THE FINALS: STIRLING VS CAPTAIN'S CHOICE
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Shave 2: Captains Choice - Venture
The Setup:
Razor: Merkur 34C
Blade: Feather Stainless
Brush: Perfecto Pure Badger
Mug: Henry Cavendish
Post Shave: Witch Hazel and Cetaphil
CC provided another great shave. This soap is easy to lather, slick, and has good post shave feel.
WTG and XTG and a touchup pass for a DFS.
Analysis: (Obviouse statement) Captain's Choice and Stirling were the two most consistantly good soaps I used this month. Picking a winner from these two is like asking if you want crab legs or steak. Yes, please!
Ease of Lather:
CC is a little ahead of Stirling in ease of lather. CC - 9 vs Stirling - 7.5 to 8
Slickness:
Slickness is a push. Both are great. CC - 9 vs Stirling 9
Post Shave Feel:
To me, post shave feel is where Stirling sets itself apart from the pack. My skin felt moisturized after using Stirling. CC had good post shave feel in that my skin felt good and wasn't dried out when finished shaving. CC - 7 vs Stirling - 10.
This matchup comes down to which soap provides the best overall shave experience for me. CC is a top tier soap, for sure. Unfortunately, I have experienced a little skin irritation during the last 2 shaves with it. Not bad, just slightly annoying. I liken this to shelling crablegs before you dunk it in butter and taste that sweet suculant goodness. I really wish I didnt have the irritation. This would be an awesome everyday soap for me. I didn't use a preshave treatment during this experiment because I wanted to see what the soaps themselves brought to the table. Will try a preshave step next time.
Stirling is the steak or beef you want to eat regularly. You want to try the ribs, brisket, tri-tip, sirloin, and any other available cuts. Any method of lathering works with this soap. The only thing I can remotely complain about is that it can be a little tricky to know when you have added enough water to get that good slickness. My best lather with this soap was when I threw a lot of water at it in the beginning and went to town bowl/mug lathering.
I love both of these soaps. I honestly think that if I didnt have the irritation with CC it would be my favorite soap. I will definitely look for ways to reduce the irritation moving forward.
I really tried not to jump on the Stirling bandwagon. However, of the soaps I sampled this month Stirling was the best all around soap for me.
The March Madness 2019 winner is STIRLING!
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Have a great weekend everybody!
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