March 27th Razor: HomeLike CT☆PT .90 OC Blade: Astra SP (3) Brush: Grizzly Bay SnowCloud/Fanchurian V5 Pre-shave: PAA The Cube Soap: Fine Aquamarine PAA Galactic witch hazel PAA unscented Star Jelly AS: Fine Aquamarine Fine Friday Good morning Awesome shave to start the day! Three passes for near BBS. Just the lightest tickle from the alum. Last shave with the .90 OC. One more plate to go. The open comb plate is a winner. New soap and splash today. Unplanned purchase. Andrew @Linuxguile passed it on as it wasn't his favorite. I quite like it and happy to have it. Have a great day!
Schools are still out but things are slowly returning to normal. Restaurants are being hit hard and people are not traveling for vacation even within Korea. People are going to work and everyone is wearing masks plus there is hand sanitizer almost everywhere. Things seemed to be under control, about 100 new cases a day and half of those are Koreans returning from overseas. No emergency shopping and the only thing that is in shortage are masks.
Fine shave for me this morning, with the Sir Hare Co. soap(Tobacco and Vanilla), followed by I guess a little too much Stoylin Gentleman aftershave, which I'll get to in a minute. I soaked the brush and loaded the soap a little longer than in past shaves. I could see both helped the shave. I did, though, get a cut and a weeper, both resulted from missing the area of my jawbone under the.....you know what's next.....right side, thus going at the area perhaps a bit too hard to make sure I wouldn't miss again. As for the Stoylin Gentleman, I didn't think I had too much on, because I certainly didn't "Niagra Falls" it, but I it began to smell weird-too overpowering. I think it was the combination of the soap and A.S.-both have similar ingredients. I just went to douse each side of my face with cold water and that appeared to regulate things. With the two cuts, and misuse of the Stoylin, balanced against the fact that it was a great shave minus those things, I'll give it Mildly Excellent.
March 27th Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements - PS Tube 2.0, CK-6 Atmotic SS & AS/C, ASB Star Jelly Heritage Collections '77-4 clone' w/Zenith Boar Toyo 777 Zenith boar knot in the 77-4 Heritage Collections handle swirled up a wonderfully fragrant, yogurty thick lather. PAA's Atmotic formulation is brown in the tub, results in slightly taupe goodness. 2 passes w/neck touch ups from a Toyo 777 (Japanese made, from German Solingen steel) worked out a very nice DFS+ this morning. No nicks or weepers. Followed with PAA's after shave balm, a lightly mentholated, thin lotion blend called Star Jelly. Finished this morning with PAA's matching 'Aftershave & Cologne' blend of Atmotic. One of my favorites, lasts for hours and hours, wifey approved 'Always'. From their website: Atmotic quite cleverly evokes the spirit of travel; Aged Oak, Dogwood, Patchouli and Ginger. Hope everyone has a fantastic Friday!
Well, it's that day of the week again-time for my FRIDAY FILES" -I guess I'm slowly winding down with my fall/winter shave sets, but you just never know around here....last spring there really wasn't MUCH of a spring-we almost bounded right into summer. I'll have to figure out a good "cutoff" date, after which I'll get out my spring/summer stuff. -Many years ago, I became aware of Edge Shaving CREAM(not the gel). It was nice. As I said in an earlier post here, I don't care for shave GEL, because to me it drowns out the smell of aftershave. -I feel I still need to "negotiate" my Duke Cannon Co. shave TUBE. Never used a tube before. Stay safe and healthy and happy shaves to us all...see ya next Friday.
March Focus Chiseled Face Groomatorium~~Simpson 2 "Chubby"~~Barbasol Floating Head~~Voskhod *******NEWS FLASH******* (Cue on the scene reporter, Skip Fendershot) Go ahead, Skip. Thanks, Mike. We are in the shave den of well-known and quite respected (he told me to say that, Mike) Primotenore. Am I pronouncing that correctly Primo? Indubitably, Skip. Thanks, Primo. Word on the street is that you have found a new soap and aftershave and have called it... (Skip rifles quickly through his scribbled note pad) Ah, here it is. Quote: The most masculine scent I have ever experienced, unquote. Tell us about it, Primo. Sure, Skip. If I may, Skip, I was perusing the interweb (sic) yesterday, because I had some extra time and I came across an Eau de Cologne by Santa Maria Novella called Nostalgia. Now, the description intrigued me greatly. "The scent of a vintage racing car. It brings to mind the smell of benzene, tires and leather." At $125 for 100ml, I was reticent, so I continued my search and then I found it. Chiseled Face Groomatorium Midnight Stag. I was heretofore unfamiliar with the company, although, as you probably already know, Skip, I am a well-known frequenter of such illustrious shaving fora as The Shave Den, et al. I took the proverbial plunge, Skip and ordered the shave soap, aftershave and to top it off and, if I may say, to qualify for free-shipping, the bath soap. Now, I waited.... Yesterday, the packaged arrived. I could smell the benzene before I even opened the box! Inside the package, very well-packed, were my products. (Skip makes a waving motion with his hand as if to hurry me along...I ignore) Skip, I used this product this morning. Let me briefly recap the shave. Sure, Primo. I used a synthetic fiber shave brush, made by a company on the Isle of Man called Simpson. I eschewed my normal practice of "blooming" the soap and went right to the puck. The soap is not too soft; but mos def© has some give. The brush lathered quickly and I probably over-lathered, but what the heck, right Skip? Uh...right, Primo. To the face...wow, luscious lather; thirsty lather, aromatic lather. After thorough hydration...shiny lather. With a once-used Voskhod razor blade... (Skip interrupts) Primo, didn't the Russians meddle in our last election? (Primo ignores the obvious baiting and continues) As I was saying, Skip, with a once-used Voskhod blade inserted in my Barbasol Floating Head Razor, I started my shave. What slickness! What cushion! What a SCENT!!! Boom shakalakaboom, Skip. What a magnificent shave! I was floored. I was agog. I was impressed. Three passes later and I am left with an amazing shave. Post-shave...that's how your skin feels afterwards, Skip. Thanks, Primo. Post-shave was well above-average. Quite excellent. I cracked open the bottle of aftershave and applied a liberal amount to my face. Wowsers! Skip. It was if I splashed some Maker's Mark bourbon on my face...mixed with STP. The unforeseen menthol kick really surprised me...pleasantly, I might add. In conclusion, Skip. Chiseled Face Groomatorium Midnight Stag is THE most masculine scent I have ever used. More so than B&M Roam, which I found far too smokey and more than B&M Leviathan, which has a coffee and cedar scent. Primo gives this product two big thumbs up and ranks it in his most recent top-five soaps poll. Well, thanks for your time, Primo. The audience really appreciates your commentary and if I do say so myself, you smell terrific. Thanks, Skip. This is Skip Fendershot in Primo's shave den signing off. Back to you, Mike.
What a great post, shave, and pic Joseph! I am still laughing. I have Chiseled Face's Cryogen and that soap makes a great lather as well so I am not surprised about Midnight Stag's performance. Stay safe and be well, Maestro!
