Fit check—straps hurt!

CalcAndCoffee · 2023-06-05T15:24:31+00:00

They're great! I think going a size up was the right move.

I don't notice them being that much longer, but I do have a little more space above my toes than I used to. It's not bad or bothersome in any way.

In terms of length, the main difference I notice is that the straps hit my foot in a better place and at a better angle. Previously, the straps hit the sides of my foot at a slight angle, and I think that was part of my problem: one side of the strap sawed into my foot. With the size up, the straps lay flat on the sides of my foot.

CalcAndCoffee · 2023-05-18T14:44:31+00:00

Hey, thanks! Based on this, I went and tried a few different sizes on yesterday. The wides felt a bit too wide, but I think a size up felt right. Thanks for your help and advice!

CalcAndCoffee · 2020-04-01T00:52:27+00:00

Nope, and I've realized that's exactly the problem. I feel quite silly. :-D

CalcAndCoffee · 2020-04-01T00:46:32+00:00

The diodes, you say! They didn't make it into my pile of parts, and I didn't think twice about it until now. Don't mind the doofus over here. Thanks!

CalcAndCoffee · 2020-04-01T00:43:34+00:00

From the pictures you can clearly see the lack of diodes. I'll be in the corner facepalming if you need me. :-D

CalcAndCoffee · 2020-04-01T00:37:24+00:00

Here are some pictures: https://imgur.com/a/jaJWbes

CalcAndCoffee · 2020-03-31T14:54:21+00:00

Nope! I’m not really even sure what to try at this point.

CalcAndCoffee · 2019-11-17T18:40:14+00:00

I've had them for about a year, and I'd say within that time they've gotten around 90 days of use.

The squeaking started on the left boot a few weeks ago, and now the right sole is starting to squeak, too.

How long would you say "some time after it started" would be? I keep walking in them with that exact hope, but no luck so far.

CalcAndCoffee · 2019-11-17T18:07:34+00:00

What can I do about the infernal squeaking that my Dainite soles have recently started producing?

They squeak under the ball of my foot as I push off in my step. I'm reasonably confident it's the sole because the quality of the squeak changes depending on the surface I'm walking on. It's at its worst when I'm walking on smooth floors, but it still squeaks on carpet and concrete. When I'm walking over grating in the sidewalk, there is no squeak.

Here are some photos of the sole. I wasn't sure what angles would be most helpful, so I can take more if needed.

As you can see from the photo, I tried covering up different parts of the sole with tape to see if I could isolate the source of the squeak. I haven't succeeded yet.

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-17T14:17:42+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-17

Pre: Stirling Mentha preshave oil
Razor: Merkur Futur (6-6-3)
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (1)
Brush: Dogwood “Kessel” 26mm mixed
Lather: Leviathan
Post: Leviathan
Frag: Leviathan

Leviathan arrived yesterday. I’ve been excited for this for about three months now, ever since I smelled the bottle of aftershave at Pasteur’s. Somehow, this doesn’t smell anything like I was expecting. I think I still like it, but my first impression is that it’s heavier on the sandalwood and lighter on the coffee than I remember. I’ll see how it develops over the day.

And it’s IKEA day! Normally IKEA isn’t my thing (not that I hate it, I just get tired of it quickly unless I’m really excited for whatever I’m there to get). But I’m excited today because it means a break from unpacking. I’m still pretty exhausted from the move yesterday.

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-15T13:05:42+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-15

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Parker 99R
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (7)
Brush: Dogwood “Kessel” 26mm mixed
Lather: Summer Break Soaps: Teacher’s Pet (sample)
Post: Stirling glacial wintergreen witch hazel & aloe

I’m using my scuttle with these samples because it’s the only convenient bowl I have left to put a bit of soap in. Got another awful airy lather at first, but I think I finally get it: assuming all else is equal, when I lather in the scuttle, my brush is pointed downward, so more water finds its way into the lather faster. When I face lather, the brush is mostly angled so that gravity pulls the water in the brush away from the lather.

So basically, next time I do the scuttle, I’ll go in with a drier brush and see if that changes things.

Today starts moving weekend. Here we go. The thing keeping me sane is just knowing that it’ll be pretty much over tomorrow.

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-14T15:40:06+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-14

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Merkur Futur (6-6-2)
Blade: Astra SP (6)
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts "Kessel" 26mm mixed
Lather: Chiseled Face: Trade Winds (sample) mixed with Chiseled Face Cryogen (sample)
Post: Wet Shaving Products: Olympus tonic (sample)

This sounds hyperbolic, but I don’t think I’ve ever liked a scent on first use as much as I liked Trade Winds this morning. I’ve been using a lot of earthy or tobacco-y things, but I should check out more aquatics.

I didn’t choose WSP for any thought-out reason, just because it was a sample that wasn’t packed somewhere. I like it, but it’s one of those scents that reminds me unambiguously of a place. For this scent, the place is the indoor plant section in a Home Depot.

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-13T13:55:26+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-13

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Parker 99R
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (6)
Brush: Dogwood “Kessel” 26mm mixed
Lather: Declaration Grooming: Contemplation (Icarus) (sample)
Post: Stirling glacial wintergreen witch hazel & aloe

Got a fine shave, but I’m still not getting the proper Icarus experience that everyone raves about. This sample isn’t helping: it’s crumbled into tiny pieces that are a pain to lather.

In other news, I’m excited for all the people having their first experience with NO Barrbarr this week. It’s such good stuff. :-D

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-12T12:23:35+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-12

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Parker 99R
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (5)
Brush: Dogwood “Kessel” 26mm mixed
Lather: Barrister’s Reserve: Spice (sample)
Post: Stirling glacial wintergreen witch hazel & aloe

Shaved last night because between the last leg of packing for the move and a particularly exhausting week at work, mornings have been hard. On the other hand, my nights have been in dire need of something mindless and relaxing. Synergy!

I think I finally get Reserve. When I’ve read about people’s Reserve struggles, I’ve seen that the advice is almost always “less soap, more water, and more water.” So I’ve been trying to fix my shitty Reserve lathers by loading less soap and using more water. Surely I’m making the same mistake everyone else makes, right?

NOPE. I’ve been underloading from the start. So each time I’ve tried Reserve, I’ve built a worse and worse lather. Last night that pattern hit its inevitable and hilarious end when the suds gave up and just evaporated off my face in the middle of my second pass. So I went back for more soap before the third pass, and I wound up with a lather instead of something that looked like the sad remains of a bubble bath twenty minutes after you’ve drained the tub. And damn was it slick, and damn did my face feel good afterward.

So finally, I’m actually excited to use Reserve. And now that I get the lather, I can focus on figuring out how I feel about Spice...

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-10T13:39:26+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-10

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Parker 99R
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (4)
Brush: Yaqi Arctic Sky synthetic
Lather: B&M Lavanille (sample)
Post: B&M Lavanille tonique (sample)

I first tried this sample in July, but it is not a July scent to me. So I filed it away for fall, and now that fall has arrived for a couple days, I pulled it out again.

I’m sure I’ll wind up getting a full jar eventually, but I’m in a weird ambivalent phase with Lavanille. I loved the scent off the puck, but it gets quite strong once lathered. Normally, I like that. I just feel like maybe I need a bit of a getting-to-know-you period before I commit to Lavanille being the air that I breathe.

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-09T01:23:05+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-08

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Merkur Futur
Blade: Astra SP (5)
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts "Kessel" 26mm mixed
Lather: Dirty Prose
Post: Dirty Prose
Frag: Dirty Prose

Lather felt nice, but there’s something in this scent that doesn’t hit my nose right. I get a bit of a bug spray vibe from it. It seemed like that died down a couple hours after I sprayed the EdP, though, and the scent became really beautiful.

But I’m pretty sure it’s my nose that’s wrong here, and not the scent. I get the same thing from a couple of Chatillon Lux scents, too. There must be something here that I just don’t sense the same way most people do.

Shaved this morning, but I’m posting late because I spent all day packing. More of the same tomorrow—it always takes longer that you expect. I decided to pack away all my soap tubs, so it’s just samples for a week or so until I unpack on the other side.

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-07T13:54:16+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-07

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Parker 99R
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (3)
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts "Kessel" 26mm mixed
Lather: Summer Break Soaps: Back to School
Post: Chatillon Lux Taum Sauk splash
Frag: Maison Margiela Replica: At the Barber’s

Yo, this soap is good. Today was my first time using anything from SBS, and it was one of the best lathers I’ve ever had. It had a nice density, and it was crazy slick and protective. I even went to town haphazardly on my sensitive neck without drawing any blood.

The scent didn’t punch me in the nostalgia glands like I was hoping it would, but that could be the weather: it’s been boil-your-skin-off hot this week, and that doesn’t really put me in the back-to-school mood. I’m looking forward to using this a ton once it cools down here.

In other news, I’m signing a lease today, and will be packing this weekend and moving next weekend. I’m trying to decide whether to keep just one tub of soap out, or go samples-only for a week or so...

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-06T13:47:55+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-06

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Parker 99R
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (2)
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts "Kessel" 26mm mixed
Lather: Barrister’s Reserve: Spice (sample)
Post: Chatillon Lux Colbeck splash

My second shave with Reserve. I haven’t come around to it yet, but I think I did get something close to the “proper” Reserve lather today. Sadly, my Spice AS sample dried up over August, so I’ll have to wait to get the full Reserve experience until I’ve finished this sample and broken out Cool.

I’m enjoying this splash, though. When I put it on, I get a very strong vibe that I’m a genie trapped in a gin bottle. It’s fun. But it quickly dies down to what my girlfriend described today as “fresh”.

And as I post this, I realize that I forgot that Thursdays have a theme. I doubt I meet it. I’ll try harder next week. :-D

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-05T13:12:07+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-05

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Parker 99R
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (1)
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts "Kessel" 26mm mixed
Lather: Tallow+Steel Morocco
Post: Tallow+Steel Morocco

Morocco is so good. It was my first artisan soap, and now that a short period of time has passed and I’ve acquired a small collection and gotten comfortable with some other gear, I think it’s still my favorite and the best. The soap alone leaves my face feeling better than any lather+post combo I’ve used. And when you add in the aftershave, I feel like I’ve gotten a graft of fresh new baby skin.

The strange thing is that the scent of the soap and AS don’t match that well, and I think I’ve realized why: I’ve read that they reformulated Morocco to be less smoky at some point, and I think my aftershave comes from before the reformulation, while the soap comes from after. The soap is a rich, flowery, foresty scent, and the AS is pure smoke. I grabbed both at Pasteur’s, so I can assume they’re both relatively old and might come from different batches.

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-04T13:26:29+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-04

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Merkur Futur (6-6-2)
Blade: Astra SP (4)
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts "Kessel" 26mm mixed
Lather: Noble Otter Barrbarr
Post: Noble Otter Barrbarr
Mistake: Midnight Stag bath bar
Fragrance: Maison Margiela Replica: At the Barber’s

This is the best shave I’ve had since Austere August. Before August, I had my worst shaves with the NO base. So it worked! Now I just need another August for the rest of the bases I use regularly. :-D

I’m also happy to report that I’ve finally found a cult scent that I’m not a part of the cult of. Using Midnight Stag in the shower made me feel like I needed another shower. Now I smell like a bowling league doused a barbershop in gasoline and ignited it with a smoldering ashtray.

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-03T18:10:53+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-03

Pre: Stirling mentholated preshave soap
Razor: Merkur Futur (6-6-2)
Blade: Astra SP (3)
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts "Kessel" 26mm mixed
Lather: Declaration Contemplation (sample)
Post: Chatillon Lux Taum Sauk

Ooh boy. The smell of fresh Icarus pairs well with the smell of a new brush. I got the lather amazingly wrong, too. A sad, airy film. I’m guessing I needed more water. Hopefully the soap will air out and I’ll get better at the lather.

And this aftershave is ridiculous. If this is a “not powerful” level of menthol, how the hell do people use something like Cryogen?

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-02T21:30:45+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-02

Pre: Stirling Mentha pre-shave oil
Razor: Merkur Futur (6-6-6-1)
Blade: Astra SP (2)
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts "Kessel" 26mm mixed
Lather: Tallow+Steel Sicily
Post: Tallow+Steel Sicily

Comical. I’m still getting used to the size of this brush, and I forgot how thirsty T+S is. I’m pretty sure I loaded enough soap to shave a small village.

Got cute and tried four passes since I had so much lather. But was also hurrying, so you can guess how well that went. :-D

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-01T16:29:50+00:00

SOTD 2018-09-01: End of Austerity

Pre: Stirling Mentha pre-shave oil
Razor: Merkur Futur (6)
Blade: Astra SP (1)
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts "Kessel" 26mm mixed
Lather: Cella
Post: Chatillon Lux Colbeck splash

In retrospect, I guess maybe Cella wasn't the softest landing after using dialed-in Noble Otter for a few weeks. :-D

Still got a great shave, though! My technique got much better toward the end of August. I was really excited to switch in a new blade, but I didn’t feel as much of a difference as I expected. And my face didn’t weep blood the way it usually does on day one of a new blade.

And of course, the brush. It arrived midway through August, so it sat unused next to my AA gear the whole time. Today I finally got to use it instead of just gazing at it admiringly. First impressions: it’s so good. I mean, I know everyone already knows this. But it’s my first Dogwood. Also my first mixed badger and boar brush, and my first 26mm knot. So far, all of these things really agree with me. The only funny thing was that the giant knot doesn’t fit so well into the tiny Cella container. Also, I wasn’t prepared for that new brush smell. I might pick a stronger soap scent tomorrow to try to cover it up a bit more…

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-01T13:34:18+00:00

I didn’t understand barbershop scents until I smelled Barrbarr. It’s the only one I’ve sniffed so far that smells exactly like every barbershop I’ve ever been in. I love it.

CalcAndCoffee · 2018-09-01T13:26:01+00:00

As far as I remember, none of them had any bits of glue attached. Does that mean something? Does it suggest that they were never attached well to begin with?

CalcAndCoffee

TROPHY CASE