The Shaving Cadre
Welcome to The Shaving Cadre, a forum dedicated to gentlemanly discourse about wet shaving and other topics of common interests. Membership is always free so register today and join in the fun
cmh737 Straight Venture Journal Continued
- Thread starter cmh737
- Start date
cold cool warm is all ok it just doesn’t like it hot
Roger that, Dave. And thanks!
Thanks, TJ. And I may have to check out that WK scent. I totally dig the performance of the WK w/donkey milk soaps.
Mystic Water soaps have some of the best scents available - try several of her samples. And if you really like floral scented shaving soaps, her "Jasmine" is one of the greatest ever.
Exactly!
Thanks, Chad. But the Hook just wasn't for me by itself (scent-wise). However, it might be interesting to super-lather it with some AoS Sandalwood - that might make for a very good combo.
SR Shave #636:
Top of the morning, Gents! Today was a bit of a British affair, as I decided to break in the NOS vintage Yardley English Lavender soap.
Here was the set up:
In keeping with the British theme, I used the Bengall half-hollow, the Simpson Chubby 2 "best", and finished up with some Pen's Blenheim Bouquet.
This shave was MARVELOUS! Brilliant, I say!
First, the razor. I totally dig this particular Bengall. It's old. It's Sheffield steel (which is some of the best steel there is). It's flat-out-awesome! It's definitely one of my favorite straights. The edge is still going strong and it gave an outstanding DFS with only two passes.
Now the soap. Ah yes, this 80 (approximately) year old soap. Anyone who's been in this crazy hobby of ours, for even a short period of time, has heard tale of this soap. It's taken on legendary status. So you know what that meant, of course - I knew I had to try it one day.
Well, now that I've finally tried it, did it live up to my expectations? The short answer is, yes. The longer answer is that, in terms of performance, I found it to be very similar to the vintage Williams and vintage Colgate Cup soap that I recently got. The Yardley lather was certainly "vintage creamy" goodness, and definitely elite status, but was it superior to the vintage Williams and vintage Colgate Cup soap? In all honesty, not really; they were all about equal, truth-be-told, which is elite all the way, for sure! But if I did a blind test of those three soaps, I'd be hard pressed to notice which was which. With that being said, however, I still dig it! Most definitely! This is some seriously old soap, with a storied tradition, that still lathers effortlessly, and is one of the slickest soaps I've ever used. I'm quite impressed that a soap this old can still be as good as it is. The "cool factor" alone makes me happy I got this, and definitely was worth the price of admission. I'm going to enjoy using this one for a long time!
Top of the morning, Gents! Today was a bit of a British affair, as I decided to break in the NOS vintage Yardley English Lavender soap.
Here was the set up:
In keeping with the British theme, I used the Bengall half-hollow, the Simpson Chubby 2 "best", and finished up with some Pen's Blenheim Bouquet.
This shave was MARVELOUS! Brilliant, I say!
First, the razor. I totally dig this particular Bengall. It's old. It's Sheffield steel (which is some of the best steel there is). It's flat-out-awesome! It's definitely one of my favorite straights. The edge is still going strong and it gave an outstanding DFS with only two passes.
Now the soap. Ah yes, this 80 (approximately) year old soap. Anyone who's been in this crazy hobby of ours, for even a short period of time, has heard tale of this soap. It's taken on legendary status. So you know what that meant, of course - I knew I had to try it one day.
Well, now that I've finally tried it, did it live up to my expectations? The short answer is, yes. The longer answer is that, in terms of performance, I found it to be very similar to the vintage Williams and vintage Colgate Cup soap that I recently got. The Yardley lather was certainly "vintage creamy" goodness, and definitely elite status, but was it superior to the vintage Williams and vintage Colgate Cup soap? In all honesty, not really; they were all about equal, truth-be-told, which is elite all the way, for sure! But if I did a blind test of those three soaps, I'd be hard pressed to notice which was which. With that being said, however, I still dig it! Most definitely! This is some seriously old soap, with a storied tradition, that still lathers effortlessly, and is one of the slickest soaps I've ever used. I'm quite impressed that a soap this old can still be as good as it is. The "cool factor" alone makes me happy I got this, and definitely was worth the price of admission. I'm going to enjoy using this one for a long time!
It's pretty awesome that you are getting to try some of these vintage soaps...and your theme today is just great!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Nice reads on the vintage soaps Chris
Proof that noses differ. I think Cuero Oscuro is one of the foulest scented soaps on the planet.
WOW!!!!!!! well that means it as of right now has a 50/50 split review from the TSC
Thanks, Don.
Thanks, Chad.
Thanks, Dave.
Cheers, mate!
Thanks, Tim.
Very interesting.....very interesting indeed.
SR Shave #637:
Had a single item mail call yesterday - a new brush.
Another Rudy Vey, in another "Eagle" style handle, with another Shavemac DO1, 2-band silvertip knot, but this time the knot is a fan shape, vice the flat top that I already have. This knot specs out at 25/50.
So how does this fan shape compare to the flat top? Well, the tips on the flat top are much, much softer than this new fan. Different batch? Or is it the shape? IDK; but what I do know, is that this fan is very dense, quite firm with not much splay yet, and has a noticeable "presence" on the face with what I would call, "scrub", not scritch. As a new knot, this definitely lends itself to paint brush strokes rather than circular. Obviously, this knot needs to open up, and it's way too early to give a definitive opinion; but I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed right out of the gate with this knot. I was hoping for the same soft tips like the flat top has, but time will tell. Stay tuned.
The soap, however, was magnificent! My goodness, how I dig this new Mike's scent. Even though it's on the subtle side, at only a 2/5 on the SOS scale, it's fantastic, and perhaps his greatest soap yet, in terms of scent. I love it!
The shave itself was good. I did just two passes with the CVH MK7 and walked out with a solid DFS, but I did catch a couple of inconsequential weepers. I've never really warmed up to this razor, so I'll be offering this one up when I start culling the heard.
Finished up with Pinaud Clubman. This turned out to be an excellent paring with the soap!
Had a single item mail call yesterday - a new brush.
Another Rudy Vey, in another "Eagle" style handle, with another Shavemac DO1, 2-band silvertip knot, but this time the knot is a fan shape, vice the flat top that I already have. This knot specs out at 25/50.
So how does this fan shape compare to the flat top? Well, the tips on the flat top are much, much softer than this new fan. Different batch? Or is it the shape? IDK; but what I do know, is that this fan is very dense, quite firm with not much splay yet, and has a noticeable "presence" on the face with what I would call, "scrub", not scritch. As a new knot, this definitely lends itself to paint brush strokes rather than circular. Obviously, this knot needs to open up, and it's way too early to give a definitive opinion; but I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed right out of the gate with this knot. I was hoping for the same soft tips like the flat top has, but time will tell. Stay tuned.
The soap, however, was magnificent! My goodness, how I dig this new Mike's scent. Even though it's on the subtle side, at only a 2/5 on the SOS scale, it's fantastic, and perhaps his greatest soap yet, in terms of scent. I love it!
The shave itself was good. I did just two passes with the CVH MK7 and walked out with a solid DFS, but I did catch a couple of inconsequential weepers. I've never really warmed up to this razor, so I'll be offering this one up when I start culling the heard.
Finished up with Pinaud Clubman. This turned out to be an excellent paring with the soap!
Beautiful photo Chris.
Thanks, TJ. Much appreciated.
Some good stuff Chris. I knew you would dig the Yardley, it's just plain good. I scored another pack of Williams Barber soap, I will send you one soon. I believe the barber pucks are different somehow but I can't imaging how that might be. I assume they make the soap in the same fashion but maybe they mix it and press it with more or less glycerin and additives. What ever the case they can knock your socks off.
I see a parade of vintage shaves coming my way.
I see a parade of vintage shaves coming my way.