. I love the blue brush handle.
 
Welcome to the journals, Nick! That sure is a handsome brush. I'm looking forward to your future entries if life can slow down enough for me to catch up.
 
Thank you all. I hope I can provide some interesting content.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Great first entry Nick! Glad to get to know you a bit more!

Very nice brush your friend made. Is he a full time artisan or just does it for fun?
 
GearNoir said:
Great first entry Nick! Glad to get to know you a bit more!

Very nice brush your friend made. Is he a full time artisan or just does it for fun?
Click to expand...

Dean is a full time artisan. He has been ill for about two years though and is only starting to make brushes again.


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Post #2 - September 9, 2020: Markwalter Brush/Rocnel 2019 Elite A Razor/Ethos Shaving First Lather/Moon Soaps Sorrento

For today's shave, I used a newly acquired Rocnel 2019 Elite safety razor. This version was labeled as the Aggressive model. I paired the razor with a new Wizamet blade. I decided to experiment a little today by using @Dragonsbeard Ethos Grooming Essentials First Lather as a pre-shave and between passes. After applying the First Lather directly to my face from the tube, I used a second brush to activate it. The brush picked up a nice amount of lather, so I set it aside. Then, I lathered with the Moon Soaps Sorrento. After my first and second passes, I used the brush with the First Lather on it to re-apply the First Lather and then I lathered on top of that with the Moon Soaps. This is not something I intend on doing daily, but I decided to have some fun today. The results were excellent, but who knows, that could have been from any number of reasons. All the hardware and software were excellent products, and I must have concentrated and used good technique for a change.

Today should be another fairly quiet pandemic work-at-home day.

Have a great day everyone.

Nick
 

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NickCard said:
I am a lawyer in NY. My practice area is litigation, primarily personal injury defense litigation. I have been an attorney for 32 years. Most of my career was spent with one firm but that ended in May of 2019 when financial troubles struck. Since then, I have been with two other firms. My current firm seems to be working out well and hopefully continues.
Click to expand...
Oh great...another lawyer! Those people are just the worst! By the way...my wife is a lawyer too! 🤪 Seriously though...glad you found your way here and are adding to the journals. A lot of times people feel like the journals are only about your daily shave. They can be about anything you want! Sometimes in mine I don't even talk about my shave...I just type about what is going on in my life!

Thanks for sharing!
 
Nice shave today Nick! Yea...doing two soap applications for each pass doesn’t sound ideal to me...great experiment though! Love the labeling on those Moon products!
 
I sense a science! Definitely not practical, but still sounds fun.
 
NickCard said:
No, not practical at all. I just had some extra time and decided to try something different. I doubt I will do it again. More brushes to clean!


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Click to expand...
Don't be ridiculous. Perfect your insanity! I don't think I do anything quite as meticulous, but if I ever did, I'd perfect it to make it the most fun possible.
 
I used the Rocnel Elite 2019 Aggressive Version again today. This razor is just a pleasure to use. It is quite heavy, weighing in at 122 grams but not too heavy such that use is a chore. I am only two shaves in with this razor, but both shaves have been stellar.
I returned to the CBL/Ethos Fresh Lime. No need to go on about how these two products perform. It was a nice way to start the work day.

Today, my youngest daughter started her first day of High School. Her school is on a hybrid model for the Fall. She only takes in-school classes twice a week. The Covid-19 pandemic is hard on all of us, but I do feel particularly for teenagers. The teen years are tough enough without the added stress of social distancing, study online, restricted after school activities, etc.
 

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Superb shave there Nick!

Yea, both my middle and eldest sons are having their first years in junior high and high school respectively...but it’s all online/Zoom for the time being. Such a strange concept and to have to miss out on the formative aspects of in-person schooling, they’re missing out on so much.
 
Great shave! I went with Ethos Succes today.

The pandemic was ramping up as my granddaughters senior year was wrapping up. No prom, study from home and a very delayed graduation hit her kinda hard.
 
Post #3 - September 17, 2020
Shave: I used all newly acquired hardware and software today. The Rocnel Elite 2019 A Model continues to impress me. It is a fantastic shaver and has, for my skin, that optimal combination of smoothness and efficiency. Watching videos from @BarberDave has piqued my curiosity for the SV products. I had a couple of their soaps several years ago but haven't bought any lately. Since I really like the AdP Colonia EdP, I bought the SV Colonia made for Asylum Shave Works. The scent of the soap is a dead ringer for AdP Colonia and the performance was spectacular. The SV aftershave has a wonderful scent as well as a terrific feeling on the skin when applied. Last, the Alpha Evergoose brush lived up to its billing. I have a few synthetic knots and often find them easier to use in the morning. The Alpha Gen 4 knot was as plush as a knot can be with very nice backbone. Synthetic knots have come a long way in recent years.

Life: Personally, life continues to roll on with work from home with no apparent end in sight for that. I am grateful that I have a job and am able to work from home though. I have mixed feelings about working from home. On the one hand, I have no commute. Typically I have to drive at least an hour each way even though the office is only 26 miles away (welcome to Long Island). I also get to work in shorts and a T-shirt as opposed to office dress or a suit and tie. And, I can pretty much work whenever I want during the day. On the other hand, there is something to be said for being in an office and talking with your colleagues throughout the day and hashing out the grand problems of the world or the minutia of work!

My daughter is adapting to her hybrid school model. Today is the second day of the week of in-school teaching. The days she is not in school seem to be pretty much a waste of time. There is significantly less teaching taking place. She is in 9th grade and taking upper level courses. She will have a tough year (as will her mother and I because we will likely need to hire tutors to make up for the lack of classroom teaching!).

Most importantly, my immediate family is healthy. Well, that is all for today's ramblings. Have a great day Cadre!
 

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