American Blend & The 37:

Today's shave was pretty good but not great and no it wasn't the soap. Today I went with Fine Accoutrements and their American Blend soap which is their take on YSL's Rive Gauche Pour Homme (2003) and to finish off today's shave, I went with the matching aftershave:

I should have switched out the blade before my shave even though I only had 1 shave on it. My shave was very uncomfortable. I ended up getting where I wanted to be in just 2 passes but the razor tugged and pulled a lot. So I am tossing out the blade and putting in a Gillette Nacet blade. I'm a little disappointed that the Wilkinson Sword blade was only good for one shave in my slant.

C.a.D. & The Slim:

Today's shave was great. Today I decided to go with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their modern day classic "C.a.D." which is a much stronger version of a certain 1970's & 1980's "canned shave foam" scent. I can't mention the name because I don't want to get any "cease and desist" letters for mentioning their name which is what the company that makes the canned foam scent does. And to finish off today's shave, I went with the matching aftershave:

The Gillette Slim was perfect this morning. I started off with a setting of 7 for my 1st pass then I dialed down to 3 for my second pass and then down to 1 for my last pass. I ended up turning it back up to 3 and hitting my moustache area again because it wasn't close enough and 1 wasn't getting it done in that area. I believe that I'll be doing what I did the other day from now on when it comes to shaving. I also tossed the Wilkinson Sword blade out as well. 3 shaves is my limit with those blades. Others who don't have a tough beard like I do will more than likely get 5 to 6 shaves out of a blade give or take a little. They're extremely good blades but so far I'm loving the Gillette Nacet blades more.

C.O. Bigelow & The 42C:

Today's shave was great. Sorry for the delay ladies & gentlemen. I pretty much had to shower & shave and go out the door today. In fact I posted it on my Instagram page before shutting off my phone before leaving. Today I went with C.O. Bigelow and their Menthol & Eucalyptus scented cream. The matching cologne doesn't quite match the cream but it's pretty close:

And to finish off today's shave, I went with a nice healthy dose of Osage Rub:

The 42C was excellent. I ended up getting a really close shave in just 3 passes. I also did something a little different today in terms of my passes. I only went against the grain on my moustache area, my chin and the bottom of my chin. The rest was either with the grain or across the grain which made for an extremely comfortable shave today as well.

New Camera in The House!

This Christmas gift is awesome and was needed very badly. After 6+ years of abuse and an untold number photos taken, my old camera has seen its better days. My mom has surprised me this Christmas with a brand new Nikon B500 digital camera with built in wifi and I downloaded an app that syncs the camera with my smartphone which is pretty simple and easy to operate:

Since it is Christmas and me being a Christian, I thought it was best to take the 1st picture of the Nativity Scene which is the true meaning behind Christmas:

The Wifi & the app are awesome and make transferring pictures very easy. I now only have to take 1 photo or series of photos and can upload them to all forms of social media apart from this blog. I also just turned on the date stamp so that people can tell when the photo was taken. I also don't have to set the date & time because my smartphone does it automatically which is awesome:

Here's how I transferred my pictures directly from the camera to this blog. I have really missed doing this. My old camera use to be able to do this but for some reason, it no longer is able to do that and has been that way for nearly 3 years. Now I can simply turn on the camera and transfer my pictures to this blog. Before I was having to remove the memory card to upload them before:

This is my old digital camera which has seen 6+ years of abuse:

^ As you can the bottom plate is broken and I was having to hold it closed for the camera to even work. Transferring photos became a hassle. I had to remove the memory card for any and all uploads. The transfer cable quit working. And since the bottom plate no longer stays shut, I've been having to reset the date & time in the camera before each use. Plus this old camera didn't have wifi built in either which does make a huge difference. I've got my new one set to the VGA setting which allows the camera to take 9999 pictures on this specific setting with my 16 gig memory card. This goes down to 1604 photos on the 16 mm setting. Another feature that I really love is the fact that I can now turn the flash on full time instead of just off or on auto which made for interesting situations when photos didn't turn out good at all. I was having to take at least 4 if not more photos just to get one decent photo for mail calls & shave of the day photos. Getting some photos of a honing session was extremely difficult to the point where I had to stop taking photos of my progression and eventually I got to where I decided not to do honing posts as a result. So being able to leave the flash on full time instead of just having an auto setting is a huge help. Another thing I've noticed about new camera is the fact that it's 5 times faster than my old one shown above. Boom and it's done while my old one would take about a minute or longer to take a photo.

Resolution & The Doc:

Merry Christmas ladies & gentlemen. Today I got up and looked in the mirror and I needed a shave. So I grabbed Soap Commander and their fabulous "Resolution" scented soap which is the only Christmas like scent that I have in my shave cave. The scent is a fresh cut Frasier fir tree, some bitter but fresh mistletoe along with some really sweet Cranberries. And to finish off my Christmas Eve shave, I paired it with Aqua Velva ice blue aftershave splash:

The doc was fantastic. I was pretty much squeaky clean after performing 3 passes. I could have stopped after 2 but there was a few too many spots with stubble left behind so I went ahead and done my usual 3 passes with this razor. The Wilkinson Sword blade in the razor is on its last shave which is about normal because the doc razor is a bit of a blade eater. I had to stop before my last pass & strop the blade to finish the shave. So I'm going to go ahead and put a fresh Gillette Nacet blade in there to try. I'm really loving the Gillette Nacet blades.

Proraso Green & The 42C:

Man oh man what a great shave I had this morning, wow. Today I needed something that was refreshing & invigorating so I went with Proraso Green which has an incredible Menthol & Eucalyptus scent to it along with an epic post shave feel. And to add even more menthol to the post shave feel, I finished the shave off with Pinaud's Osage Rub which is like tripling the menthol effect:

The Merkur 42C (Classic Closed Comb) was perfect. I was squeaky clean after just 2.5 passes which is a sweet spot for me and these Gillette Nacet blades might just be my top choice of razor blades before long. They're even more comfortable & efficient than my Perma-Sharp blades are and that says a lot. I may have to change my top 5 blades after this, wow.

Confidence & The Fusion:

This morning's shave was great and since I have to be some where, it had to be fast as well. Today I went with Soap Commander their classic "confidence" scent which is fabulous. The scent is an overly sweet honey with musk & patchouli. The patchouli & musk still allow the honey to come through but calms the sweetness down to where the scents work well together. And to finish off the shave, I went with the matching aftershave balm which adds a touch of menthol to the already incredible post shave feel:

The Gillette Fusion was perfect. I was squeaky clean in just 2 passes. I really don't have a lot of time today so I grabbed my Fusion and I did make sure that it had a fresh blade.

Wilkinson Sword Blades Review:

8 days ago, I ordered a new brush and some blades to try out and these German made Wilkinson Sword Classic DE blades are fantastic. I've gotten consistent results each and every time I've used them and they're extremely smooth and comfortable with no pulling or tugging. These are perfect for those with extremely sensitive skin and after stropping them 2 times on both sides of the blade, they're perfect for my skin. This is how they're packaged which is pretty cool:

^ On the back of the package it states that these specific blades are made in Soligen, Germany which is extremely well known for having quality steel and some of the finest blades & razors on the market. This dispenser isn't too hot in terms of accessing the blades but other than that, these blades are fantastic. I'll more than likely be getting more of them as I go along:

In my humble opinion the best razors to use with these blades are the Merkur 38C, the Gillette Slim adjustable and RazoRock German 37 in that specific order:

The 38C was the best in terms of comfort and the German 37 was the closest with the Gillette slim being in the middle. The only thing I've not done is a longevity test but I really don't need to do that because unlike my cartridge blades these don't cost anything. So after 3 or 4 shaves, I'm tossing the blade out. No sense trying to stretch a blade when they're cheap enough and you have plenty of blades on hand.

Honor & The 38C:

Today's shave was excellent. Earlier today around noon or so, I went with Soap Commander and their fabulous "Honor" scented soap. The scent is a "Barbershop" type of scent that's some where between Phoenix Shaving's C.a.D. & Fine's American Blend. And to finish off today's shave, I went with the matching aftershave balm which adds a touch of menthol to the post shave feel:

The Merkur 38C is the cat's meow with a fresh Wilkinson Sword DE blade. This was the last razor I wanted to try one of these blades before I did a detailed review and gave you my picks on which razors worked best with the blades. Please note that results will vary. I was pretty much spot on after 3 passes. I could have done 1 more but I don't like to make more than 3 passes at the most.

C.a.D. & The Tech:

Today's shave was great. Today I went with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their modern day classic, C.a.D. scent. The scent is a much stronger version of a certain 1970's & 80's "canned shave foam" scent which has to be kept nameless so the pricks won't press a lawsuit against me like they do with everyone else. And to finish off this shave, I went with the matching aftershave splash which has a nice slight cooling factor to it:

The Vintage Gillette Tech was really good today. I ended up getting a pretty close shave after 3 passes. I thought this was the last razor I had before doing a detailed review on the blades but I forgot about my 38C which is milder than what I used today. I will map out the details for each razor as best as I can but I've pretty much have already formed my opinion about these blades.

Mountain Man & The German 37:

Today's shave was fantastic. After a nice hot shower, I went with Stirling Soaps and their "Mountain Man" scented soap which is Stirling's take on Creed's Silver Mountain Water cologne. And to finish off today's shave I paired it with good old Pinaud's Clubman:

I also decided to break out my shave scuttle today. Right now it's snowing and we have every bit of a 30 mph wind gust so a hot lather shave was definitely needed today:

The Wilkinson Sword DE blades are great in a slant. I also got a much better shave after stropping the blade 2 times on each side using the smooth leather side of my strop. It was more efficient & much more comfortable after stropping the blade which I didn't do with the other razors. One more shave and I'll be able to do a detailed review on these blades.

Turkish Bath & The Doc:

Today's shave was great. Today I went with Jeeves of Hudson Street and their Turkish Bath/Barbershop scented soap. And to finish off today's shave, I paired it with Stirling Soaps and their fabulous Barbershop scented splash:

The doc was great. These Wilkinson Sword DE blades are pretty good in the doc razor. I managed to get a squeaky clean post shave feel in my usual 3 passes. So far I'm liking these Wilkinson Sword blades. I've just got a couple more razors to try them in before I can do a detailed review about them.

Reflection & the Slim:

Tonight's shave was extremely blissful to say the least. Good old Soap Commander and their fabulous Reflection scent which pairs extremely well with Skin Bracer which is what I finished off tonight's shave with:

The Gillette slim was extremely good tonight & these German Wilkinson Sword blades are fabulous. Smooth & comfortable shave yet 5 days worth of beard growth disappeared like nothing. Now I know why people like these blades. Very comfortable blades.

Mail Call: New Brush & Blades:

Today's mail call is from good old Maggard Razors. I bought a new Omega 10019 S Brush & some blades that I've not tried before apart from the Gillette Silver Blues which use to be my "go to" blades at one point. So they will be a somewhat new but familiar experience to me:

New Items & Reviews Coming:

Earlier today, I placed an order for a new brush & some DE blades. I see these DE blades often but to the best of my knowledge, I've only tried one of these blades before and that would be the Gillette Silver Blue DE blades. I also have Wilkinson Sword (German Version) coming along with Gillette Nacet & Gillette Rubie DE blades.

The brush I ordered was an Omega 10019-S synthetic boar brush. I've always loved the feel of a boar brush but loved the speed & practicality of a synthetic brush. Now I have the best of both worlds in a shaving brush. The real deal boar & badger brushes are great but they tend to absorb my lather pretty quickly and my silver tipped badger brushes shed like crazy. I'm happy to say that I've NOT had any of these issues since switching to synthetic brushes on a full time basis. Another thing is the amount of drying time or lack there of that's needed for the brush to dry. In 2 to 3 hours my synthetic brush is dry. With my other brushes, I need at least 24 to 48 hours and that's if it's warm outside. If it's cold outside like it is now, then it can take even longer for them to dry.

C.a.D. & The Shield:

This morning's shave was great. Sorry for the delay ladies & gentlemen. I pretty much had to shave and run out the door which is why you see the razor that you do in the photo. Today I needed a Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements fix so I grabbed my all time favorite scent that they have in their product line, C.a.D. which is a much stronger version of a certain canned shave foam which will remain nameless. The reason I won't mention their name is because they force artisans to change the names & labels of their products which is very uncool on their part:

The Gillette Shield was excellent if not perfect this morning. I was squeaky clean in just 2 passes and it was extremely comfortable. Even though I've been getting very good and comfortable shaves with my DE safety razors, these cartridge razors are still my favorite specifically the Gillette Fusion & this razor. I didn't have to worry about getting the correct angle and the post shave feel that I have was and is exactly what I'm looking for in a shave. 2 comfortable passes and a black ice post shave feel.