Arko Adjustable April
April 14
Razor - Soviet Consul
Blade -
![[IMG]](https://theshaveden.com/forums/attachments/voskhod-teflon-coated-jpg.223285/)
Soap - Russian Shave Cream - "Apple Blossom"
Brush - Stirling Two Band Synthetic
Post - Alum
Let's have some fun, shall we? Last night I gave the Russian Shave Cream from
@Keithmax a quick run. Wasn't bad but wasn't spectacular. However, a quick run really isn't fair. I can do better than that. I've seen me do it. So, day two with the gear is going to be a full run down of this cream. I have had little luck in getting my usual translators to work on the tube, so I went old school and contacted some Russian blade contacts. One pointed me to the following description of the cream.
Shaving cream "Apple blossom", 40 grams
The cream provides a gentle and thorough shaving while also caring for the skin.
Contains extract of St. John's wort, natural glycerin.
The cream creates an abundant, firm and fragrant foam, provides a gentle and effective shave.
The cream has a soothing and anti-inflammatory effect on the skin, relieves irritation.
Recommended for sensitive skin.
Perfume composition of a fantasy direction with a pronounced flavor of an apple.
Well, that helps a bit. Good description in bad English but it adds some knowledge. However, the name still won't pull up in a translator for me so I got sneaky and typed "Apple blossom" into Google translate to Russian and.....that's the name.
The three green words under the main lettering translate as "cream for shaving". That much I knew as every tube of Russian shave cream I've seen has those and my translator tools will convert that. So....Apple Blossom Shaving Cream. From the Motherland. I'm sure someone will ask, does the scent really smell like apple blossoms? Since I've never been around apple blossoms I have no idea. I tried to figure out the scent and even had my wife take a shot at it. I decided it was definitely a floral type scent. She thought a bit baby powderish - but.....she wasn't really trying. (Don't tell her I said that). A floral type scent and it's called Apple Blossom with pictures of blossoms. Works for me.
So, let's give it a full test. I stayed with the Stirling synthetic brush so I'd have better control over the water etc. Here is the amount I put in the bowl to work with, along with the brush after trying to work it into a lather.
The cream is about almond sized if it wasn't spiraled, and you can see that I got a really decent load in the brush. The cream was starting to lather up a bit in the bowl too. For size reference, that's a VDH bowl which I know many of you have. Well, with that kind of a decent load let's finish it up with a face lather.
Not bad at all. It's not really peaky here but it does provide that "snowman" effect that I like to go for. Very good coverage, plenty of cushion and it's persistent. Didn't dissipate any while I tried to take that pic and until I started the shave. So, let's start the shave. The gear again is the Soviet Consul on 9. Much more aggressive than the Slim it is based on. It's a Voskhod blade so the full Russian shave is in effect. I did three passes, with a fresh lather each pass. Here's what I will say about this cream. Not only does the lather provide a great slick surface and a cushion, it also gets better with each pass. I always wet my face for each pass and each time the lather was thicker and added peaks. Clearly some extra water didn't hurt it. In fact, it definitely improved it for each pass. I'm thinking that adding some extra water in the first lather attempt in the bowl would probably pop up a nice bowl full of lather. Something to try at some point. Honestly, I was quite surprised at how well it performed and how much I enjoyed using it. I'm a soap guy through and through, so not that experienced with creams, but this one could easily stay in my den to compete with the soaps.
One final item to share. After three passes, how much was left in the brush? Well, here you go. I squeezed the brush and scraped it into the bowl from my hand.
I would say I could have turned that into at least two more passes if not three. That's a lot of lather from such a small amount of cream. I'm a happy camper and quite impressed. The finish on the shave - three passes with no blood, quiet alum and BBS. Yep. A winner for sure. Hope you had a good day and here comes Wednesday!! Make it a great one!
Click to expand...
