Whittling down

I'm getting rid of stuff at a crazy pace...

So to pay for 1.) my recent Tamahagane purchase and 2.) my upcoming trip to the States and the connected shopping spree I'm planning, I need money. I've gotten rid of some things that I thought I never would, but that on retrospect I decided I didn't actually need--like my Especial Para Barbas Duras--in the hopes of breaking even and maybe coming out far ahead enough to cover some hones. Funny thing it, it's not as hard as I had thought. I've pretty much broken even and I have some good stuff coming in, for less money, and yeah...simplify? Maybe?

But at the same time, the whole local hone thing has set off some real stuff with me. Some new leads, some new connections and friendships, and some new ventures. So there might be NON-MATERIAL developments in my shaving life, which will be new; the acquisition brings its pleasures, but also its own problems...financial, spiritual, familial. It's also a good way to teach myself some discipline, and being a little more reflective about what I need and don't need.

So...that's where I'm at. What I'm doing. I'm not cutting out new stuff, not at all. But rethinking what I DO get, and why.

Meaning stones, of course.

For the love o' PETE! (Soap Review)

So I have tried a few high quality shaving creams and soaps now. The Gentlemen's Refinery, Mitchell's Wool Fat, Speick Shaving Stick...but yesterday I got one of the best shaves I have ever had, from a $2 puck of Wal-Mart shaving soap.


Van Der Hagen soap is a widely available, dirt cheap shaving soap. You can get this at almost any drug store in the States. It is, therefore, widely reviled as worthless by the shaving community. However...it isn't. It's actually good. It's pretty DAMN good, in fact, if my shaves yesterday and today are any indication.


The soap is surprisingly soft--when I held the puck, it felt like a slightly warmed cheese...a pink, floral smelling cheese. The particular specimen was Van Der Hagen Deluxe, "for dry skin and heavy beards." Like me.

I got this soap and, as I once read on Shave My Face, I decided to make a shave stick. So I got a shave stick container from JoAnna at The Shave Den, got my puck of VDH, cut it into tiny pieces and dropped the pieces into the shave stick container. a couple of 10-second bursts in the microwave and VOILA! Shave stick!



I tried the soap for the first time yesterday, and I was frankly astonished. I soaped up with the stick and hit it with my Omega brush. The stuff EXPLODED into lather...and it felt really, really good. I used my Tech with a third-shave Gillette 7 O'Clock Permasharp and it was just great. Smooth, comfortable...and moisturized. Not QUITE as moisturzed as an MWF shave, but up there.

And it's only $2. Man. I gotta reexamine some stuff....

Definitely a winner....