Asses’ Milk shaving soap and a snakewood brush, plus the Fine Marvel

That soap makes a wonderful lather, and the snakewood brush’s knot has a light and fluffy touch, very pleasant to feel when the knot is puffed full of warm and fragrant lather. The Fine Marvel is quite a good head, and mounted here on a heavy UFO bronze handle, it did a fine job. A splash of Bathhouse aftershave was a perfect finish: light and summery.

I’ve noted before that this aftershave seems to be based on a stock item. I say that because the ingredients are the same:

Organic Aloe Leaf Juice, Phenoxyethanol, Witch Hazel Water, Malic Acid, Citric Acid, Tartaric Acid, Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acid, DMAE Bitartrate, Glycerin, Organic Alcohol, Organic Sugar Cane Extract, Organic Bilberry Fruit Extract, Organic Sugar Maple Extract, Organic Orange Peel Extract, Organic Lemon Peel Extract, Organic Cranberry Fruit Extract, Organic White Willow Bark Extract, Tea Tree Leaf Oil, Bergamot Peel Oil, Tea Tree Leaf Oil, Roman Chamomile Flower Oil, German Chamomile Flower Oil, Geranium Oil, Polysorbate 20, Polysorbate 80, Organic Alcohol, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate

A gallon is $35, and that would make 32 four-ounce bottles of aftershave. You could get some bottles and a fragrance oil and make your own version of aftershave for gifts. Search for Boston Round bottles or French Squares. Frosted glass would be handsome. Note that lids are often sold separately.

Return to MR GLO, and another great Milksteak shave

I’ve been using Pears Transparent Soap, a high-glycerin soap, after finishing off the previous puck of MR GLO (though in fact I use the same soap under the Ach Brito brand — both are made by Musgo Real). Pears is a nice enough soap, but I felt it was not so effective as a pre-shave soap as MR GLO/Ach Brito.

So I’ve retired Pears to be my handwashing soap when I come in from outside the apartment and I unwrapped a fresh puck of MR GLO this morning and used it this morning. I call it a “puck” rather than a “bar” because it’s a thick disk, not a thick rectangle. I wash my stubble with it at the sink following my shower, then rinse partially and apply lather.

The lather this monring was superb — Declaration Grooming’s Milksteak formula is a winner. I just got an email from someone who had purchased a tub on my recommendation, and after trying it, he had the same judgment as I: “Wow!”

The brush itself is worth noting: a Rooney Emilion with very soft (hooked) tips. It made lathering a pleasure and thus extended and thus stubble better prepared for the razor, which this morning is the Feather AS-D1. Three passes to total smoothness, finished with a splash of Geo. F. Trumper’s Spanish Leather aftershave.

I spent some time last night with Plotaroute.com and worked out a 3-mile loop (well, 3.053 miles) with this hill profile:

Once I’m in better shape, I have another loop, 4.01 miles, with this hill profile:

The splendid Cavendish CK-6 and the redoubtable Dorco PL602

Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 formula is wonderful, and I do like their Cavendish fragrance — definitely a pipe tobacco and not (like Van Yulay’s Puros la Habana) a cigar tobacco. With my Copper Hat silvertip (with its nifty Delrin® handle), I got a wonderfully thick and creamy lather. I that the tips of this brush are extremely soft — hooked bristles, I’m sure. As I brushed my stubble, enjoying the sensation and fragrance of applying the lather I made, I reflected on the extremely limited and pallid range of fragrances available to those poor souls who use canned foam. Using canned foam in comparison to a good shaving soap and brush is like dining on photographs of food instead of a real meal — and black-and-white photographs at that.

The Dorco PL602 maintains its position near the top of my razor rankings. I’m wondering whether Italian Barber’s new BBS stainless steel razor, whose head seems (like the Dorco and the Baby Smooth) to put an extreme curvature on the blade might also share the excellence of those razors. Perhaps one day I’ll order one.

Three passes left perfect smoothness with nary a hint of trouble — the Dorco is an extremely comfortable razor. A good splash of Cavendish aftershave to carry me through the day finished the job.

Fine shave with the Gillette Heritage version of the Edwin Jagger razor — and why isn’t Otoko Organics better known?

Otoko Organics makes a superb lather: somewhat stiffish, with a wonderful fragrance (presumably from the pear essence) that’s light and refreshing. I’m surprised Otoko Organics is not more popular, but I suspect people just don’t know about it. Definitely worth a try, IMO.

I used my Edwin Jagger synthetic and my Edwin Jagger Gillette Heritage razor for the shave. I call it an Edwin Jagger razor because, so far as I can tell, that’s who made the razor head. The handle has very nice and grippy knurling but is hollow so the razor is somewhat head heavy. IMO, you’d be better off just getting a different Edwin Jagger instead of the Heritage — perhaps this one.

Still, the Edwin Jagger head is very good and I got a good and close shave (with some credit due also the lather). Three passes, a very smooth finish, and a splash of Speick to finish the job. The day begins!

Eufros Violet and Gold Red Cedar, with the excellent iKon 102

Eufros is a good soap and the violet fragrance is pleasant for a late-summer morning. My Rooney Victorian did a fine job, and the iKon Shavecraft 102 is a masterful razor that easily cleared my face of any trace of stubble while being completely comfortable in the process. A good splash of Anthony Gold’s wonderful red-cedar aftershave, and the new week is launched.

Antica Barbiera Colla with the RiMei and the Pro 48

I hadn’t used the Pro 48 for a while, and since today’s products are Italian, I thought that was a good excuse to bring it out. Antica Barbiera Colla is a very nice soap and provided an excellent lather and I’m still liking the Pro 48 a lot, now that I’ve found the groove.

The RiMei ias an excellent little razor despite the cheap construction — it cost $2 several years ago. It’s comfortable and efficient and three passes left a totally smooth face.

I turned the aftershave bottle to the side so the separation of the ingredients is visible. This is why I always shake the aftershave — any aftershave — well before applying it.

Antica Barbiera Colla aftershave is a very nice aftershave milk, though the ingredients have discolored (presumably through oxidation) over the years. At the right is a photo from three years ago. If you get this, I suggest you use it regularly, though in fact my aftershave, age-yellowed as it is, still smells and feels fine.

And now the weekend can begin.

Brush comparison: Omega Pro 48 and Mr Pomp. Supporting actors: Organism B-46 and Baby Smooth — plus a note on blade dulling

I decided on the spur of the moment (after I took the photo) to use my Pro 48 along with Mr Pomp. I mostly was motivated to compare the brushes, but the alluring fragrance of Organism 46-B was also a factor: by spending twice the time in lathering, I could enjoy the fragrance twice as long.

Both brushes made excellent lather, so performance is top-notch for both. In feel, there was definitely a difference: with the knots engorged with lather, Mr Pomp felt very soft and very smooth on my face. The Pro 48 was also soft but have a little (very pleasant) grain. Both felt fine, but had different textures. Assuming high quality, a paté and a steak are both very tasty, and both have pleasant mouthfeel, but the paté is smooth and the steak has some grain. The difference is analogous to that.

Three passes with the Baby Smooth — particularly with the extended lathering — left my face perfectly smooth. IMO, everyone should have a Baby Smooth in his razor collection — but I do recognize YMMV and that for some it probably does not work so well as it does for me. I find it one of the best razors I own: reliable, completely comfortable, and highly efficient.

A splash of Organism 46-B to carry me through the day, and the weekend is dead ahead.

BLADE NOTE: The Eldest pointed out an interesting investigation of blade sharpness, specifically directed at the question of why a hard knife edge becomes dull when cutting something much softer. The article is unclear on what is meant by “blade angle.” Consider a whisker that is perpendicular to a plane. The blade can approach the whisker on that plane, in which case the blade angle would be an angle wrt the blade’s direction of travel (cf. a slant razor). But the blade can also approach the whisker at small acute angle to the plane to which the razor is perpendicular — another kind of blade angle, and that blade approach can also be at an angle to the direction of travel. The paper’s summary does not make clear what exactly is meant by “blade angle.”

Update: See also this NPR article.

Oh, that Drunken Goat! And I still love the Above the Tie S1.

I treasure my tub of The Drunken Goat, now a remnant of the past (though I hope that when retirement rolls around for the proprietor, Mickey Lee Soapworks will swing back into action). Wet Shaving Products Monarch is a fine badger brush and the lather was most enjoyable (and not merely for fragrance). ATT’s S1 slant is a very nice slant for me and I enjoyed an efficient shave that left my face smooth for a splash of The Drunken Goat aftershave.

It’s overcast and rainy right now, but looks as though it might clear. Today is a cooking day. I earlier posted photos of the San Marzano tomatoes I found (locally grown, so not DOM San Marzano tomatoes). The miniature versions have been available in the supermarket for some years. I’ll use the miniatures in the recipe at the link. Here are the two side by side:

Summer Storm and a badger brush — with the Lupo

This soap has (in spades) the petrichor fragrance I (wrongly) anticipated to find in Declaration Grooming’s After the Rain. After the Rain seems to be the aftermath of a gentle late-spring shower in meadowed woodland, whereas Summer Storm portrays, as the name implies, the aftermath of a sudden summer thunderstorm — the Esperanto word fulmotondro neatly names it: fulmo means lightning, tondro means thunder, and fulmotondro is a thunderstorm.

That’s the kind of storm — a sudden rush of cool wind on a still hot day, large raindrops plopping into the dust, and the sudden crack of thunder as a bolt of lightning leaps across the sky just before the deluge begins in the sudden darkness that just moments ago was full daylight — that Summer Storm olfactorily presents.

The badger brush is a Rooney’s Finest in Style 2. It has an interesting feel on the face: a crisp and almost crunchy attack from the fluffy but quite resilient knot. The lather inflates the knot, keeping the bristles somewhat separate, so that contributes to the feeling. And the lather was excellent.

The Lupo’s blade feel is quite noticeable — in the foreground, but non-threatening. (I don’t get nicks with this razor, despite the pronounced blade feel — probably in part because I take care to maintain a good blade angle and keep the cap in contact with my skin.) Three passes left my face totally smooth, and a generous splash of Summer Storm completed the job. No storms in sight here: a bright and sunny daywith no clouds overhead.

Sharpologist shaving brush roundup

Sharpologist has a long and well-researched article on shaving brushes.

Omega 20102 boar brush with Colonia and the Maggard V2OC

Until I finally grasped the excellence of the Omega Pro 48 (10048), I generally recommend this Omega 20102, another very nice brush with a handle that strikes me as better (in terms of aesthetics). However, the loft of the 20102 is not quite so long as the Pro 48’s, so I realize now that some of the gentle springy resilience is lacking when I used the 20102 this morning. (The comments to yesterday’s shaving post include some insights on accepting and thus appreciating experience.)

Still, it was quite a good shave, thanks in part to the Maggard V2 open-comb, here mounted on one of Maggard’s handles. This is the same head as the Parker 24 or 26 but the Maggard handle is better. Colonia shaving soap makes a very nice lather, and the 20102 does indeed do a good job.

Three passes, smooth face, and a good splash of Floïd aftershave: ready for the day.

I can’t get enough of the Omega Pro 48 — and Declaration Grooming’s Milksteak shaving soap

Now that I’ve awakened to the quality of feel and performance offered by the Omega Pro 48, I can’t stop using it. None of my other brushes have the same feel, and the performance is excellent. I think this is currently my desert-island brush.

I could not resist getting another tub of Declaration Grooming’s wonderful Milksteak shaving soap. After the Rain has “notes of wet pine, muted lavender, cedar, and white pepper.” Somehow I expected a good blast of petrichor, as in Chiseled Face’s Summer Storm, but that note is missing. Still, it’s a very pleasant fragrance once I adjusted my expectations. (I’m tempted, BTW, to try Barrister & Mann’s Petrichor shaving soap, but I’m trying to resist adding to my enormous collection of shaving soaps.)

The lather from these Milkstead-formula shaving soaps is superb. I did add a little water in loading (the Pro 48 has a very large knot), and the fully loaded brush made a thick, creamy lather. My Parker Semi-Slant on a Yaqi handle (a handle I like better than the razor’s original handle) left my face perfectly smooth, and the skin feel, thanks to the soap (and the smoothness of the shave result) was mesmerizing.

A splash of Tabac aftershave and I’m ready for a new week — hopefully, a week with some good news for a change.

The Omega Pro 48 again, with a comment on why it’s so good

I enjoyed the Pro 48 so much earlier this week that I decided to bring it out again. (The Omega model number is 10048, thus “Pro 48.”) I loaded it easily with Strop Shoppe’s excellent Vivace shaving soap (now a vintage soap, Strop Shoppe having closed its doors). The routine is easy: wet knot thoroughly under the hot-water tap, let brush stand sopping wet while I shower. Then at the lavatory sink I wash my stubble with a high-glycerin soap — currently a bar of Pears Transparent Soap I bought as an experiment. (It works fine, but I prefer MR GLO.)

I rewet the brush to heat it up, then give it a couple of good shakes over the sink to remove excess water and brush the soap vigorously and at some length: The brush has a big knot, so it requires a fair amount of soap for a thorough loading. Brushing the soap rapidly with firm pressure for 15 seconds or so does the job.

Then I bring the loaded brush to my face, and the feel is excellent. The lather is quite good already (thanks in no small part to the soap), but I work it up a bit more, mostly by brushing briskly on and around my chin, then spread it over my stubble and brush it in.

The secret, I think, is the the Pro 48 has very resilient bristles, but because it also has a high loft, it is not at all scrubby. And because of its resilience, it’s also not floppy. It’s a unique sensation that I don’t encounter in many other brushes because it depends on those two things: high resilience and high loft. The Omega 20102 is close, but the loft of the Pro 48 is just a bit more.

It does help, of course, that the brush is well broken in, but since I have so many brushes, it hasn’t had all that much use — were I to use it daily, the amount I’ve used it is probably at most 3-4 months. Maybe even less.

It’s a brush that deserves consideration. As I’ve noted in the Guide and in previous posts, for any boar brush, during the first week don’t try to use it for shaving. Instead, just load the brush (after soaking), make lather in your cupped palm, and then rinse the brush — first, with hot water until the water runs clear and the brush is free of soap, then with cold water. Then give the brush a couple of shakes over the sink and stand it on the base to air dry. Doing this every day for a week will remove the lather-killing compounds that new boar knots seem to have.

With the wonderful lather, the shave was a pleasure. The Merkur Progress is an excellent adjustable, and three passes left my face totally smooth. Then a good splash of Alt-Innsbruck, and the weekend begins.

Update: The comments on another SOTD post suggest why it took me so long to grasp the excellence of the Pro 48.

Savannah Sunrise, summer shave

A summer shave for sure: “Orange Blossom, Peach, Gardenia, Jasmine, and Honeysuckle.” I have version 1 of the soap, which has now evolved to version 3:

. . . The addition of slippery elm bark, aloe, soy wax, jojoba oil and sunflower oil allows us to make an amazingly slick soap that leaves your face feeling soft and so moisturized it you don’t need any post shave treatment. . .

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Water, Castor Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Shea Butter, Mango Butter, Babassu Oil, Sodium Lactate, Essential/Fragrance Oils, Sodium Hydroxide, Vegetable Glycerin, Myristyl Myristate, Avocado Oil, Sunflower Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Jojoba Oil, Meadowfoam Oil, Soy Wax, Cucumber Extract, Licorice Extract, Candelilla Extract, Sodium PCA, Sensolene, Squalane, Slippery Elm Bark, Aloe Vera Concentrate, Citric Acid.

The citric acid should help performance in hard water. As you note, it’s a vegan shaving soap.

My Vie-Long horsehair did a fine job and I do love this fragrance. Three passes with the EJ head on a Maggard stainless handle left my face very smooth, and the Savannah Sunrise aftershave felt good and smelled wonderful. And I can see the weekend from here.

Catie’s Bubbles Waterlyptus and a Wolfman handle

The brush is Omega’s Mighty Midget (or Mixed Midget), a boar-badger blend, which I soak for the boar. Waterlyptus is a very pleasing fragrance and Catie’s Bubbles soaps give good lather.

The head of this razor is an Edwin Jagger clone under the Charcoal brand name, and the handle is a very pleasing Wolfman job in stainless steel. I mentioned in a comment yesterday that the handle of the (excellent) Parker Semi-Slant was just too long for my taste, but since it is a three-piece razor, I easily swapped it out for a shorter handle from a Yaqi razor. It’s a good head, and I got a very smooth result.

This handle is at least as long as the Parker Semi-Slant handle, and yet I like this handle. Some of that is aesthetic, but also like the balance and feel — but I don’t think I’d like it with a slant head. Perhaps I’ll try it, but with a slant I prefer a shorter handle, and I’m not sure why. Perhaps it has to do with a greater sense of control. With the Charcoal/EJ head, though, it felt fine and did a fine job.

I did get one tiny cut on my upper lip — I just had the wrong angle when I started the stroke — but My Nik Is Sealed did its job, and all is well.

A splash of Stirling’s Executive Man, and the day begin.

Dark Chocolate and a benefit of the three-piece razor design

In the comments on yesterday’s shave, we discussed some trade-offs between a complex razor design (TTO adjustable) and a simple razor design (the classic three-piece design: cap, baseplate, and handle. Certainly there are variations in the three-piece sign: does the razor leave the end-tabs of the blade exposed or not, is blade alignment achieved via corner brackets (the Baili BR171) or a bar or two studs (and if two studs, whether they are on the cap or the baseplate) — not to mention blade curvature/angle, blade exposure, guard type, and so on.

One advantage of the three-piece design is that handles can easily be swapped, and about 20 years ago I observed that razor handles for three-piece razors were much easier to make than the heads, and since the handles were swappable, I predicted that soon handles were be offered on their own, as after-market upgrades to the original razor, and that indeed came to pass.

I used the X3 on Italian Barber’s excellent Barberpole handle, and following the comment discussion I included in the SOTD photo the razor I’m using tomorrow, which is an Edwin Jagger head mounted on a Wolfman handle. The variety of aftermarket handles is now substantial — for example, see the range of handles that Maggard offers. (At the time, I predicted that we would also see razors heads sold separately, and that too has come to pass — and indeed caps and baseplates are also available separately.)

I very much like the Dark Chocolate shaving soap and aftershave Phoenix Artisan briefly offered, and that’s what I used today. The Omega 20102, like their 10048, is a long-lofted boar brush, and the two are close in feel and performance. Comparing today’s shave with yesterday’s, right now I would favor the Pro 48, but at other times I’ve preferred the 20102, so obviously they are quite close.

Wth excellent lather and the X3, a good outcome was assured and did in fact occur. A splash of Dark Chocolate aftershave (which has a very nice dry-down) and the day begins.

J.M. Fraser and the Rockwell Model T

My Omega 10048 is well broken in now — soft and resilient without being scrubby. It’s a wonderful brush, and the cost is low. Worth trying. If you get one, I suggest that for a week you just load it with shaving soap and build a lather in your cupped palm, then rinse the brush well (hot water until water runs clear, then cold water), give it a good shake, and let it dry. Boar bristles when new will kill the lather so that when you go to the brush for the second pass, no lather remains. Once broken in, this brush is wonderful.

Like all boar (and horsehair) brushes, it should be soaked before each use: wet the knot well, stand the brush on its base, and take your shower. The brush will be ready when your shower’s done.

Because the level of shaving cream in my tub of J.M. Fraser is lower now after a few years of use, the long knot of the Omega Pro 48 is ideal for an easy load. And, as always, J.M. Fraser’s lather was excellent.

Rockwell’s Model T looks to my eye somewhat clunky, but in fact I like it more and more each time I use it. It did a very fine job this morning, comfortable and efficient and good to hold — the handle is quite comfortable. I have underestimated this razor. As you see, I use a setting of 3.

Three passes left my face totally smooth, and a good splash of Vitos Tobacco finished the job. A good start for a sunny morning.

Brush-size comparison — plus a great shave

This Omega brush, the 21762, is very soft, and the secret of using it is to accept that and enjoy it. It actually does quite a good job. I let it soak while I showered, then rewet it under the hot-water tap to warm it up, shook it well, and loaded it (easily) on the Dr. Selbly 3X Concentrated Shaving Cream, which for all practical purposes is simply a (very good) soap.

The lather was excellent and the brush has a very nice feel against the skin. I did three passes with this iKon stainless slant, now sold with a B1 coating, and got an extremely smooth result — plus two small nicks on the chin. With this razor, it’s important that the handle be held away from the face, and I think I erred by letting the handle drift too close to my face.Since I have My Nik Is Sealed, it’s not really a problem — very small nicks, and definitely user error (since I generally get trouble-free shaves from the razor).

A splash of Vitos Lavender finished the shave — nice fragrance, and I’m sitting here enjoying the post-shave feel of my face.

A reader, GP, sent a photo of his line-up, primarily to show the size of the Phoenix Artisan Peregrino compared to their Solar Flare (white knot) and Green Ray (brown knot) and to the Omega 21762. It does look enormous. It’s just a 24mm knot, the same size as the Solar Flare and the Green Ray (and the Starcraft, not shown — the big boy is the Atomic Rocket: 26mm). You can see the Phoenix brushes here.

I’m pleased to see the iKon 102 in the photo — great razor.

Gillette 1940s Aristocrat, with Dapper Dragon and TOBS 74

For some reason, this morning my vintage Gillette Aristocrat seemed particularly efficient and comfortable. Perhaps it was the prep. I found Dapper Dragon’s Terre du Dragon particularly mesmerizing today, and I do like that 22mm Maggard synthetic brush, so I spend a fair amount of time just brushing the lather around before I ever picked up the razor.

At any rate, the razor did a superb job, and the old-timey fragrance of TOBS No. 74 aftershave finished the shave very pleasantly, promising a fine weekend overall.

Declaration Grooming’s Milksteak Formula: One for the bucket list

Your “bucket list” is the list of things you want to do before you kick the bucket. My Uncle Earl had such a list. I know of only one entry: to eat a fresh pineapple in the field where he cut it from the plant, and he did that. (His early career was in the Navy, which he joined in the 1930’s and left in the late 1950’s, serving throughout WWII. The field was on Hawai’i.)

This shaving soap is remarkable. It’s the next step up from their Icarus formula. Milksteak has these ingredients:

Stearic Acid, Water, Castor Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Vegetable Glycerin, Bison Tallow, Mango Butter, Avocado Oil, Shea Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Lanolin, Bentonite Clay, Yogurt, Buttermilk, Egg Whites, Coconut Milk, Goat’s Milk, Tocopheryl Acetate, Maltodextrin, Milk Protein, Salix Alba L. (White Willow) Bark Extract,  Arctium lappa (Burdock) Root Extract, Hippophae Rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn) Fruit Extract, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Silk Amino Acids

The mere list of ingredients is enough to arouse interest, but doesn’t really do justice to the experience. I used the soap with their Cuir et Épices fragrance, which I like a lot: “a blend of leather, tobacco flower, cedar, anise, oakmoss, and patchouli.”

This time, unlike with the two previous Icarus formula soaps, I did have to add a little water while loading the brush. Both Icarus and Milksteak include Bentonite clay in the formula, so it was not simply a matter of clay vs. non-clay. It may have been knot size — the Case, once known as the Wee Scot 3 (the current Wee Scot being the Wee Scot 2 and a discontinued tiny brush being the Wee Scot 1), has a small knot. But I think it has more to do with the soap than the knot. Milksteak makes a very slick and cohesive lather, and it is really worthwhile to experience the soap, regardless of your fragrance choice. (In Canada, the soaps are available from Top of the Chain.)

iKon’s stainless steel Open Comb razor is a wonderful razor. I believe that now it is sold only with a B1 coating, as shown at the link.Three passes, total comfort, total smoothness.

A splash of Chatillon Lux’s Vide Poche aftershave, and I find myself ready for the end of the week.

And just to reassure the reader: I am in no way compensated for my reviews and recommendations, and I purchased all these products as a regular customer. None of the links are affiliate links — they’re provided simply as a convenience to the reader. I just am very pleased with these products and wanted to let you know about them.