SoS: November 13, 2017 - November 19, 2017

Thanks my friend......

 

Tomorrow's shave same as today. The scent of this soap and aftershave is incredible. Great performance too. The Simfix came this week, I've always wanted to try a Simpson two-band. It has great face feel with plenty of backbone. Very nice.
Paradigm :: Simfix :: Storybook Soapworks :: Chatillon Lux​

 

Thank you, Doug. I appreciate the kind words.

 

We are all in this together.

 

Decided to try and jumpstart my holiday spirit with Stirling Christmas Eve soap and aftershave. Not sure I accomplished the goal, but the shave sure was darn good!

Razor - 1969 Gillette Tech
Blade - Astra Superior Platinum
Brush - Jayaruh #186
Soap - Stirling Christmas Eve
Aftershave - Stirling Christmas Eve

 

Thanks Andrew. Have a great evening buddy. ☺️

 

11/15/17 Shave of the Day
Face Wash with Daisygirl Soaps - Citrus Spice Goats Milk Soap
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Sandalwood Shampoo/Conditioning Puck
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements ICE Pre-Shave Soap
The Sudsy Soapery 100% All Natural Supercreamed & Whipped Delor De Treget Shave Soap
RazoRock 400 Solid Aluminum 24 x 57mm Plissoft Synthetic Shaving Brush
Creative Flame Pottery Stoneware Shaving Scuttle
RazoRock Stainless Steel Mamba DE Safety Razor
Voskhod Teflon Coated Russian Blade - 5th Shave
RazoRock Alum Stick
Thayers Lemon Witch Hazel Astringent with Aloe Vera Formula
Lucky Tiger After Shave and Face Tonic
The Sudsy Soapery 100% All Natural Sandalwood & Citrus Creamy Aftershave Balm
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements Sandalwood Natural Deodorant​

 

Wednesday's Shower Plan, in sentence form:

I enjoy showers when I'm shaving with a Clubman A.S. item. I'll get to that in a minute. Bodywash will be Nivea 4 Men(Energy). I'm going back to Coast for my Deodorant soap-one bar that's been around for the duration of my set of 8 Dial 4 Men bars. Still smells niice. They call it"The Eye Opener". That it is . Anyway, for my shampoo it's Clubman Country Club. Love it! Many reviewers have said that they use it for a bodywash as well, but not me. Outside of the shower and pre-shave I'll do a dab or two of Clubman Hair Styling Gel(clear color). Then post-shave it's Gear Stick Deodorant, byyyyyy MEN-nen(Speed Stick). I may stick with the Coast soap and Energy Bodywash all winter.

 

Tonight's shave was with a razor that I've used for the second time. I had a very smooth 2 pass shave, that left me BBS. This shave was even better than the first time I used it. Zero issues, just a flawless shave.

Razor- Joseph Rodgers
Brush- B400 By Tom
Soap- Arko/Avon Spicy
Aftershave- Avon Spicy, Totem Pole.

 

SOTD - 14 November 2017



Have a great evening!

 

Schick Type M Injector
Schick blade
Maggards black synthetic brush
Stirling Island Man soap
Pinaud Clubman aftershave

 

Phoenix and Beau - Whitechapel
DrivenLegend Red & Black | APShaveCo Tuxedo 30mm
Ever-Ready 1912 | Delta Echo | Gem PTFE

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Whitechapel is my first Phoenix and Beau soap. Obviously, the label on this limited run caught my eye, so it made for a good opportunity to try them out. The label is certainly striking if not a little difficult to capture in a photograph. Upon initial inspection, I thought it was a screen-printed label, but it is in fact a sticker label, only very well done. The label is thick textured vinyl, and the "blood splatter" (not "spatter" in this case) is raised beyond that. For those that don't know, this is a Jack The Ripper themed soap. The blood splatter is in the shape of a nude female torso, and Jack and his knife can be seen in the negative space.

The soap concept was borne of a contest in which the winner named the soap, defined its theme, and played at least some part in outlining the scent profile. It was inspired by five victims of Jack The Ripper. Each note was influenced by the surroundings in which their bodies were found. The place was Whitechapel. The notes were to be smoke, chocolate/caramel, leather, lilac, and tobacco. I can provide a screenshot of the original listing if there's interest. Macabre as it may be, its creativity can't be denied. This, alone, will offend some. The art will offend others. This writing is not intended to broach that aspect, but rather comment on my impressions of the overall product.

The all-black tub is your standard plastic offering. There are no visible identifying marks for me to track down the precise model, but other than being black, they're the same as my L&L Grooming tubs in every other aspect. The tub itself being quite flexible and the lid is fairly rigid. I didn't measure it, but it's documented to have 150g of product, and the tub is just over half full. The product is a pale tan color and is on the firm end of the croap spectrum. It appears to have been pressed into the tub with the aide of a spatula or similar tool.

The fragrance off the tub was mostly smoky vetiver and leather with perhaps a very faint floral note, but not such that I could define the specific floral. Lathered, the smoky vetiver is still forward, but it's much cleaner than say, Catie's Bubbles' "322". The leather note is present, but muted throughout most of the shave. With continued exposure during a 2+ pass shower head and face shave, the floral note also remained muted, but useful in keeping this from being a single-faceted aroma. It's possible I detected some cocoa, but I was searching for it given the documented notes. I did not detect tobacco.

I used the 30mm APShaveCo Tuxedo knot both for a test lather the night before and for the full shave today. I'd read some less-than-stellar reviews and was thus fully prepared for a mediocre experience. Fortunately, I was surprised. This beef tallow-based soap loads and performs very similarly to Barrister and Mann's white label soaps. With that it shares the rather substantial thirst. I learned a lot from the test lather and found it could handle even irresponsible amounts of hard water before finally collapsing. I suspect this thirst is the culprit for some of the below-average reviews. In pushing the water, I obtained a very dense lather. While this first go yielded a sufficiently slick lather, it wasn't quite as slick as Barrister and Mann's white label. The residual slickness was above average, but again, not to the level of that of B&M's. The post-shave was at least competitive with my other favored artisans, such that skipping a post-product could be entertained. I almost never skip an aftershave, so I had planned on using Catie's Bubbles' "322" regardless. I chose it for the smoky vetiver of which I'm a fan. B&M's Hallows may have been a better "pairing" with the cocoa element, but it's irrelevant since the soap has little to nil lingering fragrance. In this case, it's more about extending the experience.

I've been intrigued by Phoenix and Beau's offerings for some time, now, and I'm glad to have picked this one up. Since they're across the pond as it were, this single tub cost me $31.52 shipped to Texas. Given that, I'm not compelled to randomly explore more of their offerings since similarly performing soaps are readily available stateside. Additionally, I gravitate to soaps with matching splashes, and Phoenix and Beau apparently have no such offerings. That said, when a unique theme and eye-catching label comes along again, I won't hesitate to jump on it. Especially now that I'm confident they offer a product that performs as good as it looks.

Ingredients: Potassium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate (Bovine), Potassium Castorate, Cocos Lactate, Glycerin, Potassium Safflowerate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Lanolin, Allantoin, Tussah Silk, Vetiver EO, Sandalwood EO, Jasmine Absolute, Ylang Ylang EO, Leather FO, Chocolate FO, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Benzoate, Eugenol, Farnesol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Linalool.

Here's a gif I crudely made in an attempt to show the label's texture:

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Lather pic:

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Another texture pic:

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Very cool!!!

 

Great write up and some great pictures!

 

Thank you, gentlemen.

 

NOVember!!!

November 14 - Qshave Focus Blade Trial



Razor - 1959 Gillette Fatboy
Blade - (3)
Soap - Arko
Brush - Vie Long 12601 - The Pony
Post - Alum

Final night of the official blade trial for the Qshave blade. We know it's an American Personna, we know it's Titanium and a custom job for the Qshave maker in China. That makes it unique. The first two shaves in the trial were, in order, rather "meh" and somewhat better, even to the point of a BBS in three passes. Tonight we take the Fatboy to 9 (which is still mild for the Qshave razor itself) and see what it does under trial conditions. Is it a blade that could actually be put into rotation? That's the question.

I chose the Vie Long 12601 for the brush tonight. I have neglected the pony for far too long, and when I lathered with it I felt bad. I've missed that scritch. I need to get it back into regular rotation and think about locating a 25/75 horse companion for it. The 12601 is 35/65. Lather was great and everything was set.

Two passes and touch ups and I have to say this was the best of the three shaves. The roughness that was present the past two shaves was not there tonight. It was a smooth and very effective shave with great reduction on the first pass so that all that was needed for the baby to show up was a solid second pass and some slides on the neck. Alum was quiet and I was actually quite impressed. Not what I had expected. Now, I know that the Lab Blues are a favorite with a lot of people and Personna has a great reputation. But I never thought this particular version of the Personna would impress me. But there you go. My suspicion that this is a less sharp version of the Lab Blue/Med Prep seems to hold true based on results. The more open the gap and aggressive the shave the better the blade seemed to perform. Given that result I can see why the Qshave people would match that blade to the razor.

Would I add the blade to my stash? Well, perhaps except for one slight problem. I can't seem to find it anywhere, including on the Qshave website. They want to sell me carts and have me sign up for their monthly cart delivery program and all of that. They have the Qshave DE available and it always comes with 5 blades. But I can't find any source for Qshave DE blades by themselves. That pretty much takes care of any urge to stock some up. I really don't want to buy a razor every time I need 5 blades. Yes, I know......a truly devoted person would do it.

I'll go back to the Qshave razor tomorrow night and load a Qshave blade. Probably stay north of 4.5 and give it a go. Now that I know what the blade likes and my technique with the razor is solid it should be fun.

​

 

Gem G-Bar Razor
Treet Super SE Blade
DIY Halloween / 24mm Maggard B&W Brush
@Vlasta Sample C Shave Cream
Dickinson's Witch Hazel
Tabac After Shave

A late night shave because I just felt like having one. First time use of a Treet Super blade, and for me, it feels smoother than a Personna Gem blade. Sample C shave cream worked out very well also and in two passes, with some touch up, received a very nice BBS shave.

 

Lovely photo, Steve.

 

Date: 15 November 2017 "SOTN"

Pre: - Cold Water straight from the tap
Brush: - RazoRock Plissoft Synth. 24/57mm knot
Lather: - Route 66 ~ Bay Lime Twist 2x
Bowl: - Captain's Choice
Razor: - Fatip Grande Open Comb
Blade: - Gillette Nacet #2
Post: - Speick Aftershave Lotion / L'Oreal Hydra Sensitive Aftershave Balm with Birch Sap