Gillette 1940’s Aristocrat and Creed Green Irish Tweed

Creed’s Green Irish Tweed is a classic fougère fragrance, and their shaving soap is excellent though grossly overpriced. This tub I got some years back at a much lower price, but even then it was too much. Still, I do enjoy it, and the Rooney Victorian I have is a wonderful brush—a good resilience with fuzzy tips.

Three passes with the Gillette Aristocrat of that era — Gillette loved the name and used it for a variety of razors, the last being the gold-plated Slim Handle — left my face smooth and ready for an application of GIT EDT.

The weekend begins!

Photo was enhanced with effects, thus the coloration.

Yardley lathers well but its fragrance is faint

Yesterday I used my vintage Lenthéric shaving soap and commented on the excellence of this fragrance. The Yarddley soap pictured above is from the same era, and though it produces an excellent lather, its fragrance is fleeting. One possible reason: the wooden lid sits loosely atop the bowl, whereas the Lenthéric lid fits fairly tightly.

Still, it was an extremely nice lather in terms of consistency, and the fragrance, though faint, was appealing — a light lavender. Phoenix Artisan’s Green Ray did a fine job, and then the Stealth — wonderful slant! — removed every trace of stubble in three passes.

A splash of the wonderful Diplomat aftershave finished the job, and here we stand looking the weekend in the eye.

Maggard mini synthetic, Lenthéric, and Above the Tie’s S1 slant

A recent comment asking about the longevity of seldom-used shaving soaps (whose life on the shelf stretches first into years and then into decades) reminded me of this excellent and very fragrant Lenthéric shaving soap, which (I’m told) may well have been made by Valobra. It dates, I’m sure from the late 1970s, possibly early 1980s — so about 40 years old. And it’s fine. The plastic lid is fairly tight fitting. My Yardley soap from the same era has a loose fitting wooden lid that sits atop a wooden tub, and its fragrance is not so strong that of the Lenthéric, but of course I don’t know how they compared when new.

And the lather was not only fragrant and of wonderful consistency — a very high-quality soap that seemed to enjoy the Maggard mini synthetic brush. With the only other Above the Tie razor I own, the wonderful S1 (here mounted on a UFO handle), I did 3 passes and obtained a perfectly smooth result, ready for a splash of Wild Coast Perfumery’s Eau de Lavande.

Fine start to the day.

The Drunken Goat and the G.B. Kent BK4, with the Above the Tie R

This is the last of my natural-bristle brushes. The brush in the cover photo of the Guide is a Kent BK8, but I found I preferred the BK4 size. Mickey Lee’s now-defunct Soapworks made a number of excellent shaving soaps, and The Drunken Goat is one of my favorites. Too bad it’s no longer available; it has an excellent fragrance.

The razor head is the Above the Tie R1, but mine is stamped simply “R” since it is from 2014, before the R2 arrived. Here it’s on a UFO handle, and it did an extremely nice job.

A splash of The Drunken Goat aftershave, and the day is launched.

The Maggard Razors V3A is a terrific razor, but I would call it the V3E

First, of course, the lather. My Rooney Style 1 Size 1 worked for an excellent lather from Antica Barbieria Colla’s fine shaving soap. This is a wonderful little brush. The three passes with the Maggard Razors V3A (here mounted on a UFO handle) left my face totally smooth. It is an extremely efficient razor head, but not at all “aggressive” in feel — just in performance.

A splash of Floïd (whose warm fragrance is comforting on a late-fall morning and even the touch of menthol seems not out of place) finished the job. The day is well begun — and tomorrow I finish the series of using my natural-bristle brushes. Just one left (and I bet you know which it is).

Two-day stubble offers Unconditional Surrender to iKon 102

Today’s shave is one of the “marvelous” variety. Thanks go to the whole cast for their combined efforts: the Rooney Style 3 Size 1 Super Silvertip, Declaration Grooming’s bison-tallow soap, the incomparable iKon Shavecraft 102 slant, and Chatillon Lux’s peerless aftershave lotion.

It all went right, from the lather through the shave to the splash of fragrant and good-feeling aftershave.

This is the was to start a week. Plus, what with the 4-hour window of eating and making good food choices, I am now at 175 lbs, only 5 lbs from goal. That’s down from the most recent peak a few years ago of 225. One thing I like about the 4-hour window (for me it’s 10:00am to 2:00pm) is that I don’t have to fool with breakfast or dinner: no prep, no eating, no cleanup.

Styptic options

I just came across this useful reference: “The 8 Best Styptic Pencils For Treating Shaving Cuts Fast.” It includes liquid styptics as well as styptic pencils.