Thanks for the info on Soapy Science. It actually sounds wonderful. Love the pic...that is one good looking brush.
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The wonderful excesses of acquisition disorders...and wet shaving
- Thread starter Dagwoodz
- Start date
I'm really enjoying the Nostalgic medium...and I do like the scents they use. I'm going to have to pick up a woody scent and a more biting citrus scent to round out my collection. I have a heavy oil based pomade as well, (Voodoo Brew), and it's a great pomade as well, but just takes a while to get out if you don't use either baby oil, 3 minute miracle, or groom & clean.
Thanks Dave
Thanks Dave...the more comfortable I get in front of the camera, the longer the videos are getting. Right now it's just trying to find a good balance between time/conversation.
Thanks Don!
Thanks Doug!
SOTD - Thursday, 7 June, 2018
Mystic Water Rosalimone | Pumacker Black Diamond 9/16”
Currently on Shave #513| Straight shave #310
I woke up to plenty of stubble this morning, which re-enforced the passes that I did yesterday, bypassing the ATG in favor of an opposite directly XTG. The shave was more comfortable, and it’s allowing me to shave daily. No, I’m not nearly as close as I would get as I would doing an ATG pass, but the only person who would notice is me. Up on deck this morning was another Mystic Water soap, Rosalimone. As I’ve found with the five MW soaps that I own, the scent is about a 2/5 out of the tub. With this being a rather delicate scent, it could stand to be a little stronger, but is nice all the same. Who’s to say it wouldn’t get cloying if it were any stronger? I went with the Stirling 24mm finest fan this morning as the lather maker, and based on a couple of suggestions, face lathered.
Before I get into the results from the face lathering, a bit on the razor this morning. I chose the Pumacker Black Diamond. The last time I used this, it was a bit on the harsh side. So, last night I went ahead and just took it through an extended tomo slurry into a water only, then glycerin + water. The results this morning were much smoother than the last time out.
Now, the face lathering this morning produced a very similar lather to what I experienced by bowl lathering. The cushion and residual slickness might have been a bit more, but almost imperceptibly so. One thing I noticed is that as I continued to add water, numerous times through the shave, the motion to incorporate more water and air into the soap started to get a little annoying on my skin. Not obnoxiously so, but it was there. The scent once lathered bloomed out to about a 2.5 or possibly a 3 out of 5. The lemon came to the fore, but since the rose was always there, it was anything but a biting citrus. A very pleasing scent composition indeed, very well done by Michelle.
So, three passes, no ATG, and I walked away with a very solid DFS and zero complaints. I did get a little bit aggressive with the left side of my neck/jawline, so the alum gave a little feedback there, but otherwise, there was zero bite. One thing I noticed, is I had a hard touchdown yesterday with the Eiko, but there was no blood. I didn’t think there was anything that was going to come of it, no marks. But, lo and behold, there it was today. Meh…all good. I have a matching one on the other side in the same spot, so now I’m symmetrical.
Mail call today brought in the item that I teased a few weeks back. It’s a kamisori style razor made by Ali’s Blade. Pictures on his site were pretty, but they really don’t do this razor justice in person. It’s a normal alloy razor with some copper and nickel forged into the tang. A full-bellied hollow-ground and close to 8/8”, I’m really looking forward to using this tomorrow!
Have a great day everyone!
Mystic Water Rosalimone | Pumacker Black Diamond 9/16”
Currently on Shave #513| Straight shave #310
I woke up to plenty of stubble this morning, which re-enforced the passes that I did yesterday, bypassing the ATG in favor of an opposite directly XTG. The shave was more comfortable, and it’s allowing me to shave daily. No, I’m not nearly as close as I would get as I would doing an ATG pass, but the only person who would notice is me. Up on deck this morning was another Mystic Water soap, Rosalimone. As I’ve found with the five MW soaps that I own, the scent is about a 2/5 out of the tub. With this being a rather delicate scent, it could stand to be a little stronger, but is nice all the same. Who’s to say it wouldn’t get cloying if it were any stronger? I went with the Stirling 24mm finest fan this morning as the lather maker, and based on a couple of suggestions, face lathered.
Before I get into the results from the face lathering, a bit on the razor this morning. I chose the Pumacker Black Diamond. The last time I used this, it was a bit on the harsh side. So, last night I went ahead and just took it through an extended tomo slurry into a water only, then glycerin + water. The results this morning were much smoother than the last time out.
Now, the face lathering this morning produced a very similar lather to what I experienced by bowl lathering. The cushion and residual slickness might have been a bit more, but almost imperceptibly so. One thing I noticed is that as I continued to add water, numerous times through the shave, the motion to incorporate more water and air into the soap started to get a little annoying on my skin. Not obnoxiously so, but it was there. The scent once lathered bloomed out to about a 2.5 or possibly a 3 out of 5. The lemon came to the fore, but since the rose was always there, it was anything but a biting citrus. A very pleasing scent composition indeed, very well done by Michelle.
So, three passes, no ATG, and I walked away with a very solid DFS and zero complaints. I did get a little bit aggressive with the left side of my neck/jawline, so the alum gave a little feedback there, but otherwise, there was zero bite. One thing I noticed, is I had a hard touchdown yesterday with the Eiko, but there was no blood. I didn’t think there was anything that was going to come of it, no marks. But, lo and behold, there it was today. Meh…all good. I have a matching one on the other side in the same spot, so now I’m symmetrical.
Mail call today brought in the item that I teased a few weeks back. It’s a kamisori style razor made by Ali’s Blade. Pictures on his site were pretty, but they really don’t do this razor justice in person. It’s a normal alloy razor with some copper and nickel forged into the tang. A full-bellied hollow-ground and close to 8/8”, I’m really looking forward to using this tomorrow!
Have a great day everyone!
Josh, I think your SOTD reviews of soaps and razors are getting much better. Not that they were bad before...but wow! those are some good reads. From the sound of it you will likely keep with the bowl lathering for MW. Either way it is a really good soap that has been around for much longer than most of the artisans around today. And with little change at that. The razor is beautiful and let us know how it works out!
Michelle did a very good job on this one...very enjoyable indeed! I don't like it as much as I do the coconut sandalwood, but better than Barbershop and Bergamot, Cedar & Juniper.
Thanks Don! One of the things I'm finding out is that I love doing comparative reviews on soaps. It kind of fits in with doing performance metrics and analytics at work, something I enjoy doing. Not much of a stretch to fit those skills over to doing reviews on soaps and other products.
As I am a warm lather fan, even in the summer months in Central PA (mornings are usually cool), I never face lather unless I am on the road. If I travel for an extended period, week or more, my first shave back in my den is most enjoyable.
Looks like the Kami is ground symmetrically Josh, and it is a really cool looking blade that could double as a side arm. I am anxious to see how you like it against the skin. The Wharncliffe point does look intimidating, so take care on the first outing!
Looks like the Kami is ground symmetrically Josh, and it is a really cool looking blade that could double as a side arm. I am anxious to see how you like it against the skin. The Wharncliffe point does look intimidating, so take care on the first outing!
Thanks Walt. I like a warm lather as well, but typically just do room temperature. Every so often, I'll use my brush scuttle to heat the lather up, but it's hit or miss on whether the heat starts to affect the lather and break it down.
The kami is indeed a western, symmetrical grind. I'm excited to use it, (hopefully tomorrow), and see how it shaves. The point is indeed intimidating, more so in person than the pictures....it's the most "spike point" razor I have; the Pumacker I used today and the Jernbolaget I have in rotation have very sharp and un-muted square points.
RosaLimon is one of Michelle's soaps I have not tried yet, sounds nice and the BW pic is very good. Not much else needs to be said on the ALI blade, outstanding, and you videos are getting very nice Good software too, LOL
Great couple of shaves, Josh. You're killing me with the razors lol. I've drooled over that Eiko since you first posted a pic of it. The Ali is stunning, though it looks like the point could do some real damage if you let your attention slip.
Thanks Chris!! The edge was not anywhere near where it needed to be, but not sure if that was just how it was packaged and shipped.
Thanks Chris! It's a pretty intimidating point for sure, but will make it very easy to get to some hard to reach places...when used with a high amount of care, of course.
It'll definitely test my concentration, that's for sure!
Thanks Dave! If you weren't so sensitive to Rose, I would highly recommend this to you...the same with today's soap.
Thanks Eric! The Eiko is a good shaver, though you can tell that it's just waiting for you to slip up.
SOTD - Friday, 8 June, 2018
The Club: Club N’ Roses | Ali’s Blade Kamisori (Jerry Stark 7/8” French Point audible)
Currently on Shave #514| Straight shave #311
An early start to the day today, as I had to get up 5 hours earlier than normal for some obligations in the office…but I still managed to get a shave in. I was excited for this one, because I was bringing out a new soap and a new razor. Now, before asking why would I introduce multiple new variables into one shave, the soap base is one that I’ve had very good success with, as it’s the A&E soap base that I really enjoy. The razor, on the other hand is completely new…both in style and make. I’ve never shaved with an Ali’s Blade before, and was anxious to give it a go. I stropped it up last night and gave it an HHT to see where it was with the maker’s initial edge. My results were less than impressive…struggling to get to an HHT1. So, I pulled out the Stark and kept that on standby for the shave, as the only true test to whether a razor is shave ready is an actual shave.
The soap didn’t disappoint at all. The scent was great, a nice mixture of rose and oud with plenty of supporting fragrance notes to keep it from being a 2-trick pony. A very well thought out scent indeed. Performance is identical to A&E soaps that I’ve used in the past, so phenomenally good. (I posted a more in-depth review of the soap in the review section) The razor on the other hand…while it felt great in the hand, and was, in fact, taking hair off when I did my right cheek, when I got to the more densely packed hair in my moustache area, it just kept stalling and I really had to use some force to get it to cut. So, instead of inviting Murphy in to wreak havoc, I called the audible and grabbed the Stark, stropped it up, and ended up with a wonderfully enjoyable DFS. I didn’t want to use an oud scent today, as the weather has been bloody hot out here, routinely getting up to 105*F. So I went with another somewhat floral fragrance, the immortal Penhaligon’s English Fern. While not a perfect match, it still complimented the floral notes nicely, and wasn’t overly cloying once in the heat of the day.
I’ll have to take the razor to the stones tonight and see if I can coax a useable edge out of it…not sure if I’m going to have to take it from bevel up, but I’ll find out when I look under the loupe at the bevel and see what’s going on. It is balanced nicely, however, and I can tell it’s going to become a favorite shaver of mine if I can get the edge right.
Have a great day everyone!A
The Club: Club N’ Roses | Ali’s Blade Kamisori (Jerry Stark 7/8” French Point audible)
Currently on Shave #514| Straight shave #311
An early start to the day today, as I had to get up 5 hours earlier than normal for some obligations in the office…but I still managed to get a shave in. I was excited for this one, because I was bringing out a new soap and a new razor. Now, before asking why would I introduce multiple new variables into one shave, the soap base is one that I’ve had very good success with, as it’s the A&E soap base that I really enjoy. The razor, on the other hand is completely new…both in style and make. I’ve never shaved with an Ali’s Blade before, and was anxious to give it a go. I stropped it up last night and gave it an HHT to see where it was with the maker’s initial edge. My results were less than impressive…struggling to get to an HHT1. So, I pulled out the Stark and kept that on standby for the shave, as the only true test to whether a razor is shave ready is an actual shave.
The soap didn’t disappoint at all. The scent was great, a nice mixture of rose and oud with plenty of supporting fragrance notes to keep it from being a 2-trick pony. A very well thought out scent indeed. Performance is identical to A&E soaps that I’ve used in the past, so phenomenally good. (I posted a more in-depth review of the soap in the review section) The razor on the other hand…while it felt great in the hand, and was, in fact, taking hair off when I did my right cheek, when I got to the more densely packed hair in my moustache area, it just kept stalling and I really had to use some force to get it to cut. So, instead of inviting Murphy in to wreak havoc, I called the audible and grabbed the Stark, stropped it up, and ended up with a wonderfully enjoyable DFS. I didn’t want to use an oud scent today, as the weather has been bloody hot out here, routinely getting up to 105*F. So I went with another somewhat floral fragrance, the immortal Penhaligon’s English Fern. While not a perfect match, it still complimented the floral notes nicely, and wasn’t overly cloying once in the heat of the day.
I’ll have to take the razor to the stones tonight and see if I can coax a useable edge out of it…not sure if I’m going to have to take it from bevel up, but I’ll find out when I look under the loupe at the bevel and see what’s going on. It is balanced nicely, however, and I can tell it’s going to become a favorite shaver of mine if I can get the edge right.
Have a great day everyone!A
Well, disappointing about the edge, but I'm sure you'll get it in ship shape soon; it's definitely one of the coolest looking blades around!
The soap scent sounds nice; perhaps I should have ordered that one instead of the Asian Plum. But then again, I already have the rose-oud soap from CBL, so went for something different with the Asian Plum.
The soap scent sounds nice; perhaps I should have ordered that one instead of the Asian Plum. But then again, I already have the rose-oud soap from CBL, so went for something different with the Asian Plum.
