Roundup

I see I've been remiss in informing my loyal readers of all the little goodies I've been trying out lately. It's a depressingly long list...

Well, let's start with the creams. I recently got about 6 different creams to try, mostly samples, and I still haven't gotten around to all of them.


First up is J.M. Fraser's, from Canada. I never would have pegged Canada as being a wetshaving resource, but there you go--this cream is one of the best I've ever used. It whips up a smooth, cushiony, slick lather that leaves my face feeling great after my shave. Fantastic stuff, and one I will definitely be trying again.

Next we have The Shave Den Mojito. This is a sad one...It's a minty, citrusy cream that was giving me a very nice looking lather when...the burning set in. *sigh*. Mint, apparently, joins menthol on The List.

I also tried out some Saint Charles Shave Lime cream. This was odd--I couldn't get this one to lather at all. I'll give it a couple more tries, the scent is nice, but unless something about it changes, I'm afraid it's outa here!

I got a sample of Crabtree and Evelyn's Sweet Almond Oil Cream--this one is discontinued, and nly available second hand. I am trying to avoid these kinds of things, because I'd hate to become one of those poor souls drooling after the last remaining tub of "Olde Harringtonne's Maple-Chamomile Facial Cream for Shaving", but this one sounds so yummy I couldn't resist. Oddly, there wasn't a hint of Almond scent to the cream, but the lather was fine and full. It slightly warmed my face, though, so I'll have to watch it.

Finally, I have two samples of Connaught shaving cream, sent with my last order of blades. I got Sicilian LImes and Peppermint. The scents are awesome, but I haven't tried them yet--I'll let you know how they go.

I've also been trying some new DE blades--Gillette Super Bleues from France. Very good, smooth, long lasting blades--on par with the Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edges/PermaSharps I've grown to love. Good stuff!!!

Then there's my new soap--Palmira, from Serbia/Macedonia.

A great tallow based soap, with a very nice almond scent. The scent has faded a bit since opening, but the lather is still thick, creamy and protective. Another great find...I might have some trouble re-upping on this one, though...

Well, that's the state of the shave as she goes. Stay tuned, things are afoot in straghtville!

L'Ultima Setola

It's heeeee-rrrreee!!

My custom boar brush from Rodd (of knotty badger fame--check his work out at The Shave Den store) using a knot from an Omega professional boar brush, donated by Reformation Student, also a member at TSD.
Check this out:


Gorgeous! The handle is good old American Oak--it's a common wood, for a common animal--but it's beautiful! Rodd's finish brings out a lovely golden sheen from the wood, and I wish you could see it in the light...there's almost a 3d effect.

I wanted something with a narrow waist and a double ring up near the knot--kind of a class knob handle design. Rodd took my ideas for the design and turned them into a big, ergonomic beauty. I've used it twice now, and it is one of the best handles I've used. It feels great in the hand, it looks great, and of course with that Omega knot it lathers great.

Made. Of. Win.

Baby Steps

Well, I'm getting into this whole Straight thing. Slowly, but steadily, I am becoming a straight shaver...

My first couple of tries resulted in serious razor burn and not a few nicks. Enough irritation to really make me nervous about the whole thing. But with some help and advice from the good folks at Straight Razor Place, I was able to get a much better pass last night. Enough to buck me up and keep me trying, at least.

The strangest result of this experience, however, is my wife's reaction. At first I thought my wife was slightly amused by the whole thing, even occasionally irritated (she has mentioned the money a couple of times--but her own purchases far outweigh mine, so...) but last night she utterly floored me.

We were in the bath (it's a Japanese thing, ok?) talking about furniture. We're moving soon, and of course it's the time to restyle. I was thinking of putting my stuff in a cabinet near the bathrooom and suddenly, my wife says "We should get a display case, something glass fronted to put your shave stuff in. We can put it in the living room where guests can see. You can hang your strops there and tell people about it!"

Amazing. I was taken utterly by surpsrise--she wants to display my shaving stuff! She wants to see it, and know about it and talk about it! Amazing!

Man, talk about a keeper!

Streamlining

It's time to cut down. I've been in a frenzy, trying all kinds of products...and I think it's time to settle down.

I've found the razor I want (except when it comes to straights, but I've got that in hand...) and the blades. My Futur is about as good as it gets. I can't imagine anything better, really--I love the design, the results and the feel. So there goes the RAD as far as DEs go...

The blades I've been using, Gillette 7 O'Clocks (PermaSharps and Shar Edges) are darn near perfect; the Swedes I get are good, and the Gillette Super Bleues are great--so that's settled. No need to test any more...I'm comfy with them.

The brush? Omega boar and boar/badger, and Kim Son Horn Handle Silvertip? Enough for any man. The badger/horn aesthetic satisifes any luxury taste, and as far as results go the Omega can't be beat.

My AS needs are MORE than filled, between Nivea Extra Sensitive AS Balm and TSD Aftershave milk...

So that leaves soaps and creams. Soaps, I think, are decided: MWF, Valobra Stick, VDH Deluxe and Erasmic Stick. Cella, I guess, is a soap. I don't need any more than that. The other soaps I 've tried have all been disappointing in one way or anther, so I'm not really looking any more. Creams, however....

Hmmm. The Body Shop cream is aces...I like the TOBs Rose, though I can't use it too much--the scent is STRONG. So I think...I think it's time to look at some creams. Maybe some good English creams...Oh,and there are those Indian ones, as well. And I guess I could use some Castle Forbes...What about the small vendors? Mama Bear, and Saint Charles Shave and Connaught shaving...

Hmmm.... What was that? Cutting down? Who, me?

Smooth Move...In a sense..

So, I finally did a full pass using a straight razor. Top to bottom, I scraped my face with a big old metal blade. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the revelation I had hoped for...

I used a Double Arrow, a cheap straight razor widely available on eBay for less than $10. Oddly enough, it's not a bad razor. The scles (the real name for the handle of a straight--which isn't a handle at all) are cheap and largely worthless. The blabe, though, seems to be good steel from what people say.

When I got it, it wasn't quite near shave ready. But I with a few passes (around 30, I think?) on a CrO2 pasted hanging strop, and about 100 on linen and 100+ on leather, it seemed pretty goshdarned sharp. Thumb pad tests and hair tests and such all said it was wicked sharp, so I went to the shave.

The passes on my cheek were smooth and cut with no effort. This was better than I had seen before, so I went on to do my whole face. I was able to cut the stubble beneath my lower lip, which I hadn't been able to do before. I nicked myself a couple of times, nothing tooo terrible, but man...talk about razor burn! My face is red and it HURTS. under my nose, on my cheeks, everywhere...and I didn't even get a smooth shave. Eeep.
I smoothed the shave with my Futur and did my usual post shave--Alum (AAAIIIYYYYEEEE!) and Nivea AS balm. I had to go for a second application of balm and then TSD milk to calm it down enough for comfort.

Luckily, I got my Belgian Coticule and BBW to sharpen that baby up right...we'll see how she goes.

**EDIT** I realized that I never actually talked about my strop...
I have a lovely Kanayama Cordovan strop, made by the Kanayama Razor Strop Company in Tokyo, Japan.

It's beautiful, and smooth, and though I have little experience with strops I think it's the bee's knees.
Here's Pitchas!



The linen side is stiff stiff stiff...I guess that's a good thing? Anyway, I find it fascinating that there's a STROP COMPANY in Tokyo. Who uses them, I wonder?

Well, besides shavegeeks like me, of course...

Wonders Never Cease

You may have seen this guy before:

He came at about the same time as two other brushes, so I never really talked about him. But it's high time I did...He's got a secret!

I got three brushes all about the same time. The Kim Son Horn Handle Silvertip, which you have read about; the pre-Vulfix Simpsons Duke 3, which has moved on to warmer pastures; and the Omega 21047 Travel Boar brush. That's the little guy on the right--he's got a hand turned acrylic handle, and according to Giovanni at Razor and Brush (who sold me the brush), a 21mm knot and a 47mm loft. The handle has a lovely faux horn look to it, and the whole thing just looks classy.

Now, the first thing I noticed when I got the brush, apart form its tiny size, was the look of the bristles.
Compare this:

To this:


In the Omega picture, the bristles have the look of a typical boar brush, with the fake badger "sketch"-the bristles are the kind of off-white "blonde" of a boar brush. In my picture, though, you can see more of a "brindled" color; there is more brown to it. I thought it was an aesthetic thing, to match the bristles with the handle--and it may well be so. But there is another factor at play here...

When I finally got around to using the brush (thanks, Zach, for reminding me to!) I found something a bit unexpected...

First was the smell. When I got my Omega professional, it frankly reeked. Reeked like a wet dog. That's just part of it--animal hairs smell bad when wet. The badger brushes also smell, though there is a different funk to it. This brush, however, had an odd smell--neither like the Omega professional nor the badger brushes I had used. Somewhere in between. Strange.

Second was performance. This is a boar brush. Boar brushes have a tendency toward low water retention and a slower lather rate than badger brushes; I thought that, due to this brush's smaller size this would even be more of a problem. I was absolutely wrong.

This brush is a lather monster. It took just a few swirls to work both the Cella from today's shave and the TBS Maca root cream from yesterday into a thick rich lather, and the water level was just right...I had to dip only once for each of them. The brush was a bit scritchy, but being a new boar brush that was no problem. It had a good amount of backbone, very massagey feeling, but it also had more splay than I assumed it would from the short loft. It felt good lathering, and it did a great job of it.

The performance was outstanding...and I couldn't understand it. I was sure that such a small boar brush should not be able to hold enough water to work so quickly...But then I looked more closely.



In among the coarse, poker-straight boar hairs I could see finer, somewhat kinky or wavy hairs. Some of them were dark brown to the tips, some of them were banded, some of them were bleached almost white...badger hairs.

This is a boar/badger mix! The website and the Omega catalogue both list this as a boar brush, I know, but the look, the performance, and the smell all seem to agree...this is a mix!

It has the stiffness and scrubbiness of a boar, lending it to work wonders with soaps and creams, and it has the water retention of a badger brush, helping it make the lather more hydrated. It's an awesome brush, and more than worth the $16 or so I dropped on it.

A hearty recommendation, and a very pleasant surprise!

It HURRRTS us!

Man, my face bugs me. Well, more correctly said it irritates me. Even MORE correctly said, stuff I put ON my face irritates me. I never knew how sensitive my skin was until I started smearing stuff on it and scraping it off with a sharpened piece of metal.


I've blogged about this before...but my face is a bit of a pain. It has reacted badly to quite a few products, and I can't seem to predict what or why. There's another to add to the list, TOBS Avocado Cream. Hurt like the dickens, and it makes me sad because the scent is so fresh and clean...Sigh.

Well, I'm giving up. No more new things, unless I get a sample first. Too many shattered hopes and dreams on that road...too many broken hearts and broken lives...

But at least it gave me a clean shave.

So I'm starting a list: Shit I can't use, and why.
Here it is!

Feather Blades (Too rough and sharp)
Mentholated Medicated Shave Cream (Menthol)
Milk Brand Shave Cream (Menthol)
Institut Karite Shave Soap (??)
Crabtree & Evelyn Sienna Shave Soap (??)
Musgo Real Shave Cream (Menthol)
TOBS Avocado Shave Cream (??)
Ingram Shave Cream (Menthol)


See any patterns emerging?

========

On the straight razor front, I have begun my first dive into honing, sort of. I have a strop pasted with Chromium Oxide, which is a micro-particle abrasive. This very slightly wears away the steel in a straight razor, "refreshing" an edge dulled by use. It isn't real honing, it can only make the edge a touch sharper between trips to the stone, but it definitely improved the edge of the Kropp I messed up in my ignorance.

You live, you learn! And once my REAL stones get here (BBW/Coticule Combo, and a Vintage Barber Hone) I'll be rocking and rolling, baby! I can smell another AD coming on!!!

(Insert Smoking Pun Here)

Well...I've finally tried Tabac. And about time.


I've had a Tabac stick for a couple of months now. For some reason, I never tried it--I've had a lot of other soaps and such, I guess, but it is odd. Tabac is loved by many--the scent is a bit controversial, but the lather is almost uniformly praised. And I finally found out why.

Man, this was a good shave. A DAMN good shave...smooth and comfortable and easy. It lathered quickly and shaving was like wiping away the whiskers with my Futur. Great. Just great. And for me, the scent was like nostalgia personified. For some reason, it smelled like my dad--though I would bet a pretty penny he never even saw any Tabac product.

Well, it is now setting pretty in my rotation, and I'm glad I've got a refill on the way!

==========

In other news, I tried my first pass with a straight. I tried my Double Arrow and my Kropp. I shaved one cheek each, and wonder of wonders--I lost nothing! No blood, no flesh, and no dignity.

The kropp glided fairly smoothly, though it seemed to adhere to my skin, sticking in the lather a bit. I think my angle was too acute.

The DA was rough--it scraped and tugged, but it did shave a bit. So it has something of an edge, but it isn't shave ready. Soon, I'll get some hones and see about getting it up there.

I'm in the game!

Hey Hey Hey!!!!

So, didja Miss me? I missed you...I really did.
But now I'm back, with lots of fun for Y'uns!

So I took a week off, went to Aso ( a volcanic area in Kyushu) and my in-laws, and cut my net time down a bit. I hope you made it ok without me for a week! I know it's hard.

Anyway, the last week was not a particularly good one on the shaving front. I took a "travel set" of MWF stick, Valobra stick, a J2 Injector and my recently acquired Duke 3 Simpsons brush, made before they were bought by Vulfix.

The Injector was ok--it took a shave or two to get used to the difference from my Futur, but I got smooth, fairly comfortable shaves from it. Smooth, but boring. Meh. I much prefer my big old Futur....And then there was the D3.

Now, I will be the first to admit I have sensitive skin. I know this. But when I use a high-end badger brush, I don't expect it to HURT me. And this brush did. It took all the pleasure out of my shaves. So I give up. No more badger brushes. I have a good silvertip in the Kim Son, and that's enough for me...I'm done with SBAD!

Anyway, in other news, when I got home I had a bunch of packages! A ton of soaps and cream from my best mate in Scotland (Hey Andy! Thanks!) and a couple of travel tubes for brushes and...2 straight razors!

Here we go, the "Steel Triad":

On the left is my Vintage Kropp blade, a 5/8 inch hollow ground Sheffield steel blade in black scales. The scales are rough, but the blade is nice and shave ready.

On the right is my Double Arrow. It's got cheap plastic scales, but the blade has a good reputation. It's near shave ready, I think. My first honing project.

And then up top, where it belongs, is my Tosuke. Japanese straights are COOOOOOL. And they take a wicked sharp edge--unfortunately, this one has not done so yet.But When I learn me up to hone, it will.

I feel so damn MANLY!