TriplePlaid
@TriplePlaid@wetshav.ing
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, February 15th, 2026 (#978) 1 week ago:
SOTD - 2026-02-15
- Prep: Shower: hot towel
- Brush: Unbranded; badger?
- Razor: Stirling de3p6s standard head
- Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (1)
- Lather: Stirling Deton-8 Shave Soap
- Alum: Stirling Travel Size Alum
- Toner: Stirling Unscented Witch Hazel & Aloe
- Aftershave: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Splash
- Serum: Ash Hopper Blueberry Serum
- Balm: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Balm
- Lotion: Humble Bee Botanicals “Calendulove” Face Cream
- Fragrance: Stirling Deton-8 EdT
Not my greatest shave. First pass WTG second pass XTG (should have stopped after 1st pass). Yesterday’s irritation evidently was not resolved enough for it to be a good idea to shave again. Still a nice distraction, love to smell good.
I have some shave creams on the way, I’m hoping they will be less drying than these soaps I have been using.
- Comment on Saturday SOTD Thread, February 14th, 2026 (#977) 1 week ago:
SOTD - 2026-02-14
- Facewash: Stirling Activated Charcoal Facial Soap
- Prep: Stirling Unscented Preshave Soap
- Brush: Unbranded; badger?
- Razor: Stirling de3p6s standard head
- Blade: Astra SP Green(2)
- Lather: Farmcraft VT Cedar Shave Soap
- Alum: Stirling Travel Size Alum
- Toner: Stirling Unscented Witch Hazel & Aloe
- Aftershave: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Splash
- Serum: Ash Hopper Blueberry Serum
- Balm: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Balm
- Lotion: Humble Bee Botanicals “Calendulove” Face Cream
- Fragrance: Stirling Deton-8 EdT
Pretty good shave, not quite as nice as my last two. Taking down 6 days of growth. First pass WTG second pass XTG. I think I didn’t have the lather dialed in quite as well today. I got a little bit of irritation in all the problem areas :( pretty close though…
Also maybe my technique sucked today. I’m distracted because I had a wisdom tooth pulled yesterday. Deton-8 helps me to feel better.
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - February 13th, 2026 1 week ago:
My car has been on my mind a lot recently - a 2009 2WD Honda Pilot with 222k on it. I just called my mechanic today and asked them to put together a quote for a laundry list of things that will hopefully keep it running for another 100k: timing belt, water pump, valve adjustment, motor mounts, radiator, fluid refreshes, a few other small things.
I have been getting conflicting advice. Folks on the piloteer forum and reddit (and AI for whatever that’s worth…) generally seem to think this sort of vehicle would be worth investing in since the transmission seems to be working well and it is pretty light on rust.
My mechanic is absolutely willing to do the work but they haven’t really spoken forcefully one way or another if they think this maintenance is a good idea.
My coworkers however have said if it was their car they would trade it in and get a newer used vehicle.
Any thoughts?
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, February 8th, 2026 (#971) 2 weeks ago:
SOTD - 2026-02-08
- Facewash: Stirling Activated Charcoal Facial Soap
- Prep: Stirling Unscented Preshave Soap
- Brush: Unbranded; badger?
- Razor: Stirling de3p6s standard head
- Blade: Astra SP Green(1)
- Lather: Farmcraft VT Cedar Shave Soap
- Alum: Stirling Travel Size Alum
- Toner: Stirling Unscented Witch Hazel & Aloe
- Aftershave: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Splash
- Serum: Ash Hopper Blueberry Serum
- Balm: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Balm
- Lotion: Humble Bee Botanicals “Calendulove” Face Cream
- Fragrance: Stirling Rambling Man EdT
Another nice shave, again approaching DFS. First pass WTG 2nd pass XTG excluding the neck. This soap is soy wax based, as was another of my favorites in the past. Maybe I’m just a soy wax boy.
I like rambling man: fresh, modern, some kind of mildly bitter background note makes it feel sophisticated.
- Comment on Friday SOTD Thread, February 6th, 2026 (#969) 2 weeks ago:
I think my technique is not anywhere close to perfect, so that is almost certainly part (or most) of the story here.
I really struggle to avoid tugging on my chin, so much that I find it almost impossible to do a smooth/fluid pass; the razor frequently catches. I think I am having a hard time keeping the angle correct as I navigate the quickly changing angles and that I have a bad habit of pressing the blade too hard. I feel like even when I am getting it to cut on my chin it is impossible to get a close shave, so then I do more passes which results in irritation. I have the same problem in my moustache area except the difficulty navigating contours isn’t an issue there so idk why I can’t get it close there.
I am also pretty inexperienced in making good lathers so that may be part of it as well. Overall though I feel that I have been making faster progress in this department, especially in the last week or two :)
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - February 6th, 2026 2 weeks ago:
The irritation I experienced was despite bowl lathering - I shudder to think what it would have been like if I had face lathered 😬 luckily the soap I used today was pretty gentle so my face is feeling pretty great right now!
- Comment on Friday SOTD Thread, February 6th, 2026 (#969) 2 weeks ago:
SOTD - 2026-02-06
- Facewash: Stirling Activated Charcoal Facial Soap
- Prep: Stirling Unscented Preshave Soap
- Brush: Unbranded; badger? I reached out to the person who sold it to me and they aren’t sure but they think it is badger.
- Razor: Stirling de3p6s standard head
- Blade: Gillette Silver Blue(1)
- Lather: Farmcraft VT Cedar Shave Soap
- Alum: Stirling Travel Size Alum
- Toner: Stirling Unscented Witch Hazel & Aloe
- Aftershave: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Splash
- Serum: Ash Hopper Blueberry Serum
- Balm: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Balm
- Lotion: Humble Bee Botanicals “Calendulove” Face Cream
- Fragrance: Stirling Deton-8 EdT
One of my best shaves so far, approaching DFS. First pass WTG. 2nd pass WTG on chin. 3rd pass XTG on chin and moustache. I changed a lot of things for today’s shave which makes it hard to tell what made it so good. I think the blade was nice, but so was the shaving cream - nice cushion, sufficiently slick, mild but pleasant scent. Possibly the least feedback I have ever gotten from my alum!
I also changed up my preshave method a bit, trying something I saw on shavemyface.com. I showered as usual but this time after sudsing the preshave soap on my face I didn’t rinse it straight off. Instead I got a washcloth damp with really dang hot water and held it on my face until it cooled down and then repeated 3x and then rinsing off fully before shaving. Maybe that helped more than my usual routine where I would just rinse it right off.
Also my package from Stirling arrived:
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - February 6th, 2026 2 weeks ago:
My lips are still not all the way recovered. I am starting to think that I may have a lanolin sensitivity? But I overthink things… Whatever it was, that Scots Pine Sheep did a number on me ☹️
I want to shave today… Hopefully my poor skin can take it 😰 I guess I will try a different shave soap.
Anyone else have experience with lanolin and/or fragrance sensitivity?
- Comment on Tuesday SOTD Thread, February 3rd, 2026 (#966) 3 weeks ago:
How are you able to use a blade so many times?? I guess it is pretty different from a DE blade? Does the comfort of the shave degrade over the life of the blade?
