Shaving notes of the MaineYooper

Two days into my experiment, so here is a recap.

The Masadochi combo was perfect, giving me a high efficiency shave with NO irritation. I paid a tad more attention than I would with the Overlander, but the payoff was no weepers or red spots! I am very pleased with my results.

A friend just received a Trotter handle from our BST, and I swear it could be the twin of my Quasar handle. I used mine today because I'm nerdy like that!!

Finishing up the week of Tatara shaves and the PAA Scentsless soap. This soap makes such a rich lather!  Have a great weekend!

Great shave Eric and hope you have a great weekend !

This week I am using the Sabre, both levels (not at once!), and Paul's mrdoug new favorite soap, Zingari Man. It is sooo slick and lathers very well. I am really going to enjoy another week of great lathers!

This week I am using the Sabre, both levels (not at once!), and Paul's mrdoug new favorite soap, Zingari Man. It is sooo slick and lathers very well. I am really going to enjoy another week of great lathers!

Good call Eric! Enjoy the wonderful lather.

I definitely love me some Zingari unscented. I recently did a few shaves with the MacDuffs... it just hasn't been close to the lather (slickness, etc) I get from Zingari.

At this point, I'm likely only going to buy another soap hard enough to (easily) tub load. Zingari has spoiled me.

I like the smell of nice soaps but you guys sure have got it going on with unscented and simplifying things.

It has been a notable week in the Yooper's shave kit. 

After some consideration of what modern DE razors I prefer, I decided to trim down to just the two that I reach for most, and put the other up for sale. (Shameless pitch: it's still listed. If you like it, make me an offer!!) Then after a few shaves with my Sabre, a gent here posted a WTB, and I ended up selling the Sabre to him. This kind of surprised me, as I hadn't intended to sell it. But I haven't been reaching for it, gravitating towards vintage GEMS instead. 

And I planned to use boar brushes this week (I only have the two now, after the craziness of buying for 2021's DecemBoar!). I have been having a lot of difficulty keeping a good lather in the brush during the shave. I don't have very hard water, but there is some hardness. For years now, I have added a pinch of citric acid to the basin of tap water and that has dramatically reduced soap scum buildup. (As for shower and tub, I haven't noticed build up, which leads me to believe we have mildly hard water.) I was getting very discouraged regarding how poor the boars were doing when I friend Ohio Bob helped push me to distilled water. I have always thought using distilled water or having a special heater for water was too much. But for less than $2 I bought a gallon, and filled a water bottle to keep under the sink. All I did was soak the brush in the bowl of the scuttle with distilled water. Wow, what a difference! Now I can get 4+ passes out of the boar.

It has been a notable week in the Yooper's shave kit. 

After some consideration of what modern DE razors I prefer, I decided to trim down to just the two that I reach for most, and put the other up for sale. (Shameless pitch: it's still listed. If you like it, make me an offer!!) Then after a few shaves with my Sabre, a gent here posted a WTB, and I ended up selling the Sabre to him. This kind of surprised me, as I hadn't intended to sell it. But I haven't been reaching for it, gravitating towards vintage GEMS instead. 

And I planned to use boar brushes this week (I only have the two now, after the craziness of buying for 2021's DecemBoar!). I have been having a lot of difficulty keeping a good lather in the brush during the shave. I don't have very hard water, but there is some hardness. For years now, I have added a pinch of citric acid to the basin of tap water and that has dramatically reduced soap scum buildup. (As for shower and tub, I haven't noticed build up, which leads me to believe we have mildly hard water.) I was getting very discouraged regarding how poor the boars were doing when I friend Ohio Bob helped push me to distilled water. I have always thought using distilled water or having a special heater for water was too much. But for less than $2 I bought a gallon, and filled a water bottle to keep under the sink. All I did was soak the brush in the bowl of the scuttle with distilled water. Wow, what a difference! Now I can get 4+ passes out of the boar.

Nice problem-solving Eric. I wonder if that would have worked for me? I'm sure I have hard water, and god knows what else from these old pipes. I might try that just to see if it makes a difference with the synthetics. I get plenty of lather, but maybe it'll be "better lather". It's a cheap enough experiment. Lol.

Have a great holiday weekend!

It has been a notable week in the Yooper's shave kit. 

After some consideration of what modern DE razors I prefer, I decided to trim down to just the two that I reach for most, and put the other up for sale. (Shameless pitch: it's still listed. If you like it, make me an offer!!) Then after a few shaves with my Sabre, a gent here posted a WTB, and I ended up selling the Sabre to him. This kind of surprised me, as I hadn't intended to sell it. But I haven't been reaching for it, gravitating towards vintage GEMS instead. 

And I planned to use boar brushes this week (I only have the two now, after the craziness of buying for 2021's DecemBoar!). I have been having a lot of difficulty keeping a good lather in the brush during the shave. I don't have very hard water, but there is some hardness. For years now, I have added a pinch of citric acid to the basin of tap water and that has dramatically reduced soap scum buildup. (As for shower and tub, I haven't noticed build up, which leads me to believe we have mildly hard water.) I was getting very discouraged regarding how poor the boars were doing when I friend Ohio Bob helped push me to distilled water. I have always thought using distilled water or having a special heater for water was too much. But for less than $2 I bought a gallon, and filled a water bottle to keep under the sink. All I did was soak the brush in the bowl of the scuttle with distilled water. Wow, what a difference! Now I can get 4+ passes out of the boar.

Nice problem-solving Eric. I wonder if that would have worked for me? I'm sure I have hard water, and god knows what else from these old pipes. I might try that just to see if it makes a difference with the synthetics. I get plenty of lather, but maybe it'll be "better lather". It's a cheap enough experiment. Lol.

Have a great holiday weekend!

thanks, Paul! I hope your weekend is relaxing and fun! Not sure what we're up to, but being a sofa spud sounds great right now! Yes, the dH2O made a huge difference. I still used tap water in the basin, but that was mainly for wetting the face and rinsing the razor (and brush at the end of the shave). I used that travel scuttle you sent, my only one now as I preferred it over the ceramic ones and sold them!), filling the "jacket" with hot water and the bowl with the distilled water. I plan to try this set up tomorrow but with the mixed badger & boar brush. BTW, this photo above is wrong for today! I used that Maggard boar in the Ever-Ready 150T handle from you. So if you think about it, only the soap wasn't from you! All the other major bits of kit came to me from New York! Thanks, bro!

That was a good experiment about your water Eric. 
Three or four years ago I got some of a buddy's softened water, not enough difference, if any, on that test.