Great Stuff, Catching up
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
Ramblings of a MilkCrate
- Thread starter MilkCrate
- Start date
SteveChuckFrank
Close Enough*
MilkCrate said:
Mail call.
This came yesterday. I keep reading a lot of good reviews on Ghost Town Barber, so I grabbed a sample.
I also have samples of Proraso Wood & Spice and CC Bay Rum on the way.
You're gonna love that soap! I need to get myself some of the matching AS.
MilkCrate
"I am a Milk Crate with Dreams"
Here we go, today I had GTB on deck. I pulled the sample out and have it in a sample tin for easier loading. I face lather, just because I can.
Pre Shave-
Hot water splash
Shave-
Gillette Tech (Ball End)
Astra SP
No name Badger
GTB soap and AS
Decided to give the Tech the workout time today. With that chosen, loaded a fresh Astra and off we went.
First impressions ... this soap smells and shaves like crap. I don’t know how you guys can go on and on about it ... JK.
Ok, for real this time. Loaded up and here we go. To the scent, it does smell good. Maybe because it’s complex, I don’t know exactly what I am smelling, but I like it.
The soap loaded and lathered well. The badger just oozed foam. First and second passes were great and had plenty of slick. Something strange happened on the third pass. The lather just disappeared off my face. Maybe I didn’t load enough at first and I got it too wet with rinses. No worries. Went back to the sample and hit it like it owed me money. Third pass down and done.
Cleaned and wrapped up with the AS splash. Walked away with a BBS and a great scent for the day.
I’m going to see if this sample will work for a complete rotation. With that said, if I keep hanging around you guys I will need a bigger shelf.
Great first run with the GTB! I have a love/hate relationship with samples. It gives a good opportunity to see how the soap smells, if it's in my wheelhouse, but I always have a difficult time loading them properly, as I tend to be a little conservative on how much I load up.
MilkCrate said:Oh, I am determined. I don’t think I’ve posted this pic of my shelf yet. It’s 18 x 24”, my kit has to fit on it.
Ya, I thought I only had one drawer to put my shaving stuff in. Then I snuck some stuff under the sink, then started keeping some in the bedroom and finally emptied out a small dresser drawer. Now that’s full and I need to make space in another.
MilkCrate
"I am a Milk Crate with Dreams"
Dagwoodz said:
I think I will just have to have a love/hate with samples. The Stirling Bay Rum lit me up. It felt like a chem burn. So I have a sample of Captains Choice on the way. I wasn’t sure about GTB because I have a Cedar allergy. But I did ok with it.
Oh so Cute, nice travel shelf, and you said you would only need a shelf muahahaahahaha. I have some building contractors that do very nice room additions and Shave den expansions, LOL Great Stuff!
MilkCrate
"I am a Milk Crate with Dreams"
Went with the GTB again today, I am going to try and get a complete rotation out of this sample. Hit the ground running this morning, so I had to shave this evening.
Pre Shave-
Hot shower followed by a hot water splash to shave.
Shave-
Gillette Tech (Ball End)
Astra SP
Omega boar
GTB soap and AS
Since I had to reload for a third pass yesterday, I changed a couple of variables today. I used the boar brush and didn’t splash between passes. I thought this would keep me from getting my lather too wet. It worked, but maybe at the cost of slickness. I went with my standard three passes: WTG, XTG and ATG. Had a great shave and walked away with a DFS. I was mostly BBS, but had a bit of missed stubble. Th
e AS splash confirmed that all was right with the world.
I may not have this one dialed in right yet, but Stirling seems slicker. Stirling also seems a little more water tolerant.
With that said, I am still digging the scent of GTB. Still can’t break down the scent or define the main components that I smell. It also has a great post shave feel. It may have a place in the standard rotation.
Pre Shave-
Hot shower followed by a hot water splash to shave.
Shave-
Gillette Tech (Ball End)
Astra SP
Omega boar
GTB soap and AS
Since I had to reload for a third pass yesterday, I changed a couple of variables today. I used the boar brush and didn’t splash between passes. I thought this would keep me from getting my lather too wet. It worked, but maybe at the cost of slickness. I went with my standard three passes: WTG, XTG and ATG. Had a great shave and walked away with a DFS. I was mostly BBS, but had a bit of missed stubble. Th
e AS splash confirmed that all was right with the world.
I may not have this one dialed in right yet, but Stirling seems slicker. Stirling also seems a little more water tolerant.
With that said, I am still digging the scent of GTB. Still can’t break down the scent or define the main components that I smell. It also has a great post shave feel. It may have a place in the standard rotation.