30 Day Rule/Focus; July 2024. All Are Welcome!

DING! DING! DING!!!!!

You, sir, are correct! It was produced for only about a year, if memory serves, and marketed mostly in the Middle East. The packaging makes it look like some kids blade but it is, in my opinion, the smoothest and sharpest of the bunch. Somewhere in my garage is several thousand of them.

 

I was going to say, that aftershave DOES look different from mine-the liquid is a lighter color. I guess that means you have the ORIGINAL Proraso Refreshing??

 

I do remember the Arko overload period. And yes, that's when mine were purchased. We probably kept the stock price overinflated for a time. Obviously, I haven't bought any Russian Steel for several years just due to my circumstances, but I noticed that all my old vendor buddies in Moscow and Chelyabinsk have disappeared from Ebay. I used to have quite a bit of fun around here poking fun at Putin and all but they did take a dark turn for sure. Not totally unexpected but disappointing.

You are also correct with Sharp Star! I think a few of us bought out the last warehouse full of them after I did a blade trial with them and shared the wealth. I haven't found any reliable source of them since I started looking again, other than a beauty supply place that has one 5 pack left. As I mentioned in my post to Trigger, I have thousands somewhere in the garage. I won't run out within the next 10 years probably. That also includes the Voskhods.

Great to "see" you again!

 

That's a beauty! The New Deluxe is a mighty fine razor and we'll schedule a day for sure.

 

fine proraso shave Paul,is it the super formula version?

 

sounds good.looking forward to it.i'll even throw a sharp star in it,iscored 50 or so some time back.

 

yes sir,2 full bottles left,i stocked up a few years ago.i do have the newer fancier bottles as well.i use the older one once in a while for a treat..

 

July 10 SOTM

Good morning.

Rockwell Model T v1 (5)
Zorrik DE Blade (5)
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic Brush
Captain's Choice 45th Parallel SC and AS
Stirling Alum Block
Personal Care Witch Hazel
Beard Growth: 37 hrs



I went with the Model T because I wanted a quick shave. I only needed two passes and a minor touch-up on my right neck. TheZorrik blade really mowed down my beard, but it was starting to feel rough so I knew that I was going to toss it after the shave. Did get a miniscule weep on the chin.
Captain's Choice always performs well that gives a nice, creamy rich lather. Here's my lather:



Hit my shaved areas with the alum and did get some feedback. It was to be expected because the blade was starting to feel a little rough. Splashed on the witch hazel and the matching aftershave to finish this session. Take care.

 

fine captain's shave and pics Joe.

 

The soap is, right.

 

very good.i find it a whole bunch better than the older tubbed soap,the tubed cream was always better before the reformulation.the new tubed cream is better but more similar to the new tubs now.

 

Not a silly question at all. I have a couple tubs of cream that are impossible to load from because of their shape (Supply Co, I am looking accusingly at you). The JM Fraser's is a huge tub but of cream rather than soap. The cream has dried out a bit but is still quite soft, which lets it still load easily onto a damp brush. And the tub itself is quite a wide diameter with the cream now 1/2" or more below the surface, so it is easy to swirl a brush in it.

Swirling in the tub is the easiest way to face lather with this cream. But if I were bowl lathering it, I would definitely scoop instead.

 

Yeah, that was a fabulous once in a lifetime deal on it, wasn't it?

 

Oooh! Shiny Preciousss! We likes it, we does!

 

The Brits and the French playing well together? Say it isn't so!

 

I have a Trac II in my cupboard that says "No!"...

 

Thanks for that info. I'd do much better with a brush than by hand. Clubman has a similar-looking "cream", along with all elsr they have, but they strongly prefer you to scoop in manually. Not for me. I'll just use any barbershop soap w/Clubman A.S. I'll look i to that Fraser's with more confidence now.

 

Thanks Gary.

 

A relatively rare example of a "reformulation" of a commercial shave product actually improving it! Changes to soap bases by artisan makers often improve them, but with the commercial products, it usually just seems to make the manufacturing costs lower while ruining the product...

 

Well, naturally! Doesn't every normal person have several thousand Russian razor blades stashed in their garage?