SOS: December 2018

ilts · Dec 12, 2018

Good Morning Everyone SOTD 12/12/18

'52 Gillette Super Speed
Wilkinson Sword (12)
Erskine 3103 Boar
Williams
Cold Water Rinse, Alum Block
Pinaud Reserve Whisky Woods A/S

Have A Great Day!

Douglas Carey · Dec 12, 2018

DaltonGang said: ↑

Today's shave was with a Germania Made razor. I had a very nice 2 pass shave, that left me BBS. Zero issues.

Razor- Imperial Razor Co. Germania.
Brush- JR#262. Ebony/Birdseye Maple. Silvertip Knot
Soap- Arko/Sandalwood Scented
Aftershave- Shulton Old Spice

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Love the brush and Old Spice decanter Scott.

Douglas Carey · Dec 12, 2018

Jan Zoethout said: ↑

SOTD 20181212.

Yaqi model R1605-S.
T.O.B.S "Lavender" shaving cream.
Timeless Ti 0.68 OC / Stork Ti "Taipan" handle.
Derby Premium (4).
Loris "E-108" EdP.
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Great looking brush Jan.

DaltonGang · Dec 12, 2018

Douglas Carey said: ↑

Love the brush and Old Spice decanter Scott.
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Thank you Douglas. The brush was from @Jayaruh .

Douglas Carey · Dec 12, 2018

DaltonGang said: ↑

Thank you Douglas. The brush was from @Jayaruh .
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@Jayaruh Jim does great work. To see his work improve over the last few years is really amazing.

120inna55 · Dec 12, 2018

Smooth Steve said: ↑

Great review Matt. Sounds like a great soap and that lather is without question perfect looking.
Steve
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Thank you!

jluc · Dec 12, 2018

December 12th
Razor: Blackland Sabre L2
Blade: Personna Gem PTFE (2)
Brush: Switchback/TGN Finest
Pre-shave: Stirling Mentholated
Soap: B&M Vespers
Lucky Tiger face tonic
AS: B&M Vespers

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Jayaruh · Dec 12, 2018

Williams Wednesday's Shave

Cold Water Wash
Williams Mug Shaving Soap
Jayaruh #18
Gillette Slim
Gillette Super Blue Blade X3
CWR
Aqua Velva 5 in 1 AS

My prep was just a cold water rinse. The Williams Mug Shaving Soap face lathered well with the Jayaruh #18 brush. I did two passes with the Gillette Slim Razor with a Gillette Super Blue Blade X3 blade and ended up with a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, I finished off with Aqua Velva 5 in 1 AS. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

PLAla · Dec 12, 2018

SOTD December 12, 2018

Prep: Cold water and Stirling mentholated pre-shave soap
Blade: vintage Personna twin
Razor: Schick L1
Brush: JR #60 synthetic
Soap: Stirling Ozark Mountain
Post: Witch hazel, Stirling Ozark Mountain aftershave

Have a great day!

shaveman · Dec 12, 2018

Asylum 41 Razor
Parker Teflon Blade (2nd)
Williams Mug Shave Soap
Stirling 24mm Synthetic Brush
Cremo Post Shave Balm
Old Spice Spray Cologne

mrchick · Dec 12, 2018

Travel SOTD
TSD Bourbon Vanilla Soap
Portland Razor Company Brush
Portland Razor Company Siren
Stirling Red Eye After Shave
Have fun!

Primotenore · Dec 12, 2018

Douglas Carey said: ↑

Pink Floyd isn't bad either.
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I prefer Blue Floïd...

Primotenore · Dec 12, 2018

120inna55 said: ↑

Grooming Dept | Earl Grey Gelato (Mallard Base)
APShaveCo. Elegant Emerald | SynBad 24mm
The New Improved Schick Injector Razor | Personna 74

Grooming Dept hadn't been high on my list of soaps to try because---agree or not---soaps that have matching splashes are more attractive to me. Certainly, this self-imposed restriction has resulted in my missing out on a few good soaps. When you pair that with the relatively scant availability of Grooming Dept products, it was unlikely I would be picking up a tub anytime soon. West Coast Shaving changed that. The readily available stock, free shipping, and ease of ordering made the $23 for 4 oz. price tag a bit more palatable. I ordered After The Fire from WCS, and then I commented on a Grooming Dept Instagram post indicating I'd made my first purchase of one of their soaps. Soon after my post, Grooming Dept contacted me via direct message and asked which soap I ordered. Then they offered to send me a tub of Earl Grey Gelato in their Mallard soap base. I was initially hesitant to accept the generous offer as I try to avoid making a habit of using free products and then touting their wonderful qualities. That said, Grooming Dept never once asked me to speak publicly about my experience but rather seemed genuinely interested in hearing my feedback directly, thus an exception was made.

In addition to the usual suspects, the highlights of ingredients in the Mallard base include duck fat, goat milk, babassu oil, cupuacu butter, kokum butter, meadowfoam oil, jojoba oil, and kaolin clay (I'll include the unabridged list following this writing). That's an impressive list, and as such has the potential to be a good soap. Absent any data to support my theory, I suspect the source of tallow used has less to do with the product's performance than do the ratios and technique employed by the artisan, so I've wondered if the recent surge in duck fat bases hasn't been overplayed. Regardless, upon first use, Grooming Dept has me.

The dry product in the tub looks like formed rubber and is a light sandstone color. I honestly expected it to return to its form after pressing in with my thumb, but the appearance is deceptive, and it acts as many soft soaps leaving a dent with minimal crumbling. With the exception of a couple tiny caverns made by escaping bubbles, the surface is smooth and solid in appearance and has retracted from the wall of the tub as it cures.

The documented scent notes of Earl Grey Gelato are "Earl Grey Tea, Lemon Gelato, and Waffle Cone". The fragrance off the tub is one of the lightest I've ever smelled. I simply could not detect much fragrance at all. I test lathered the night before and once again proved dry product scent assessments can't be trusted. A wonderful creamy and slightly sweet lemon fragrance quite boldly filled the bathroom. As I continued to play with lather, a warm muted vanilla crept in. The black tea note was also understated but made a late appearance nonetheless.

While it's a good practice to test lather a soap that's new to you, this is one of those bases in which I would say it's essential to understanding the limits of the soap. It has a fair amount of thirst, and much like PAA's CK-6 base, it functions at an adequate level even when it's not optimized. If you stop there, you may very well miss out on the most important aspect of the base, namely the slickness. However, the addition of more water transforms it into what it's intended to be. I found it difficult to drown this lather as it kept accepting more and more water. If you employ this method, the sweet spot is readily evident and a creamy, lustrous lather is forthcoming. It actually looks as if it will drip off your brush, but it doesn't. If you'll note in my SOTD picture, there are peaks in the lather. The only way I could get it to do that was to underwater it. The second image is an optimized lather. To borrow a comparison often used by the great Jason Rudman, it looks like room temperature sour cream.

In real-world use, this lather is nothing short of spectacular. It's not just a pretty lather but a work horse, providing everything one expects from a top artisanal soap, demonstrating remarkable density, off-the-charts primary slickness as well as equally extraordinary residual slickness. The post shave is among the highest performers as well. Even for a head-shave, a post product was completely unnecessary, but if you're looking for a scent complement, Catie's Bubbles' Confiant would pair nicely and pulls this out of gourmand territory. Alternatively, for the Earl Grey push, Barrister and Mann's Cheshire would do in a pinch. For evaluation purposes, I skipped a post product and have no regrets.

In my opinion, Grooming Dept earns a spot among the elite artisans at least in terms of this duck fat base. While I belabored the need to explore its water limits, it's not a difficult product to lather. The warm, mellow, lemon-vanilla and black tea fragrance of Earl Grey Gelato is fresh and unique, so I'll be keeping this generous gift from Grooming Dept. Hopefully, I'll eventually get around to trying my purchased tub of After The Fire that utilizes Grooming Dept's Special Edition base which includes beef tallow in addition to duck fat.

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Aloe Vera, Water, Potassium Hydroxide, Duck Fat, Babassu Oil, Castor Oil, Cupuacu Butter, Kokum Butter, Meadowfoam Oil, Jojoba Oil, Abyssinian Oil, Fragrance, Silk Peptides, Glycerin, Sunflower Lecithin, Goat Milk, Sucrose Cocoate, Carnauba wax, Kaolin Clay, Calendula Extract, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Lactate and Vitamin E.

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Very well-written review, Matt.

Bobcat · Dec 12, 2018

Wednesday

Prep: Warm Shower-Stirling Vanilla Sandalwood
Soap: Stirling Agar
Razor: Gillette NEW Short Comb
Blade: Personna Med Prep (9)
Brush: Maggard 2-Band Badger-24mmx56mm
Aftershave: Stirling Agar w/Menthol

WTG-XTG-ATG (adjusted angles for my beard)

Stirling Agar today. 20 seconds to load the Maggard 2-Band Badger brush. Easy, thick, slick, lather. Personna Med Prep still in the Gillette NEW Short Comb. Excellent smooth, close, shave. I finished with Stirling Agar aftershave.

Bob

Norcalnewb · Dec 12, 2018

December 12 SOTD:

Razor: Gillette Diplomat
Blade: Rapira Swedish Super Steel
Brush: PAA Starcraft
Lather: Stirling Deep Blue Sea
Aftershave: Stirling Deep Blue Sea
Additional Care:
Stirling Unscented PSB

Primotenore · Dec 12, 2018

SHAVEWIZARD420 said: ↑

SHAVE OF THE DAY

Prep: Hot water splash
Razor: Gillette Superspeed Flair Tip
Blade: Topaz Platinum
Brush: Unknown Badger
Soap: PAA The Beach
Post: Van Yulay- Arabian Nights balm (sample)

Had a very rough shave this morning. Not surprised since this no name badger brush is very floppy and cannot get a decent lather to save my life with this brush. Eventually the PAA whipped up to something resembling lather, but there was still a lot of tugging and pulling. Wasnt till the 3rd pass when things started to become acceptable. Finished off with Arabian Nights which burns my skin somewhat. Accidently left this sample outside in the heat and it turned to a grainy consistancy. otherwise would have just PIF'ed it but since its like this i figured to use it up rather than give someone the wrong impression of this product. since the shave gear at this house is limited the results were expected. Looking forward to tomorrow's shave since a few things arrived in the mail. Hope everyone had a better experience!
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Tomorrow's a new shave, it can only get better!

Primotenore · Dec 12, 2018

ram57 said: ↑

My wife worked for a US company who had an office in Heidelberg but I was stationed in Erlangen and she worked as a counselor for the US schools in Nuremberg area. We were planning on staying in Heidelberg when I was getting out the service but the wall came down and Germany would not give a visa so we headed back to the US. The Castle was a beauty and having the castle the whole night for a work dinner party sounds awesome.
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I sang in Heidelberg a few times. Beautiful city and theater.

Douglas Carey · Dec 12, 2018

Primotenore said: ↑

I prefer Blue Floïd...
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120inna55 · Dec 12, 2018

Primotenore said: ↑

Very well-written review, Matt.
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Thank you!

McGrande · Dec 12, 2018

12 December 2018

Cream: Proraso White
Brush: Semogue 620 boar
Bowl: Dollar Tree Salsa
Razor: RazoRock German 37 slant
Blade: Gillette Nacet (4)
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman

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SOS: December 2018

ilts Well-Known Member

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DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

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jluc smelling pretty

Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

PLAla Bit Shy of a Full Puck

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SOS: December 2018

ilts Well-Known Member

Douglas Carey Wildman

Douglas Carey Wildman

DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

Douglas Carey Wildman

120inna55 Well-Known Member

jluc smelling pretty

Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

PLAla Bit Shy of a Full Puck

shaveman Well-Known Member

mrchick Odd, Terrible Avatar

Primotenore missed opera tunity

Primotenore missed opera tunity

Bobcat Well-Known Member

Norcalnewb Magnanimous Moos

Primotenore missed opera tunity

Primotenore missed opera tunity

Douglas Carey Wildman

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McGrande Well-Known Member

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