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Oct 31, 2023 - ๐ Two Skulls ๐
I love this time of the year: scary movies, trick-or-treaters, and spooky shave gear.
๐ Happy Halloween ๐ป
Rating: 4.5/5
I'm joining u/whosgotthepudding - who is taking his new Henkotsu kamisori for its first spin today - in a themed TabacTuesdayToberfest shave with MoarBoar.
Traditional kamisoris are a funny thing, since they are so clearly not designed to shave one's own face (being right or left-handed), so there really no right or traditional way to shave with them, unless you're shaving someone else. One-handed shaves where you use only the omote side (as a barber would shaving you) look incredibly awkward (and initially feel incredibly awkward, too), but after a few uses, a method develops and the shaves become good. There are even things that are easier to achieve than with traditional Western folding straight razors: for instance, maintaining the angle while shaving the hollow parts under the jawline with a kamisori can be achieved by rolling the long handle in your grip, while a straight razor requires to adjust the angle of the wrist.
TabOktoberfest is over, the month during which I bask in the Glorious Old Man Stankยฎ and concentrate on open blade razors instead of thinking about software choices and combinations. This year, I've used 13 different open blade razors: eleven Western straights, one traditional kamisori, and one Dovo Shitvette spanning most sizes and grinds available, learned using a traditional kamisori, greatly improved my honing game, learned to rescale straight razors, made one razor acquisition, and visited a real brick and mortar shaving store. Overall, a great month!
I'll set up the traditional Stanksgiving PIF a later today or tomorrow, time got away from me.
Stank ++;
Yikes! That MOAR BOAR has seen better days. Congrats on another successful TabOKtoberfest!
Yeah, it's my second busted Zenith resin handle. I have a precarious ledge over hard tile floor where I dry my brushes in the hallway. It's not smart ๐
The first one was a 505CB, I fixed it kintsugi style, and it turned out great:
This MOAR BOAR fell apart while I was gluing it with the epoxy already half hardened. There's no recovering from that kind of mistake ๐
Oct. 31, 2023
Good shave. Very cold outside unfortunately itโs a wintery Halloween.
October 31, 2023
Happy Halloween!
Norway's most prominent note is clove, but it's done in a really nice way. I had one other Viking soap in the past (don't blame me, it came in a box-O-goodies, and I ended up throwing that one away. Denmark, it was called. The soap base... it works, but it's not my favorite. I prefer something like Stirling. Today it felt a little dry for the first two passes, so I added more water for the 3rd pass. The extra water killed any residual slickness it might have had.
Followed it up with some "dark" scents (Mood Indigo aside). GLS is just fantastic, and I can smell it over the Santa Noir which is buried under my shirt. Strong stuff.
October 31, 2023
A repeat of Sunday's shave, this time with more soap, and better lather. I was a bit in a hurry and got myself a weeper.
We had this year for the first time children trick or treating us. We didn't have any treats, so hopefully the trick will not be too bad๐
Have a good evening!
October 31, 2023
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
It's Halloween. I had no choice but to use Hallows. Fabulous shave.
This was my first use of the Wolfman WRB2 brush handle that I purchased along with the WR4. The handle is heavy and is a terrific heat sink (being bronze), but the winner here is the AP Shave Co MiG Premium knot. This thing is amazing. Of my synthetics, this is the one that feels closest in backbone and hair feel to a soft badger knot. I have the G5A and G5C knots too in other brushes but, for me, this one is the closest in feel to a premium badger knot. Also, it holds a ton of water which was a surprise as well.
SOTD 31.10.2023
Halloween shave. My two early shifts are finally over, now one day off before school resumes on Thursday.
Two pass face shave. Samhain is so good but I rarely use it because I had to press the soap into an unused lock&lock container due to the tub being damaged. I like the scent a lot - I even massaged the AS into my goatee. However, despite my greatest effort at razor control, quite a few weepers showed up. Puzzling, since the shave itself felt so comfortable. I guess those KAIs and I don't vibe...
Off to watch some horror movies now ๐๐ป
