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
Well, with me,, I could do it with three.....one of them must be Clubman Sophisticated Goo, then I can work out a plan among Barbasol/Gillette/Noxema for the remaining two.
Couldn't help myself. I fired up the brush and bowl, and gave the 75% VS/25% ToF a whirl. It was good, but not too different from Vanilla Sandalwood. Went back again, but at 50/50 mix. That was the sweet spot. If The Missus eventually finds ToF too smoky, that's probably where it'll go. For now though, she finds the scent (once I've finished the shave) pleasant, even if the lather by itself is slightly too much for her. Again, my sniffer is a bit off from a cold, but I am inclined to tentatively say that Texas on Fire, once the lather has been put to bed, is a distinctive, but inoffensive, scent. Vanilla Sandalwood better watch it's back.
Thanks for the report. ToF is on the short list of scents that I haven’t tried or currently own. It’s great to hear that it’s more than just an homage to campfires. In barely related news, if you’re a tea drinker (I dabbled for a year but couldn’t stay away from coffee), you should try lapsang souchong. In the can it’s a mix of strong tobacco and campfire. In the cup it’s a strong black tea poured through a pine campfire. It’s PERFECT on a cold snowy/rainy day. It’s the Islay single malt of the tea world, and the solution to bland tea boredom............IF you’re tastebuds gravitate towards strong flavors.
Do about what you would do for face lathering. Hit it with water as desired in the bowl. Too much water? Drag the brush sides on the edge of the bowl to get the excess in the mix and go back for more soap. Circular and back and forth motions. You'll get it.
I ordered Tsuka SS & AS plus a bowl as a Christmas gift for my brother. My oldest daughter was evaluating the Max Headroom Most Glorious Stanks Inventory and commented how much she liked Tuscany. I ordered her some.
SOTD Decadent December 16th Stirling Mentholated Pre-Shave Soap Yaqi Knight-Helmet Zorrik Super Platinum Stirling Butterscotch Fan (24mm, Frigate Class) SP Dottie lather bowl Stirling Iced Pineapple soap and AS Sent from my Galaxy using Tapatalk
I love Iced Pineapple but it is much too cold in northern Michigan for me to use this time of year. I hope you had a great shave Andrew!
