Archive for January 1st, 2013
Apologies will doubtless be forthcoming from these mean-spirited people
Oh, wait: the tip-off is “mean-spirited”. Mean-spirited people don’t apologize because they are always on the hunt for new targets of their venom. But here are 8 who should apologize for the mean-spirited, callous, and flippant remarks about Hillary Clinton’s fall.
Strop Shoppe Black Tie Tallow and the Weber Polished Head
Good to start the new year with a terrific shave. My Ecotools Kabuki made a terrific lather from Strop Shoppe’s Black Tie Tallow shaving soap. The fragrance was more assertive than the Teakwood I used earlier and (to my nose) quite pleasant. Three very smooth passes with the Weber HP carrying an Astra Superior Platinum blade, and a good splash of The Shave Den’s Coconut Lime Verbena balm, which feels good and smells quite tropical.
I got this Clubman Pinaud Dab-On styptic to compare it to My Nik Is Sealed, my current favorite styptic. This is another liquid styptic (and those seem to be much more effective than styptic pencils), but instead of a rollerball applicated as in MNIS, this one uses a blunt felt tip to apply the styptic. Testing it will have to wait until I get a nick; nowadays those are rare. But this may be an alternative.
BBS once more—and AOS is not bad at all
Art of Shaving old formulation (with tallow) is indeed a very good soap. With the Monarch two-band silvertip shown, it worked up a dynamite lather, very thick and nice—equivalent to the regular Strop Shoppe Baker Street with Tallow of day before yesterday, if not quite so good as yesterday’s Strop Shoppe Baker Street Special Edition with Tallow. And, of course, one must consider that AOS costs 5 times as much (per ounce) as the Strop Shoppe Special Edition soaps, even though AOS is not quite so good.
Withal, I got an extremely nice shave with the still-sharp Kai blade in my Silvertone razor, which is sold on Amazon also under the names Sodial ($2.25 with free shipping) and Concord ($10.95 Amazon Prime). The Silvertone is $6.32 Amazon Prime. At those prices one occasionally encounters a defective razor, but the one I got is fine and I increasingly like the very thin head, which helps a lot in shaving under the nose, for example. Not a bad beginner razor at all—but inspect it carefully if you get one.
Three passes to a BBS finish, and then a good splash of Savory Rose from Saint Charles Shave. Could Friday be better?
