Yeah! Way to go Paul! I'm thinking of picking up some more BoS (Tsuka) along with one of those shave bowls. I've been exclusively a face latherer but those bowls look too cool.
Parts of my face are stupid-sensitive, so a year ago I started lathering all my shave sticks using a bowl instead. Turns out there is a pretty high correlation between the amount of touch time my face gets, and the irritation I feel. Bowl shaving has helped immensely. Bowl shaving with the collapsible silicone bowl makes it even more enjoyable: quick lather, no clanking, and slim, hangable profile for putting away. Don't know if I'll ever stop geeking out about this bowl.
@john zeiger With a Kong brush, I'll load from a shave stick for 20-30 seconds--light pressure. Usually enough lather for three passes if I choose to. Once loaded, the nubs make it quick and easy
I'm probably in the minority for going as much as 2, because I don't read many shave descriptions in here that say something like "Came back with.......Repeated With..."(other than mine).
Here are the bowl choices you have: -Rose -Cotton -Liberty (and, of course the new one I made up-"Wet Shave"). Take your pick-I'm sure Doc Ezlovan will be glad to work with you on this(If you read this, I'm sure you're thinking "Ahh, he's just being silly again!
You are right Paul! I love shopping via computer. I must admit though that I've been looking at and drooling over these items since Black Friday. This board just pushes me over the edge sometimes'
I drool over the Bill Neumann site..actually I did have some samples at one time. Annyway....back to Stoylin
SOTD December 14, 2019 Prep: Cold water and PAA Cube pre-shave soap Blade: Personna Razor: Schick B1 Brush: JR #60 synthetic Soap: Stirling Ozark Mountain Post: Witch hazel, Jeeves of Hudson Street Tobacco Bay Leaf aftershave
Today is just ten short days to Christmas Eve, and the day of my office Christmas party. Stirling’s Christmas Eve was the only logical choice for today’s shave. I used my Bruce brush and 37C for a two pass BBS shave. I followed it up with both the matching balm and splash. Hours later my face still feels and smells great. I don’t want to overuse this scent so that it remains a special holiday experience. But man do I love it!
I was actually contemplating making CE one of My Three (which means it would see weekly use year round) I like it that much, but I see what you mean by losing some of its specialness. The bath soap in that same scent that I bought for my sister came in today, and I dropped it off for her--she is in love. I also had a chance to try Texas on Fire today. My initial thoughts are that I quite like it. There is a surprising hint of something almost cinnamon-y floating around in the background. Still reserving judgement until the demon-cold I've been wrestling with goes away, and I can be certain that the smells I think I'm smelling are actually the smells I'm smelling. I'm VERY tempted to do a mashup with Vanilla Sandalwood--maybe 75% VS and 25% ToF--could be really nice.
I haven’t tried ToF, but I’m imagining what that mix might be like, and I think you should definitely give it a try. And report back! CE is definitely in my top three, but even if I restrained myself to only three soaps, I would only use it around Christmas. It’d actually become even more special then. Ozark Mountain is my other favorite non-summer scent that I could use daily, and it evokes much the same response that CE does. I could use OM and MITA and be covered for all 12 months. But what kind of a life would that be!
Funny how perspective changes. Ten years ago, when I had been using the same canned gel for 20 or so years, I'd have thought, "Who needs TWO shaving creams?" Now, surviving with just three seems incredibly tricky