SOTD 28 February-6 March 2021

Le Grand Chypre is awesome.  That is all.

March 4, 2021
Feather AS-D2
Feather
MrEE with SHD 2 Band
La Toja
Shave Cream & Aftershave

Thursday, March 4

Mike's~~dubl duck #4~~RazoRock GC OC .84/Astra SP~~Rasasi LaYuqawam Pour Homme
Have a great day!

Thursday, March 4, 2021 - Shave of the Day

Prep  ||  Cantu Pre-Shave Scrub

Brush  ||  Wolf Whiskers Beehive

Soap  ||  Sir Henry's Black & Tan (sample)

Razor  ||  Above The Tie H1 / Wizamet Super Iridium (4)

A/S  ||  L&L Grooming/DFS 2017 LE / Aqua Velva Sensitive 5 in 1 Balm

Growth  ||  41.0 Hours

No, I am referring to riding the bar which on this razor is what works for me!  The angle is one where the handle is pointing towards the floor.  The angle is such that the handle is close to parallel to the shave surface.  I find that this approach never fails to deliver porcelain smooth shaves!

SOTD THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH 4, 2021

Today I decided on a shavette shave with an unusual design based on the use of Schick Injector blades, the Monsieur Charles. I had two, one of which my dachshund, Gromit, got hold of and used as a chew toy. Thankfully, there was no blade loaded. I loaded the spare with a Schick Proline B-20 with a bit of difficulty and proceeded to have a very pleasant mug shave. Like my DX, it was sharp enough to easily handle my swirling neck stubble. I rarely repeat a shave, but my AS-D2 shave yesterday was so good, I needed to see if it was a fluke! Well, it wasn’t! Today’s dome shave was every bit as good. I feel velveteen smooth, clean and refreshed!

RAZOR: Monsieur Charles Shavette ( Mug), Feather AS-D2 (Dome)
BLADES: Schick B-20 Proline (Mug), Feather DE (Dome)
BRUSH: MrEE Knurled Aluminum Hybrid Knot #007
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat 
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by a rinse with Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Krampert’s Frostbite AS Splash.

March 4th
Razor: Blackland Blackbird SB
Blade: Gillette Winner (1)
Brush: Grizzly Bay BlueSkyCrush
Pre-shave: PAA Cube
Soap: PAA Aqua DG
PAA Galactic Witch Hazel
PAA Star Jelly
AS: PAA Aqua DG

Good morning!



Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

H&S N075 with Wizamet (5)
MdC Agrumes
SV Brush
CC Ceramic Bowl
Cera Ve Daily Moisturizing Lotion

Focused on the MdC to get the lather “just right” and it seemed to help to maximize the cushion and slick qualities of the soap.  The MdC seems to like some attention.  The SV brush is just brilliant.  Beautiful handle, super plush and thick knot with more backbone than the High Mt. White knots (which I really enjoy).  The Italian heritage shows through: incredible quality, excellent function, and beautiful craftsmanship that separates it from others.  (Wonderful soap from France, incredible razor from the USA, and an amazing brush from Italy; who needs international travel?)  I’m thinking I might stick with the N075 for a bit to get a better sense of it.  It sure seems like it could be a good daily driver for a stretch.  Generally, I’ve really enjoyed everyday variety, but I’m wondering if I can wean myself off the “different razor every day” habit, just to see what that’s like.

Happy Shaves.

...

SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, MARCH 3, 2021

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]...[/font]

This razor [Feather AS-D2] was designed for “riding the bar” and featured a very narrow sweet spot that promoted a much more acute shaving angle taking full advantage of the hyper sharp Feather DE blade it was engineered around. I have a relatively thick heavy whiskers and used my AS-D2 a year or so ago to reduce almost three weeks of whisker growth following a hospital stay. It took it down like a champ, leaving me dolphin smooth. It required no extensive buffing, only an experienced knowledge of its very narrow sweet spot. Those who dismiss it as a “mild” razor just never learned the proper angle to shave with it. This morning it effortlessly sheared away my dome stubble in my usual two ATG passes.

...

Thank you once again for an entertaining and informative post.  Forgive me for excerpting it so heavily; I did it only to direct the focus towards a question I'd like to ask you.  IIRC this is not the first time you have discussed the AS-D2, but this is more detailed than the times I remember, in that you explicitly describe the optimum AS-D2 shaving angle.  Alas, IME "shaving angle" and "acute shaving angle" are oft-confused terms, and I'd like to make sure that I and others understand you.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I have cut and pasted together this graphic for discussion purposes ...



Source: Steep and Shallow Shaving Angle Defined

Using the cited author's terminology, a shallow angle (aka "riding the cap") means the handle is more nearly perpendicular to the skin versus a steep angle (aka "riding the guard").  For example, shaving up or down the cheek with a shallow angle means the handle would be more nearly parallel to the floor.  I would have thought the sweet spot for a negative exposure razor would be a shallow angle, and "riding the bar" sounds to me like a steep angle.  I am not questioning your experience; I just want to understand it, and it would help me if you could describe the sweet spot in terms of how the cited author uses "shallow" and "steep".

No, I am referring to riding the bar which on this razor is what works for me!  The angle is one where the handle is pointing towards the floor.  The angle is such that the handle is close to parallel to the shave surface.  I find that this approach never fails to deliver porcelain smooth shaves!

Thanks very much Jgreenepa.  That is crystal clear. Perhaps it will turn out to work best for me, and I would have been much less enthused to try it before hearing your experiences.