Austere August, Day 1

Razor: Feather Artist Club razor non folding type

Blade: Feather Professional blade

Brush: RazoRock Beehive

Soap: GFT Violets (grated in a container)

Aftershave: No aftershave

I have been looking forward to an excuse to start using my Artist Club razor for extended periods of time, as the DEs were providing me with excellent shaves but it was getting a bit bland experience.

The 2 pass shave is my go to method for the Artist Club razor as going for a 3 pass shave will eliminate the need to shave the next day for me.

First shave was uneventful, and although it wasn't as close to the DE razor shaves, I'm happy with it. Artist Club razor takes 2-3 shaves before I can go for Auto pilot kind of shaves.

GFT Violets is a terrific (terrible for a few reasons as well) soap, one that I'll never recommend it to anyone but I love using it whenever I get a chance. It lacks the high structured lather, and to an extent stable lather but the slickness and protection is ample. The lather generated is good enough to be used with an Artist Club razor, and with regular use I seem to dial it better.

I will be using it till the end of the month and enjoy the subtle scent of this soap.

Weather here is beautiful, just enough Sun and Clouds cover to kaje it an outdoor worthy day with family.

This is my first participation in the Austere August, and I'm participating in the following:

Austere August: Extreme mode

Headless Horsemen Challenge: u/Marquis90

Austere August Take the Easy Route Austere August Unchallenging Challenge: #UNCHALLENGE

(Typing name of this Challenge was a bit more challenging)

Austere August, Day 2

Razor: Feather Artist Club razor

Blade: Feather Professional blade

Brush: RazoRock Beehive

Soap: GFT Violets

Aftershave: No aftershave

Today's shave was great, I went for two XTG passes instead of WTG followed by XTG.

The beauty of shaves Artist Club razor is the skin definitely feels more happy after using it consequently.

This blade gas already 12 shaves on it and it is still going strong. It has kept up the smoothness factor, so there is absolutely no discomfort at all.

Going XTG pass for neck region is an especially enjoyable feel with the Artist Club razor.

I was going to use my Stirling fan knot badger brush, but this month being a Monsoon month, humidity might have affected the drying time, hence I chose the 28 mm Plissoft knot, and it is a pleasure to use.

UNCHALLENGE

HEADLESSHORSEMEN

AAAA train

Austere August, Day 3

Razor: Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Blade: Feather Professional blade (13)

Soap: GFT Violets

Brush: RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

Everytime I start using the Artist Club razor, I ask myself why I even bother with my DE razors? Only factor in favor of DE (for me) us the practicality and speedy shaves, but the satisfaction from using the Artist Club razor is something different.

Two pass shave, the lather has become consistent and almost autopilot (reloading of lather after each pass, lol) and the best thing is that it improves with each pass.

Blade is still as good as yesterday, it is sure to pass the 14 shaves mark. I'll use the Feather Professional blade this month and then try to improve my techniques while using the Feather Professional Super blade from next month.

I've ordered some handles and knots from a vendor and I will try to DIY knot setting myself. It will taje a few weeks to get them delivered and I'm already looking forward to the Mail Call.

Weekend is coming up soon, I'm working on a day's outing with my family, we need to go out together more often.

UNCHALLENGE

HEADLESSHORSEMEN

AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 4

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

Today's shave was good.

I'm missing the dramatic multiple days stubble clearing with the Artist Club razor, other than that everything is going well.

Since the passes are limited to two and the shaves are daily, this blade is pasting more than my previous blade.

I'm seeing a dent in the GFT Violets, if only I would have taken a badger or a boar brush, I'd have almost finished the soap sooner.

Edit:

Headlesshorsemen

UNCHALLENGED

AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 5

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

I'm torn between two school of thoughts:

I'd love to use my soaps for extended periods of time, this way I'll enjoy them and probably finish them sooner.

On the other hand, the thought of using a soap for a month is killing me!

Love/ hate kind of thing going on with the soap selection, I'm not too choosy with using the same Razor/ blade combinations, but it will test my patience for sure.

Coming to the shave: it went well and I'm enjoying the teo pass routine, the GFT is giving me good quality slick lather.

Feather Professional blade has officially passes my previous best in number of shaves per blade. It is chugging on with relative comfortable shaves, will bin it only if it proves problematic.

Happy weekend to you all.

AAAAKARMATRAIN

HEADLESSHORSEMEN

UNCHALLENGED

Edit: spelling

Austere August, Day 6

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

Today's shave marks a good experience with the Professional blade, it has come to its end as I've started to feel the tugging, I'll start the week with a fresh blade.

GFT Violets needs a bit heavier loading because of the soft bristles in Beehive, but it is very well rewarded with good, creamy, low structured lather.

I'm seeing a small dent in the middle of the soap, perhaps the daily usage speeds up the soap usage, or it maybe just my perspective; either way I'm happy with it and I'm looking forward to finishing up this soap.

Ps: I got a sample of Esbjerg Shaving cream and it smells divine.

Smelling my soaps is a way to maintain my sanity, and it makes me appreciate them even more.

Have a great weekend.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

#UNCHALLENGED

Austere August, Day 7

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (1)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

I binned the blade after yesterday's shave, it was about 16-17 shaves. A fresh blade feels excellent to use and that rejuvenated the pleasure if using the GFT Violets somehow.

The skills are slowly improving, an Artist Club razor always gives me something to think and improve about, it is a tool best used at steady speed (for me).

There is a slight purple/ blue tint developing on the bristles tips of my Beehive, it doesn't bother me, infact I love it.

#HeadlessHorsemen

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

#UNCHALLENGED

Austere August, Day 8

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (2)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

Two pass shave with a fresh blade is something to look forward, I'm enjoying the Artist Club shaves immensely.

I'm glad to have picked up this set-up, else I wouldn't have found out how good the GFT Violets can perform.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

AAAAKARMATRAIN**

Austere August, Day 9

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (3)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

This blade has now settled nicely and I'm getting comfortable, rather carefree shaves.

Honestly, Artist Club razor gives me a close shave and sometimes 2 pass is redundant, I could be presentable with 1 XTG pass. But, I've been doing the 2 pass shaves and my skin is happy with it.

I've been doing some DIY in knotting a few brushes; A Maggards 24 mm SHD knot and a Motherlode knot. Both came out looking great, now I'll be knotting a Maggards G5 knot.

Best part is that 2 of the 3 knots that I'm setting belong to my friends, it feels great to learn more about the preferences and be able to help each other out.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN#

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 10

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

2 pass shave, DFS+ shave.

I'll be going to the Doctor's clinic for an update, needed to wrap up the shave quickly.

Happy hump day.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August Day 11:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

A 2 pass shave, again in a rush but the shave was uneventful. Using the Artist Club razor for continuous shaves is imparting some muscle memories and the only thing I've to watch out for is overconfidence.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

#UNCHALLENGED

Austere August, Day 12

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (6)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

I got a relaxed shave today, a welcome change from the rushed shaves these past few days.

The weather was really nice yesterday, so I went for an outing with my family. We went to river side, enjoyed some snacks and more importantly found some peaceful time for ourselves away from the bustle of the city.

I remembered looking for this Artist Club razor a few years ago and calculating how much it'll cost me and then backing out because it was too much for a beginner budget.

Today, after having used it for almost 2 years intermittently, I am satisfied with this razor and don't even look at any other Artist Club razor versions anymore.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 13:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (7)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

After almost a fortnight of using GFT Violets soap, I opened my box of soaps and spent a good half and hour smelling them.

I've found that B&M Cheshire is growing on me and Le Grand Chypre is divine to my nose.

Heck, I'm considering the B&M Hallows as pleasant scent (I love it but pleasant was never the description I'd use), and any sweet scented soap (Stirling Evie) has started feeling too sweet after using GFT Violets.

Shave: it went as well as it could have. I'm instinctively using a combined WTG/XTG pass as my first pass, that seems to be working for me. Second pass is purely XTG pass.

I've been burned (or rather suffered an irritation in skin) if I go ATG pass consecutive days, so when I'm shaving daily, I avoid it altogether.

Wishing a happy, healthy and safe weekend to you all.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

#UNCHALLENGED

Edit: added "irritation"

Austere August, Day 14:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (8)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

After using the Professional blade daily, I'm sensing that the blade is behaving more consistently and smoothness is holding up nicely.

I'm spoilt with choices, and many times it us difficult to stock to a set-up without such opportunities; I'm very happy to be able to participate in AA2022.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 15:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

(Again) - this is the word that keeps recurring whenever I'm going for a shave.

I guess going for same set-up eased my mind a bit about choosing the soaps for each shave, but I feel stuck in a rut as well.

Shave was great, 2 1/2 passes and BBS results were achieved.

Looking forward to tomorrow's shave (again).

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 16:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (10)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

A very comfortable 2 pass shave.

I'm missing the feel of natural bristles, and that in turn is making me more and more interested in some knots. I'll end up ordering a few knots to scratch my itch, another project for DIY.

I'm happy with the GFT Violets soap, any other soap would have been too much for me in terms of scent strength, especially after repeatedly using it.

Hats off to those who are using some of the vibrant smelling soaps daily.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 17

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (11)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

Another great shave with the GFT Violets, Beehive is starting to make a dent on it.

Blade is behaving smoothly, although I did find some noticeable drop in sharpness, so I think this blade will also be binned around 14-16 shaves, at least this time I'll know the exact number of shaves for sure.

Happy hump day.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 18:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

A good shave from the professional blade, sharpness drop has evened out and I got the similar shave as yesterday.

2 pass (WTG, XTG) is doing wonders for my skin, I'm enjoying the shaves. I'm loving the Beehive and the 28 mm Plissoft is a pleasure to work with.

I'm going to get some new synthetic and badger knots soon and that'll coincide with the end of Austere August, so it'll be like a treat to myself for sticking up with the same set-up.

Ps: I accidentally posted a comment with just the heading and then instead of editing it, I hit delete. Lesson learnt, I'll post on reddit only after a coffee.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 19:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (13)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

2 pass plus touch-up shave with the Artist Club razor, blade is holding alright.

I'll never repurchase GFT Violets, Beehive is a great brush.

I'm hoping to introduce my nephew to wet shaving soon, and I'm collecting his beginner gears.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 20:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

2 pass shave to get the weekend vibe going on; I'm starting to miss my DE razors now but not too much.

By the looks of it, the GFT Violets will need a few more monthly attacks for it to be finished. I'll keep it away for next year's AA, lol.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 21:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

A great shave on Sunday prepares me for a great week ahead, today was a great shave.

The blade is on it's last legs, I'll bin it after tomorrow's shave.

I'll be receiving a much awaited mail call in a day or two, fingers crossed it gets delivered soon and without any hassles.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 22:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

An ok shave with the professional blade, it didn't deteriorated noticeably from yesterday so I decided to give it another go for tomorrow's shave.

Shaving daily gives a different kind of perspective about the gears, especially the Single Edge blades for me. I feel there are a lot of things to learn more about them for me.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 23:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (1)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

I tried using the same blade for my shave but after the 1st stroke it became clear that it had lost its desirable sharpness.

When I tallied number of shaves on it, it came out to be 17 shaves already on it, so it was time to bring in a fresh blade.

The shave experience immediately jumped up a few notches, and the shave went so well that I did a 3 pass shave just for the enjoyment of it.

Ps: I posted a few of my AA shaves a bit towards the latter part of late, I hope I'm not DQ'ed for that.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 24:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (2)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

A great 2 pass shave with the fresh blade, it is a mesmerizing sight to see the stubble getting cleared so efficiently and yet skin feel undamaged after the shave (for me).

To those who are still going strong, keep it up, you have almost reached the end of AA.

I seem to have messed a bit, here's to fellow wet shavers who are still in any version of AA, and to those who aren't as well.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

Austere August, Day 25:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade (3)

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

2 pass comfortable shave with the (same) set-up, I'm almost done with the GFT Violets soap, it'll be put in the back end of the soap stash.

Here is my first entry for Sidetracked u/Teufelskraft :

Thos song has been close to my heart for more than a decade, I though it was a phase but no it isn't.

I relate this song to how I feel about my first love; it was wild, too dangerous to be sensible and in the end it didn't end well, but I cherish those memories - good and bad.

Painted on my Heart - The Cult

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

#SIDETRACKED

Austere August, Day 26:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

Good shave, looking forward to the weekend.

Finished knotting the brushes, they came out looking great; will post them in the SOTD from next month.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 27:*

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

Austere August is coming to an end, I've been using the same set-up for this month and although using it wasn't a challenge but to use the same set-up is a challenge though.

I've participated in various challenges and may complete some of them, and miss terms for some of them, it is a fun experience though.

My Artist Club razor has seen most usage since I got it about 2 years ago, and this became possible thanks to this Subreddit and community making it interesting.

I would love to come back again for the next year's Lather Games and AA as well and next time I'll be better prepared.

2 passes shave, Professional blade is behaving smoothly. No complaints regarding GFT, especially when I know what to expect from it; Lather is slim but slick, almost as good as I would have liked it for an Artist Club razor.

u/Teufelskraft this is my 2nd entry for the challenge:

My go to song when I need to feel pumped

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#SIDETRACKED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 28:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft

Shave - 2 passes

Experience - good

Feeling too lazy to type anything more. Must rest, it's Sunday.

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

#UNCHALLENGED

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

Austere August, Day 31:

Feather Artist Club razor non folding

Feather Professional blade

GFT Violets soap

RazoRock Beehive 28 mm Plissoft knot

Austere August came to an end, I tried to keep up as best as I can but fell short in the end.

Health issues came up and I couldn't shave for past few days; even today's shave was a bit of a drag.

3 pass shave to clear a few days stubble.

See you all in better health and spirits.

#AAAAKARMATRAIN

#HEADLESSHORSEMEN

UNCHALLENGED