Confidence & The Fusion:

Today's shave was great. Today I went with my "go to" brand Soap Commander & their classic "Confidence" scented line. The scent is an overly sweet honey, musk & patchouli which works extremely well together. The musk and patchouli calm the sweetness of the honey down but still allows it to come through and balances the scent out perfectly. And to finish off this shave, I went with the matching aftershave balm which adds a touch of menthol to the equation:

The Gillette Fusion was great but it was also the last shave on this blade. I ended up having to make 3 passes today which is way too many for this type of razor. I got a slight amount of razor burn as a result. But that's okay because I plan on using all of the Soap Commander aftershave balms in my collection whether I shave or not because my skin is really dry & chapped at the moment. So from now on, I will be applying an aftershave balm of theirs twice a day which should help my dry skin over the next few weeks or so.

C.a.D. & The Black Diamond:

Today's shave was great. Today I went with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their legendary C.a.D. scented soap which is a much stronger & richer scent than a certain canned shave foam does. And to finish off this shave, I went with the matching aftershave splash:

The black diamond was great. I took it to my fire hose strop for 10 round trips before & after my shave. I was squeaky clean after 2.5 passes. It was a little rough on my moustache area but other than that, it was pretty comfortable. I can't wait to get some new straight razors & some new stones.

Proraso Green & The Shield:

Today's shave was great & very refreshing. Today after a nice & hot shower, I went with Proraso Green which is a Menthol & Eucalyptus scented soap. Then I finished it off with a nice healthy dose of Pinaud's Osage Rub which adds a little extra kick & freshness to the shave. The Omega 10049 Professional built a great lather, but once again it absorbed over half of it and I had to re load the brush before I could make my 2nd pass. It's going back into retirement:

The Gillette Shield was excellent. I was squeaky clean & slick as black ice after just 2 passes. The stropping helped it out tremendously. I don't have a clue as to how many shaves I have on this cartridge. I've pretty much stopped counting since I switched it out before Christmas. In the past, I was doing good to get 2 shaves out one but back then, I didn't know anything about a soap and brush or stropping either. I also didn't know about mapping my beard growth either which does make a huge difference in your shave no matter what you use.

Brush Repair Failed:

Well crap is all I can say about this but that's okay, I've got plenty of brushes and it's not like I can't get anymore brushes. This happened yesterday morning right after my shave. So I decided to try using the plumber's cement & hardener to fix this:

You put the hardener on one part and the cement on the other and once combined on PVC pipe, the only way you can get it apart it to either cut or break the PVC pipe along with other plastics and certain materials. At first I thought it was going to work:

But this happened again and I realized that this was totally useless in terms of brush repair. A waterproof epoxy would be a much better choice:

A hot glue gun also works really good. It did on my Omega 10049 Professional boar brush and it's still holding up well. I really didn't like this brush too much so I'm okay with this. I also tend to favor synthetic brushes more now mainly because they don't eat your lather like the boar & badger brushes do and I don't have to do a 2 day soak in a fabric softener solution to keep them from eating my lather which does help out a lot in that area.

Honor & The Fusion:

This morning's shave was excellent. Sorry for the delay folks. I've pretty much been gone all day today and didn't get back till just now. But any way, after a nice hot shower, I went with Soap Commander and their fabulous barbershop scented soap. And to finish off today's shave, I went with the matching aftershave balm:

My doctor's appointment went great. All of my blood work was good and my blood pressure was perfect. My oxygen levels were also excellent. I would like to loose some more weight though because I weighed in at 256 pounds this morning. That's pretty much where I've been today besides the DMV to renew my tags for the truck:

The Gillette Fusion was great. I was squeaky clean after just 2 passes which is exactly where I wanted to be. I don't want to jinx it but I've yet to get a bad shave with both the Gillette Shield & Fusion razors. But I'm loving the results I've been getting.

American Blend & The Shield:

Today's shave was great. Today I went with Fine Accoutrements and their American Blend scented soap. The scent is supposed to be their take on YSL's Rive Gauche Pour Homme (2003) with a little hint of Gaiac wood. The scent isn't as strong as what it use to be. And to finish off today's shave, I went with the matching aftershave splash:

The Gillette Shield was excellent. I was squeaky clean in just 2 passes & only had to touch up one spot afterward. So I took it to my fire hose strop & my both sides of my leather strop so it should be good for roughly about 4 to 5 more shaves before I have to do it again. I'm impressed at how long these blades have lasted. And the fact that I get zero burn from aftershaves & colognes says a lot about how smooth & comfortable the post shave feel is.

Lemon Chill & The Fusion:

Today's shave was outstanding. Today I went with Stirling Soaps and their lemon chill scented soap which has an incredible lemon meringue pie scent to it and is very refreshing. My Omega 10049 Professional Boar had no trouble whipping up an epic lather and it did NOT absorb my lather either which is always a good thing. And to finish off today's shave, I paired it with Stirling Soaps and their Glacial Lemon Chill aftershave balm which is awesome:

The Gillette Fusion was perfect in every way possible. I was as slick as black ice in terms of post shave feel after just 2 passes. I also have NO CLUE as to how many shaves I have on this blade either. The lubrication strip is just about gone but that's okay because my shave soaps are extremely slick in terms of glide. But in terms of tugging and pulling, the stropping pretty much eliminates this. I don't replace the blade until stropping no longer helps it. I personally think it's well worth taking the extra time to strop all of your straight razors, DE safety razors & cartridge razors. Of course this is just my humble opinion, but I recommend it.

New Xbox 360 Controller:

Well I'm happy to say that the new Xbox 360 controller that I purchased is working great. Here's the link to the controller and it's totally worth its weight in gold in my opinion: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QRKWKQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . What prompted this purchase was the fact that my original controller went dead on me and wouldn't stay connected to save its life. So me trying to save money has come back and bit me in the behind. I made the mistake of purchasing the generic wired controller and it does work, but the buttons on the generic stick and the right trigger functioned whether you wanted it to or not. I would be playing Sniper Elite V2 or 3 and the rifle would go off without warning which is extremely annoying and sometimes I also had to unplug the wired controller to get it to function. This new wireless controller is at least 100 times better and then some:

^ 1st it had absolutely no problems connecting to my Xbox 360 in fact it took less than 10 seconds for it to connect which is really fast. To connect your new wireless controller press the connect button above the controller ports on the Xbox 360 itself. Now this is on my specific model of Xbox 360 so please look inside where your USB controller ports are if you have an older model than what I have. Mine was the last version to be released before the new Xbox One console was released:

Next on the controller itself press the connect button and you are all set to go:

Now you will need a USB receiver to connect this fabulous controller to windows which is pretty easy to connect. This controller also uses 2 double batteries that did come with it. Here's a link to the receiver needed to use this controller on windows: https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Xbox-Wireless-Receiver-Windows/dp/B000HZFCT2/ref=pd_bxgy_147_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000HZFCT2&pd_rd_r=Y4J5970X6QBBQT9H7DSJ&pd_rd_w=AcuPj&pd_rd_wg=bbuGY&psc=1&refRID=Y4J5970X6QBBQT9H7DSJ . I'm actually thinking about getting another one of these controllers along with these receivers to connect it to my retropie.

Turkish Bath & The Black Diamond:

Today's shave was epic, wow. Today I went with Jeeves of Hudson Street and their barbershop scented soap, Turkish Bath. The reason I went with them today besides craving it, I don't remember using this soap with a straight razor. I would have to go back and look but I'm certain that I haven't used this soap with a straight razor. And to finish off today's shave, I paired it with Old Spice aftershave splash which goes very well with this soap:

The black diamond was great but only after I took it to the fire hose strop during the first pass. I ended up squeaky clean after 3 passes. It was like riding a bike today and I'm actually faster with a straight than I am with a cartridge razor which says a lot. Once I get this razor dialed in, you will be seeing it more often. Even my clean up was faster today.

Honing Time!

It's been a really long time since I've done a honing post. But I figured why not document the honing session I just did. I started with my Naniwa Professional 600 grit then I followed up with my entire synthetic stone collection before heading over to my natural stones:

After the 600 grit I went with my Suehiro 1/3K combo stone which does a phenomenal job. After that I went with my Norton 8K then my Shapton 12K. It took a while but it was totally worth it:

After I got done with my Shapton 12K, I went with my Apache Strata then using my friend Dr. Matt Robins technique, I went with my ILR water stone after I did "X" strokes. Got the tip of my thumb on the 2nd session with the ILR using Dr. Matt's under running water technique:

Next I finished it off with my Shoubandini Type 100 Japanese natural water stone which should put the black diamond straight razor over the top. I barely got the tip of my thumb and it drew blood so I'm more than certain that it's definitely shave ready:

After that I did 10 round trips on my fire hose strop from Keith Johnson's shop TomoNagura over on Etsy. followed by 5 round trips on the scrub leather & 10 round trips on the smooth leather side of my strop. I also did this between each stone so it should be stupid sharp & extremely comfortable. Or at least I hope it will. Once I get back into honing & straight razors, I'll be looking at the Shapton glass stones. While I do love the Japanese natural water stones along with my Apache Strata, I have no idea what the grit is and in my humble opinion, using the "K grit" system is useless with natural stones period. One little drop of water can completely change the slurry along with the results and natural stones are never the same even if they're mined from the same quarry. My Shoubandini type 100 won't be the same as someone elses. That's just how natural stones are period. So my next shave should be very interesting which is a good thing.

Optimism & The 37:

Today's shave felt really good. Think of having an itch and finally being able to scratch it. For today's brush, I went with my RazoRock Plissoft 24 mm Synthetic. I've grown quite fond of that brush as of late and it has become my go to brush. I also needed a Soap Commander fix today and went with their "Optimism" scent which is a really rich pear, plum & bergamot scent. If they added a little spice to it, you would have an oriental plum scent. And to finish off today's shave, I went with the matching aftershave balm which adds a touch menthol to the ultra soft post shave feel:

The German 37 was good but not great today. So I took it to my fire hose strop for 5 round trips on both sides of the blade. Followed by 5 round trips on the scrub leather & 10 round trips on the smooth leather so the next shave with it will be really interesting. I'm also about to do a honing session and get back into my straight razors. But I will only be using my Black diamond because I really want to get some new straight razors now that I've decided to use nothing but "X" strokes to hone from here on out unless I'm doing some repair work or honing a Gold Dollar straight razor for the 1st time. So I am going to get back into straight razors.

C.a.D. & The Shield:

This morning's shave was phenomenal. For today's shave I went with my Omega 10049 Professional boar brush which produces one of the best lathers you will ever have. I also broke out the shave scuttle for a nice & thick hot lather which is perfect for a cold morning. I think it was around 3 degrees Fahrenheit this morning so I don't have to tell you how great that hot lather felt. And the star of today's shave was Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their modern day classic C.a.D. which is a much stronger version of a certain "canned shave foam" scent from the 1970's & 80's. And to finish off today's shave, I went with the matching aftershave splash:

The Gillette Shield was outstanding this morning. I got another black ice post shave feel in just 2.5 passes. Between the ultra slick hot lather & the prep I did, you aren't going to beat this kind of shave in my humble opinion. No irritation of any kind which is always a good thing. I'm also down to the very last shave brush that I wanted to soak in fabric softener which is the one I used this morning. My synthetics don't need it.

High Jump 47 & The Doc:

Today's shave was great. Today I went with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their classic High Jump 47 soap which has an incredible citrus barbershop cologne scent with a few notes of talcum powder & musk. And since I don't have the matching aftershave, I went with a nice double dose of Pinaud's Clubman aftershave which seems to pair with this soap perfectly:

The doc was great. I got almost as close as my cartridge razors in just 3 passes. There was a couple of spots I could have went over again but I decided not to. And the Gillette Nacet blades are epic in the doc razor. It's almost like there was no blade in the razor in terms of comfort. The brush that you see in the photo above is my other New York Shaving Company 26 mm silver tipped badger brush. I still prefer the synthetic brushes mainly because there's no break in period & they don't absorb your lather like the boar & badger brushes do during a shave. I'm also doing the fabric softener trick with this one and my Omega 10049 Boar brush is up next. They're getting a 48 hour soak time to help keep them from absorbing my lather during a shave.

Renewal & The 38C:

This morning's shave was great. After a nice hot shower, I went with my New York Shaving Company 22 mm silver tipped badger brush which I now have soaking in a mild fabric softener solution. Hopefully this will keep it from eating my lather which is why I love synthetic brushes. And I also went with Soap Commander and their fabulous "renewal" scented soap which is a fantastic floral fougere' scent. And to finish off today's shave I went with the matching aftershave balm & Brut aftershave splash:

The Merkur 38C was great but it was time for a new blade. So I put in a new Feather blade and stropped it 3 times on both sides of the blade using the smooth leather side of my strop. This razor is too mild and really needs a much sharper blade for my beard which is extremely tough. I think that was the problem I had last time with the Feather blades, I didn't strop them before the first use. I'm also looking at getting back into straight razors again. I just don't know when that will be.

Turkish Bath & The Fusion:

Today's shave was phenomenal, wow. I was going to use a menthol based product but decided to go with Jeeves of Hudson Street and their Turkish Bath scented soap instead. And to add a little more warmth to this bitter cold day, I finished off today's shave with good ole Old Spice aftershave splash. I figured out that the cheaper one on store shelves is the one you want & it smells exactly like my left over 2004 version. Shame on me for grabbing the spray bottle which I tossed out:

The Gillette Fusion was perfect. I was squeaky clean in just 2 passes which is perfect for me and my sensitive skin. I did have to use my styptic pencil on one tiny spot in my moustache area which is no big deal at all. I couldn't be happier with the results of this shave. And to give people a clue as to how cold it got here last night, here's a photo of the river that runs behind my house:

^You know it's cold when running water freezes. It was 6 degrees Fahrenheit this morning and with the wind chill factored in, -1 degrees Fahrenheit and the only day we're suppose to be above freezing this week is Wednesday which is the high of 33 degrees Fahrenheit.