SOTD : Saturday 18th April to Friday 24th April 2020

Sat 18th SOTD
Pre shave oil
Soap Colonel Conk Bayrum
Bowl Turkish Copper
Brush Omega Boar
Razor Shavette
Blade Euromax Platinum 2nd
Post & Aftershave
Ice Water + Special Thayers Mix
Clubman Whisky Woods
Nice lather but hardly smell the bayrum. Make a not so thick lather for shavette rather just slick enough. Shave with shavette and blade was good, smooth and sharpish. 3pasa WTG, XTG & ATG. It went well on 2pass but on 3rd pass a momentary finger lapse cause a fine lined nick right under the chin. Post & aftershave was good. A SAS to CCF results with rating of 8/10. Nice to practice using a shavette once in awhile.
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Saturday, 18 March 2020

PreShave: Warm to hot water, most from the boiled kettle some from the tap
Cream: GFT Eucris
Brush: Kent BK8
Bowl: My recycled T&H cream bowl
Razor: My new Merkur Futur on 2.5
Blade Astra sp (1)
Post Shave: Alum

Fragrance: Eucris

Back to my Astras after sampling and reviewing a selection of Russian blades thanks to Digimonkey's PIF. I used my new acquisition, which I had been waiting to use after the PIF sampling—adding a variable midway through the sampling would ruin any (limited) claim to scientific method and objectivity.

With some trepidation, I tried the Futur. It made for an excellent, albeit slow and careful shave this morning. The razor is simply great. It was a three-pass ritual, resulting in a BBS face. I loved the way it made the blade sing when it was removing whiskers. It will certainly give my stand-by 39C a good run for its money.

Last week was with the Rapira Chrome shave. On the whole it was quite rough—I find the Moscow blades much rougher than the St Petersburg ones. On the other hand, given the sampling isn't blind; there might be some confirmatory bias at work. When I figure out the Futur, I'll give the Moscow blades another go.

Have a good, safe and healthy weekend, folks.
 
18/4/20

Soap - Tabac Stick
Brush - Yaqi Rainbow
Razor - Mingshi Futur Clone
Blade - Gillette Wilkinson Sword India (1)
Post - Alum
Balm - Nivea Cooling
AS - Benjamin's Bay Rum

For yesterday's shave I also used Tabac but used it with a unbleached Zenith Boar, which is easily my best performing boar brush and for today's shave I also used Tabac but with my Yaqi Rainbow synth, but seemed to produce a better, slicker, denser lather with the synth in comparison to the boar with a lot less effort.
Even though the face feel of the Zenith boar is superior (a delightfully scrubby beast) the Yaqi Synth is easily a superior performer, and I've been noticing I've been using my synths a lot more. I'm not one to needlessly throw away something and I'll continue to use my boars but I can't really see myself buying any more (or I should try not too!).
After reading Boyce's comments about correcting the faults of unequal blade exposure with the Mingshi Futur clone I gave it a go and to my surprise it corrected the problem. I had a few problems with the Futur clone though, I couldn't quite adjust the gap to get the sweet spot as it wasn't enough exposure or there was too much, something I imagine might be down to technique of using the razor though. Another problem is the head is ENORMOUS, and shaving under the lip was something I struggled with mine causing a few very sore areas (a rare outing for the alum block) and made me appreciate once again why I tend to prefer using Techs and other razors with thin/small top caps. I'm still planning to give the Futur Clone a few more outings to see if I can get a bit more to grips with using it.

All in all, even though the shave in the end was quite a close one it wasn't the most comfortable one by any stretch of the imagination but it was one of the more educational ones I've had for a while.

Anyway chaps, I hope you have a good start to the weekend.
 
Saturday's Shave

Another lovely shave with the Blackbird , guess I will have to use something else soon :)

Preshave: Argan Oil Soap
Soap: S.V. Tundra Artica coming back to this soap after the Mdc and the Signature , I would say it lacks a bit of slickness.
Razor: Blackland Blackbird
Blade: Feather
Brush: Cadman 30mm Synthetic
A/S Quorum
Balm: Bart's Unscented
EDT: CK Obsession

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Bruce said:
Cream: GFT Eucris
Razor: My new Merkur Futur on 2.5
Fragrance: Eucris
With some trepidation, I tried the Futur. It made for an excellent, albeit slow and careful shave this morning. The razor is simply great. It was a three-pass ritual, resulting in a BBS face. I loved the way it made the blade sing when it was removing whiskers. It will certainly give my stand-by 39C a good run for its money.

When I figure out the Futur, I'll give the Moscow blades another go.
Click to expand...

A Futur was my first DE razor (excluding a plastic wilkinson). I found the head to large to get some areas on my face. It wasn't very successful for me. I hope you get on better with yours.
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Pre - Trumpers Sandalwood Skin Food
Cream -Trumpers Eucris
Brush - New Forest
Razor - Merkur 34G
Blade - Wilkinson (1)
Post - Alum, followed by Trumpers Sandalwood Skin Food

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SOTD Saturday, April 18, 2020

I grabbed one of my fat handled Techs to join @brit and @jtface in their Gillette Tech shave party. It's been quite some time since I've shaved with this razor. After a week of shaving with the TAR razors, it felt like I was adhering to Monte Python's adage, “Now for something completely different!”. The razor weighed in at 62 grams, so roughly equivalent to the aluminum TAR weight wise, but the head geometry is quite different - safety bar versus the Famex-influenced open comb TAR design. The handle is also slimmer on the Tech. Given the rounded OC TAR design, riding the cap with the Tech would prove to be a no-brainer.

I selected MWF as my soap of choice along with my new 26mm Two Band Badger Fan knot for the Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute brush. After my shower, I began the shave with my usual cold water rinse. The brush knot is honkin' huge in comparison to my other brushes, and generated a very healthy, thick, protective lather. I loaded a Feather blade and had at it. The razor sang as it cut on that first WTG pass. After lathering up again, the second XTG pass cleaned things up nicely, leaving my usual rough spots around the Adam's Apple, and on the back of my head. The third ATG pass cleaned things up nicely, leaving me with a very acceptable DFS++ shave. Alum revealed some serious heat around the focus of that final pass, the usual rough areas. Nevertheless, I feel clean, acceptably smooth, and refreshed.

RAZOR: Gillette Fat Handle Tech
BLADE: Feather
PREP: Cold water rinse
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute fitted with 26mm Two Band Badger Fan Knot
SOAP: Mitchell's Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Thayers Lavender WH and Aqua Velva AS Splash (Spanish Version) and finished with A&E Post-Shave Serum
 
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