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!
5 comments:
Jim,
Thanks for getting back to some cream and soap reviews. You do a great job and, with the costs of all this stuff, the more information the better to help us consider our purchases. Also, with your recent interests, I was hoping it wouldn't be all straight, all the time. (I'm still a DE'er). Where did you acquire the Palmira, you enabler, you?
Cheers, Larry
Wow, thanks very much for the kind words Larry!
I'm glad you like th reviews, and I'm sorry I lost my way :(. I promise, more soaps/creams etc. and less straights--but I do have some straight stuff coming. You might want to cover your eyes! ;)
The Palmira came from a member of "the forum which shall not be named". He lives in Serbia (Macedonia? That region still confuses the hell out of me...) and very generously offered some for sale. It's a good soap, and I plan to make more in-depth comments soon.
Thanks!
Jim
How go's the straight shave's? Your blog got me interested in straights again. Where and how much did you pick up the Tosuke for? Unfortunately I left all my straights at home. I alaways wanted a Feather straight, so I took a peek at Tokyu Hands. They only had the plain Jane RG folder. I wanted the Teak RG as seen on Classic Shaving.
I decided to fire off an email to Feather that night, and low and behold the next morning they replied with a shop in Tokyo that had them in stock. They even called ahead to check for me, and gave me the scoop on what they had in stock. Talk about customer service !!
It didn't come in the wood box like CS's, but only cost 8000 Yen, and came with a pack of pro-guard blades. I bought a pack of super-pro's as well.
First shave with the pro-guards was less than stellar. Tried the super-pros next, better, but still not quite there. 2nd shave with the supers, got a nasty weeper, still not quite there. 3rd shave, wow !! 90% BBS. With a little more practice, I will be able to get a BBS shave in less time than my DE. A real go to blade when I'm in a rush.
I think I will also try corking the blade next time I load a fresh one. Just too take off the initial bite of these little suckers.
Thanks for the motivation Jim !!
Aleks
Aleks, my man! Good to hear from you. Glad I could push you over that hump to spend even more money!!! ;)
You know, I had an almost identical experience with Feather customer service, except it took them a month to track down the teak handled razor, and I passed on it. It was full price, too. 8000...that's a bargain I wouldn't have passed up!
I'm still thinking about one...I think I might go for the Japanese style, though. More my style.
I got my Tosuke through the website of a knife shop in Hyougo. I've actually found if you google "砥石" (that's the Japanese for hone") and poke around onthe resulting sites you will find WAY more razors than if you seached for razor itself. Weird, I know. If you're having trouble tracking one down, shoot me an email and I can give you some links.
The shaving is...coming along. I'm growing tired of including neosporin in my post shave, though. Some of these skills are not coming as quickly as I'd hoped. It's interesting, though, and I do enjoy the blades themselves.
It was 8000 for the brass core RG, and 15000for the stainless DX. Both in Teak.
The mom and pops shop also had Schick Proline blades that looked like they would fit as well. Being that I can hardly speak a peep of Japanese, I couldn't really get my thoughts across regarding the compatibility between the Feather holder and Schick blades.
Oh well... off to google I went. That produced a couple of links leading me to Straight Razor Place forums. A member there said the Schicks will fit, no problem. He also said he had a Schick proline razor holder. He claims the Schick blades are a bit more mild than the Feathers too. A couple posts down provived the link to Schick Japans proline page. They had a folding version, as well as a Japanese style non folding version. Both came with a nice little travel case.
Those posts were from 2007, and the 2009 Schick website no longer has the razors listed. Only the proline blades are still there. Jeez I really wanted that Japanese style Schick non folder. I might go back to that shop to buy the Schick blades to play with, and pray they have one of those non folders collecting dust on their shelf.
The Schick pic's are tiny, but it appears that the blade holders have a hollow grind. Where as the Feather's are a wedge style.
Arrrgghhh... when will this insanity stop... LOL
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