Le Petit Chypre & The Hawk:

Today's shave was perfect and nothing short of phenomenal. Good old Barrister & Mann has delivered yet another amazing performance and their Le Petit Chypre scent is simply amazing. The scent it Cypress wood & Oakmoss with a few earthy undertones. To finish off this epic shave, I paired it with the matching witch hazel based aftershave which is very soothing and also has a slight touch of menthol which makes it even more soothing and refreshing:

The hawk was amazing. I got an ice rink type of post shave feel in 2.5 passes which was super comfortable. I will be doing another blog post detailing what I did to get such a comfortable and close shave. Between that and stretching the skin like I do with my straight razor, my beard disappeared rather quickly and I almost couldn't feel the blade. Wow what a shave.

Kilted Tiki & The DE 89:

Today's shave was great and very satisfying. After a nice relaxing hot shower, I went with Tiki Bar and my personal favorite scent of theirs, the Kilted Tiki which has a smoked peat moss scent to it and to make things even more interesting, they use Scotch Whiskey instead of lye water to make this vegan soap. And to add a little more freshness to this shave, I finished it off with my usual go to aftershave splash which I need to stock up on here in a bit:

The DE 89 done great. I got a ultra fine shave in just 2 passes and both were with the grain. My shaves have gotten better since I've stopped going for ice rink type of shaves and started making less passes. My hawk razor will be a 1.5 pass or less shave. I also talked to Marty Pape about the GEM Micromatic SE razor and discovered why I didn't get an enjoyable shave with it. I used the drug store branded SE blades which are the worst you can use. That and I was new at the time and hadn't quite gotten my technique down which I think will be a different story now.

Armada & The J.R. Torrey:

Today's shave was great. It's also Maria Arman's Birthday today so I went with Through The Fire Fine Craft and her Armada scent which has an incredible Vintage Old Spice scent. And to finish off this shave I went with my 2003 Old Spice aftershave splash which I'm about out of and followed up with Soap Commander's Endurance aftershave balm which is also a Vintage Old Spice scent:

The J.R. Torrey did great. I managed to get a squeaky clean post shave feel today, but I could tell that it still wasn't where I would like it to be in terms of sharpness. So after I finished the 3 pass shave, I took both of my straight razors to the .5 pasted strop for 10 round trips. That should help it out a lot. Once I get my truck paid off, I'll probably go with either a full set of stones, or a custom razor. Right now I'm eye balling Suehiro water stones. The mighty mini that I have has influenced my stone choices. Suehiro makes a really good stone that provides a nice, smooth and keen edge.

Jnat Time:

I wasn't feeling too confident about the edges on these razors, so I decided to pull out my jnat (Japanese natural water stone) which is a Shoubandini Type 100 and do some honing. After applying 3 layers of electrical tape, I built a slurry and did 20 "X" strokes then I performed my usual routine of 20/20, 10/10, 5/5, followed by 10 round trips. I did this twice and diluted the slurry each time. Next I removed one layer of tape and went to clear water and did 20/20, 10/10, 5/5, followed by 10 round trips to finish off both razors:

Next I did 10 round trips on the pasted strop followed by 10 round trips on the clean fabric and then I did a quick rub down of the smooth leather until it got somewhat hot and did 10 round trips on the smooth leather with both razors. So now I'm confident that these razors are more than shave ready. Tomorrow's shave should be interesting.

Kai Captain Titan Milds :

Much better is all I can say about this combo. The only mistake I made today was that I made one too many passes. But this was much more enjoyable than the Feather Artist Club blades were. These blades wanted to glide across the skin while the Feather AC blades wanted to dig into your skin and in some cases, pull the hair out. Plus with the larger handle, this razor had no problem going through my beard at all. So the added weight was a huge help:

This specific combo will be a 1.5 pass type of shave which is what I've been trying to achieve as of late. Get a super close shave that's super comfortable and more than socially acceptable with less than 2 passes. That has been my goal for a while now. This razor and the Muhle R41 fall into the 1 pass shave category mainly because they're so efficient.

Grape Soda & The Hawk:

Today's shave was good. Catie's Bubbles was excellent today and their "knee high to a grape" scent is excellent. If you like the smell of grape soda you will love this scent. And to finish off this shave, I paired it with my usual splash:

The Hawk did great with the Kai blades but it still was a tiny bit rough but it was much more comfortable than the Feather blades were. I think I can get by with just 1.5 passes. Today I made 2.5 and that was one too many. The only blood was from where I mowed off a few bumps. So there won't be a shave tomorrow. Wow what a close shave.

Mail Call #2 of 2:

The 2nd mail call for the day is from West Coast Shaving Supplies. Even though I love my Hawk SE razor, I found that the light weight would be an issue especially with my beard. I need that extra weight to plow through my whiskers. So I ordered a new handle for my Black Hawk razor:

I got the monster 175B Midnight Series handle which weighs 7.5 ounces according to their website. So my hawk will now weigh half a pound or 8 ounces ladies and gentlemen:

I can include West Coast Shaving Supplies in the same speed category as both Maria Arman of Through The Fire Fine Craft soaps and Maggard Razors. I ordered both the blades and this handle on 12/9/16 and here I am 3 days later with products in hand:

Here's the new handle next to the original handle that came with the hawk:

I installed a new handle and it has a much more comfortable feel to it:

The shave will tell the story but I can tell that the added weight will make a huge difference. It's not too heavy like you would think and it's more comfortable as well. So the Hawk has been fattened up very nicely and the finish on this handle is perfect. It matches it perfectly. This handle cost me $18.95 shipped and I got free shipping that day with a code. So it's very reasonable.