SMF

hi guys. i've been away a long time and thought i'd check in a see how ya all are doing. now that i have ten years of wet shaving under my belt i would like to share my observations on the best products i've found. for what it's worth !
razors: my choice is: merkur 38c or a 34 hd in gold plate. best gillette is a red tip super speed but is more harsh than the merkurs.
blades: best blades are the nos vintage gillette platinum plus followed by gillette spoilers , then the super iridiums.
cream: going with trumpers as best bang for the buck
soap: fine triple milled
best shave stick: palmolive (a must when using a cartridge razor)
aftershave: proraso
aftershave balm: neutrogena or geo trumper coral skin food
best soap brush: simpson commodore x3 in best
best cream brush: kent bk8 in silvertip
i was totally disappointed in simpson brushes and their hair loss 10 years ago. recently purchased a chubby 2 in best and a commodore in best. happy to say i've not lost one hair from either of them. the chubby seems to be too large and a lather hog in my opinion.
i have spent many, many dollars trying all types of products and right now these have won out over all others.

i hope to see that the old timers are still around and we haven't lost to many of them. great knowledge from this site. gil

Hi Gil! Glad to have you back.

My favorites:

Razors: Rockwell 6C (plate 2) and Mergress (at lowest setting).

Blades: I get along well with most decent blades. Favorites are Personna Med Prep, Perma-Sharp Super, Super Iridium, Treet Dura Sharp, Tiz (Iranian brand), and many others. Among vintage blades, I don't think anyone has ever equaled the Personna 74.

Brushes: Semogue 1305 (boar), Semoge 2105, 730, 2140 (silvertip), Asylum BG-7 (synthetic), Razorock (synthetic).

Soaps (no creams here): Valobra hard soap (stick or cake), Mike's Natural Soaps.
(Note: Valobra quadruple-mills their bath soaps, but they don't give their shaving soaps this treatment. A softer shaving soap makes sense to me.)

Aftershave: Thayer's Peach Witch Hazel Astringent.

I look forward to more of your posts, Gil!

- Murray

hi murray, i remember you . good to see you're still breathing

Hey Gil! Glad to see you here again!

hi gary, hope all is good with you. is fallingwickets still around? how about gordon?

Gil, Clive/fallingwickets still frequents SMF, but Gordon disappeared some time ago.

- Murray

Gil, glad to see you back! I've been poking around here a bit again lately, too, after a long layoff.

I may have to give a Simpson another whirl again, but for me, the best brush going right now is the Semogue Caravela mixed-knot in resin.

I share your enthusiasm for Fine soaps, but I use homemade soaps more than anything else. Palmolive makes the - ahem - cut for me, too.

Welcome back!

Welcome back to the forum!

still here!! Nice to see you out and about Gil. The simpson chubby 3 still sits proudly on the pseudo DrP shelf

Razor: muhle 89 made better by an ikon bulldog handle

soap; trumpers rose or cyril salter and if an inheritance cheque is in the mail, MdC

blades: gillette rubies and personna hospital blades

brush; tulip 3 rules

a tip of the hat to mia gordon's fidelity

clive

glad to hear from you clive. i was going to ask about that chubby

Welcome back!

Chris

thanks

Good to see you back , gil

Welcome again

Sorry to resurrect old thread but good to see you Gil, I'm back myself after a long hiatus!
My faves these days are:
razor: Feather AS-DS1, with a cart Schick 3 for touch ups.
blade: I shift around, still have a ton of stock of Wilks, Gillettes, Personna 74...set for life.
brush: still love my Simpson Gary Young and Major, Rooney finest #2, and coral Emillion, but my simple Vulfix 374 gets most of the action these days.
cream: still working through old stock of Coates tubes, have several left. If in a hurry I find Kiss My Face patchouli with no brush a good sub.
after shave: Clubman Vanilla or Musk or Original, or Loccitane Cade moisturizer. Also like Kiehl's after shave balm.
edt: Aqua di Parma, Taylor's #74 green, or any of the Penhaligon's samples I have here.

Welcome back, long live SMF!

Welcome back, Rob! It's good to see you again.

- Murray

Thanks Murray you too!

welcome back rob....i found a few tubes of coates in the pseudo DrP drawer and use the rose occasionally. Good stuff which of course makes me wonder if there are still tubes for sale, because you know, one can never have enough spares!!!

clive