American Blend & The 42C:

Today's shave felt really good. After a hot shower, I went with Fine Accoutrements & their American Blend scented soap which is suppose to be their take on Rive Gauche Per Homme (2003) with a touch of Gaiac wood. And to finish off today's shave, I went with their matching aftershave splash which has a really nice burn to it followed by a nice menthol chill:

The 42C was great. The fresh blade made a huge difference & this time, I remembered to strop it 2 times to remove the harshness of the first shave. My brush is getting the old fabric softener treatment even though the scratch it has felt really good & was very satisfying today, I felt that it needed it. Plus it helps keep the brush from absorbing all of my lather.

Memorial Day 2018:

Today is a very special day here in the United States of America. On this day, we take the time to honor our fallen heroes whom made the ultimate sacrifice & we also honor their families who lost their loved ones in service to this great country of ours. You are not forgotten & your sacrifice will never be forgotten. You will always be remembered:

Here's the church just above the court house on main street. Every year the near by town of Marion, Virginia places these flags & crosses with the name of our veterans who have died in service of our country along with veterans whom have passed on after their service:

Here's a monument to all of those who were killed in action. They listed those from the area in each & every war or conflict. The other sides have the other wars & conflicts listed:

Sadly more & more flags and crosses get added each year:

Here's the permanent memorial to all of the P.O.W.'s & those whom are still missing in action:

And here's what the plaque says on the P.O.W. memorial:

I've currently got family who is still serving & I lost a great uncle in Vietnam. All of my grandfathers were World War 2 veterans & I had several great uncles whom served in Vietnam. My grandmother who recently passed away has a younger brother whom served in Korea. He didn't talk much about what happened over there & neither did my grandfathers. So as you fire up your grills & what not, please take a moment or 2 to remember those who gave their lives so that we remain free. Freedom is not free & was bought & paid for in blood.

New "Go To" Blade Choice:

As I get older, I don't like things to change much, but I do understand that change can be a really good thing & this is one of those times. The Perma-Sharp blades are great but here lately they have kindly been a bit on the "Too Sharp" side for my skin. So I tried the Gillette Silver Blue DE blades in the doc & wouldn't you know it, that's I needed to do. This isn't the first time I've had to do this & this also isn't the first time I've tried these blades in the doc either:

I also love these blades in the Merkur 1904 Classic Closed Comb (42C) as well as a couple of other razors that I have in my collection. But I won't be buying these blades in bulk because 2 or 3 packs will last a really long time now that I am going into straight razors on a full time basis. I'm also looking at making soap as a hobby only as well. There's really no need for me to open a soap making business when there's already more than enough artisans making soap out there as it is.

Honor & The Doc:

Today's shave felt really good. After a nice & hot shower, I went with Soap Commander and their fabulous "Honor" scented soap which is their version of a Barbershop scent. The scent is some where between Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's C.a.D. & the old version of Fine's American Blend. I was told that it's extremely close to Mike's Natural Soap's Barbershop scented soap which I've never got to use. And to finish off today's shave I went with Soap Commander's Honor aftershave balm followed by Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's C.a.D. aftershave splash which is not pictured because I decided to add it at the last minute:

The doc was great. I did forget to run the razor across my strop a couple of times to take the harshness of the first shave off which isn't much on these Gillette Silver Blue blades compared to my other blades that I've used. The doc razor left me slick as black ice after just 2.5 passes which is perfect. I am still planning on making videos & I am currently waiting till I get paid to buy some gear. I really can't wait to do some more videos with some overhead shots while honing.

Ike & The Doc:

Today's shave was extremely nice & refreshing. Today I went with Strike Gold Shave & their fabulous "Ike" scented soap with a little touch of Cremo's cooling non lathering shave cream for an extra refreshment. The scent on Ike is extremely close to the classic aftershave, Skin Bracer which is what I finished off today's 3 pass shave with:

The Doc was good but not great today & that was because this was the last shave on this blade. I'm pretty sure that this was the 5th multi pass shave on this blade so after I was done, I went ahead & switched it out for a Gillette Silver Blue instead of the usual blade like you see in the photo. While I like the blade that I used in today's shave, I tend to favor the Gillette Silver Blue blades more specifically in the 42C. So if my next shave with the doc goes much better & is more comfortable, I will definitely be switching to them on a permanent basis. I'm after close & comfortable shaves and these blades that I used today are not agreeing with my skin.

WTF Cuban Tobacco & The 42C:

This morning's shave was great. Today I went with Wet The Face & their fabulous Cuban Tobacco scented soap which has a deep semi sweet Cuban cigar type of scent. And to finish off today's shave, I went with the matching aftershave:

The 42C was exceptional. I was squeaky clean in just 2.5 passes & this was the 1st shave on this Gillette Silver Blue DE blade. I am considering going with these DE blades on a permanent basis because the first shave on these blades are awesome & easier on my skin than the other blades I use. I also want to take the time to say thank you for all the well wishes. As many of you know, I recently lost my Grandmother & a lot of us are still hurting but are doing okay. We kindly seen this coming but it still went down rather quickly. This was the last the grand parent that I had & she had a really long life & she will be missed.

Proraso Green & The Doc:

Today's shave was great. It's also Proraso Friday over in the How To Grow A Moustache Google plus community. So while I'm waiting on an update, I went with Proraso Green this morning which has an incredible Menthol & Eucalyptus scent to it. My Omega 10049 Professional Boar brush whipped up an incredible lather but I had to go back to the puck for my 3rd pass because it had absorbed just about all that was left & I didn't have enough to finish off the shave. Speaking of finishing, I went with a nice healthy dose of Pinaud's Osage Rub which puts the menthol post shave feel over the top:

The doc was perfect. I was slick as black ice after 3 passes. My grandmother is dying. They have brought in in home hospice to take care of her until she passes away. I was right in the middle of writing this post when they called with the update which was awful. Her lungs are too hard & they have her on oxygen and are giving her morphine so she can die comfortably. Doctors said it can be a half hour or it could be 10 days when she passes.

Blog Update & Some Sad News:

First I must let people know that I am not quitting blogging but I am cutting back a lot on blogging in general. Now that I've discovered how to make quality YouTube videos & have began to obtain equipment, I haven't been writing a lot of blog posts as of late. And before today, all of my previous shave of the day posts have been just a photo and the last shave I did wasn't even posted. It has also been a while since my last mail call blog post & I've not done a honing blog post in a while either. I've been so busy that I've really not had the time to blog:

The sad news is that my grandmother may not be with us for very much longer. About a month ago, my grandmother who is 94 years old now, decided to get up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water. And her being extremely stubborn & in total denial about her health decided to not use her walker which we've gotten onto her about repeatedly, and it was a disaster. She fell & broke her upper left arm and rather than call out for help, she decided to just lay there. My aunt found her the next morning & her health has been going down hill ever since. Then one morning I got a call from my aunt who was in full panic mode & she stated that they had put my grandmother in the hospital because they found 2 blood clots in her legs. So now she's been on and off blood thinners since that day & they started giving her a stomach pill. My grandmother had also given up at that point. She tried to pull a "hunger strike" & they told her that if she didn't eat, they was going to put a feeding tube in and she started eating some but not a lot. My grandmother is now down to 75 pounds & before all of this happened, she was pushing 90+ pounds. The day we went to see her at the hospital after she started getting better, they moved her into a nursing home. She had been doing good but was still confused and up until 4 days ago, she was doing fine & they was talking about letting her go home. Then she lost her voice & they took her over to the local hospital where they took some xrays. They diagnosed her with pneumonia & found a hernia in the upper part of her stomach. The other day she took a turn for the worse. So they rushed her to the ER & then decided to transport my grandmother to Johnson City TN Medical Center & she arrived there that night around 9:10 PM EST & we didn't get to see her until about an hour later. We also didn't get to stay very long either. Yesterday she was listed in serious condition but there's been no updates & my dad and his wife are going to driving up from Florida early this morning. My grandmother is still fighting. She gets feisty & then settles down & when they got her down there, she tried fighting the nurses on doing blood work. They have also since ruled out any surgery to fix that hernia in her upper stomach. Between being weak due to the lack of oxygen caused by the pneumonia & the fact that she only weighs 75+ pounds give or take a little, the anesthesia would kill her. She won't make it through any surgery & the hernia is inflamed. She has also tried to pull off her breathing mask & thankfully her arm brace keeps her from doing that. Like I said, it's sad news & it does not look to get any better either. So don't be surprised if you don't hear from me much these days. I'll try post up any info I can.

Honor & The 42C:

Grape Soda & The 42C:

Today's shave felt extremely good & is very delicious smelling. Today I went with KShave Worx and their very rich & deep Grapelicious scented soap which has a phenomenal grape soda scent. And to finish off today's shave, I went with their matching aftershave splash which is witch hazel based & very soothing & refreshing:

The 42C was beyond belief. 3 passes & I'm slick as black ice. I also never went against the grain except on my neck area today. I did 2 passes with the grain & on the 3rd pass, I went across the grain on my cheeks & moustache area & against the grain on my neck area. My strop also made a huge difference as well. It was as if I didn't have a blade in the razor. I pretty much know now which DE razors to stick with. The Original Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's double open comb and the Merkur 1904 Classic Closed Comb (42C). I'm dialed in on both of these DE safety razors. Another thing that I've noticed is that I've lost count as to how many shaves I have on this blade.

Scratch ZY Razors:

Earlier today I got this email from one of the EBay sellers concerning my ZY HRC60 straight razor. I was informed that it has been returned to the shipper. It was cool of them to let me know about this but I'm pretty annoyed about it especially considering that I ordered it quite some time ago now. So instead of having it re shipped, I asked for a refund instead:

I have a feeling that I will be getting another email about the other razor I bought. It's been at least 2+ weeks since I ordered it. This is the 1st time in 4+ years of wet shaving that I've had any issue with a foreign based EBay seller. So I won't be ordering anymore of these razors. What's the point if they get returned to the shipper about 2+ weeks after ordering.

American Blend & The 42C:

Today's shave felt really good. Today I wanted something a little different, so I went with Fine Accoutrements and their classic American Blend scented soap. The black badger had no problem whipping up a gorgeous lather & had the perfect amount of scratch to it which was awesome & a great relief because my beard was itching pretty bad this morning. And to finish off today's shave, I went with a triple dose of the matching aftershave:

The 42C was excellent & then some. Between the fresh blade which I took to my strop 2 times on each side of the blade to knock the harshness off the 1st shave, I was really close & comfortable after 3 passes. There's no telling when my new ZY razors will arrive. The timeline is horrible. They are scheduled to arrive between today & May 25th, 2018. I've also decided to keep blogging my shave of the day posts only and just do honing videos only. Mail call videos will also happen but I'm just about done ordering stuff. I might order a few supplies like Proraso pre shave & styptic gel along with some alum blocks & things like that but there's only a couple of stones left that I really want to get which is the Naniwa Snow White 8K & a couple of Arkansas oil stones to finish out my progression. I don't know which I will get first. I'm thinking the oil stones which will only set me back at around $50.00 U.S. Dollars give or take a little. The reason I will not be doing shave videos is because I feel that there's already enough people doing those & there's not enough people doing honing videos these days & that's what I want to do.