SOTD November 9 - November 15

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD MONDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 9, 2020

My new boar brush is just a great MWF lather builder. Many new to MWF give up on it because of lather building issues. It does take some time each morning to build a proper lather. It’s the ideal shave soap for an old retired fart who really enjoys taking his time on the morning shave. In my case I build two different lathers - a wetter, thinner face lather for my mug and a thicker, yogurty bowl lather for my dome. In both cases this new Sapele handled boar brush is a pleasure to use. The donated brand new Omega Pro48 knot just really works well for me. Some find it too large, but it works just beautifully for me. I now own two, this brush and my original Omega Pro48. They are my favorite brushes.

The shave went well. The sweet spot for a straight razor for me is 6/8. The current fashion now for modern artisan builders is for these huge shave hatchets. I don’t get it, but hey, different strokes for different folks. Even my son, Ben, owns a couple, but I’ve always been a vintage guy. The Witte Copperhead 6/8 arrived as NOS and just really checks all the boxes for me. It’s a Solingen steel blade that holds a solid, whisker-melting, buttery smooth, jasper stone edge. This morning’s mug shave was ‘epic’ to quote one of my shave mentors at TSD. The dome shave was every bit as good. I used to shave my Rex Ambassador at 4, but have found as my straight shaving skills developed that I really enjoy shaving all my adjustables wide open. Blade feel is what it’s all about for me. I feel cool, clean and smoothly velveteen.

RAZOR: Witte Solingen Copperhead 6/8 (Mug), Rex Ambassador (Dome)
BLADE: Astra Platinum
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Sapele/Acrylic Handle w/ New Omega Pro48 Boar Knot
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Chiseled Face Natural AS Splash

[Mike R]

Monday

Brush: Omega 13522 Pure
Soap: Arko
Razor: '52 Super Speed
Blade: Dorco ST300
A/S: Gillette Aftershave Gel, Sensitive Skin
Cologne / Fragrance: Quorum Silver

Mike

[drmoss_ca]

Giant Zowada O1, old stock Taylor's Sandalwood soap, Simpson X2L, Taylor's Sandalwood cologne:

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The soap has indeed lost the strong scent of toilet cleaner it was once famous for. Generous creamy lather too.

[drmoss_ca]

W&B Big Daddy chopper, Arran Aromatics Bay Citrus soap, Apothecary Shop brush, Trumper's Cologne:

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This was an interesting soap, and is no longer available. Vegetable-based, but with stearate as well as palmitate, it was made with the same base from Valobra that Art of Shaving originally used, and which Czech & Speake used. It doesn't have quite the same sweet, clay like scent that the other users of the Valobra soap base had. AoS have gone cheap and nasty (except for price, which went in the other direction!), and Czech & Speake were always priced to show they were somehow better than anyone else, despite their rather eccentric scents. As far as I know, only Valobra use their own base in a shaving soap these days (they also make traditional Italian soft soaps too). Anyway, generous if rather bubbly lather, not as creamy as a tallow soap, but pretty good. I should have used this more.

[jgreenepa]

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SOTD WEDNESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 11, 2020

To all who have served, thank you for your service on this somewhat auspiciously gloomy Veteran’s Day. The shave this morning went well. The Genco 35 5/8 swept away my 24 hour mug stubble and was followed by an equivalent job on my noggin with the LaResche 77. I'm rapidly reaching the point where I’m shaving almost exclusively with boar brushes. For today’s shave I loaded the 26mm boar ferrule on the Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute. It performed beautifully and just really felt great! I know there are some who make a big deal about the black bristles in boar brushes feeling too sharp or whatever, but that’s never been a problem for me. In fact, I wasn’t even aware of the issue until reading about it. It may be a function of my Parkinsonian neurology, but I enjoy scritchiness in my boars. Today’s shave left me feeling clean, refreshed and velveteen smooth!

RAZOR: Genco 35 5/8 (Mug), LaResche 77 (Dome)
BLADE: Astra Platinum DE (2)
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: Alpha Shaving T-400 Tribute w/ 26mm Boar
CREAM: Nancy Boy Signature
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with Glyce Glycerin soap followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Nancy Boy Cooling After-Shave Gel Signature Scent.

[drmoss_ca]

Mappin & Webb wedge, Czech & Speake Oxford and Cambridge soap, Grosvenor 2-band, Taylor's Eton College:

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The C&S soap is £24 a refill (or £115 in an aluminium dish), and yet it is the same soap as used to be sold by AoS, but with a wretched scent. I also have their No.88, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to use it; both smell as if something died in it. And on checking to see what the Valobra Original (a hard soap, rather than their Italian soft soaps) I see they have been bought and dismantled. Rather sad. Another worthy soap gone the way of the dodo.

[brothers]

Is the reference to they who were dismantled, are you referring to C&S or Valobra?

[drmoss_ca]

Valobra. In honour of their passing, I'll go through their soaps, starting today with their hard soap, exactly the same as the base used once upon a time by C&S, AoS and Arran Aromatics. Also Giant Zowada O1, Simpson X2L and Trumper Eau de Quinine:

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[drmoss_ca]

W&B chopper with Valobra soft almond soap, Rooney Beehive, Trumper's Milk of Flowers:

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD FRIDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 13, 2020

Superstitious sorts might be a bit Leary of a sharp edged single blade shave on Friday the thirteenth, but my shave was just awesome. The Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 is easily my favorite straight razor as well as being one of my oldest razors. There’s something about Sheffield cast steel razors, but this one shaves like a dream. My dome shave was every bit as good. The Colonial General V2 never lets me down. I feel cool, clean and velveteen!

RAZOR: Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 Sheffield Cast Steel (Mug), Colonial General V2 (Dome)
BLADE: Feather Super AC
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Argan Oil
BRUSH: JR Custom Rosewood Silvertip Badger
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Osage Rub.

[drmoss_ca]

Mappin & Webb wedge, Trumper's Coconut soap (old tallow stock), Rooney finest, Creed Virgin Island Water (to keep the coconut vibe):

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD SATURDAY AFTERNOON, NOVEMBER 14, 2020

The hot button item on the honey-do list SWMBO provided yesterday kept me busy for most of the morning. For some reason she decided the combination glass shelf and hand towel rack in our guest lavatory suddenly became “ugly” after 5 years. The request to install the new one required removing the old which, of course, mounted completely differently from the new one. So spackling, paint matching and painting took most of the early morning. Then discovering that the cheap wall anchors that came with the new shelf were insufficient and required replacement with heavier duty third party anchors delayed things until almost noon. Anyway, thank goodness a great shave preceding all this nonsense and kept me in good spirits.

I'm rapidly becoming a confirmed vintage cast steel Sheffield fan. Yesterday’s shave with my favorite razor, the Manhattan Cutlery 13/16 French Point was outstanding. One of those shaves where onerecognizes what incredibly comfortable and close velveteen bliss is. Today’s modern Artisan Riga Razor 7/8 shaves acceptably, but just doesn’t feel as good in hand as yesterday’s 180 year old vintage masterpiece. The heft and balance just seem off. The shave was fine, but that special effortlessness of yesterday’s shave was missing. In any case the outcome wasacceptable, and the dome shave with my favoriteShake Sharp Model 1.5 was excellent. I felt refreshed, clean, cool and velveteen when finished! That feeling thankfully persisted throughout a less than pleasant morning!

RAZOR: Riga Razor 7/8 (Mug), Shake Sharp Model 1.5 (Dome)
BLADE: Two stacked Polsilver DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub withArgan Oil.
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger Fan Knot
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Osage Rub.

[drmoss_ca]

Zowada O1 custom, Kent soap, Simpson E3. I realise I haven't selected an aftershave yet, so I'll probably go with some simple Old Spice or Pinaud Clubman to go with the soapy scent of the Kent/MWF:

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[jgreenepa]

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SOTD SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 15, 2020

Japanese silver steel razors really hold an edge! This morning I shaved with two razors, my NOS Diamond Hayashi Nichiri Tokusen 6/8 and my Barbasol Floating Head (BFH). The straight razor is one of two razors obtained through my son, Ben. Both the razors were finished by Ben on a jnat progression. These are the only two razors I have without a jasper stone edge. But that’s just fine by me as they shave magnificently. Three slow, luxurious passes (WTG, ATG, XTG) delivered that incredibly smooth velveteen shave surface that I find myself amazed at hours after the shave. I’ve reached a point in my straight razor technique where I don’t believe I could get a closer mug shave!

The new Sapele/resin handled boar built for me by TSD’s extremely talented Canadian turner is perfect for MWF. I’m easily able to generate the two kinds of lather I require for my morning shaves - a thinner, wetter lather for my mug, and a thicker more yogurty lather for the noggin. The BFH is a highly efficient safety razor that requires concentration and focus during the dome shave as it does have a tendency to bite. I find when I take my time with this razor that my shave consists of a single ATG pass with some selected buffing, and that was the case this morning with one minor lapse in concentration resulting in a minor nick as I was buffing above my right ear. Regardless, I feel refreshed, velveteen smooth and ready for this morning’s task at my stepson’s.

RAZOR: NOS Diamond Hayashi Nichiri Tokusen 6/8 (Mug), Barbasol Floating Head (Dome)
BLADE: Kai DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Sapele/Resin Handled Pro48 Boar
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Lucky Tiger Aspen AS Splash.