Shave of the Day 2015

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Thursday 3 December 2015

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Mastro Livi "The Last New Grind", 6/8 Half Hollow, Round Point​

In this business trip I took with me a masterpiece and a unique piece of art: the very last Mastro Livi "New Grind", the last of a long and glorious series whose story has been narrated by Mastro Livi in a video I made last year. Not only the last one of a long series, but also a precious work of art, scales in particular. They are in fact made of buckeye burl having three inlays of mother of pearl, abalone and gray mother of pearl. In the tips of the scales have been inserted two small plates made of nickel silver, of course handsigned by Mastro Livi. As for the blade, everyone who owns this famous Mastro Livi razor knows how good it is in shaving, giving a superb and smooth shave. And I am very proud for being the privileged owner of the very last Mastro Livi "new grind" razor, an important piece of history started in the 1930s and brought back to life by Mastro Livi. Superb, excellent and precious straight razor!​
  • Pre-Shave: RazorGuy Pre-Shave Oil
  • Soap: Aquagena Shaving Soap
  • Brush: Omega Bristle 89
  • Bowl: Chinese Steel Bowl
  • Strop: Mastro Livi Travel Loom Strop and Hand Palm
  • Razor: Mastro Livi "The Last New Grind", 6/8 Half Hollow, Round Point
  • Post-Shave: Alum Block
  • Post-Shave: Argan Oil
  • After Shave: Pinaud Clubman Classic Vanilla

 
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Proraso White Preshave
Stirling Synthetic
Soap Commander Resolution
Featherweight
Gem (6)
Ikon 102
Wilky (8)
Razorock The Beach aftershave

Decided the gem blade had seen better days after the first pass so grabbed the closest razor to finish off the last two passes.
 
SOTD Friday, December 4

Cold water shave
Preshave: bloom water
Soap: Shaver Heaven, Spiced Mahogany
Brush: Edwin Jagger badger
Face lather
Razor: Dovo full Stainless Steel 5/8

Maintaining the light touch concentration of the last couple of days and enjoying my shaves so much more. Shaver Heaven soap performed well again today. Razor sharp and smooth.
 
Dale.Whiley said:
SOTD Friday, December 4

Cold water shave
Preshave: bloom water
Soap: Shaver Heaven, Spiced Mahogany
Brush: Edwin Jagger badger
Face lather
Razor: Dovo full Stainless Steel 5/8

Maintaining the light touch concentration of the last couple of days and enjoying my shaves so much more. Shaver Heaven soap performed well again today. Razor sharp and smooth.
Click to expand...
Mate are you talking about dialling back the pressure on the razor or a light touch elsewhere in the shave? I ask as I've been noticing some improvements in my daily shaves with a higher concentration on the very edge where it contacts my skin...I'm really focussing hard on lightness. I'm finding something in this, and wondered if this is what you're dabbling with too...
 
Soap: Catie's Bubbles LPV
Brush: Simpsons Commodore X1 Best Badger
Razor: 1955 Gillette no.58
Blade: PolSilver SI (3)
Post-shave: Barberry Coast Havana balm

Great shave this morning. Am LOVING the no. 58. Ive been using it all week, and hadn't ever used it before (just been sitting on the shelf). It's going to be getting a lot of love in the future.

New brush from @borked. Was great. Surprisingly soft for best, and it made a lot of lather considering it is pretty small (easily enough for 3 passes).

LPV is, as always, delightful.

And the Havana balm from @filobiblic is heavenly. The perfect sweet tobacco scent IMO.
 
Razor¦ Gillette Rocket 'Parat'
Blade¦ Gillette Super Silver V-3 2000 (or is it 2001?) in Orange packaging
Pre-Shave cream¦ Proraso White
Cream¦ Yardley Gold
Aftershave¦ Nivea Original Lotion

I bought a bundle of those blades, about 2 years ago, and never gave 'em a go until today. I read many bad comments about the Orange Super Silver, some folks reproached them to be overpriced while others thought they were as sharp as a butter knife. I do not know about the price but if this blade is a butter knife, I'm Tony Abbott reincarnation (He's still alive so it's even more impossible). IMHO it felt as sharp as an Astra SPs.
 
20151204_082150 by Osman Mehmed, on Flickr
Preshave: Proraso Green
Razor: Edwin Jagger DE89 with Windrose Handle
Blade: Rapira Platinum Lux
Brush: Vie Long Horse
Soap: Latha
Post Shave: Loccitane Bavx Balm and Proraso Green AS
Two Pass shave with a clean up under the chin and neckline. This horse hair brush has fast become my favorite. The Latha is a superb soap. Ready for a gentleman's lunch .
 
razorguy said:
I am so glad to know my previous SOTD motivated you to use your super excellent and stellar Mastro Livi symmetric kamisori. I just regret I could not see this beauty in person but I am very glad to read about your complete satisfaction!
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Well @razorguy, I hope to take up your offer of a coffee in Perugia one of these days, so rest assured the Mastro Livi will be part of my travel shave kit :)

Lovely shave with the New Grind too!
 
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Face Wash : Shower
Pre-Shave : Proraso Green pre-shave
Brush : Shavemac Custom
Soap : Stirling "Sharp Dressed Man"
Razor : Wolfman
Blade : Polsilver SI [1]
After Shave : Alum Stick, Argan Oil
After Shave Splash : Stirling "Sharp Dressed Man"

Friday again, and lunch with the Melbourne P&C guys is coming up. I thought I'd stick with the Friday DE shave, and fend off any "Dark Side" criticisms from some...
The Wolfman did an astonishing job today - BBS++ was the result of 2 passes. It seems that it just loves the Polsilver SI blades (for me, at least). The experience was made even better by the fantastic Stirling Sharp Dressed combo of soap and AS. In my experience, DE shaving just doesn't get any better :)
 
Draco Noir said:
The experience was made even better by the fantastic Stirling Sharp Dressed combo of soap and AS. In my experience, DE shaving just doesn't get any better :)
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Mate my lather preferences have changed since moving exclusively to straight shaving. Just wondering how you found the Stirling worked with straights?
 
stillshunter said:
Mate my lather preferences have changed since moving exclusively to straight shaving. Just wondering how you found the Stirling worked with straights?
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I think you have to interpret that in terms of the fact that your whole life has changed after you discovered straights.
 
stillshunter said:
Mate my lather preferences have changed since moving exclusively to straight shaving. Just wondering how you found the Stirling worked with straights?
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Yes @stillshunter, my preferences have changed a bit too. I find a slightly thinner and wetter lather works best for me. All of my favourite soaps still remain favourites, but I'm finding glide more important than cushion with straights and kamisoris, so I mix my lather to be wetter than for DE shaving. The Stirling soaps work fine for me when I prepare the lather this way.

I'd be very interested in what some of our other straight shaving members have to say on this subject, so please chime in guys...
 
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Pre-Shave: Occams pre-shave soap, cold water
Razor: Wolfman WR1-SB with WRH2
Blade: Voskhod (2)
Brush: Simpson Chubby 2 Best
Lather: Barrister & Mann Lime, Lavender & Cedarwood
Post-shave: Alum, Stirling Vetiver alcohol free Witch Hazel, South Australian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil​

Realised that my Chubby hadn't had a chance to devour some B&M - so this had to change. It is really great, when you can actually see, how your soap is getting used up :lol:

Fantastic shave and B&M was great as always - but I realised it can definitely not take as much water as my other favourites. This might be due to the fact, that I don't load as long (or I would use up the whole tub) - so I might use less product. But I suspect it would be true in absolute terms as well. I assume the soap has a higher stearic acid content, which makes it easier to lather, but too much water will definitely start to deteriorate the structure...real first world issues here :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
Draco Noir said:
Yes @stillshunter, my preferences have changed a bit too. I find a slightly thinner and wetter lather works best for me. All of my favourite soaps still remain favourites, but I'm finding glide more important than cushion with straights and kamisoris, so I mix my lather to be wetter than for DE shaving. The Stirling soaps work fine for me when I prepare the lather this way.

I'd be very interested in what some of our other straight shaving members have to say on this subject, so please chime in guys...
Click to expand...
Glide is king!
 
Soap: Beaver Woodright Thomas Tew
Brush: Semougue 620 Boar
Razor: Gillette Red Tip
Blade: Gillette Stainless Steel (Australian made vintage) thanks @Monsta_AU
Post-shave: Alum

Nice three pass shave today. If you like citrus based scents buy this soap you will not be disappointed. Soap works very well and is becoming a favourite brand of mine.
 
stillshunter said:
Mate are you talking about dialling back the pressure on the razor or a light touch elsewhere in the shave? I ask as I've been noticing some improvements in my daily shaves with a higher concentration on the very edge where it contacts my skin...I'm really focussing hard on lightness. I'm finding something in this, and wondered if this is what you're dabbling with too...
Click to expand...
Stills,

I find a light grip on the blade and scales allows me to maintain a light touch of the blade against my face, improving the angle of the blade and allowing better acoustic feeback of blade cutting whiskers. A blade that is not pressed firmly against the face allows the blade to vibrate/resonate. Once I maintain a light grip on the razor and everything else falls into place.
 
Dale.Whiley said:
Stills,

I find a light grip on the blade and scales allows me to maintain a light touch of the blade against my face, improving the angle of the blade and allowing better acoustic feeback of blade cutting whiskers. A blade that is not pressed firmly against the face allows the blade to vibrate/resonate. Once I maintain a light grip on the razor and everything else falls into place.
Click to expand...

I'm a few steps behind you mate, so this is a great lantern!
 
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