So Thursday was a killer shave day with my Glacial Lemony Orange soap and splash. The splash is a mixture of Orange Chill that I had added a ton of crystals too, and the last quarter of my Glacial Lemon mixed together. When it has been a hot and sweaty day, this is easily my first choice soap, even over Glacial MITA. When it is hot, I want citrus, and this one is perfect.
So my new boar came today, and I threw it in a mug to soak, and give it its first lather to clean off the funk. To my surprise, it really had none at all, so I used it for my shave. My first impressions are: -The handle is resoundingly solid and hefty for the cost. Sure, you can buy a sub ten dollar Omega too, but it will have a lousy handle. It grips nicely, and looks good. -It was really soft out of the box. I will have to see how it breaks in, but this one may end up more Semogue soft than with an Omega backbone. Either way, it will be a quick break in. -Good splay, it isn't incredibly firm, but it most certainly isn't floppy. -Lost some hairs of right out of the box. I probably had better than a dozen come out while working up the lather, but they had quit by the time I was finished. At this price point that is completely to be expected. This is another fun offering from Rod, and just reinforces the idea that I will keep buying his brushes.
The Kong is my least favorite of the three. The brush is great, but the handle is not my favorite. It is just not the most comfortable. I would like to switch it out with a pro handle. The handle on this new boar is fantastic.
I really enjoyed the Glacial Wintergreen trio this morning. The soap I'm using is a refill puck from 2 years ago and even though it hasn't got the full wintergreen scent that my 5.8 jar has it smells nice enough. The lather is perfect and so is everything else.
It's actually something I've been looking to outsource. I'm making soap and aftershave at peak production right now, and still trying to add shampoo bars and cologne. I've been looking at the possibility of having someone else make waxes and pomades for me using some of my scents.
My sense from doing my first polar bear shave is that one might use a cool A.S. to follow it up, but the scent would be there while it wouldn't "feel" different from the Wintergreen.
I think I can state that the Wintergreen was the turning point. I'll still sit out the gym today, but I do hope to make a return Monday.
I'm proud to report to the TSD community that as of this writing, Sharp Dressed Man Soap is 3 short of 200 reviews (on Doc Ezlovan's website, that is).
@ezlovan could you provide the bottle cap specifications for the after shave splash bottles? I'd like to fit them with some mister tops rather then using the flow restrictors and would rather not transfer the AS to another bottle. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
I selected the Frozen Tundra for tomorrow's shave. My wife says the scent is similar to the Glacial Wintergreen in some ways, and so do I. It's also quite heavily-mentholated, though still much less than what a Glacial soap is. I'd rate the Frozen Tundra at around 7/10 on my personal menthol scale, so I believe it's the second coldest Stirling soap. @Paul Turner May I recommend the Glacial MITA for you? Now that you've discovered the beauty of these wonderful soaps I think you'd enjoy this one as well as the Glacial Lemon Chill.
Just got a package of Stirling goodness in the mail yesterday. Lots of soap, new boar brush, etc. Rod @ezlovan, in lieu of a soap sample, included some stickers at my request. My shave cabinet cannot accommodate the big green tubs, and I have to transfer everything into slightly smaller tubs, so the stickers keep everything nice and orderly for me. Too early to make a call on the boar but I can tell you that early indications are it's a real winner. In my first lather it shed a lot, but it feels more broken in than Would expect, and it doesn't smell as funky as I would have expected either. I anticipate that after a few uses I may be dropping a Semogue out of my collection.
If you source those somewhere let me know, Andrew. I bought bottles with spray misters for that purpose, but I'd much rather leave the AS in the original containers and screw a mister head on top. Also, a question for @ezlovan: what is the difference between the aloe and witch hazel product and the standard aftershave product?
I think I can answer this one. The AS splash is alcohol based. No alcohol in the witch hazel and aloe. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
