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beginish’s Eye on a Splintered Mind

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Survey says..........the Chubby 2 Synthetic.

I have been progressively migrating my use from natural fiber brushes to the synthetics over the last few years. Though I still love certain brushes (the Simpson 57, Rooney Beehive and Semogue 1470 to name a few), they all pale in comparison to the CH2 synthetic. That also includes the other synthetics in the stable. This brush stands head and shoulders above the rest for ease of loading and lathering. It's dense, but not as dense as the badger Chubby 2, and the loft is perfect, high enough for good flowthrough, but not so high that it is even remotely floppy (see L'Occitane/Plisson synthetic). It's not too big (like the CH3), and is very easy to use in both bowl and face lathering.

I wouldn't recommend it to a newbie, just based on cost, but for someone with a little experience under their belt who wants to get *just one* brush, spend the money on the Chubby 2 synthetic.
 
I have spent the last week or so using CBL Premium Shave Soap in the new SIR Fougere scent that Chris recently released. In the interest of full disclosure, Chris provided me with a small sample for comparison of its scent with the SIR Irisch Moos stick that I have. Truth be told, I had never considered IM to have a Fougere scent, but yeah, I guess it does.

Over the years, fougeres have come and gone. The legendary Fougere Royale shave soap is frequently held up as a standard example, but for many, Penhaligon's English Fern is the contemporary standard against which all fougeres are held up. Trumper's Wild Fern is a similar approach to the scent, but it's not available as either a soap or shave cream. Fougere made a wild comeback in the early-mid teens this century :rolleyes: and all manner of artisans came up with their own concoctions, along with houses like Valobra, whose stick is a fougere scent (though not called as such) and a puck form that's properly called a fougere. Most of these were in the mold of Pen's EF, which has a refined, upper crust quality to it. By that I mean that it has a 'green' almost mossy scent to it, something that I'd expect to pick up in a cool forest (close your eyes, and take a deep, cleansing breath), but has a soft, refined note that sort of brings the components together in a well-rounded scent.

Contrast that with the trend started by Martin de Candre when they introduced their fougere, followed by LA Shaving Soap's Topanga fougere, both of which turned the concept of fougere on its head. Unlike the refined fougeres like EF, these two were in your face GREEN. They were full of wild, green herbal scents like Lemon Verbena, which grabbed you by the collar and slapped you around. Both were extremely pleasant and a welcome change to the rarefied air of traditional fougeres.

Irisch Moos is somewhere in the middle, but more in the vein of English Fern. It has the same type of green scent that you get from EF, but it lacks the softening, powdery round off that EF has. By this I mean that IM is simple and straightforward and gives your nose a shot of green. Some compare IM to Irish Spring soap. In my opinion, it's an unfair comparison, because Irish Spring has an in your face, chemically 'green' scent, whereas IM is green but my first thought is not 'better living through chemistry.' It's more subdued and refined than Irish Spring, and the scent itself is different. Where they are similar lies in the lack of the powdery, refined round off of the scent. The powdery front note that pulls the rest of the scent along with it in EF is notably absent in both Irish Spring and IM. For that reason, I put IM in a third category that lies somewhere between EF and MdC.

So that's a lot of background before I event talk about SIR Fougere. I hope you're still awake.

As scents go, it is very good, and I put it more in the category of English Fern. It has the powdery rounding note that EF has, and Irisch Moos lacks. When you open it up, you get that nice refined scent I associate with the traditional fougeres, but is a bit lighter on the powdery scent. In this format, unaltered, SIR Fougere and IM are different when compared side-by-side. Once lathered, the SIR Fougere gives up a lot of that powdery scent and the scent you get while shaving (and after), is pretty close to IM. I thoroughly enjoy the SIR Fougere scent (and would even if it was not aspiring to be similar to IM).

Performance wise, the soap is excellent. The consistency of the soap is very soft, not the putty-like feel of the Italian soft soaps, but not a true cream either. Lathering with the Chubby 2 synthetic was a snap. A little soap went a long way, and I easily had enough for 2 face lathered passes, as is my habit. The lather itself needed a fair amount of water, and what I had was rich, slick and very protective. I used a mild EJ DE89L and a more aggressive Mergress set on 3.5, both with Med Prep Personna blades, and had no problems with either. I got no irritation from the blade buffing that I typically have to do with the EJ, and did not have to dial back the Mergress. Postshave feel was good, but it's been pretty wet around here, so dry skin is not a problem right now. I chased it with a dose of DR Harris Pink AS which complemented SIR Fougere nicely. Typing this 4 hours post shave, I am still picking up hints of the scent, and its very good.

I'll give this soap a rating of 4 (out of 5) bowl cuts.
 
Thanks for the indepth writeup, not just on the LFM, but on fougeres in general. You should repost this under product reviews, starting a SIR Fougere thread.
 
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