Strop Shoppe and the Game Changer

I had everything ready to post and then got distracted. This is the pre-Vulfix Simpson Emperor 3 Super, and a fine brush it is. The lather from my vintage Strop Shoppe Via Dell’Ambra was quite good, and the original Game Changer works quite well for me: 3 passes to a perfect result. A splash of Royal Copenhagen from the little travel bottle, and I’m good to go.

I downloaded an odometer app for my iPhone, which should greatly facilitate keeping track of times, speeds, and distances walked. I’m looking forward to trying it out later today.

A day late

Yesterday slipped by before I remembered. My Maggard 22mm synthetic made a marvelous lather from QED’s vintage Special 218, redolent of dark woodsy notes, and the Phoenix Ascension in aluminum provided a pleasant shave. A splash of Havana Cognac aftershave from Ginger’s Garden finished the job.

I’ve put a reminder in my calendar for the future.

Speick is great — and so is the iKon 102

And the Maggard 22mm synthetic is also very nice indeed. I was impressed by the quality of the lather from that Speick shave stick: really first rate. And the 102 once again madee me realize why I like it so much: a totally comfortable shave with a result as smooth as if I had been shaving a multi-day stubble. A splash of Speick aftershave — elderflower is the fragrance, I believe — and I’m ready for another sunny day and another walk.

I’m walking 1 big loop (a lap around two blocks including up a somewhat steep hill — and then back down, of course: the restful part) and then 1 smaller loop (a lap around one block, including a less steep hill) — total distance 2.006 miles. One nice thing about the route:it begins with a long mildly downward slope for a stress-free warmup, and it it ends with an almost flat (but slightly downward) section for a cool-down.

Here’s the profile, courtesy of Plotaroute.com:

And some statistics:

I’m taking it easy at the start, but the goal is twice around the big loop and twice around the small loop for about 4 miles.

A Chiseled-Face shave throughout

All from Chiseled face, though the brush was a limited edition and no longer available. These are all available from Groomatorium Inc. (in Ohio) or from Chiseled Face Groomatorium (in California).

Summer Storm would seem to be a novelty fragrance — the smell in the air after a summer downpour on the high plains — but it is a fragrance that one could readily use daily — and the lather is excellent.

Although I had a two-day stubble, the Baili BR171 did a wonderful job — a very comfortable and very efficient razzor, with a comfortable and pleasing handle. Baili also has a one-piece (TTO) razor, but this three-piece razor is superior, IMO. It’s not made by Chiseled Face but is available from his website.

A splash of Summer Storm aftershave and the week begains.

Great way to start a Saturday: Chiseled Face Sherlock and the RazoRock Old Type

Simpson’s Duke 3 Best is a very nice little brush and the lather (and fragrance) it produced from Chiseled Face Sherlock was excellent: “a warm tobacco based scent blended with toasted caramel, black pepper, moist dirt, and finished with a touch of leather, moss, mandarin, honey and rose.” The moist dirt smell carries a hint of Summer Storm from the same maker. His current formulation differs from the tub I have only in substituting avocado oil for the hempseed oil:

Stearic Acid, Aloe Vera Juice, Beef Tallow, Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Glycerin, Fragrance, Mango Butter, Avocado Oil, Silk Powder

RazoRock’s Old Type is a marvelous razor, extremely comfortable and extremely efficient. It is a mild-aggressive razor: mild in feel, aggressive in performance. Three passes to a totally smooth result.

A splash of Sherlock aftershave — a fairly basic formula — finished the job and started the weekend on a positive note. That formula is unchanged. The obscured word on the label is “Astaxanthin.” (Click photo to enlarge.)

iKon OG1 for a two-day stubble — plus an inexpensive slant head

Happy Valentine’s Day to you, and the soap and after shave this morning were a limited edition release some years back from Phoenix Artisan: Dark Chocolate. It’s a novelty fragrance and quite nice for change of pace. (And to accompany my blogging, I’m enjoying a cup of white chocolate tea from Murchie’s, a gift I received a while back on my 80th birthday.)

The Fine Classic made a fine lather (natch) and the fragrance is very definitely dark chocolate. The razor is a new one from iKon: the OG1. It’s has a (rather coarse) comb guard on one side, a bar guard on the other, as shown in the the photo at the right. On the left you can see a top view.

I found the razor very comfortable with a lot of blade feel, and it proved extremely efficient at removing the two-day stubble I had as a result of not shaving yesterday (because no water). It would be called by most an “aggressive” razor but in the good sense, meaning extremely good at removing stubble. It did not nick or even threaten to nick: very comfortable. Think of the Maggard V3A, but with more blade feel and a more interesting look.

The cap extends down to cover the ends of the blade, and has groove sot provide a good grip for cap removal.See photo.

The handle came with it, and it’s quite a good handle. Altogether an excellent razor, and well worth considering if you enjoy DE razors. It’s US$75, currently on sale at the like above for US$45.

On another topic: I got a query yesterday from a reader about an inexpensive slant head: $5.95 for chrome head, $6.95 for gun-metal head. He noted:

By searching “artisan safety razor” on that page one can see a couple of other options, but the one with a handle seems to be sold out. Is anyone familiar with that razor head?

I am not familiar with it, but I’ve ordered a copy (chrome) and will do a comparison shave with another inexpensive head (the RazoRock German 37, $11.95), though twice the price of the artisan head.

The artisan head doesn’t look so good to my eye, but the proof the head is in the shave, so stay tuned.

No water, no shave

I overslept and the water’s off in the building now until 3:00 (an apartment — not mine — is being renovated and today apparently is new-plumbing day), so no shave this morning. That works out, in a way, since I can shave a two-day stubble on Valentine’s Day tomorrow.

In the meantime, this looks like an interesting movie: