Line Up

There are a couple of new things I've got hold of that I'm really excited about.

The addition to my ever expanding cream and soap collection might not be that noteworthy, but some of the things I've just got in are so cool, it makes me tingle...you know, like when you climb the rope in gym class!

First up is this blue stick.


Wilkinson sword, perhaps best known to wetshavers as producers of once-great, now middle-of-the-road DE blades, produces this shave stick on The Continent. I found it listed by a Polish seller on eBay for chump change so I ordered a couple. I've used it a couple of times, and it really is nice--full review coming, of course. The thing I REALLY like, though, is this:


See that? It's a tallow based hard soap, with glycerin and lanolin for skin care. In a stick that costs less than a latte at Starbucks--including shipping from Poland! Now THAT'S what I like to see. Budget price, snobby quality. And did I mention that it's blue?

Cause it is.

Then, from that same seller, is this cream:



Yep. I don't think there's anything I need to say. Cause if I did, that cream there might just beat me to death.

I enjoy myself way too much sometimes...

The Honing Diaries...

I've been making some headway with the hones, and I'm trying some experimentation...and I think it'd probably be a good idea to keep track of what's going down.

So it starts with a Double Arrow I've had for a while...I modded it, grinding off the shoulders and making the tip a bit more interesting, then I rescaled it and honed it up.


In the modification I breadknifed out part of the smile. To hone it up, I used a hybrid honing method--starting with Glen's guide to honing a damage blade. I set the bevel on a 400/1K diamond plate I had laying around, then moved to Bart's "Single Coticule method." I used the coti to refine the bevel and smooth the edge, and finished on a Shapton Pro 12k hone, gave it a few passes on CrOx pasted strop, and shaved. It was a good shave--not fantastic, but decent. It was quite encouraging. A little more stropping and refinement on the paste and I got a good shaving edge! So, there's razor one.

Razor two is a little Torrey I got off eBay. It was ugly. UGLY.

I cleaned it up, polished it, repinned it and got this:

So I went to the hones. This time, I went for a different route. Once again, I started with Glen's method...set the bevel on the diamond plate, refined the edge on a 4k King hone, and smoothed it out on 8k lapping film. Once again, I finished on the 12k Shapton and CrOx paste. The test shave was good, and the full shave I got this morning was GREAT. Some real success on this one. It feels good, indeed.

The last razor is this Japanese made spike point. This one was tough to clean up, but I rescaled it and got it looking ok.

For the honing, I went to Bart's "Simple Method for Honing..." Once again, set the bevel on the diamond plate, then I refined with the BBW and Coticule. My standard 12k and paste finish and off to the test shave.
The test shave on this one was good, but I found some dull points on the blade. It was a good shave, but not super good...going form 0, however, I'm not disappointed.

All in all, I feel like I'm making some real progress with my honing. I'm enjoying it, too...which, of course, is waht it's all about.

Mild indeed...A Review

So, it's been a full shaving week for me. New products, new razors, new experiments...and I didn't post a word. Sorry about that. But here I am with a review of Nivea Mild Shave cream...Just like you've always wanted!



I got a tube of this cream a while back, as you might remember, and finally gave it a few runs; I thought I'd let you know how it went.

It went.

I used the cream 3 times, and for the life of me I can't imagine wanting to use it again. Now, it's not a bad cream. Not at all. The lather was fairly easy to whip up, it offered decent lubrication and protection...the after care was adequate. But...that was it. Decent. Adequate. Fair. The only thing that was at all noteworthy was the scent--rather than the generic "European Tubed Cream Scent" that you get with things like WARS or Florena (which this cream is supposed to be replacing...sadly), they went with a light, fresh generic "fruit" scent. Pleasant, indeed, but not really much of a hook.

I really wish there was something of note I could say...I wish I could say something either good or bad, but I can't. It certainly gave me a shave. I'd say the cream is good enough to use, sure. It's not as good as Florena in the protection or skin care departments; not as good as ARKO in the Lube department, and it's not as good as any English cream ever made in the scent department. It's just a cream that is will allow you to shave your face adequately. If that's what you want in a shave, well, my friend, you've found your cream.

I have recently found, however, that I want more. I want a lot more. I want a shave that brings a smile to my face when I think about it later in the day. I want something I can TALK about on Fora or this blog. I want a remarkable shave every goddam day. And I will never, ever get that with Nivea Mild Shaving cream. It's not bad, not at all, but it's not for me, either.

Sorry, Nivea...you've got nothing for me.

Say Hello to Betty

L'Ultima Setola has a new ladyfriend!

I have a thing for "custom" stuff. The idea of having something one-of-a-kind makes me really, REALLY excited, and the best way to express this has been, for me, in brushes. So when I saw member Del1r1um on Straight Razor Place posting pictures of his gorgeous hand carved, non-lathe-turned brush handles, I figured I wanted one, and he very very generously agreed to make me one.

Of course, being a boar man, I went the way of the pig and sent him the knot out of an Omega 48 and told him "I like to face lather, I like hourglass shapes, and I don't use brush stands. What can you do?"

This is what he did:



Betty is her name, Betty the Beautiful Boar. She's got quite a figure on her, as you can tell...



She's solid...and she's beautiful, and she's one of a kind.



In all seriousness, this is one hell of a brush. Solid claro walnut hand carved and finished from a single piece of FANTASTIC wood...it's a work of art, is what it is. Of course, it lathers like a dream with that Omega head, and the handle is ergonomically gorgeous. It fits the hand in unusual, but really great, ways...what a beauty.

Thanks, Del1r1um!

A Review, and an Ode...

My search...Nay, my QUEST, for some of the best of what wetshaving has to offer comes to an end. And my oh my, was it worth it.




The name Penhaligon's is, to some, hallowed above all others. The English scent house, like Truefitt & Hill, Geo. F. Trumper's, Taylor's of Old Bond Street and others, is known for producing toiletries of all kinds that are at the very height of "gentlemanliness". A venerable old name, I had never even heard of them until I won a sample of their English Fern Eau de Toilette. I fell instantly in love, and decided I must have more. I was glad to find they also made an aftershave, a Talc and a Shaving Soap in this scent...and pretty sad when it turned out the soap and talc were out of stock. (They have been out of stock for months; according to the shop, they planned to be back in stock in April. It's May now...in case you weren't keeping track. Still out of stock.)

So, I threw myself into the search for the shaving soap, having sated my Talc thirst with Bronnley's English Fern...no substitute, but a nice talc nonetheless. The soap, however, proved elusive. The shaving fora were awash with rumors...of discontinuation, reformulation, production problems...and as more and more shops ran out, people got desperate. The situation was worsened by the fact that only the refill pucks were gone--the shaving soap bowl was still available. At a cost of $50+. Mad though I may be, I REFUSE to pay that much for soap. Nope, not gonna do it.

Finally, though, my WTB ad on Shave My Face proved fruitful. A very generous member (I leave him nameless, out of respect..but he is a true gentleman) DONATED a used puck to the cause. DONATED. As in FREE. Even now, the generosity brings me to tears...So I got the soap. And all is right with the world.

So, of course, the important part. Is it worth it? Is it worth the price, the search, the hunt?

In a word?

Yes. Oh, yes indeed.

Here's the thing. This soap, on first use, brought no surprises. It was EXACTLY what I thought it would be...which is to say, a superb soap in both shave and scent. The scent...oh, what can I say about English Fern? This is perhaps the most masculine scent I can think of...but it's a particular kind of masculinity.

There are, of course, different kinds of masculine. There's the Tabac masculine, all unbuttoned shirts and chest hair, little gold chains and moustaches. Then there's the Mitchell's Wool Fat masculine--grizzled, work hardened but still appreciative of the tender care received at home from good women, women with names like Margaret, or Hazel, or Opal.

The masculinity of English Fern is that of oak paneled Men's Clubs, where men sit and discuss the latest adventures of that mad fool Byrd, and the sorry state of the colonies...where you are shaved by your manservant James, who's been with the family for years and has an impeccable hand with the blade; no worries about nicks or burn marring your grooming with James. Though he's not one to pamper, not James, a real man has no time to worry about gentleness or "moisture".

And that's the shave you get. Flawless, smooth, full of confidence. It's not got that extra touch of skin care, that little bit of love that you get from MWF, nor does it have the arrogant sass of Tabac, but it has solid, unimpeachable lather that comes with just the right amount of effort. It has a great balance of cushion and lubrication, and it puts your whiskers right where they belong--in the sink.

I love it. It's great. I'll use it till it's gone, and buy another if it's to be had. But....

But it's not MWF. It's not La Toja. It's not Valobra, either. It's not magical.

It's just exactly what a classic, time-tested shave soap ought to be, which is probably too good for me.

Some of the Home Grown...

I love the DIY attitude. It's one of the great things about this traditionalist wetshaving gig, it seems to bring out creative impulses that otherwise might have lain dormant. Home made strops, homemade razor scales, homemade everything. And just the other day, a member of Straight Razor Place very generously sent me some of his homemade soap.



(Picture courtesy of Blackstangal)

Member Blackstangal on SRP posted about finally giving up on pricey commercial soaps (and they can certainly be that....as much as $30 for a piece of soap. SOAP!!!), and had decided to make his own. Seeing his post on SRP, I replied that since it was good enough for him, it might be good enough to make a few bucks. His response? He sent me some to try!

He's got three scents, "Laidback Lime, Buttery Coconut, And Mind Chillin Melon" and he sent me samples of all three. I started with the melon, the scent that struck me first and Al's recommendation. It's a pleasant sort of turquoise shade, and the scent is high and sweet--kind of like Everlasting Gobstoppers. Not cloying, though, it's quite nice.

For my shave, I did my usual routine--after a shower, lather up and do my thang while the lather softens my beard, and shave. The lather took a little bit more work to get going that I expected, but it came in time, and it came BIG. This stuff was rolling out of the bowl...and my brush got loaded up with tons of super rich, creamy lather. That was surprise number one. I've never gotten that thick or heavy a cream from a cold-pour soap before, not even from my beloved VDH Deluxe.

On my face, the lather was smooth and cool--Al mentioned a mysterious "cooling" effect that he himself couldn't explain; there's no menthol or mint oil, so it shouldn't be there. but it is--it feels like a cool autumn breeze on your face. The lather sat light, not heavy or uncomfortable at all like some of the thicker soaps. And then the shave. Surprise number two.

Ohhhh, what a shave. I don't know what Al does when he makes this stuff, but I sure as heck hope he keeps it up...My face LOVED this soap. Seriously, during and after this shave my face was singing ballads to Mind Chillin' Melon. It was full of protective cushion (a rarity in cold pours...) and nice and slick, too. I got a 95% BBS shave in two passes, and not only was it comfortable, my face felt like I had just gone to a SPA, rather than dragged a few inches of sharpened steel over it. I almost forgot to splash on my AS Milk, my face felt so refreshed...I did it, though, because I'm a creature of habit.

All day, I kept rubbing my face and smiling. Good shaves make good days, doncha know? And I certainly got a good shave off this one.

I am OVERJOYED that I got some of this soap. For one thing, it's a damn fine soap. For another, it is proof positive that people CAN do this for themselves, it doesn't have to be expensive or posh, and I love that. Of course, there's a little irony in this because the next soap in my rotation (and my next review, cha cha cha) is Penhaligon's English Fern, which is as pricey and posh as it gets. Oh, me...

ARKO Double Header Review

I've given a couple of ARKO creams a chance to show me what they've got, and what they've got ain't a whole lot.



As you might have heard, I got a pass around from a member of The Shave Den, and in it were two tubes of ARKO cream. I decided to give them a try, liking the idea of inexpensive tubed creams.

I started with the Sensitive--because progressing from Sensitive to Extra Sensitive seemed...sensible.

The cream was smooth and slick coming out of the tube, something like toothpaste. The scent was very, very mild, as you would expect from a "sensitive" cream...there was just a hint of something vaguely "cologney", but mostly it was the scent of the cream itself; which, I must say, wasn't at all nice. To be honest it smelled almost, but not quite, exactly like the body putty my dad used to fix holes in his ancient Ford pickup. Not a smell you want on your face every morning.

I went to work on my face with L'Ultima Setola and before long I had a smooth, creamy lather. The consistency seemed fine, but then the trouble set in. A distinct "tingling"--usually a bad sign. I let the cream sit for a while as I performed my daily ablutions, letting the beard soften a bit, and set to with my Genco Fluid Steel.

It wasn't good. Now, this is hard for me to judge accurately, because the cream was doing weird things to my skin. I can't tell if it was just the terrible lack of cushion or what, but I felt EVERY INCH of that steel on EVERY INCH of my face it touched. It was extremely uncomfortable. By the end of my second pass, my face was red and angry. It was a thoroughly unpleasant shave...This cream is very slick, and I did get a very very smooth shave. But it was uncomfortable, even painful, and I did not relish the idea of trying it again.

I did, however, with pretty much the same results. I tried making the lather a bit thinner, thinking I had made it too concentrated before (which can sometimes cause irritation) but no dice--more irritation, and tons of tiny nicks. Not good. Not at all. I gave up.

So, I can't recommend the ARKO sensitive, much as I'd like to. If you stumble on some for free you might give it a try, though, because the irritation could very well be (and probably most certainly is) just a poor reaction on the part of my skin. The lather, however, is all slickness and very little cushion, I can say that. Some guys like that, I don't.

The EXTRA sensitive (Look for the purple tube!), however, is another story. For one thing, the addition of Lavender oil makes the scent quite nice. No putty at all! Also, something about the added ingredients--moisturizers or vitamins or whatever--makes a bit more cushion. It's still more slick than pillowy, but for it is much more usable than the plain old sensitive. I got a very nice shave from it--not spectacular, but certainly better than the ones before it. In fact, I think I'll keep it around...it's no replacement for La Toja, but it'll do.