I used to use Fragrantica ALOT when I was into collecting designer fragrances and a few niche fragrances of the creed line. I'm still into collecting fragrances, just not as much as I used to. Now it's mostly wet shaving gear today. If your into that sort of "hobby" Fragrantica is a great source to gather your info.
School is in. We started August 13 with students on a staggered schedule with about half coming at a time. Last Monday we switched to five days with the full student body. We have probably 20% of students choose a virtual option which is happening alongside the traditional on-campus model. Band has not been affected too much. We are performing at home games and have been allowed to take a small group to away games. Some schools are not allowing visiting bands so our away game travel has been reduced to three games this year. We have one of those trips tonight. We're taking 68 students. But the full band performs at the home games. We are more spaced out on the field and in the bleachers and we wear masks. It has gone pretty well to this point and we're halfway through the football season already.
Thanks Perry. I'm glad to hear that school and band have started off well! Crazy times, for sure. Thanks Andrew! I appreciate the kind words.
@wristwatchb, did I hear that it's your birthday? Happy Birthday! I got a delivery confirmation this morning. You may want to check the mail. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Thanks Evan! Perfect birthday timing on the brush handle! I saw where it had been delivered...right after I got home from the Post Office. I'll pick it up next week sometime. I'm gonna drop back and punt on the WD boar knot. It was $26 with shipping. That's a bit much for a stinky clump of pig's hair. Noodling continues on knot selection.
Friday's Shave #SEptember GEM Featherweight GEM S/S PTFE (1) Lowborn Supply 'Storm' synthetic Mitchell's Wool Fat Shaving Soap Dickinson's Witch Hazel Stirling 'Ramblin Man' Aftershave I decided to try using distilled water with the MWF today to see if the lather would change/improve. I started by dipping my brush in the cup of water and using it to wet my face instead of using the tap as usual. Then I squeezed out the brush and started loading the soap to get a dry paste into the knot. After applying the pasty soap to my face, I slowly added water by dipping the brush into the distilled water until it was well hydrated. Final result: the lather was really unchanged from my usual shaves with MWF. It looks great when I finish lathering the face, but it fades away at a steady pace. It's still very slick, but I have to speed up the shave to complete the passes before the lather disappears. I've enjoyed using MWF for about 9 months now and some lathers are slightly better than others. The only times I have had excellent lathers is when I've used it with the PAA Cube pre-shave. Nonetheless, I prefer soaps to perform well on their own. I've made it a point to use MWF at least once a week and I'd like to continue that trend. However, I have never been impressed with the lather, although it does still get the job done for the shave and I really like the post shave feel I get from the lanolin. I'm hoping to find the magic touch with this soap soon. Maybe this puck is from a bad batch? 2.5 passes with the GEM Featherweight today provided a comfortable shave and no irritation or mishaps.
SEptember Focus A&E Chasing the Dragon~~Simpson Milk Churn~~Pre-War USA Gillette Tech/Sharp Star Decent, if not great shave today. No real issues, I just have had better results. Good scent from the product and the MC felt great applying the lather. Nice thing about shaving, tomorrow I get to do it all over again.
Another awesome shave today. I never planned on doing a mini focus with the Sabre, if that's even what I'm doing....it's just so enjoyable to use that it's difficult to put it away. It's still the same GEM PTFE blade that I started with too. I really need to get more ordered, 'cuz sooner or later this one will retire. Another run today with Black Ship Grooming "Cap ' N Dark Side". There's still another shave or two left before this sample is dusted. My opinion stays the same with today's shave. Great scent. Performance is good...not great. Let's face it, the bar has been set very high the last few years in the artisan soap world. Wholly Kaw, Grooming Dept., B&M, A&E, Noble Otter, etc, etc. etc. have been turning out some incredible soap bases, with some wonderful scents. Black Ship's vegan base (the only base he offers) simply doesn't measure up to any of those I mentioned. I could expand the commentary about vegan vs: tallow, but I'll just say this - There are some vegan soaps that measure up to the tallow competitors. Grooming Dept. Janus tallow comes to mind. If you were to give me a tub of the Janus vegan, and not tell me what it was, I'd swear I was using a tallow-based soap (and a high-end one, at that). In every regard. Slickness, cushion, post-shave feel. It has it all. I've heard similar about Southern Witchcrafts. Although Black Ship Grooming's soap won't join my current lineup, I've still had three superb shaves using it. Have a great Friday, fellas!
Fantastic Baker Street shave, Jason! Very nice scent. Matter of fact, I used the Stirling Baker Street AS this morning. Looking forward to whatever it is you have planned for the razor handle...
