A Clean Strop:

Well After making a decision to get rid of the pastes and sprays, I took a look at my strop and decided to give it a really good solid cleaning and it turned out great:

The stainless steel D rings really needed some cleaning very badly:

So I rinsed them off with clean water and put them in barbicide:

I soaked them for 10 minutes:

Once the timer was up I removed and rinsed them with water:

I then dried them by hand with a terry towel and here's how they came out:

The nylon webbing was washed by itself in the washing machine after I disassembled the strop and removed the excess paste that was on there with some leather wipes. Here's how it came out:

The leather tabs and scrub leather got a similar treatment (no washing machine, just hot soapy water) and they turned out great and they really became much softer and they also loosened up a tiny bit:

The smooth leather also came out great and soft doesn't do it justice either. It also loosened up a tiny bit as well and from what I can tell the draw is still excellent:

That's what I love about a premium strop. You can always get replacement leather and webbing if you need to, but so far this one has performed flawlessly and it's lasted quite a while now.

Goodbye Pastes & Sprays:

Earlier today I spoke to a friend of mind who's re-honing my razors which I'm told that they're on their way back to me and since he has been honing much longer than I have, I thought I'd ask him how my edges looked since I've been maintaining them for several months now. He said they look ok but to ease up a bit on the chrox pastes and he ONLY recommends doing a touch up once every 20 days. And after thinking about it, I have decided to eliminate the pastes and sprays from my stropping routine. Here's why. I have a Norton 4/8K combo stone that I got extremely comfortable shaves with just using it along with smooth leather only before and after each shave. When ever I used the pastes or sprays my shaves were good, but they could've been much better than they were:

I'm also looking at getting a new strop. The one I've been looking at is available at West Coast Shaving supplies for around $50 U.S. Dollars. It's a Russian leather strop and they also have an oil tanned version of it which I think would be really nice. So as of now, I won't be using any more pastes or sprays. I was told that I didn't need to.

Another Soap Nearly Gone:

Uh oh this is really bad news here because this is my favorite PAA soap that they make period. I've got a few more shaves left of this tin, but I plan on stocking up next payday here in 3 weeks though. The label on this tin is missed. It's also the last of my 2.0 unfortunately, but truth be told I really can't tell much difference between this 2.0 and the 2.5 except in the slickness department which the 2.5 is a shade slicker in my humble opinion:

C.a.D. & American Blend:

Today's shave was great and it was also a tribute to all of those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks which occurred 14 years ago today. I wasn't there during the attacks, but I was there 1 year later when they were still cleaning it up which still haunts me and will continue to do so until I go to my grave. What I saw personally will NOT allow me to forget and even though it has been 13 years since I was there, it's still sharp and clear today as it was back then and I'm certain that the ones who survived the tragic events that day also experience the same thing 14 years later. America will NEVER forget what happened that day. So for today's shave I thought it would be a good idea to use these products. C.a.D which is a classic 1980's canned Barbasol scent and Fine's American Blend which is also an American Barbershop scent and the razor was made here in America as well:

Triple X:

Today's shave was epic and a True BBS Shave. Since it's Thursday that means my classic brand gets used which is RazoRock. I'm also making a change when it comes to using a DE. The Edwin Jagger DE89 is great but I often have a tough time with my trouble spots and it's a bit too mild for my beard when it comes to blade exposure, but it's perfect on my skin. So I went back to an old favorite which is the Phoenix Double Open Comb. It's really tough on my barbed wire type beard but it's also easy on my sensitive skin as well and it's a guaranteed BBS shave every time:

Mail Call Coming:

Well after using my old Jeweler's loupe for some time now, I have determined that I might as well "upgrade" to a newer and illuminated jeweler's loupe. So I went on Amazon's website and ordered one for almost nothing. Now one of things that I can't stand about Amazon is their shipping speed. Slow isn't the word for it if you get my drift:

And while I was at it, I also went ahead and ordered 320 grit SIC powder for flattening my water stones including my Norton flattening stone. After so many uses, it's recommend by Norton that the flattening stone itself be flattened so this 320 grit powder made into a paste on a floor tile turned upside down will be my new flattening stone flattening system. I've also been told that this specific method that I just mentioned is the absolute best you can use to flattening any and all water stones. 

Windy City:

Today's shave was great. I missed out on the Chicago meet up this past June due to a doctor's appointment that I had at that time. But Amanda was nice enough to hook me up with this wonderful soap. It has a fresh after a rainstorm type scent to it and the performance is your typical Tiki Bar Soap which is epic. I'm really look forward to trying her new line called Steam Bath which will be used every Wednesday once I purchase all 4 scents: