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The wonderful excesses of acquisition disorders...and wet shaving
- Thread starter Dagwoodz
- Start date
First off, congratulations to Don for finally guessing the correct soap! LOL Thank you everyone else for participating! I'm planning to run a few more PIF's here in the future...without as much drama, hopefully! ?
Tuesday, 1 May, 2018
P.160 Tipo Morbido | Wade and Butcher 6/8” near wedge
Currently on Shave #493 | Straight shave #300
Long post warning!
300 straight shaves…it seemed so far off when I started, and to be honest, it did almost take 2 years to get here. But, it has been a pleasure doing so and the friendships made here and the other place are the biggest reward. It’s all about the journey, and y’all make it an eventful and scenic ride, indeed!
So, to commemorate the shave, I went back to the beginning…all three major pieces to this shave relate to my start in traditional wet-shaving. Starting with the first straight I shaved with, the Wade & Butcher 6/8” square point. I have a love/hate relationship with this razor. I love that it’s over 150 years old and still in relatively great shape, but whoever did the scales on this didn’t do it justice. They’re uneven, pinned wrong, the wedge is off center…the only thing he did right is make sure it centers correctly. The bad thing is I love the curly walnut that it was made from. It’s a challenge to strop because of how it’s pinned, so you really have to pay attention and go a bit more slow than usual. It also is responsible for the worst skin filet I’ve experienced as a straight razor shaver, so I'm always very cautious with her. Because of all this, it’s been in “the box” for the better part of the past 18 months. It’s back in rotation now, however. I touched it up last night on the Shobudani to ensure the edge was where I wanted it for today’s shave. I think I’m going to send this out for some re-scaling…if only there was someone on here that did that…lol.
Software wise, I used what I consider to be my most special soap in the den. It’s truly unobtanium, as the person making the soap passed away a couple of years ago, and took the recipe with him. I became enamored with this soap very early on in my wet-shaving journey, reading about it from an Italian, Razor Guy, over at one of the other places (the now defunct SRP). His love of this soap as well as Maestro Livi razors (he’s got a ridiculous amount of them, somewhere in the 50-60’s or more…most of them Damascus), really is one of the first big enablements for me in this hobby. Of course, I was a bit forlorn when I found out this soap was no longer in production, and the only way to get an authentic bit of it, outside of paying the $10k on Italian Barber for a 1 kilo brick, was to find it on the BST’s. Thankfully, the 2016 Saint Sue auction brought some Tipo Morbido (soft type), and I jumped on it. From a performance standpoint, it really is a good soap, but just not in the class of Declaration, Wholly Kaw, or even Stirling. The lather is on the foamier side of the house but it does provide great protection. Slickness and residual slickness are middle of the road, and it’s not the most moisturizing of soaps. Pretty underwhelming, huh? But, because this is the soap that got me started into the acquisition disorder of soaps, I’ll never get rid of it, and make it last as long as possible. It’s quite nostalgic when I use this soap…in a very good way. The scent on this, if you haven’t had the chance to smell it or the RR version of it, is a cherry marzipan type of scent, but it has some hints of a classic Italian colonia behind it. SoS out of the tin is about 2.5/5, but a 1.5/5 once lathered. Honestly, if it were any stronger, it would be cloying, so I’m quite happy with it right there.
Brush wise, I pulled out the Excalibur Rustics 24mm Super Silvertip in Figured Ebony. This was the first custom brush, and first premium brush I bought. It’s a bit on the floppy side of the house if you only use it to do paint brush strokes, and that makes loading soaps a bit more challenging. But it is very soft on the face with next to no backbone and no scratch or scritch. I found out after I purchased it that the knot is one of TGN’s premium silvertips. Density is moderate…so it really feels like a mop on the face, truth be told, LOL. The tips do exhibit that gel-like quality, however, so the sensation on the face is quite nice. The handle is a beautiful piece of marbled Macassar Ebony…but it looks like he used varnish/lacquer to protect it, and it’s starting to degrade. Another project for the future; a re-knot and refinish…I might have to send this out to the same place the razor goes.
The shave itself was nice. Three passes, as per the norm. The W&B felt nice on the face, possibly a bit on the harsh side at first, but calming down quite fast. The soap performed as expected, giving some great protection. A little clean up after the third pass left me BBS, though there is a little irritation that will go away…nothing bad at all. After a splash of some witch hazel, I grabbed the matching P.160 balm from RR. This is actually pretty nice stuff…not quite as good as the Paladin balm, but it gets the job done, and absorbs pretty quick, not leaving a tacky mess on your face. I topped off with quite a few vasilly’s of Ferragamo Acqua Essenziale Colonia to complete the Italian fragrance package. All in all, a great shave to start the shave week for me! Next, I get to start test driving the Brass Colonial General…
Have a great day everyone!
Tuesday, 1 May, 2018
P.160 Tipo Morbido | Wade and Butcher 6/8” near wedge
Currently on Shave #493 | Straight shave #300
Long post warning!
300 straight shaves…it seemed so far off when I started, and to be honest, it did almost take 2 years to get here. But, it has been a pleasure doing so and the friendships made here and the other place are the biggest reward. It’s all about the journey, and y’all make it an eventful and scenic ride, indeed!
So, to commemorate the shave, I went back to the beginning…all three major pieces to this shave relate to my start in traditional wet-shaving. Starting with the first straight I shaved with, the Wade & Butcher 6/8” square point. I have a love/hate relationship with this razor. I love that it’s over 150 years old and still in relatively great shape, but whoever did the scales on this didn’t do it justice. They’re uneven, pinned wrong, the wedge is off center…the only thing he did right is make sure it centers correctly. The bad thing is I love the curly walnut that it was made from. It’s a challenge to strop because of how it’s pinned, so you really have to pay attention and go a bit more slow than usual. It also is responsible for the worst skin filet I’ve experienced as a straight razor shaver, so I'm always very cautious with her. Because of all this, it’s been in “the box” for the better part of the past 18 months. It’s back in rotation now, however. I touched it up last night on the Shobudani to ensure the edge was where I wanted it for today’s shave. I think I’m going to send this out for some re-scaling…if only there was someone on here that did that…lol.
Software wise, I used what I consider to be my most special soap in the den. It’s truly unobtanium, as the person making the soap passed away a couple of years ago, and took the recipe with him. I became enamored with this soap very early on in my wet-shaving journey, reading about it from an Italian, Razor Guy, over at one of the other places (the now defunct SRP). His love of this soap as well as Maestro Livi razors (he’s got a ridiculous amount of them, somewhere in the 50-60’s or more…most of them Damascus), really is one of the first big enablements for me in this hobby. Of course, I was a bit forlorn when I found out this soap was no longer in production, and the only way to get an authentic bit of it, outside of paying the $10k on Italian Barber for a 1 kilo brick, was to find it on the BST’s. Thankfully, the 2016 Saint Sue auction brought some Tipo Morbido (soft type), and I jumped on it. From a performance standpoint, it really is a good soap, but just not in the class of Declaration, Wholly Kaw, or even Stirling. The lather is on the foamier side of the house but it does provide great protection. Slickness and residual slickness are middle of the road, and it’s not the most moisturizing of soaps. Pretty underwhelming, huh? But, because this is the soap that got me started into the acquisition disorder of soaps, I’ll never get rid of it, and make it last as long as possible. It’s quite nostalgic when I use this soap…in a very good way. The scent on this, if you haven’t had the chance to smell it or the RR version of it, is a cherry marzipan type of scent, but it has some hints of a classic Italian colonia behind it. SoS out of the tin is about 2.5/5, but a 1.5/5 once lathered. Honestly, if it were any stronger, it would be cloying, so I’m quite happy with it right there.
Brush wise, I pulled out the Excalibur Rustics 24mm Super Silvertip in Figured Ebony. This was the first custom brush, and first premium brush I bought. It’s a bit on the floppy side of the house if you only use it to do paint brush strokes, and that makes loading soaps a bit more challenging. But it is very soft on the face with next to no backbone and no scratch or scritch. I found out after I purchased it that the knot is one of TGN’s premium silvertips. Density is moderate…so it really feels like a mop on the face, truth be told, LOL. The tips do exhibit that gel-like quality, however, so the sensation on the face is quite nice. The handle is a beautiful piece of marbled Macassar Ebony…but it looks like he used varnish/lacquer to protect it, and it’s starting to degrade. Another project for the future; a re-knot and refinish…I might have to send this out to the same place the razor goes.
The shave itself was nice. Three passes, as per the norm. The W&B felt nice on the face, possibly a bit on the harsh side at first, but calming down quite fast. The soap performed as expected, giving some great protection. A little clean up after the third pass left me BBS, though there is a little irritation that will go away…nothing bad at all. After a splash of some witch hazel, I grabbed the matching P.160 balm from RR. This is actually pretty nice stuff…not quite as good as the Paladin balm, but it gets the job done, and absorbs pretty quick, not leaving a tacky mess on your face. I topped off with quite a few vasilly’s of Ferragamo Acqua Essenziale Colonia to complete the Italian fragrance package. All in all, a great shave to start the shave week for me! Next, I get to start test driving the Brass Colonial General…
Have a great day everyone!
WildWest74
Could be John Wayne
That was fun catching up, Josh! Great giveaway, too.
CONGRATS ON THE MILESTONE!!!
CONGRATS ON THE MILESTONE!!!
Thanks Chad!
Thanks Doug!
Thank you Chris! To me, it's the quintessential Italian shaving soap.
Dang. I've been out all day. As soon as I read your first post, my guess was P.160. I was reading through all the replies, hoping nobody guessed it yet, then I saw it was over.Congrats Don!
Thanks KJ...sorry you missed it!
Great read, shave and picture Josh! Excellent reviews of all items used.
Thank you Craig!
Thanks Jim!!
Happy 300th Shave Josh! Yahoo!
It got here so fast!
Thanks Rich!! LOL...nice boat!
Thank you Dave!
Thanks Don, and congrats on the win again!
Thursday, 3 May, 2018
Wholly Kaw Man from Mayfair | Brass Colonial General | Feather Pro-Guard (1)
Currently on Shave #494 | Straight shave still at #300
I’ve been looking forward to this shave for a while, ever since the General arrived. It’s an impressive piece of hardware, quite heavy, with the only knock on it being the handle has zero knurling. It comes in at right around 140g, so it’s quite heavy, almost 5x as heavy as the RR Blackhawk. I loaded it up with a new Feather Pro-Guard and went ahead with the rest of my prep.
For the software, I went with the sample of Man from Mayfair by Wholly Kaw. I took a pretty large snurdle and smeared it all around the base of my lather bowl, then spritzed it about 3 times with my water bottle to bloom it while I showered. I note all this for the simple fact of the discussion going on in the soap sub-forum regarding the use of samples. I’ve got a checkered history with samples, and have gone the route of Chad, which is to take more than I think I need. It is only soap after all. I have yet to try loading from the 1” sample containers, but judging from others who have tried I don’t think I’ll be taking that route.
I chose a brush with substantial backbone to it so I would be able to pick up as much soap as possible quickly in the Paladin Cleo. This ended up being a very good decision. Within a few swirls, and a little bit of scrubbing, all of the soap was loaded up and it was just down to getting the water ratio right. The resulting lather was right in line with what I expect from WK’s donkey milk formula…creamy, slick and beautiful. The scent is interesting…definitely I get a lot of powder from it, but it’s not on the sweet side of the house like Stirling or Mystic Waters, nor is it crisply fresh like WSP Barbershop or Fine American Blend…it’s more middle of the road. It has a hint of sweetness, but clean at the same time. In retrospect, Clubman would have been a good match to it as well as the GTB that I went with.
So, after a lathered hot towel to the face, it was time to get this shave on. I lathered up and brought the General to the face and had to immediately back off to find the right balance point. This truly is a “let the weight of the razor do the work” razor…so if you aren’t holding it in the right spot, you end up using some additional pressure…I noticed it immediately and re-cocked and went back in. This razor is amazing! Super smooth, from what I could tell very efficient, and overall a joy to use. It does get a little unwieldy during S-N passes due to the overall weight, but that is easily compensated for. Three passes and a little clean-up gave me one of my better shaves in recent memory…with the exception of my chin where I can feel a hint of a hint of some micro-stubble. Other than that area, however, I’m definitely DSBBS everywhere else, and the alum gave zero feedback. Topped off with the CFG GTB, all was right in the world…it’s a faceturbatingly good day so far!
Have a great day everyone!
GAH! Thumbnails again...
Wholly Kaw Man from Mayfair | Brass Colonial General | Feather Pro-Guard (1)
Currently on Shave #494 | Straight shave still at #300
I’ve been looking forward to this shave for a while, ever since the General arrived. It’s an impressive piece of hardware, quite heavy, with the only knock on it being the handle has zero knurling. It comes in at right around 140g, so it’s quite heavy, almost 5x as heavy as the RR Blackhawk. I loaded it up with a new Feather Pro-Guard and went ahead with the rest of my prep.
For the software, I went with the sample of Man from Mayfair by Wholly Kaw. I took a pretty large snurdle and smeared it all around the base of my lather bowl, then spritzed it about 3 times with my water bottle to bloom it while I showered. I note all this for the simple fact of the discussion going on in the soap sub-forum regarding the use of samples. I’ve got a checkered history with samples, and have gone the route of Chad, which is to take more than I think I need. It is only soap after all. I have yet to try loading from the 1” sample containers, but judging from others who have tried I don’t think I’ll be taking that route.
I chose a brush with substantial backbone to it so I would be able to pick up as much soap as possible quickly in the Paladin Cleo. This ended up being a very good decision. Within a few swirls, and a little bit of scrubbing, all of the soap was loaded up and it was just down to getting the water ratio right. The resulting lather was right in line with what I expect from WK’s donkey milk formula…creamy, slick and beautiful. The scent is interesting…definitely I get a lot of powder from it, but it’s not on the sweet side of the house like Stirling or Mystic Waters, nor is it crisply fresh like WSP Barbershop or Fine American Blend…it’s more middle of the road. It has a hint of sweetness, but clean at the same time. In retrospect, Clubman would have been a good match to it as well as the GTB that I went with.
So, after a lathered hot towel to the face, it was time to get this shave on. I lathered up and brought the General to the face and had to immediately back off to find the right balance point. This truly is a “let the weight of the razor do the work” razor…so if you aren’t holding it in the right spot, you end up using some additional pressure…I noticed it immediately and re-cocked and went back in. This razor is amazing! Super smooth, from what I could tell very efficient, and overall a joy to use. It does get a little unwieldy during S-N passes due to the overall weight, but that is easily compensated for. Three passes and a little clean-up gave me one of my better shaves in recent memory…with the exception of my chin where I can feel a hint of a hint of some micro-stubble. Other than that area, however, I’m definitely DSBBS everywhere else, and the alum gave zero feedback. Topped off with the CFG GTB, all was right in the world…it’s a faceturbatingly good day so far!
Have a great day everyone!
GAH! Thumbnails again...
dkeester
"TSC's Master of Bourbon"
Stellar shave! I have an aluminum General from the very first production run. It is one of the ones that they sold at a discount due to minor production problems. It is probably the most efficient and smooth SE that I own. I love it with the regular Feather Pro blade.
...
I think I may have to pull mine out for tomorrow's shave...
...
I think I may have to pull mine out for tomorrow's shave...
Thanks Chris...I'm really glad Sri sent the sample with my order of Tempest. It probably cost him money in the long run, as it's most likely not going to be a full tub purchase.
Thanks Dave. This is actually only the second AC style SE that I've tried, the other being the RR Blackhawk. That gave a good shave, but Chad spoke so highly of the General, I decided to take the plunge on one. When the brass version became available, under original cost, it was a no brainer...though I didn't think it would come in quite this heavy. Not sure what the weight of the RX is, or how much more efficient it is as I haven't used it. Not sure how much more efficient it can get. This was with the Pro-Guard blade as well, so I'm going to give this blade another run, possibly tomorrow depending on the longevity of this shave, then switch to the Professional, then a Super to see what the difference is in aggressiveness.
Thanks Doug! To say I'm really impressed would be a grave understatement.