Slant surprise this coming week

Sunday is for me a non-shave day, necessary set-up to get a two-day stubble to shave on Monday with a slant so I can enjoy the ease of cutting through noticeable beard growth. This coming week I am to receive a prototype of a new slant to test, which is exciting. It will probably be toward the end of the week.

I find that not all slants work great for me, just as not all conventional razors work great. But some slants, like some conventional razors, are wonderfully comfortable, very reluctant to nick, and extremely efficient. Those are the razors I treasure, and among those, the slants shave somewhat better than the conventional razors.

So “slants shave better than conventional razors” is untrue: my best conventional razors shave much better than some slants that don’t work well for me. But of razors that do work well for me, the slants shave better (in efficiency rather than comfort) than conventional razors. YMMV, but the point is that one should not assume that a random slant will be better than a random conventional razor. It may or may not be. But once you’ve found your best razors, I’d bet the slants are better than the conventional ones.

Late start but great shave: Copper Hat silvertip, Floris 89 soap (and aftershave), and the Maggard V3A

Full disclosure: This Floris soap is from some years back, a few years before the unfortunate reformulation. And this Floris soap is excellent and made an admirable lather with a very fine fragrance, thanks is part to the brush, which I like a lot.

One mark of a highly efficient blade is that one’s face is mostly smooth after the second pass, and that is certainly true of the Maggard V3A, which I used today (on a UFO handle). The V3A is more efficient than it is comfortable, but it is by no means uncomfortable: its efficiency is remarkable, its comfort is good. No nicks or anything like that, but when you shave with the V3A, you remark more on the efficiency than the comfort.

A splash of Floris 89 aftershave, and I’m getting started.

Wee Scot, Asses’ Milk shaving soap, and the Feather AS-D1

The pre-Vulfix Simpson Wee Scot made a great lather from this shaving soap The Wife brought me from one of her Paris trips.

I was lucky enough to get one of the Feather AS-D1 razors that works well. Others were not so lucky, and Feather dropped the AS-D1 in favor of a redesign, the AS-D2, about which I’ve heard no complaints. My AS-D1 shaved just like my AS-D2, and today did a fine job, though with a little blade-buffing required. I’m changing the blade.

A splash of Phoenix Artisan’s Cavendish, and I’m ready for the end of the week.

Maggard 22mm synthetic, Stubble Trubble Up & Adam, Fatip Testina Gentile, and Spring-Heeled Jack

I actually shook out too much water from the brush, so added a little more as I loaded the brush. With enough experience, it’s easy to see when the amount of water for the particular soap and brush is enough, too little, or too much. And soaps vary: Dead Sea shaving soap requires a very dry brush, just barely damp. OTOH, using this soap with the Omega Pro 48 would require more water than with the Maggard 22mm brush I used today.

With the lather perfect, and enjoying the espresso + vanilla fragrance, the Fatip Testina Gentile went to work, though it was more like play: sliding down a smooth hill on fresh snow. Three passes, perfectly smooth, no problem.

Spring-Heeled Jack, from Phoenix Artisan, is a coffee-fragranced aftershave that goes well with Up & Adam. It’s also caffeinated, though I doubt much caffeine is absorbed through the skin. It has a strong initial coffee fragrance, but then settles down into a kind of woodsy smell.

This bottle notes to shake well, but I’ve now made a habit of shaking well every aftershave splash I use. It does ensure the ingredients are well-mixed at the time of application, and some aftershaves do need it. So I shake ’em all. With balms, no shaking.

Wee Scot, Antica Barbieria Colla, ATT S1, and B&M Reserve Classic

The Wee Scot produced a somewhat wetter lather this morning, probably because I didn’t shake it enough, but I’ll experiment with another brush and see how it goes with a better shake. Antica Barbieria Colla does produce a fine lather, and the almond fragrance is very pleasant.

I used Above the Tie’s S1 slant and it delivered a very comfortable shave with a very smooth result. A splash of Barrister & Mann’s Reserve Classic finished the job with a pleasant and classic fragrance.

Omega 20102, The Drunken Goat, ATT R1, and K.C. Atwood

I’ve gradually learned not to shake the larger boar brushes as though they were synthetics: one moderate shake is plenty, since the residual water helps in loading the brush. So one mild shake of the (soaked and re-wetted) Omega 20102 made for perfect loading of Mickey Lee Soapworks The Drunken Goat, a very nice shaving soap with an excellent stout fragrance. (The “goat” is because the soap contains goat milk.)

The ATT R1 is a fine razor for a daily shave—at least for me, and if the R1 doesn’t work for you, try the M1 or H1. I have the head on a UFO handle, and three passes did a fine job.

A good splash of Prospector Co.’s K.C. Atwood finished the shave and started the day.

The wonderful Monday shave, this time with Rooney, Martin de Candre, Merkur 37G, and Irisch Moos

What a great way to start the week. Martin de Candre is a very nice shaving soap indeed—no bells and whistles, just extremely nice soap in a heavy glass tub—and the Rooney Style 3 Size 1 made a fine lather from it.

I fell in love with my Merkur 37C when I first used it and had the revelation of how very close, very comfortable, and very efficient a razor could be, and I replaced it with the 37G shown. This morning was the same experience: shaving perfection.

A splash of Irisch Moos on my totally smooth countenance, and I’m ready for the week. We’re moving, and the move date is now a month away, so the pace of getting ready picks up.