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.

Declaration Grooming and Chatillon Lux, with Edwin Jagger

Same ingredients as in yesterday’s shave, but a different fragrance. Declaration Grooming notes on their website:

Unconditional Surrender is a fragrance inspired by Ulysses S. Grant. After a heroic performance in the Mexican-American War, Grant slipped into a depression and drank his way out of the army. He returned to Saint Louis, struggling to find his place in life. After a few failed attempts to make a living, including selling firewood on a corner, Grant spent time working in his family’s tannery until he joined the Union army in the American Civil War.

Finding himself in a familiar role, Grant threw himself vigorously into his duty. One noteworthy performance that caught President Lincoln’s eye was the capture of Fort Donelson from the Confederacy. When asked for his terms when negotiating the surrender, Grant demanded unconditional surrender. This helped win him the top spot in the armed forces, as well as a level of fame that caused admirers to send him thousands of cigars.

The scent of Unconditional Surrender is an homage to Grant’s tenacity and will to fight back when he was at his lowest point. The scent notes are amber, tonka bean, amyris, cedarwood, agarwood, vetiver, cigar tobacco, black tea, jasmine, and geranium.

For some reason the fragrance this morning was particularly appealing. The Simpson Persian Jar 2 Super easily created a good lather. Perhaps clay in soap is no longer an issue in loading for me because I have unconsciously adapted my loading technique to avoid problems. I recall when I was learning Forth, a programming language with few if any guard rails, how I would get weird errors difficult to track down. As I used the language more, the errors became less and less frequent — I noticed that, but I did not notice how it happened, since it was unconscious.

The same with my current effort in learning Duolingo: 3 months ago I had great difficulty in understanding what was said when the item required me to transcribe a dictated sentence. I notice now that I don’t have nearly that level of difficulty, though I cannot locate consciously what is different. (I will note the process of learning, like the process of growth, is slow, but with steady effort steady improvement will occur over time.)

At any rate, a very nice (and fragrant lather) came forth, and this particular Edwin Jagger, with the fluted black-rubber handle, I like a lot. A very smooth result, and Chatillon Lux’s aftershave is remarkably good.

 

Declaration Grooming Bison Formula: Yazu/Rose/Patchouli

Declaration Grooming followed their Icarus formula with their Bison formula:

Stearic Acid, Water, Potassium Hydroxide, Avocado Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Bison Tallow, Mango Seed Butter, Castor Oil, Fragrance, Sodium Hydroxide, Lanolin, Bentonite Clay, Hippophae Rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn) Fruit Extract, Salix Alba L. (White Willow) Bark Extract, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Sorbic Acid

This fragrance — Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli — is appealing. From Declaration Grooming’s website: “Henry Shaw is responsible for Tower Grove Park and the Missouri Botanical Garden in Saint Louis. In that garden, flowers and plants from the Far East coexist to species native to the Saint Louis area. In this scent, reflective of Shaw’s oasis in South City, the uniquely distinct smell of yuzu citrus, enveloping the unmistakably recognizable smell of rose and the dry, woody scent of patchouli come together so all three work together in unison to create something greater than the sum of their parts.”

Yesterday’s Kent Infinity synthetic brush worked well,  so today I went with a similar spring and resilient synthetic made by The Grooming Company. Once again, I had no problem loading the brush easily despite the clay content of the soap.

Phoenix Artisan’s Ascension razor is extremely nice — and coincidentally, Sharpologist yesterday featured an article on double-open-comb razors (which included some information new to me: the Yaqi DOC head comes in two versions). He notes that he also finds the Ascenion to be an excellent razor. Three passes, fine finish.

Declaration Grooming partnered with Chatillon Lux for a couple of their soaps: Declaration Grooming made the soap and Chatillon Lux made an aftershave toner in a matching fragrance. I like the Chatillon Lux  aftershave a lot — very nice feel on the skin. Ingredients: “Denatured alcohol, chamomile extract, calendula extract, witch hazel, aloe vera, cat’s claw bark extract, polysorbate 20, fragrance, vegetable glycerin, menthol.” A splash of that finished the shave.

Declaration Grooming series, starting with the Icarus formula

Declaration Grooming has experimented with their soap formulations a fair amount, the Icarus formula was one of the earlier moves into a premium soap. I like soaps with interesting ingredients, and certainly Icarus fulfills that:

Stearic Acid, Water, Castor Oil, Avocado Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Mango Seed Butter, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Bison Tallow, Lamb Tallow, Colloidal Oatmeal, Goat’s Milk, Lanolin, Bentonite Clay, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hippophae Rhamnoides (Sea Buckthorn) Fruit Extract, Salix Alba L. (White Willow) Bark Extract, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tussah Silk

The fragrance is very nice, aimed at autumn as the name implies. They describe the fragrance thusly:

Darkfall is a spicy oriental designed to capture the spirit of fall in the rural south. Agarwood, amber, and benzoin provide a deep, warm base for the cinnamon and clove top notes. Birch tar adds a slight smokiness that represents the ever-present smell of burning leaves that heralds the arrival of fall in Georgia.

The lather, using my Kent Infinity, was excellent, and though the soap contains clay, I experience no hesitation in loading, possibly because the Kent Infinity is rather scrubby for synthetic: very springy and resilient and a nice change of pace.

Three passes with the excellent MJ-90A from Italian Barber left my face smooth, and another old-timey aftershave, this one a bay rum, finished the job on a pleasant note.

A late start this morning, but a good one.

Wickham Garden Mint, a Fine slant, and Irisch Moos

A reader reminded of of Wickham, and this shaving soap — Garden Mint, by which they mean spearmint rather than peppermint — is an extremely pleasant soap for spring and summer, when it is seasonal, and for autumn and winter, when it reminds you of balmier days of greenery and growth. The Phoenix Starcraft got a good lather going, and I took my time lathering my stubble.

Three easy passes with the Fine slant, a truly fine razor, left my face perfectly smooth, and a splash of Irisch Moos (brought to mind by another reader) and I’m ready for the day if not the week.

An old-timey shave with Yardley (famous) and Geo (not)

This vintage tub of Yardley — a well-regarded brand in the 1940s and 50s — I purchased some time back via eBay. It’s a triple-milled soap, and its fragrance and latherability have endured with little if any loss. With the Yaqi Target Shot synthetic, I easily produced a fine lather, and the Yaqi DOC, here in camouflage — you can just make it out if you look closely — did its usual exemplary job, giving a shave simultaneously comfortable and close.

Geo is one of several very inexpensive aftershaves I purchased from a barber-supply house, always a good source to check for blades, aftershaves, soaps, towels, and so on. All of them have a pleasant “barbershop” fragrance: distinctive, in a way, not (to my nose) well differentiated.

A good way to begin the weekend. Stay cool, stay safe, wear a mask over nose and mouth.

Russian Tea and Oriental Spice

The Simpson Duke 3 Best made a marvelous lather from Strop Shoppe’s Russian Tea, which has a spiced tea fragrance (cf. Bigelow’s Constant Comment). Three passes of my RazoRock Old Type, a surprisingly efficient razor given its comfort, left a perfectly smooth mug ready for a splash of Booster’s Oriental Spice. Friday can now for me begin.

Otoko Organics, an unusual shaving soap — with the Game Changer .84-P

A commenter recently pointed out that Otoko Organics is now available on Amazon.com. I really like it, though its maker notes that it is not a soap. The description at the link:

Otoko Organics Wet Lather is not technically a soap, as it contains no caustics. It’s vegan, organic, smells amazing, and lasts a long time. The shaving results are spectacular. It’s slick, making the shave effortless, the smell of pears is a wonderful change of pace from the “charred-oak & bad whiskey” smells you’ll tend to find searching for wet shaving supplies, and it’s so kind to the skin that you can stop with the obsessive and desperate aftercare rituals. Just don’t eat it. It doesn’t taste as good as it smells. This is purely speculation, of course. We recommend dampening your brush (not dripping wet) in order to gather a lather on the puck. Once you’ve accumulated enough, you should see some lather starting to form. After a few more twirls, transfer to your lather-maker of choice. Whether that be a bowl, a hand, or a face, continue making your lather as you would with a soap. Then shave the hairs off using whatever weapon you prefer. No one will shame you if you take one last huff before closing the tub. Go for it.

In previous posts, he says the soap was devised by a colloidal chemist. One ingredient is indeed pear essence, and the resulting fragrance is extremely nice, though I get the sense that the pear essence is included for reasons beyond fragrance.

The lather — morning created with RazoRock’s Bruce shaving brush — is unusual: very thick and somewhat stiffish, not in the least runny. It does a fine job and if you, like me, are into unusual shaving soaps, this one is definitely worth adding to the list. (And that link is not an affiliate link: it’s just a regular link, and my only connection to the company is as a satisfied customer.)

Three passes with the Game Changer totally smoothed my fact, and then a good splash of an old-time aftershave finished the job. I have a number of old-time aftershaves. I should start bringing them out.

Van Yulay After Hours and the Fendrihan Mk II

Another Van Yulay shaving soap I like a lot (and purchased after trying a bunch of different samples: for me, this one stood out). This has a somewhat different formula from yesterday’s Achilles, but so far every Van Yulay soap I’ve tried has been excellent.

Another fine lather, and then three passes with Fendrihan’s excellent Mk II stainless steel razor. (Mine is bronze coated — a limited edition, but the shave is the same as for the regular stainless version.) A splash of After Hours aftershave finished the job.