walden
@walden@sub.wetshaving.social
- Comment on Monday SOTD Thread, May 5th, 2025 (#692) 7 hours ago:
I’m pretty pumped for the upcoming mutton soap.
- Comment on Monday SOTD Thread, May 5th, 2025 (#692) 18 hours ago:
I’m such a lightweight, I feel hung over just reading this.
- Comment on Monday SOTD Thread, May 5th, 2025 (#692) 18 hours ago:
May 5th, 2025
- Brush: Maggard Razors - Tuxedo 24mm Synthetic
- Razor: Gold Dollar - Straight Razor (4)
- Lather: Southern Witchcrafts - Incorporeal - Soap
- Post Shave: Noble Otter - Hamami - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Nivea - Sensitive Beard & Face - Balm
$discord
This shave started off great, and the difference in how this razor works now compared to my first straight razor shave with it is night and day. Technique really makes a difference!
Unfortunately I had to get the styptic pencil out, but hey… could have been worse. The shave itself is decently close. I haven’t used SW in a while, though I have killed 3 tubs of it in the past. Despite having “loads” of experience with the base, I feel like the lather wasn’t quite dialed in this time.
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, May 4th, 2025 (#691) 1 day ago:
- Brush: Kent - INF1 Infinity Synthetic
- Razor: Koraat - 15/16 Full Hollow (6)
- Lather: Palmolive - Cream
- Post Shave: Barbasol - Brisk - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Nivea - Sensitive - Balm
$discord
Decent! One little cut that I barely noticed. I would have used a DE if I had known I was going to pick up some overtime at work today, but this shave is certainly acceptable for the job.
- Comment on Saturday SOTD Thread, May 3rd, 2025 (#690) 2 days ago:
May 3rd, 2025
- Brush: Kent - INF1 Synthetic
- Razor: Koraat - 15/16 Full Hollow (5)
- Lather: House of Mammoth - Mood Indigo - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Varen - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Dove - Men+Care Ultra-Hydra - Cream
- Fragrance: Geoffrey Beene - Grey Flannel - EdC
Really nice! The edge on this razor just seems to work well. Good closeness and not too much effort.
This little brush honestly isn’t too bad, but I should take the little knot out and put something else in, since I prefer less backbone. The handle is small but easy to hold.
Generated with gitlab.com/walden_/shaving-data-system
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - May 2nd, 2025 3 days ago:
Darn, that’s crazy. The US postal service issued a similar sort of “Don’t use the blue boxes” because of widespread theft etc if I remember correctly.
- Comment on Friday SOTD Thread, May 2nd, 2025 (#689) 3 days ago:
May 2nd, 2025
- Brush: Wolf Whiskers - “Gianmaria” w/Maggard 26mm Synthetic
- Razor: Union Razor Cutlery - 5/8 Full Hollow (5)
- Lather: House of Mammoth - Mood Indigo - Soap
- Post Shave: Chatillon Lux - Admiral - Aftershave
- Fragrance: G. Bellini - Homme
$discord
I’m quite pleased with the state of the SDS. It now optionally tracks razor uses which I find helpful for straight razors.
I’d love to add a “copy” icon/button to the HTML iframe box where the SOTD formatted stuff is displayed. I’ll look into that eventually.
This shave was pretty decent! Feeling more and more confident with straight razors, and this is my 12th go at it.
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - May 2nd, 2025 3 days ago:
complex multi-sheet tracks a lot of info
I think you’ll feel right at home with my Shaving Data System™.
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - May 2nd, 2025 3 days ago:
The Shaving Data System has been updated to v1.0.2. Even more brands to pick from (if you have a brand that’s not included please submit an issue on GitLab or PM me).
I also added functionality to track razor uses similar to blade uses. This will let you keep track of how many shaves since honing, etc. It displays in parentheses just like a blade count, like “Koraat Moarteen (15)”.
Onboarding instructions are found here gitlab.com/walden_/shaving-data-system
- Comment on Thursday SOTD Thread, May 1st, 2025 (#688) 4 days ago:
May 1st, 2025
- Brush: Stirling Soap Co. 24mm Synthetic
- Blade: Personna Twin Pivot Plus (Atra) Cart (3)
- Lather: Barrister and Mann - Ubrique - Soap
- Post Shave: Old Spice - Original - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Goodfellow & Co. - Kelp & Sea Mineral - Lotion
$discord
Nice, I found an even easier trick to make den searching work on Android. Just type in the first few letters and then space. Boom.
Ubrique is leather heavy. If you like dark scents, it’s worth trying for sure.
- Comment on Wednesday SOTD Thread, April 30th, 2025 (#687) 5 days ago:
Such a brave soul, using some of the best scents in wetshaving for a whole month!
- Comment on Wednesday SOTD Thread, April 30th, 2025 (#687) 5 days ago:
April 30th, 2025
- Brush: Stirling Soap Co. 24mm Synthetic
- Blade: Personna Twin Pivot Plus (Atra) Cart (2)
- Lather: Fanzine Saponifications - Test… Test… 123 - Soap
- Post Shave: Old Spice - Original - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Goodfellow & Co. - Kelp & Sea Mineral - Lotion
$discord
Great soap base if you ask me.
- Comment on Wednesday SOTD Thread, April 30th, 2025 (#687) 5 days ago:
Happy birthday! 🎂
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, April 27th, 2025 (#684) 6 days ago:
I did find a weird workaround which I described in today’s sotd post. So that’s good…
- Comment on Tuesday SOTD Thread, April 29th, 2025 (#686) 1 week ago:
April 29th, 2025
- Brush: Wolf Whiskers - “Gianmaria” w/Maggard 26mm Synthetic
- Razor: Chiseled Face - Legacy Raw Titanium - (#69)
- Blade: Personna P74 (72)
- Lather: Barrister and Mann - Roam Two - Soap
- Post Shave: London Razors - Mountain Laurel - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Dove - Men+Care Ultra-Hydra - Cream
$discord
Early morning, so this was a luxury shave last night.
I figured out how to get search to work on my SDS. Type some thing in, close the keyboard, retouch the text field, delete a letter. Works every time!
- Comment on Monday SOTD Thread, April 28th, 2025 (#685) 1 week ago:
The Mike’s brand really appeals to me. One of these days I’ll try their Vetiver.
- Comment on Monday SOTD Thread, April 28th, 2025 (#685) 1 week ago:
April 28th, 2025
- Brush: Wolf Whiskers - “Gianmaria” w/Maggard 26mm Synthetic
- Razor: Gold Dollar 5/8 Full Hollow (3)
- Lather: Barrister and Mann - Roam Two - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Varen - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Dove - Men+Care Ultra-Hydra - Cream
Wow, color me impressed! I figured after using some good, professional edges for the past ~week, coming back to my edge, which does NOT pass the packing peanut test, would be horrible. It wasn’t horrible! In fact, the results are quite possibly the best so far!
This edge, as a reminder, is only two steps (similar to what Koraat does, apparently). 600 to set the bevel, and straight to 10,000. Lots of work at 10,000, of course, but still.
My Shaving Data System (SDS) is finally ready for the big leagues, and I mean it this time! I’ve been “finished” building it for days and days now, but I kept learning new things, coming up with new tricks, and making it so much better.
I think the only real bug now is the problem with mobile browsers (on Android at least) not letting you search through your stuff. So, scrolling it is for now.
I still have a little bit of work to do on the wiki, but here is the project gitlab.com/walden_/shaving-data-system
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, April 27th, 2025 (#684) 1 week ago:
I also found straights to be tuggy at first, but as someone who over-analyzes everything I’ve come up with a theory. Instead of the blade ‘skipping’ over the tough parts, my technique now allows me to keep the blade where it should be. My theory is that without the skipping, the tugging feeling goes away.
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - April 25th, 2025 1 week ago:
I’m glad to hear things are going well!
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, April 27th, 2025 (#684) 1 week ago:
I’m not sure if it’s my lather or my angle
I’d wager it’s angle.
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, April 27th, 2025 (#684) 1 week ago:
I can definitely see it being more satisfying once it becomes second nature.
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, April 27th, 2025 (#684) 1 week ago:
Yah very weird. I haven’t looked into if there’s an open issue or PR yet, but it’s the thing in Chrome, even in Desktop mode.
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, April 27th, 2025 (#684) 1 week ago:
I tried that already (in Firefox, at least), and it didn’t solve the behavior. It gives the input box like it should, and the keyboard pops up as it should, but typing doesn’t do anything.
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, April 27th, 2025 (#684) 1 week ago:
April 27th, 2025
- Brush: Wolf Whiskers “Gianmaria” w/Maggard 26mm Synthetic** Razor: Koraat 15/16 Full Hollow (4)
- Lather: Barrister & Mann - Roam Two - Soap
- Post Shave: Barrister & Mann - Petrichor - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Dove - Men+Care Ultra-Hydra - Cream
- Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Jitterbug - EdP
I’m still hard at work getting my Shaving Data System a bit more polished, and it’s getting close!
Baserow is the software that it’s built in, and there seems to be one or two bugs that I (we?) might have to live with. Namely on a mobile phone you can’t search for items. People who decide to put hundreds of soaps in might struggle with that. Works great on real computer, though. Haven’t tested yet on an iPad.
Anyway, as far as the shave goes – great! I think @gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social is right, I might end up preferring the Moarteen. Today was almost “easy”, although I only did two passes on account of time constraints and not wanting to feel rushed. Still decent results, but maybe not quite good enough if I had to work, for example.
- Comment on Saturday SOTD Thread, April 26th, 2025 (#683) 1 week ago:
I’d say nothing really different than what I’ve figured out works for DE’s, except for my lower neck… DE’s give me irritation going north-to-south on my lower neck, and it seems the opposite is true with straight razors. I found out “early on” that north-to-south is better with a straight. Now that I’m 7 or 8 shaves in maybe I’ll try south-to-north again and see if my skillz allow it.
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - April 25th, 2025 1 week ago:
The built in auth functionality. It’s not very polished, but it works! I just have to update the documentation on how to set it up.
- Comment on Saturday SOTD Thread, April 26th, 2025 (#683) 1 week ago:
April 26th, 2025
- Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts “Santa Noir” w/ 28mm Badger
- Razor: Union Razor Cutlery 5/8 Full Hollow (4)
- Lather: Barrister & Mann - Roam Two - Soap
- Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps - Wood Shop - Aftershave
- Post Shave: Dove - Men+Care Ultra-Hydra - Cream
$discord
Made some progress on my Shaving Data System project. Now it’s more secure and requires a login to log SOTD’s. I also fixed some functionality with SOTD picture links - if you include one it gets formatted to a markdown link, and if you don’t include one it just prints the date.
This shave went pretty well! @gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social’s edge felt nice and I can sense my skillz improving. Closeness still isn’t quite there, but I’m armed with the knowledge that that’ll come with time.
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - April 25th, 2025 1 week ago:
Hey cool, I figured it out. Will update the template to enable it.
- Comment on Friday SOTD Thread, April 25th, 2025 (#682) 1 week ago:
April 25th, 2025
- Brush: AP Shave Co. w/Maggard 26mm SHD Badger
- Razor: Union Razor Cutlery 5/8 Full Hollow
- Blade: Union Razor Cutlery 5/8 Full Hollow (3)
- Lather: Storybook Soap Works, Chatillon Lux - La Forêt de Liguist - Soap
- Post Shave: Aqua Velva - Musk - After Shave Cologne
- Post Shave: Nivea - Sensitive - Balm
- Fragrance: Spearhead - Seaforth! Heather - EdP
Nice shave! Pretty comfortable with minimal weepers. Not as close as it could be, but that could be the lather’s fault (or is it my fault?.. nahhhh)
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - April 25th, 2025 1 week ago:
I could set up basic authentication using Nginx Proxy Manager, but that adds some workload for me when people forget their passwords.
Authentication with 3rd party services is behind their paywall. I have very little experience setting up such things, so I’m not sure if there’s some sort of work around.
There is a bit of functionality built in already that requires users to log in, but that’s going to be a v1.1 feature, if a feature at all. I looked at it briefly and it didn’t make sense to me, so it’ll require some more digging.
