Archive for the ‘Shaving’ Category
A Dark shave, 75% Canadian
Shaving soap and aftershave from Tallow + Steel (Winnipeg), Game Changer .84-P from Italian Barber (Toronto), and the brush from Rooney (UK). Those are the company sources, though I imagine the razor was manufactured in the PRC.
A great shave, thoroughly enjoyed, from the wonderful lather Tallow + Steel makes, today with the luscious Dark fragrance, to the smooth ease and high efficiency of the Game Changer whisking away every trace of stubble.
A splash of Dark aftershave, and the weekend begins. The tea this morning is Murchie’s Earl Grey Cream, and it’s very tasty — and the sun is out. Altogether a good start.
L’Occitane Cade with a badger brush
I have been using brushes with synthetic knots on this soap, and that has gone very well, so naturally I wanted to try something different. Previously this soap had not done so well with a badger brush, but that may have been a skill issue. So today I picked my Rooney Style 1 Size 1 Superbadger and … the lather was not so good as with a synthetic. Still a pretty good lather, but not so rich and creamy as I get with a synthetic. So it goes.
I still got an extremely good shave so far as a result, and the experience, too, was pretty nice. Using Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave helped with the heavy lifting, so the lather didn’t have to do the entire prep job on its own, and that Yaqi double-open-comb razor is extremely good: it comfortably delivers an excellent result.
At the end, I used multiple sprays of Cade EDT into my hand, combined with a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel to make it more an aftershave, and that finished the job nicely.
It’s a rainy day, but I’m well-stocked and am drinking a nice mug of Murchie’s Storm Watcher tea. And I think I finally have my brief intro to 7 Habits (including a test plane) finished, so that feels good.
Black Beer No. 1 and the Omega Pro, with the Parker (Semi-) Slant
I could happily use the Omega Pro 48 (10048) every day for at least a week, thought not indefinitely: I love variety too much. But, once broken in, it’s such a fine brush. This morning it readily brought up a good lather from Meißner Tremonia’s Black Beer No. 1 shaving soap, and the Parker slant smoothed away the stubble, effortlessly and painlessly.
A good splash of Diplomat aftershave, and the day begins.
I have greatly refreshed and enhanced my post to introduce readers to Covey’s 7 Habits, including the downloadable supplements. I think it would be useful to anyone making an organizational and/or self-renewal effort.
Wood-fragranced shave
I do like the crisp, crunchy feel of my Rooney Style 2 Finest, and it did make a great lather this morning from Meißner Tremonia’s Warm Woods. (It’s unclear to me why the name of the soap is in English when the rest of the label is in German.)
Well-lathered, I went to work with Henson Shaving’s AL13, a very interesting and effective razor. I noticed today that the range of angles at which the razor will cut is extremely narrow. You don’t nick yourself with this razor if you use a bad blade angle because with a bad blade angle cutting doesn’t happen. It’s easy to find the right angle — it’s the only angle at which cutting happens.
Three passes left my face perfectly smooth, and a splash of D.R. Harris Marlborough aftershave, another woody fragrance, finished the job. As always, my day begins with a pleasurable ritual, and I appreciate that.
Scotch Whisky and Sheep-Wool Fat: Wonderful to start the day (NB: not as a beverage)
The Wee Scot seemed the obvious brush choice for this (wonderful) shaving soap from Meißner Tremonia, and indeed I did get a luxurious lather with no effort. The iKon Shavecraft 101 provides a highly pleasurable (and also efficient) shave, leaving my face as smooth as with a slant. A good splash of West Coast Perfumery’s Eau de Lavande, augmented with a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel to make it more of an aftershave, and the day begins on a very nice note, despite the dark clouds gathering overhead. I have a nice mug of London Afternoon tea, and I feel as snug as a bug in a rug.
Stealth even more stealthy after blade change
Wholly Kaw’s La Supérieure Dulci Tobacco Shave Cream makes a fine lather, though the fragrance for me is muted. The Mühle silvertip shown has quite a gentle knot, but a single swirl of the damp knot easily picked up enough shave cream for a luxurious lather. I’ll note in my marketing persona that it strikes me as odd that “Wholly Kaw” does not appear on the lid label (and there is no side label save the one I made).
Well-lathered, I picked up my Stealth, one of my favorite slants, and set to work. Although it was cutting well, I realized in the first pass it was not cutting so easily as it should: cleanly cutting but with more resistance than seemed right. I removed the old blade (a Gillette Silver Blue, FWIW) and put in a new Gillette 7 O’Clock SharpEdge — and full stealth mode returned, with an easy (and highly effective) glide through the remaining stubble, in the end leaving my face perfectly smooth and with not even a threat of a nick. The Monday morning shave is a great thing.
A splash of Phoenix Artisan Cavendish provided the tobacco fragrance, and of course a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel carried it in a skin-care direction. I love Monday mornings now, and that’s due to the shave (though in fairness this Monday will will be very nice: I’ll get my flu shot and then walk through downtown Victoria, getting a haircut, having a Burger Crush veggie-style vegan cheeseburger (scroll way down for the menu — an omnivorous local said that the veggie burger is so good there that he always gets it instead of the regular cheeseburger), a stop at Murchie’s to restock on tea (Baker Street Blend, London Afternoon, Earl Grey Cream, and Storm Watcher, 4 oz each — and perhaps Editor’s Blend as well), and picking up a book (Vladimir Nabokov’s lectures on Don Quixote) at the sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ branch of Greater Victory Public Library, sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ being the Lekwungen name for James Bay).
A classic shave — and a great pleasure
I almost always have a very good shave — lots of practice plus good tools and products — and I was wondering this morning why, since such a good shave is a routine occurrence, it continues to be such a great pleasure. The specific stimulus was my thinking, “What an exceptionally good shave!” and then realizing that it was not, in fact, “exceptional” but rather much the rule: day after day I get very fine shaves, yet after each I am struck by how very good it makes me feel.
I think it must be something about sensory pleasure, which done rightly is always gratifying. While a fine meal may not be so pleasing if one is already satiated — “hunger is the best sauce” — good food well prepared and consumed at reasonable intervals is almost always a pleasure (though eating one meal after another without an interval generally is the opposite of pleasure and even sickening). Since I get but one shave a day, the experience is always welcome, and doubly welcome on Monday, since I skip the Sunday shave.
Because I chose Achilles shaving soap (by Van Yulay) as the shaving soap, it seemed appropriate to use the Fine Classic shaving brush. (A dad joke lurks in there.) The lather as always was excellent, and I enjoy this fragrance — and I like the soap’s ingredients:
Stearic Acid, Coconut Fatty Acid, Palm Stearic, Castor, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Tobacco Tea, Aloe Vera, Coconut-Emu-Tallow-Meadow Foam-Borage-Argan Oils, Kentucky Bourbon, Sodium Lactate, Herbal Ground Tea, Calendula, Extracts, Poly Quats, Allantoin, Silica, Bentonite & Kaolin Clay, Glycerin Soap, Tobacco Absolute, Mica, and Fragrance.
I note that the bare spot at the bottom of my tub of soap is slowly growing. I have a metric ton of shaving soap, so replacing this tub when it finally is exhausted seems silly — and yet…
My Fatip Testina Gentile is a very nice razor — good aesthetics (though that’s certainly subjective) and excellent performance, being both comfortable and efficient. My face was totally smooth after three passes, and the splash of Achilles aftershave splash was a fine finish.
The weekend begins well, except for the weather: “Heavy rain expected this weekend across most of Vancouver Island.” OTAOH, I have no need to go out, so I’ll have a snug weekend in the apartment. I even have a couple of buttercup squash, and those when roasted are a fine rainy-day snack.
Grooming Dept Lemon Bay, a DonkeyBase formula
Grooming Dept currently does not have any DonkeyBase formula — and apparently the price of donkey milk has gone through the roof, so it may be a while before it returns. (He does currently have Mallard formula soaps, of which I bought a couple.) The lather from the Lemon Balm is excellent in volume, consistency, and fragrance, even with a very gentle brush like this G.B. Kent BK4. I did add a little water a couple of times as I loaded.
Rockwell’s 6S is a superb shaving system (thus the “S,” perhaps — although I imagine it’s for “stainless steel”), and I easily got a smooth result this morning using the R4 baseplate. The lather really does provide excellent glide, though I’m sure the Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave I use gave it an assist.
A splash of Myrsol Lemon aftershave (with a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel), and I end the work week on a high note.
Doppelgänger and the Plisson Grey Badger, with one of Gillette’s new DE razors
This brush is coarse on the face, and it took me a while to realize that was enjoyable. Note: the feel is not prickly, just coarse. And the lather it aroused was wonderful, from Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 formula.
The Gillette DE razor uses the Edwin Jagger/Mühle head, and has a fairly heavy handle. A heavy handle is no problem, since the razor then feels agile; a heavy head and lightweight handle is not so good. And the shave was superb. EJ/Mühle really did themselves proud with that head.
A dab of the Star Jelly aftershave balm, and I’m good to go.
And I just scored a couple of Grooming Dept Mallard Formula shaving soaps, which you’ll see here in due time. I imagine they’ll be sold out by the end of the week if not the end of the day, so if you’re interested, act fast.
Mallard
Duck fat is the primary fatty acid in this base. Most scents are gourmand.
Water, Stearic Acid, Duck Fat, Kukui Nut Oil, Goat Milk, Castor Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Cupuaçu Butter, Kokum Butter, Glycerin, Jojoba Oil, Myristic Acid, Shea Butter, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Coconut Milk, Tamanu Oil, Lauryl Laurate, Carnauba Wax, Beeswax, Allantoin, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Betaine, Sodium Lactate, Silk Amino Acids, Oat Amino Acids, Sesame Oil, Macadamia Oil, Caprylyl Glycol, Sodium Gluconate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Tocopherols, Silk Peptides.
Tcheon Fung Sing, the fine Italian shaving soap
Yesterday’s Zi’ Peppino left me wanting more of that green-tobacco goodness, so this morning I brought forth my tub of Tcheon Fung Sing Tabacco Verde and with the snakewood-handled badger brush I bought from Strop Shoppe long ago, easily produce an abundant lather. This is a gentle brush, so today’s shave was soothing.
Maggard Razors’ V3A head is quite comfortable and easily produced a BBS result in three passes, and a splash of Alt-Innsbruck — more green-tobacco fragrance, with a touch of menthol — augmented with a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel finished the shave.
It’s a sunny morning and looks to be a good day, and I’m now ready for it.
Had to use a boar brush again in a mostly RazoRock shave
I originally had a badger brush lined up for today’s shave, but yesterday’s experience with the Omega Pro 48 was so nice that I just had to reprise it, this time using my Omega 20102, which sports a beechwood handle. After letting the brush soak while I showered, I loaded it well with Zi’ Peppino, a wonderful soap with a green tobacco (flower) fragrance and se to work with the excellent Baili DB197. I bought my copy from Italian Barber, who sells it as the Adjust. Despite the low price (surprisingly low, given that this is an adjustable razor), the razor is really top-notch: very comfortable and very efficient — and, of course, adjustable. The handle is large, so it feels somewhat bulky in the hand (though not cumbersome), but it’s agile on the face.
In 3 easy passes I had a perfectly smooth face, with the razor set at the default/neutral adjustment. A splash of Zi’ Peppino aftershave — I really like that fragrance — with a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel added, and the day is launched.
The great Monday shave, this morning with great products
Omega’s Pro 48 (10048) is, I think, a brush that should be included in any good shaving collection. In the Guide, I recommend getting at least one brush of each type — badger, boar, horse, and synthetic — and today I might even go so far as to say just boar and synthetic, though badger does still have a historically significant role. And I would recommend the Pro 48 as the boar to get — cheap enough so that one can just take a chance on it.
Of course, boar brushes require soaking, which means that you wet the knot well under the hot-water tap and let the brush stand on its base, dripping wet, for a few minutes — while you shower, for example. Then for the first week, rewet the brush under hot water to heat it back up, give it a couple shakes to remove excess water, and load it well. Then work up a good lather in your cupped palm, observing how the brush works and whether more water is needed. Then rinse the brush well — first under hot water, then under cold, shake off excess moisture, and stand the brush on its base to air dry until the next day.
New boar brushes have something on the bristles that kills lather, and this first week’s lathering and rinsing will get rid of most of it so that in the following week the brush will hold a lather for the shave. In fact, the brush will continue to improve during the first month or two of regular use. When it is fully broken in, it is a marvellous brush to use.
This morning I loaded it well with RazoRock’s The Dead Sea, a wonderful soap, and fully enjoyed the entire sequence of lathering. The Dead Sea has a very nice fragrance, noticeable and clean, and its lather is remarkable. Normally it seems to require that one use a brush that’s merely damp, but this morning — perhaps due to the size of Pro 48’s knot — I had to add just a smidgin of water to complete the loaded.
Three passes with the remarkable Merkur white bakelite slant — now, alas, no longer available, though its DNA lived on for a while in the RazoRock Stealth and the two slants Fine Accoutrement offered — left my face perfectly smooth, and a splash of Southern Witchcraft’s Valley of Ashes aftershave finished a shave whose theme seems to look toward Hallowe’en.
A brilliantly sunny day. The week is looking good already.
Eufros Violetas’ fragrance seemed forceful this morning
Just as an arresting scene can catch one’s eye, an arresting fragrance can catch one’s nose. The fragrance of Jabonman’s Eufros Violetas struck me forcefully this morning — as if today were the first time I paid attention, or was open to what it had to offer, which is a lot. Wonderfully present floral fragrance and a superb lather, in part due to the Rooney Emilion and its excellent knot.
This stainless-steel RazoRock Mamba from Italian Barber is, unlike the snake, indisposed to bite. Indeed, it is deceptively gentle and comfortable — “deceptive” because it is also highly efficient. I have an old model, when there was but one version; now, there are two: the 53 and the 70. I imagine mine is equivalent to the 53.
After 3 passes, my face was totally smooth, and a splash of Stirling Executive Man with a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel finished the job and started the weekend.
Vetiver — and I thought I’d try a slant today
The Rooney Victorian had no trouble raising an excellent Vetiver lather from Jabonman’s Vetiver de Haiti. His soaps are quite good.
The Holy Black’s SR-71 slant uses the Merkur head design, a solid choice. The heavy brass handle feels stubby, but that is an artifact of the weight and larger diameter: it in fact is the same length as the Merkur 37 handle. And with 3 passes, my face was smooth once more.
A splash of Stirling’s Vetiver aftershave (the bottle from some years back — that’s not the bottle he currently uses — finished the job.
A shave with an old-time feeling
The old-time aspect comes from the traditional wooden shaving bowl and triple-milled shaving soap from D.R. Rogers. Arlington has a citrus fragrance — “citrus mixed with fern” is how D.R. Harris describes it — that pleasantly brightens an overcast morning.
The brush, from Yaqi, is more new-time than old, given that the knot is synthetic (and so is the handle), but in overall appearance I think it has an antique aspect because of the amber look. There was certainly nothing wrong with the lather it made.
Gillette is a an old-fashioned name for a new old-fashioned safety razor, whose head design marks it as from the Mühle/Edwin-Jagger partnership. The handle hearkens back to the NEW, an old model that did a good job, though not so good as the razor today. This razor head steadily moves up in my estimation as I use it. Three comfortable passes left my face perfectly smooth.
A splash of Arlington aftershave with a squirt of hydrating gel, and I’m ready for the day.
Mumtaz and the stainless Baby Smooth
Grooming Dept Mumtaz uses his Kairos formula:
Water, Stearic Acid, Beef Tallow, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Kokum Butter, Castor Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Tucuma Butter, Avocado Oil, Glycerin, Coconut Milk, Goat Milk, Cupuaçu Butter, Shea Butter, Safflower Oil, Collagen Peptides, Whey Protein, Betaine, Fragrance, Lauryl Laurate, Jojoba Oil, Lanolin, Colloidal Oatmeal, Rice Bran Wax, Meadowfoam Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Linoleic Acid, Ethylhexyl Olivate, Hydrogenated Olive Oil, Isostearic Acid, Allantoin, Sodium Lactate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Gluconate, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Tocopherols, Silk Peptides.
The Vie-Long horsehair brush was easily loaded and a good lather soon ensued. I did add a little water as I loaded, and also a little was I worked up the lather on my face.
The stainless-steel Baby Smooth has all the Baby Smooth virtues, and I have to say that the RazoRock handle it came with is extremely nice. While I’ve learned that the Baby Smooth does not work for everyone, for me it works very well indeed, and in three effortless passes my face was perfectly smooth.
A splash of Alt-Innsbruch with a squirt of Hydrating Gel finished the job.
I do ♥ a slant — and some observations regarding Nancy Boy shaving cream
Today’s shave was remarkably good because the entire product team worked harmoniously and effectively together. Let me thank the players individually.
The Eros Slant is a wonderful slant, but with this one I particularly like the extra glide and protection I get from using Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave, so I began my prep by applying a very small amount of that. I got my first tub of this stuff several months ago, and I’m not even half through. It takes very little to make a big improvement in the shave. (I’m still using the old formula, which has the consistency of warm candle-wax, and I like that one a lot once I got some practice in using it.)
I have only a small amount of Nancy Boy Shaving Cream left in that travel tub, so I used a small brush, the Simpson Wee Scot. A question was raised by a reader as to whether this is a lathering shaving cream. Initially, as I recall, the company did not market it as a lathering shaving cream, but I’ve found as I’ve used it, that it lathers fine. However, that may be a side-effect of the cream gradually drying over time — the residual cream in this tub is quite firm, whereas the fresh cream is very soft. So it may be that the lathering develops as the cream dries.
However, whether lathering or not, I have found it to be an excellent shaving cream. In one of the earlier editions of the book, where it was still described as non-lathering, I recommended using a brush and not the fingers to apply it. If you get a small amount on a damp brush, it’s easy to apply it over your (washed, wet) stubble, and then the brush holds enough for the later passes. If you use your fingers, you have to return to the tub, which means the tub will not last so long.
The Eros slant did a wonderful job, leaving my face perfectly smooth and undamaged. Then a tiny squirt of Esbjerg Aftershave Gel Sensitive (which has a very clean fragrance) finished the shave. While I will use a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel with most aftershave splashes and always with an EDT used as an aftershave, with Esbjerg Aftershave Gel, it would be coals to Newcastle. Esbjerg includes in its gel all the skin needs.
Now this is the way to start a new week!
And, to boot, my new retrospective article is now available on Sharpologist.
Palmolive shave stick: Good product, bad marketing decisions
This shave concludes the four-day sequence of shave sticks, and with a very good shave indeed. This little Vie-Long brush is a favorite, and the lather I got from my Palmolive shave stick was excellent: good creamy consistency and glide and pleasant, clean fragrance.
The shave stick’s weakness is purely its marketing design. The stick has nothing (other than the original box, long gone) that gives any clue as to its brand except its color, and that is meaningful only if you already know that this green marks a Palmolive shave stick. If I were the product marketing manager, some changes would be quickly made.
First, the foil wrapping would be changed to identify the brand. “Palmolive” would be printed (as it’s done on the Wilkinson Sword shave stick) or at the least embossed in the foil — whichever costs less. And I would look into whether I could source green foil at a reasonable cost because I would elevate the color of the stick to a brand theme.
Second, in keeping with the green theme, I would change the plastic base to a green that matches the green of the stick, and I would promote the phrase “Palmolive Green” to tap into the general support for a healthy environment. Changing the base color should not cost much at all, assuming a large quantity is purchased.
Third, I might use Speick’s approach: raised lettering on the bottom of the plastic base to specifically identify the brand. That would cost more, though, so I probably would implement only the first two ideas. The second idea — the slogan — would work its way into advertising. “Palmolive Green Has Gone to War — To Protect the Environment!” That sort of thing. (Readers of a certain age will note the echo of “Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War!”, the slogan used when Lucky Strike discontinued its green packaging in 1942, ostensibly to aid the war effort (though in fact the change in packaging color was purely a marketing decision to move to a better design, war or no war).)
To justify the slogan, the ad campaign would pledge that “a portion” of every purchase of a Palmolive shave stick would go to some environmental cause or organization. (As is customary, the size of the portion would not be disclosed, but I’d make it enough to justify a photo op with the environmental organization.)
IMO, one job of the product marketing manager is to make it easy for the customer to know the particular brand being used. Obviously, Palmolive’s marketing manager doesn’t share that view.
Well-lathered I used my Baili BR171 to get a perfect result in three easy passes. You’ll note that Baili also offers no brand identification at all, but in this case there’s a reason. Baili acts as an OEM and allows other companies to buy their razors and sell them under the company’s own brand name. Creating strong Baili branding would be counterproductive in the market they are serving, whereas Palmolive, selling direct to consumers, should strive to communicate its brand.
A splash of the superb Klar Seifen Klassik aftershave (with a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel), and the weekend begins.
Lovely shave, and a Henson/Baby Smooth comparison
Lovely lather from the Mennen Shave Stick, whose brand is clearly shown on the wrapper, modestly smaller than the product identifier — good customer-centered design, given that the customer would be scanning the shelf for a shave stick, not looking for a Mennen, while still making it easy for the customer to spot the brand.
With a well-soaked Omega 20102, bring up the lather was child’s play, and enjoyable to book (though I suppose the entire point of a child’s play is that it is enjoyable).
I set to work with the Henson AL-13M and I realized instantly that I prefer the feel of the Baby Smooth. That articular model came to mind because both razors — the Henson and the Baby Smooth — have laid laid claim to being extremely mild in feel without loss of efficiency. The Henson has an unusual modern design, while the Baby Smooth is more traditional (though with an extreme curvature of the blade).
They both do a very good job, so I am talking about feel and not performance, and feel is somewhat subjective. The Baby Smooth feels better, as though it is more engaged — perhaps it because of a greater area of contact on the face, since the Henson is designed so that but a strip of the razor’s head will touch the face. In fact, I would say yesterday’s RazoRock MJ-90A has a more satisfying feel than the Henson, though in terms of performance both razors do a fine job.
Prices: $70 Henson, $40 Baby Smooth, $30 MJ-90A. That should make it easy to choose.
A good splash of Diplomat with a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel finished the job.
The perfecting of the Edwin Jagger razor, and good marketing thought in the Wilkinson Sword shave stick
I mentioned yesterday that the Speick shave stick bore its brand identification only on the bottom of the plastic base. Wilkinson Sword not only has the name proudly (and visibly) displayed on the foil wrapping, it also has given the stick a distinctive color (perhaps chosen in homage to woad — “Woad is the plant from which the indigo dye is made. Ancient warriors such as Boudicca’s Iceni tribe and the Picts are thought to have decorated their skin with woad before going into battle.”). Even if the foil’s gone, the stick’s brand is still evident from the color.
I got quite a good lather, but it did take some time. I washed my stubble with MR GLO, rinsed partially with a splash, and rubbed the stick well over all my stubble. Then I went to work with the damp Rooney Style 2 Finest. The lather developed slowly because, unlike when the brush is loaded from the tub, I had to coax the soap awake, using only a little water — too much, and it would just run off my face. After a first brushing, the brush had picked up enough soap so that, when I added a driblet of water and continued brushing, the lather started to form. I continued to brush and did add a little water twice more, and by then the lather was fully alive and raring to go. It struck me that this small amount of additional time spent in lathering before starting to shave would probably better prepare the stubble.
And indeed I did get a remarkably good result — perfectly smooth in three passes — but credit must be shared by the razor. The RazorRock MJ-90A is probably the razor that an Edwin Jagger razor hopes to be when it grows up: the same design, but better materials and more precision — and, surprise!, a lower price: $30 for a truly great razor.
A splash of Penhaligon’s wonderful Blenheim Bouquet, and the day has started very well indeed.
