Shave soap thoughts (and whatnot)

Tabac: Well, the price ain't bad. The smell... is... uh... yeah. I'm okay with the scent after having used it about 10 times, but it smells very "old man". That's not necessarily a horrible thing, honestly, but it IS something I had a hard time getting around at first. It's a good soap, does what it's supposed to do, and is very mild on my face. Good, productive lather (once I figured out how to get it to work). Also, it's pretty economical.

The other soap I've tried recently is discontinued - Crabtree and Evelyn's Sandalwood soap. I picked up a couple of pucks in wooden bowls from a B+B member along with a tube of C&E's Sienna cream, and I'm very glad I did. The sandalwood soap is incredible. Lathers up fairly easily and performs easily as well as any cream I've used. The scent, though, is what sets it apart. The scent is more subtle than most creams I've tried (Art of Shaving, I'm staring at you), but the cool thing is that the subtle scent lingers after the shave at exactly the right note. The girlfriend loved it.

Finally, a word about Sienna - I tried it today, and while the lather is very slick and the scent is awesome, it was a bit rough on my face. Might just be I'm too sensitive for the cream and one of the chemicals or scents involved just doesn't agree with me or somthing. That's a shame, though - it's a killer cream otherwise. I love the tube it comes in (and a TUBE KEY!), too. I'm debating holding onto the cream to try again another time.

Oh and FINALLY finally, a thank-you-shout-out to Mantic for the link. Mantic is the god of wet shaving. Go read his site and watch all of his vids. 3 times. At least.

Been a little while, so HEYA!

Right then. Status updates, thoughts, yadda yadda.

It's been a while. I think I've found some specific "go-to" shaves that have changed a bit.

First off, Proraso is still my hands-down favorite. Green OR red tube. Also, I've tried their aftershave splash - and WOW. Incredibly soothing. Highly recommended.

Second, I'm onto feather blades permanently. They work very nicely with my superspeed - turns out that the problems I've had in the past are mostly due to technique. Now that I know what I'm doing, I can shave quickly and without irritation, and the shaves last 36 hours before looking unacceptable... which means I can shave less if I want to - leading to less irritation and whatnot.

Third, soaps: I've begun to like using some soaps in the rotation, though nothing has the slickness of Proraso's cream. QED's fresh limes is probably my favorite, but there are good things that can be said of others. Tabac, in particular, works pretty well, though the scent is... kinda old-mannish, I guess. I'm not a big fan of it, but it DOES fade immediately after the shave.

Fourth - Speick. I tried Speick shaving cream again and have decided that I like it. The scent is a bit off-putting, but it's a very soothing cream that lubes the skin wonderfully.

I'll update again when I remember to. :)

Proraso Red

I just tried Proraso's red-tube cream, having received a tube in a trade. Here are my impressions, in the order of a shave's progress (2x used derby blade, '54 superspeed)

3 passes (wtg, xtg, atg) and some touching up. The scent wasn't as strong as the green tube, but it's a very smooth cream. Excellent lube qualities. NO irritation. After I finished up, I rinsed and used some Proraso aftershave balm. Easily the closest, least irritating shave I've ever had. Unreal how nice the red tube is. I think I have a new favorite cream.

Of course, that new favorite is completely discontinued. ARGH.

Gillette Fat Boy day 2

I decided to give the fat boy another try today - this time running with Proraso cream at setting "5" and a 2nd-use Derby blade.

2 passes plus touchups and I'm smooth. Unreal. Usually it's a 3-pass affair (WTG, XTG/ATG, ATG) plus touchups. No irritation. My Superspeeds are sorta looking at me sadly at this point. I feel badly because I haven't even given the red tip a try. I am thinking tomorrow it's getting some use.

In other news, my girlfriend and I were looking at my razors last night, trying to figure out what's best for her - she's using a Gillette Ladies razor (blue stars, very pretty - essentially a long-handled superspeed) but wasn't happy with it. I grabbed one of the Gem Micromatics from my shelf and loaded it up with a Ted Pella blade, and off she went. Totally loved it. I think that the Gems might wind up being a great lady razor - worked beautifully for her. We'll see how it goes though, gonna give her a few days of use with it before I report for sure.

Music to Shave to:
Ride - Vapor Trails (EP Single)

Fat boy, wait til tomorrow.

Yeah, I just quoted Silverchair. Sorry. Won't EVER happen again.... but that's the deal sometimes, you know, when you gotta come up with a title and it's early and there's not enough coffee and the monkeys are on your back and OH MY GOD THEY'RE CHEWING ON MY FACE



Sorry, back to the topic at hand.
I picked up a fat boy (gillette adjustable razor) from an antique store for about 40 bucks this weekend and spend some serious time cleaning it up, thinking I could sell it if I got it in nice shape.... then I realized "wait a second - I can't sell this without using it first." Whoops.

This morning, I lathered up with QED's Fresh Lime soap (my first time really face-lathering, worked nicely) and used a new Derby blade in the fat boy. Set it to 4 and off to the races we went. GREAT shave. Easily as nice as the Superspeed shaves I was getting. I'm keeping it. :)

A red tip I picked up on the B&B forums also showed up yesterday, and I'm pretty excited to give it a try in the next few days... I also get a Lady's Gillette (stars and pretty handle) coming in the next few days from a ludicrously cheap Ebay auction, and can't wait to give that a try as well. The GF has her own, and it's a very cool razor.

Music to shave to:
Dead Can Dance - A Passage in Time
Relaxing. Probably not a good start-the-day album, but whatever. It's pretty.

QED Lime soap

I've been on a total lime kick lately - from the Trumper's Lime skin food to the Wesley+Scott lime aftershave, so it seemed like a natural fit to try the QED natural lime soap and the Vulfix Sicilian Lime cream.

They came well-packaged from QED's website, and when I opened the containers at my desk I was assaulted by the smell of fresh limes. Unreal - QED apparently uses a LOT of essential oils in his soap. So how was the shave?

Well, I gave the QED soap a try this morning - and it's really nice. I got the best lather I've ever gotten out of a soap, but I think I need to learn a bit more about face lathering before I make a real judgment. It lubed my face up just fine and left me feeling pretty smooth. Is it as nice as Proraso? Not yet. :) That king is yet to be dethroned.

On another note, I noticed the last time I used Art of Shaving's sandalwood that the sandalwood scent lasted most of the day - which was a bit weird to me. I am glad I like sandalwood, but it got a bit ridiculous. :) I will say that AoS's sandalwood scent is killer, and the quality of the cream is absolutely top notch, so this doesn't change my love of their product.


Music to shave to:
Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman

This hobby was supposed to be cheap.

The gf and I hit an antique store next to an antique mall today on a whim after brunch. We walk in, and the place just doesn't look very promising at first. I take a quick look around, think "okay, whatev", and we're about to leave when the proprietors of the store ask if we're looking for anything in particular.

I mention that I'm into shaving supplies - and his eyes light up. He practically drags us across the store and sets us down in front of a big box full of razors. Straights, DEs, Gems, you name it. There was, for example, a BEAUTIFUL tiny travel tech in a red carry case that I would have grabbed if it wasn't 75 dollars. Tells me "buy more than one item, you get 20% off".

First thing I grabbed was a lovely blue-tip SS - TEN DOLLARS.





Second thing was this straight razor - my first, and I'm still not sure what to do with it. BEAUTIFUL razor though - 20 dollars.





THEN finally the piece I was on the fence about - listed @ 48, but 20% off brought it under 39, so it was kind of a no-brainer. Mechanically sound, but looks like hell. Needs serious cleaning, which is something I think I can do - but I'm not positive how yet. :)



Not sure if the deal was great or not, but I was thinking about a fatboy - and here it is, with a case that was in good shape. Impossible to resist. :) Debating the best way to clean it - never cleaned an adjustable before.