The wonderful excesses of acquisition disorders...and wet shaving

[Dagwoodz]

Nice way to start off the week.

Thanks Don!!

That’s a nice looking blade

I'm a huge fan of the look of the blade...the only thing from keeping me from calling it perfect is that it's not a full hollow blade. But it's the easiest wedge I've shaved with to date.

Nice looking razor and super way to kick The Fougere week off.

Thanks TJ!

 

[clyde72]

Great read, shave, and picture TJ!

I've noticed that heat affects some soaps, but have not made the connection to them being tallow or not. Stirling comes to mind which is tallow, hmmm, but then again Williams loves heat, and it's tallow, so is Chiseled Face and I haven't noticed a problem with it. Maybe it has to do with the type and amount of tallow?

 

[Dagwoodz]

Great read, shave, and picture TJ!

I've noticed that heat affects some soaps, but have not made the connection to them being tallow or not. Stirling comes to mind which is tallow, hmmm, but then again Williams loves heat, and it's tallow, so is Chiseled Face and I haven't noticed a problem with it. Maybe it has to do with the type and amount of tallow?

Maybe so Craig...I just know that Stirling, Fine, and other tallow soaps have seen significant break down in heat, but vegan soaps such as Martin de Candre, Saponificio Varesino, PAA, and Soap Commander don't breakdown nearly as much. Again, I might have had the water too hot...i.e. the problem is staring me right in the mirror. LOL.

 

[Cvargo]

Heat I've noticed effects soaps. But I've attributed it to the amount of butters in the soap

 

[Dagwoodz]

That very well may be Chad...something to look into further, definitely.

 

[Dagwoodz]

Monday, 18 March, 2018
Palmolive Tallow | 1961 G2 Gillette Fat Boy (6) | Bolanzo Super Inox (2)
Currently on Shave #471 | Straight shave still at #280



For today’s shave, Palmolive took center stage. This is, by far, the least expensive of my fougere soaps, but that doesn’t mean the performance is lacking. The tallow version of the soap, it gives a great cushioned lather with decent slickness. It is lacking in some residual slickness, but for the price of one of these sticks, beggars can’t be choosers. This is as good a soap as Arko, with a more pleasing scent profile. The fougere scent on this is very artificial, as would be expected, but it is a fougere nonetheless. Since I’m not a huge fan of shave sticks, I had milled this down into a soap tin.



Since I knew the residual slickness was not very good with this soap, I decided to use one of the DE’s I hadn’t used in a while in the Fatboy. I set it to 6, and threw in the Bolanzo Super Inox with one shave on it to see if it would be any better in the FB than the Superspeed. Indeed it was. Very smooth, but still very sharp. Three passes and a clean-up left me BBS and a very small amount of sting from the alum in the normal areas. I topped off with some Pinaud Clubman and GTB EdP...which are, themselves a great match.



Work has been extremely busy lately, but we’ve been super productive. Hopefully that translates to results around here, but that’s always a hit and miss thing. I hope everyone is doing well…

Have a great day everyone!

 

[Quijote]

Nice shave. Hard to say a bad thing about a shave when it involves a BBS and GTB.

 

[NurseDave]

Wow, Bolanzo is one I’ve never hear of.

 

[Dagwoodz]

Nice shave. Hard to say a bad thing about a shave when it involves a BBS and GTB.

Thanks Don. The only reason I'm unhappy with the shave is I'm not going to be able to shave tomorrow!

Wow, Bolanzo is one I’ve never hear of.

They're pretty good blades out of Italy. I ordered a tuck of them to try out and am somewhat impressed by them. I still wouldn't put them higher than Personna Red's, Astra SP's or Voskhod's, but they're very close.

 

[Dagwoodz]

Not exactly shaving related, but got a nice mail call today from Stirling.

Four bath bars and a sample:
Pig Trail (same as their Ozark scent line)
Gatlinburg (see below)
Sharp Dressed Man
Bergamot Lavender
Sandpiper (sample)

Two tubs of Body Butter:
Bergamot Lavender
Gatlinburg

Since I was released from wound care back in the states, I have to moisturize the wound area (now a big scar that encompasses my lower leg) a couple of times daily. Stirling's body lotion was a great way to do so, but I wanted to try their body butter since it came in tubs and would be easier to apply. The scent on the Gatlinburg is awesome...it reminds me of an old general store...overtones of bergamot and lavender which are quickly enveloped by a smokey leather and pine/cedar scent. Quite nice.

 

[Cvargo]

Nice stuff Josh. I love Palmolive.

The Body Butter is something my wife has me order for her and she enjoys it. I might need to try some. I suffer from very dry skin this time of year. I do use there lotion and like it.

 

[Dagwoodz]

Nice stuff Josh. I love Palmolive.

The Body Butter is something my wife has me order for her and she enjoys it. I might need to try some. I suffer from very dry skin this time of year. I do use there lotion and like it.

Thanks Chad! Every time I use a soap like Palmolive, Arko, or the Wilkinson Sword soap, it makes me question why I pay for all the expensive soaps. Until I shave with them that is...lol

Stirling's body lotion is awesome, and very effective, I just am not a fan of the containers. I already took a snurdle out to moisturize the leg with and it's quite a bit more firm than the lotion, but still seems to moisturize wonderfully. The biggest plus for me is that it's in a tub and easier to control how much you take, and if you do happen to take too much, you can always replace it, unlike the lotion bottles.

 

[Quijote]

I bought my wife the bergamot lavender lotion for Christmas and she loves it. I wish they had just a lavender scent though because that would be her preference.

I love the Gatlinburg. Awesome scent.

 

[Smattayu]

Nice Mail Call Josh!

 

[clyde72]

Great shave and read Josh!

I like using a shave stick on occasion, but it is too close to face lathering for me to really get into it. The palmolive is good stick!

Does Stirling make a "bad" product? Everything thing I've used from them has been a great performer. May have not liked the scent, but that is me not them.

 

[Dagwoodz]

Nice Mail Call Josh!

Thanks Eric!

I bought my wife the bergamot lavender lotion for Christmas and she loves it. I wish they had just a lavender scent though because that would be her preference.

I love the Gatlinburg. Awesome scent.

The Bergamot Lavender is a great scent...it's a nice match to MdC's original scent, though a bit more bergamot than MdC.

Great shave and read Josh!

I like using a shave stick on occasion, but it is too close to face lathering for me to really get into it. The palmolive is good stick!

Does Stirling make a "bad" product? Everything thing I've used from them has been a great performer. May have not liked the scent, but that is me not them.

I'm hooked on the Stirling bath soaps and their shave products are nothing to shake a stick at for sure!

 

[Dagwoodz]

Thursday, 22 March, 2018
Wholly Kaw Fougere Bouquet | Jerry Stark smiling 7/8” French
Currently on Shave #472 | Straight shave #281

Continuing on with the fougere week, today brought another soap I have not used yet in Wholly Kaw’s Fougere Bouquet. This is their normal tallow base, which Sri has moved away from, as he is now making all his soaps in the donkey milk formula. It still is a wonderful soap base however, giving a beautifully creamy lather. The omission of the donkey milk slightly affects the post shave and residual a tad, but for the most part, the qualities of both are the same. The name is apt, as this is a more floral take on the fougere scent, without the bite of, say, English Fern. It still has the typical dark underpinnings of a classic fougere, though. Quite nice.

The edge on the Stark razor is still going strong. With this being a smiling blade, I’m not looking forward to the day I have to refresh it. Shaving with this razor, I can’t help but think this blade would not look out of place as a regular knife…it almost has a santoku shape to it. But the way it handles around the face is nothing short of surprising. It gets me every time how agile a blade it is. The combination of the French point and smiling profile make getting into the problem areas a breeze. The one thing I struggle with on this razor is angle, as it is very easy to get a little steep. Combined with the heft of the razor, I usually get a little bit of feedback from the alum/aftershave. This morning was no exception, with the addition of a little weeper on the corner of my mouth from the ATG pass. Either way, after three passes (ATG on the neck handled by the ‘Jectah), I walked away BBS. I’ll downgrade it to BBS- since I did draw a bit of vital fluids. As mentioned, the alum and aftershave gave a little bit of feedback, but nothing too bracing. Just a little more than a reminder that I had just run a naked blade over my skin. The matching AS is quite nice, with a bit of added menthol. Topped off with some Paladin unscented balm infused with EF and some strategically placed dotties, I was ready for another hectic day in the office.

I used the scuttle again today, and have found I was using water that was too hot for the soap, which caused an almost catastrophic breakdown of the lather the first time using it. I’ve scaled it back, using a mixture of HOT water and some room temperature water to take the temperature down a bit. The result today was a pleasantly warm lather. There was some breakdown that I noticed, but it actually worked in my favor, as it made the soap even more slick. JENGA baby!

Have a great day everyone!

 

[Cvargo]

All Wholly Kaw is Donkey Milk now.... interesting. I suppose perhaps I should finally pull the trigger lol.

Nice read Josh.

 

[Dagwoodz]

All Wholly Kaw is Donkey Milk now.... interesting. I suppose perhaps I should finally pull the trigger lol.

Nice read Josh.

Well worth the price of admission, IMHO. Sri's donkey milk formula is quite remarkable. It has as good slickness, residual, and cushion as just about any soap I have, and the post-shave is off the charts good. Only Declaration soaps have a more complete a package from a performance aspect as WK does. Looking at the WK website, all of his soaps there are now in the DM formulation. The only places you can get the original tallow formula are from the wholesale sites such as Groomatorium and Maggard. Thinking about your post about artisan vs. original frags, Sri is also doing a few frags that match his soaps, right now he offers La Fougere Parfait (EdT), Project Leather (EdT), and Fougere Bouquet (EdT, EdP).

 

[Dagwoodz]

As is usual...mail came after I made my post for the day. Paladin is running a sale on their software products, so I stocked up on some of their phenomenally good unscented balm and another one of their soaps, Silk Road.