SoS: June 12, 2017 - June 18, 2017

Razor: Portland Razor Co Chimera
Strop: Drygulch 45
Brush Handle: 30DC LE
Knot: APShaveCo Cashmere
Soap: Stirling Gentleman
Post Care: Thayers Witch Hazel
Alum
Osage Rub
Aftershave: Stirling Gentleman

Another great shave this morning. It's been too long since I used a Stirling soap; great lather, protection, slickness and scent. Three passes today and a DFS was the result. Have a great day folks!

 

Tallow + Steel - "Himalaya"
Island Bladeworks "Stoya" | Elite Razor Manchurian
Ever-Ready SE | Gem PTFE (1)

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As if I needed another shave soap, I've been anticipating the release of Tallow + Steel's latest creation. There was a fair amount of hype, but honestly, the performance of my favorite artisans' products have reached a level that frankly has very little room for improvement. Of course, just recently, Barrister's Reserve has demonstrated to me the bar could still be raised, so I remained realistic with my expectations.

Presentation and packaging was never lacking in Tallow + Steel even as freshmen. That same attention to aesthetics has carried over to their latest rollout. The trademark logo impression in the soap itself is gone due to the much softer consistency. High-contrast labels featuring product-specific artwork while adhering to a minimalist theme adorn a product that's worthy of it.

Even though in most cases it's completely futile to attempt to derive an opinion of a soap's fragrance from the dry puck alone, we all still take a whiff. I'd ordered the whole 5-fragrance set, but I'd decided I would start with "Himalaya" due to its inclusion of labdanum, with which I apparently have a love affair. The documented scent notes are, "amber, cedarwood, benzoin, tobacco, labdanum, vanilla, jasmine, rhododendron, palmarosa, cardamom, beeswax, sugandha kokila." I don't even know what a couple of those are, but here's my take: Upon lathering, there was a blunted cedar fragrance that was initially soft and almost creamy. Benzoin and other resinous notes built up during the face lathering and sharpened it up a bit giving way to a more realistic cedar and tobacco. While labdanum was certainly detected, it didn't dominate but rather seemed to hold everything together. As the shave progressed, there was a suggestion of vanilla and caramelized honey.

Loading this new base was intuitive. I had good results by starting with a well-wrung out damp knot, but leaving some visible moisture on the tips. This small bit of water on the tips prevented the hair from digging out hunks of the soft soap and facilitated a generous load in a short amount of time. Face lathering was easy and yielded a dense creamy lather that looks like most of my other favorite soaps that contain clay. It wasn't particularly thirsty, but it did have a remarkable range, taking on more and more water without threatening to break down. The slickness was phenomenal, allowing me to take long sweeping passes on my dome. As I rinsed between passes, I noted an excellent residual slickness. The aforementioned characteristics notwithstanding, the post-shave is probably the most outstanding aspect of this soap. I was left with a luxurious soft, moisturized scalp and face.

The water-based splash is the usual yellow tinted liquid that's thicker than water and it only takes about 3 shakes to cover my entire scalp, face, and neck. Having experience with this sort of nutrient rich post-product, I applied it to damp skin and noted light tackiness for about 10 minutes. After which time, my skin felt silky smooth. The scent strength of Himalaya is about a 4 on a scale of 1-5. The spicy resinous fragrance is well-matched to the soap, but it seems to showcase the spiciness a little better. The drydown is that of cedarwood and the faint darkened honey notes I had detected in the soap. I still detect the fragrance slightly after 5 hours.

I was a fan of Tallow + Steel's prior base, so like others, I was perplexed by the abandoning the old fragrances and introducing a new base. Now, I can say, I get it. At least with regard to the base. This base is superior to the old one particularly in the post-shave arena, and I wouldn't change a thing. As to the fragrance, "Himalaya" is artfully crafted and unlike anything they'd offered in the past. I look forward to trying the others.

 

Tonight's shave was with a freebie, that came along with a travel hone/strop combo. Thanks for the heads up @Spyder .


The razor was an easy cleanup and restore. Everything was straights as an arrow, and honed up beautifully, to give a 2 pass DFS, with slight irritation. I just came back from the swimming pool, and the Sandalwood slightly irritated the skin. Other than that, it was a perfect shave, no issues.

Razor- The Shumate Cutlery Co. St Louis MO. "Shumate Barber"
Brush- B400 By Tom
Soap- Stirling Sandalwood
Aftershave- Arctic Blue

 

June 17

Classic Samurai shavette
Omega 10043( I think that's right)
Snake Bite shave soap
Thayers Medicated
Aqua Velva

June 18

Gem G-Bar w/ Gem stainless
Omega 10043
Snake Bite shave soap
Skin Bracer

 

June 18th. Jamie's SOTN
ever-ready 1924 shovelhead

 

Father's day shave
Cream veleiro, finest badger brush and razor Alfredo Miguel, blade personna super platinum (3), shavette filarmonica, blade Big Ben (2), after shave Manantiales La Toja. Well satisfied. Happy fathers's day friends.


Enviado desde mi XT1635-02 mediante Tapatalk

 

I should be used to this by now but I am always blown away by the quality of the shave I get every time I use the C3. There is no faulting this razor on any score. And to think, I almost sold it after my first shave as I didn't take to it at first blush.

Hot water preparation
AOS Lavender PSO
Mike's Natural Soaps Hungarian Lavender
Simpson Case Best Badger
Schick C3
NOS Dutch Schick aka Dog's Danglies (4)
AOS Lavender After Shave Balm


Happy shaving - Karl

 

June 2017!!!

Trials and Tribulations

June 18

Razor - 1959 (E4)Gillette Fatboy (9)
Blade - (3)
Soap - Arko
Brush - Jayaruh #46
Post - Alum

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads who are a part of our little experiment in social shaving here. I've loved some of the pictures that have been posted. Makes me remember when mine were much younger. My daughters are now in their mid 30s, sons in their mid to early 20s.

As for the shave today I'll keep it short. Final trial on the Super Platinum and no problems. Maybe a bit of irritation but nothing to worry about. Fine near-BBS result again and another Super-Max has shown its stuff!

In the spirit of the photo sharing I'll throw one up that some of you old-timers here will have seen. The newer members have probably missed out on this gem so here goes. Taken two weeks after first becoming a dad with my oldest daughter. This is a photo of a photo so the date is not the date the picture was taken. It's a bit older than that.

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SOTD - 18 June 2017



Have a superb Monday!

 

Thanks very much Joseph.

Sent from my STV100-3 using Tapatalk

 

Guys, I'm spying on you all - let's move on to the new SoS thread! Lolllllllllll