Time To Open The Other One:

Well I finished off my first Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements shampoo & conditioner bar. According to Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's order history, I bought the Cavendish scented one which is the one I finished off & this one which I just opened on October 9th, 2017. I was 12 days short of taking 7 months to finish off the Cavendish scent bar so they definitely last for those whom haven't tried these yet. Granted I didn't use it all of the time but still to get a shampoo bar to last that long isn't exactly an easy thing to do:

I will definitely be looking at getting some more of these. They cost almost nothing when you take into account at how long they last but they're about the same costs as some of your premium bottles of shampoo which is right around $5 U.S. Dollars.

Turkish Bath & The 100:

Today's shave was great. Today I was craving something unique and since it's Good Friday, I decided to go with Jeeves of Hudson Street and their barbershop scented soap, Turkish Bath. They have since changed the name to "Barbershop" but the scent is a deep & rich tobacco scent with notes of fresh talcum powder. And to finish off today's shave, I went with a nice healthy dose of Old Spice aftershave splash & a nice healthy dose of Soap Commander Endurance aftershave balm which has a Vintage Old Spice scent to it:

The 100 was great but I did have to take it to my fire hose strop a couple of times during the shave which really wakes up an edge. It won't be long before I will have to touch this blade up. But I'm going to wait until I get paid because I have finally decided on some stones. I will reveal which ones I bought when I get them because I want it to be a surprise.

WTF Cuban Tobacco & The Black Diamond:

Today's shave was great. Today I went with Wet The Face Soaps & their fantastic Cuban Tobacco scented soap which a is fresh semi sweet tobacco scent. And to finish off today's shave I went with the matching aftershave splash:

The black diamond turned out great. I first stropped it on the smooth leather but then went back to the fire hose strop because I wasn't sure about the edge. But after a couple of strokes during the 1st pass, I immediately went back & did 10 round trips on the fire hose strop and from there on it was gold. Beautiful & stupid comfortable edge & as smooth as black ice after 3.5 passes. After the shave I went & did 10 round trips on the fire hose strop which should be more than fine. If you guys don't have a vintage fire hose from Keith V. Johnson shame on you guys. His Etsy page is called TomoNagura & he's pretty fast when it comes to shipping too.

Honing Time! The Black Diamond:

After attempting to use my black diamond today, I had to re hone it yet again. It was duller than a butter knife so I broke out the stones and did my entire progression:

First I soaked the stones. My Apache Strata works best when it's soaked. Then I started with my Chosera 600 grit water stone. I started with just plain water then used my diamond plate and both sides of my Suehiro 1/3K combo stone as a slurry stone. The I put my slurry stone back in the water to soak some more. It's also a very thirsty stone:

My next stone I've not used in a really long time & I spent a lot of time here. This is my soft Arkansas oil stone & it's very slow:

After that I progressed to my Norton 8K. I also spent some extra time here as well. I started with plain water, followed my diamond plate & my Suehiro slurry stone:

Next I broke out my Shapton M5 12K water stone and did the same thing with it that I did with my Norton 8K stone. This stone right here is a tiny bit tricky to use. If you use too much pressure with it, you will kill your edge but if you don't use enough pressure with it, you are not only wasting your time but you will also kill your edge. Weight of the blade isn't enough with the Shapton M5:

After I finished on the Shapton 12K, I went to my Apache Strata & used only water this time around. This stone is very aggressive and really doesn't need much, which is where I messed up last time. After that I went to my Shoubandini type 100 and just did a diamond plate slurry to finish with. Next up after that I did 10 round trips on my fire hose strop seen below:

Next I went with 10 round trips on the scrub leather to clean the edge up a bit:

After wards I did my usual 10 round trips on the smooth leather. Might do 10 more before my next shave with the black diamond: 

I'm still looking at various stones out there & I am considering finishing on a Belgium Coticule. That might be the stone I need to finish on. If don't spend enough time on my Shoubandini, the edge will be gone in no time and/or not be sharp enough. If I spend too much time on there. The edge will be too wicked and uncomfortable to use. Right now I'm looking at Shapton Pro 1.5K & The Shapton Pro 5K stones and I'm also looking at a Naniwa 8K Snow White water stone. I'll be pushing the $250 dollar mark easy on my next stone purchases.

Reflection & The 100:

Today's shave ended up feeling & being great. Today I went with Soap Commander and their Reflection scented soap which was a spring scent for 2015 I believe. I may be wrong about the year but not really sure. And finish off today's shave, I went with Skin Bracer aftershave splash which has a nice cooling effect to it:

With a couple of strokes, I could tell right away that my black diamond was no good at all. I went from being way too sharp for my sensitive skin and not being able to use the razor to shaving with something was duller than a butter knife so I switched it out for my 100 & re lathered:

The first 2 strokes wasn't good on it either until I took the 100 to my fire hose strop for 10 round trips which really woke up the edge & then some. I ended up being squeaky clean after just 2.5 passes & 1 touch up spot. After the shave, I wiped off the blade and took it to my fire hose strop for 10 passes so it should be good for my next shave. I'll have to take my black diamond to the stones again but I won't be spending too much time on them this time around. That's the trouble with having a tough beard that grows fast. You tend to dull razors more quickly regardless of how good your technique is & when you have sensitive skin like I do, too sharp means evil irritation after the shave & extremely uncomfortable during the shave and I definitely don't want that. But it has to be sharp enough to cut the hair and that's where honing your razors repeatedly comes in handy.

High Jump 47 & The 42C:

Today's shave felt great. I wasn't planning on shaving today but when I got up this morning & looked in the mirror, I pretty much had to shave. So I went with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and their classic High Jump 47 scent which is really nice. The scent is a citrus cologne & musk type scent. Think of walking into Admiral Bird's personal barbershop in the 1930's. And to finish off this shave, I paired it with Aqua Velva's sensitive aftershave balm:

The Merkur 42C was perfect. I'm pretty sure that this was the 3rd shave on this blade so I might have a couple more left. Don't really know for sure and probably won't for a while because I'm a full time straight razor user & won't be using DE razors a lot. I ended up squeaky clean after performing 3 passes. My beard seems to grow back much faster using straight razors & DE safety razors.

Honing Time! Black Diamond:

Earlier today I discovered that I had gotten my black diamond too sharp which is what I call over honing. Going from 3 sessions on the Norton 8K to 3 sessions on the Apache Strata followed by 3 sessions on the Shoubandini type 100 is way too keen for this razor:

First I soaked my Suehiro 1/3K combo stone which I use for a slurry stone & my Shoubandini which is the only ones I used today:

Then I killed the edge of the razor on my 600 grit diamond plate:

Last night I picked up one of these sauce bottles in the BBQ isle at Walmart for $.88 cents which is what I'll be using from now on. My spray bottle took a dump & it usually got water every where but where I needed & wanted it:

I only used the 3K side of my Suehiro stone and performed 20/20, 10/10, 5/5 seconds on each side followed by 10 round trips to clean up the edge a bit. The razor was sticking really good to the stone so that tells me it should be fine:

Next I did 5 round trips of my fire hose strop:

Next I did 10 round trips on the scrub leather:

Then I did 20 round trips on the smooth leather:

This should be more than enough for this razor. It doesn't take a lot to get a razor shave ready once the bevel is set for the most part. I've had a few vintages that would take an edge no matter what you did to them but I guess that's part of it.