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cmh737 Straight Venture Journal Continued
- Thread starter cmh737
- Start date
It's really funny about Tallow & Steel...I don't hear much in the way of negativity on the performance side of things. But almost everything negative about the soap is about the scents. I have sniffed on samples before and there are a couple I like and a couple I don't. It's just crazy that it is a great performing soap that isn't getting used because people are not crazy about the way they smell. You would think that they would put out a scent or two of a more accepted scent...just to keep people in their market.
Thanks for the update Chris!
Thanks for the update Chris!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Thanks for the reviews
Thanks, TJ. I definitely enjoyed that new scent from Mike's!
No question that the Sudsy Soapery Citrus & Bay is "much more bearable and enjoyable" - no question at all.
I'll be interested in your impressions, Josh. I just test lathered another one of the T&S samples, and I don't think that I'll be able to use it for a shave it's so bad....
One would think, right?! I know what you mean. See my post below....
My pleasure.
I was planning on using another Tallow & Steel sample for tomorrow, but I thought I'd do a test-lather this evening first. Glad I did! This "Morocco" shaving soap is one of the absolute worst scents I've ever encountered in a shaving soap!!! This is downright repugnant, and I'm not even kidding. Here's what it smells like to me: let's say that last night you cooked a slew of burgers on your Weber grill; then today you decided to get the grill and clean it. You know that burnt charcoal smell you're hit with when you open the dome lid? That's what this soap smells like, with some shoe rubber sole mixed in. My goodness, this is disgusting. I doubt that I will be able to even use this for an actual shave it's so revolting.
Yeah...that doesn't sound like something I would want to put on my face either. The two scents I got sound nice...one (Sicily) seems to be a colonia type scent and the other (Kyoto) seems to be an oriental. I'll definitely be giving some impressions of the soaps when they come in!
I don't recall testing or smelling Morocco, but based off that scent description...I likely won't either.
Thanks, Craig. And the Morocco is dreadful!
I'll be interested to see what you think of the Sicily and Kyoto.
You'd be wise to stay away from it (at least IMHO).
Thanks, Chad.
SR Shave #607:
"Alright, alright, alright!.....You just gotta keep livin', man; L-I-V-I-N...."
What a dynamite shave this morning! Just two passes for a totally irritation-free, rock solid DFS. Dare I say that this was one of those rare "perfect" shaves. And for me, "perfect", doesn't have to equate to a BBS result necessarily. One reason I may call a shave "Perfect" is that the shave is so smooth on my ole mug that it almost doesn't even feel like I'm shaving, and that's what happened today. I've got the edge on this Torrey totally dialed in. Prior to shaving, I gave it about 20 or so light "maintenance" laps on the Dan's Whetstone black translucent Ark. My goodness, this edge is "perfect" right now!
Another aspect of the shave that was perfect was the soap. I used one of the new Wild West Shaving Co. soaps that I recently received, the "Wichita" scented one (I had to get this one just because it's my wife's home town). The performance was "elite" status all the way - really nice and slick, with excellent post shave face feel. The scent is one of the more subtle ones from WWSC, as it rates no more than a 2/5 on the SOS scale, but that fits this one just fine. The scent description from the label reads: "Bay Rum, Vetiver, Wood Smoke, Coffee, Rose". To me, this smells mostly like a chocolatey coffee type of thing at first, with the bay rum lurking in the background at times. I didn't detect any singular notes of vetiver, smoke, or rose. Perhaps those "round out" or "mellow" the scent? IDK, but I did like this one. Normally, I don't favor coffee scented shaving soaps, but I'll happily make an exception for this one.
Oh, let me mention the size of this soap puck. Josh has already mentioned it in his journal, but I actually don't mind this small container. The reason being, is that it fits easily into the palm of my hand and makes for easy palm lathering - no worries for me at all. However, the container that has the Private Reserve soap is too tall and quite aggravating.
I finished off with Captain's Choice Cat O Nine Tails bay rum aftershave. This is one of those aftershaves that is excellent for "grading" a shave, as it pulls no punches and tells no lies. Suffice to say, however, that today, I'm happy to report that I barely even noticed it! Yep, like I said, a perfect shave.
BTW, yet another component of today's perfect shave was the Eric custom brush and matching scales - this particular wood is really a looker in person - hard to capture how nice it is via photo.
I'll be working on getting caught up with folks soon.
"Alright, alright, alright!.....You just gotta keep livin', man; L-I-V-I-N...."
What a dynamite shave this morning! Just two passes for a totally irritation-free, rock solid DFS. Dare I say that this was one of those rare "perfect" shaves. And for me, "perfect", doesn't have to equate to a BBS result necessarily. One reason I may call a shave "Perfect" is that the shave is so smooth on my ole mug that it almost doesn't even feel like I'm shaving, and that's what happened today. I've got the edge on this Torrey totally dialed in. Prior to shaving, I gave it about 20 or so light "maintenance" laps on the Dan's Whetstone black translucent Ark. My goodness, this edge is "perfect" right now!
Another aspect of the shave that was perfect was the soap. I used one of the new Wild West Shaving Co. soaps that I recently received, the "Wichita" scented one (I had to get this one just because it's my wife's home town). The performance was "elite" status all the way - really nice and slick, with excellent post shave face feel. The scent is one of the more subtle ones from WWSC, as it rates no more than a 2/5 on the SOS scale, but that fits this one just fine. The scent description from the label reads: "Bay Rum, Vetiver, Wood Smoke, Coffee, Rose". To me, this smells mostly like a chocolatey coffee type of thing at first, with the bay rum lurking in the background at times. I didn't detect any singular notes of vetiver, smoke, or rose. Perhaps those "round out" or "mellow" the scent? IDK, but I did like this one. Normally, I don't favor coffee scented shaving soaps, but I'll happily make an exception for this one.
Oh, let me mention the size of this soap puck. Josh has already mentioned it in his journal, but I actually don't mind this small container. The reason being, is that it fits easily into the palm of my hand and makes for easy palm lathering - no worries for me at all. However, the container that has the Private Reserve soap is too tall and quite aggravating.
I finished off with Captain's Choice Cat O Nine Tails bay rum aftershave. This is one of those aftershaves that is excellent for "grading" a shave, as it pulls no punches and tells no lies. Suffice to say, however, that today, I'm happy to report that I barely even noticed it! Yep, like I said, a perfect shave.
BTW, yet another component of today's perfect shave was the Eric custom brush and matching scales - this particular wood is really a looker in person - hard to capture how nice it is via photo.
I'll be working on getting caught up with folks soon.
I mentioned something similar in my reviews. But I applaud them for laying it all out there so to speak. I'm sure it costs them sales, but if one of their scents hits your wheelhouse, you're really going to love it because it's so intense. I agree, it would make sense for them to do something a little more middle of the road in addition to these avante-garde type things for more people to enjoy their performance. I have Maya on my list to buy at some point, but none of the others I could enjoy using.
Interesting Wild West seems to be making another round of appearances in the journals. I gave them a try when they first came out, and all the scents had an underlying artificial smell to me. I'm wondering if they have worked their way past that. They seem to be cranking out the new scents though.
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Nice write up and Congrats on the PERFECT shave. I love those special days when the planets all line up together
I've been holding off buying Wild West soaps for reasons I won't get into here. But it seems as if many are getting good milage and shaves out of this, do I see a Wild West soap in my future.
I LOVE that Torrey razor! Holy cow, what a looker.