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

[Smattayu]

Excellent, and voluminous, Mail Call! You've got some great stuff in there, and I'm thrilled to say that it seems like everyone is happy with their brush. The quarter moon tuxedo is a really nice knot, though I need to expand my collection of synthetic knots. How is the BOSS as far as backbone, tips, and density?

 

[Dagwoodz]

WAHOO!!! Mail call!

Thanks! I was excited as well...lol

Right on, glad you finally got your brush! And loving the mail calls.

Thanks Dave!

Fun mail call! Superb shave!

Thank you Chris!

Great mail call and reads Josh. I'm looking forward to watching your honing video. Might be a day or two, depending on when we get our proposal out the door. You do have the prettiest Sorrentino TSC Legacy Barzini that I have seen yet, except for mine!

Ha HA! Looking forward to your thoughts on the video when you get around to it Walt.

Great mail call. I think Eric did a great job with the drawing. I can legitimately say that out of all the ones I saw, I like mine the best. And I am sure just about everyone feels the same way about theirs.

Thanks Don, and I have to agree, that it seems that everyone is extremely happy with the brush they received. I know I am, and after using it this morning, I'm definitely a "fan"...lol, bad pun.

Excellent, and voluminous, Mail Call! You've got some great stuff in there, and I'm thrilled to say that it seems like everyone is happy with their brush. The quarter moon tuxedo is a really nice knot, though I need to expand my collection of synthetic knots. How is the BOSS as far as backbone, tips, and density?

Thanks Eric! So the BOSS knot isn't quite as soft as the cashmere or tuxedo, (not by much, but it's noticeable), but backbone is comparable, and it seems to be a bit more dense than the tuxedo. With that being said, I like the lather it produces slightly better than the tuxedo, but like the tuxedo on the face better, if that makes any sense.

There are a couple of other knots I'm wanting to try sometime in the future, such as the timberwolf knot by Maggard, a ghost knot, and a mother lode knot, though I've heard the ML knots have even less backbone than the cashmere's...but are almost twice as dense. Seems to me they would be a lather hog.

 

[Dagwoodz]

SOTD - Friday, 15 June, 2018
Chiseled Face Groomatorium Ghost Town Barber | Jerry Stark 7/8” French Point
Currently on Shave #520 | Straight shave #317

It’s TSC Legacy Brush Christening Day, so that means some Ghost Town Barber being brought to the table! When I say some, I meant all of the GTB stuff…soap, A/S, EdP and pomade…if I had the body soap and shampoo bar I would have used those as well. I chose the Jerry Stark French point to go along with the set-up, to keep things All-American.

So, a bit about this brush. The wood is absolutely gorgeous, the grain on the darker side of the house for Goncalo Alves <sic> wood, but the finish allows the grain to show in all its glory. The brush is quite a bit heavier than I was anticipating…very pleasantly so. I enjoy a beefier feeling brush, weight-wise, so this was a much unexpected surprise. The three accent lines in the top gave some much needed color pop, and really set off the natural grain of the wood. The coin in the base of the brush just topped off what is a beautifully crafted brush. Before I even lathered this up, I could tell that this would be slightly different than the other tuxedo brush I own, the Wolf Whiskers Blackwolf (original). The tips weren’t quite as soft, but the backbone, oh my, the BACKBONE on this brush was amazing. Almost intimidatingly so.

Once lathered up however, this brush was amazing. Again, not quite as soft as my WW brush, but almost imperceptibly so. The intimidating backbone of the brush made loading the soap a breeze, but once on the face, the splay was like nothing. It was like the brush was thinking, “I have soap in me, and here comes the face….SPLAY!” It was almost spreading out on my face before I even touched down…lol. The lather it produced was wonderful…not much to be said outside of that. It’s immediately jumping over my cashmere knotted and Plissoft brushes and right up alongside my WW and BOSS knots for favorite synths in the den.

The shave…it was a wonderful shave. Three passes, though I did not do any buffing or touch-ups. WTG, XTG, GTG and done. I’m CCS+/DFS-, so not the best result as far as closeness is concerned. But I don’t care…the enjoy ability factor from the shave was off the charts, which for me is what counts. Of course, I followed the shave with some Stirling witch hazel, GTB A/S, then some EdP infused Paladin balm. More than a few Vassily’s of the EdP afterward and I’m walking around in a leather covered barbershop cloud of awesome.

I did video the shave this morning, but am encountering some post-production hiccups…(i.e. WORK is getting in the way). I’m going to try to get it finished and up-loaded sometime today, but with it being Eid, the network is most likely going to be rather congested. In the meantime….

Thanks for reading and have a great day everyone!

 

[NurseDave]

Right on, the TSC/GTB shave video. Looking forward to it.

 

[cmh737]

Great shaves, Josh. And most excellent mail calls. Funny, but I just received some new Wild West soaps as well! The mail arrived yesterday early, just as I was about to head out for work. I can’t recall if it’s 5 or 6. The ones I can remember are, The Virginian; Rose Dunn; Private Reserve 2; and Wichita. Wild West has sure added a bunch of new scents to their line up since the last time I oredered!

Oh, and nice new brush!!

 

[DocHoliday0831]

very nice TSC brush break-in shave!

 

[Quijote]

Nice way to welcome the brush to the den.

 

[Dagwoodz]

Right on, the TSC/GTB shave video. Looking forward to it.

Thanks Dave!

Great shaves, Josh. And most excellent mail calls. Funny, but I just received some new Wild West soaps as well! The mail arrived yesterday early, just as I was about to head out for work. I can’t recall if it’s 5 or 6. The ones I can remember are, The Virginian; Rose Dunn; Private Reserve 2; and Wichita. Wild West has sure added a bunch of new scents to their line up since the last time I oredered!

Oh, and nice new brush!!

Thanks Chris...I think you'll like the Rose Dunn and Private Reserve 2. They're both pretty nice scents, with the Rose Dunn edging out the PR2 on SoS. First use of WWSC is going to be tomorrow, so I'll have an initial impressions video and review posted.

very nice TSC brush break-in shave!

Thanks TJ!

Nice way to welcome the brush to the den.

Thanks Don!

 

[Dagwoodz]

SOTD - Saturday, 16 June, 2018
Long Rifle Hawkeye | Jernbolaget 4/8” 12 ½ Square point
Currently on Shave #521 | Straight shave #318

I treated today as kind of a free day, but not because I don’t want to try the new soaps that I got in the mail the other day. I’m going to be doing an every-other-day video, and since I released two videos over the past 2 days, I wasn’t in the mood for, nor had the data available to upload another video today. So, on the days that I’m not shooting a video, I’m going to take a page out of Chad’s book and use the same soap until it’s gone. In this case, I’m going to be using my Long Rifle Hawkeye. On days in between, I’ll be using a new soap and (hopefully) doing a video review of my first impressions of it.

I’ll tell you, it’s been a little while since I used Long Rifle, and I aside from the glut of soaps that have arrived over the past 4 months, I don’t know why. It really is a good soap, though not quite as good as I originally had it rated last year. I paired it with the Stirling 24mm fan in their “Butterscotch” handle, (it’s a fluorescent orange in reality). The lather that was created was quite nice, though a little more airy than a lot of the soaps that I’ve been using lately. The cushion though was outstanding, and the residual slickness is quite nice. In the shave, slickness was surprisingly lacking, or at least not where I wanted it to be at. I massively overloaded, but hey…it’s just soap.

The Jern is a razor that I was looking at maybe doing a refresh on, but wanted to get a shave on it to really make a determination on whether it really needed it or not. Going from the beefy Stark yesterday to this razor today is quite a change. This thing is LIGHT; as in it’s about ¼ the weight of the big French Point from yesterday. As such, it took a little adjustment in angle and pressure to get the cutting action just right, and even then I was finding myself having to back off a couple of times and re-attack at the right angle. In the end, after the three standard passes that have become the norm, (WTG, XTG, GTG, not touch up at all), I walked away with a wonderful DFS+ and just a couple of spots where the alum gave any minor feedback. I topped off with the matching splash and some Endymion to round out the start to the morning.

Thanks for reading and have a great day everyone!

 

[dangerousdon]

Thanks Josh for the post! I tried a sample of Long Rifle soaps a while back and thought it was decent enough. I do like their scents though. It's just one of those soaps that every time I see someone enjoying it, I read another person's view that they hate it. I guess that is why I have never pulled the trigger yet on it.

Love the Pic!

 

[Dagwoodz]

Thanks Josh for the post! I tried a sample of Long Rifle soaps a while back and thought it was decent enough. I do like their scents though. It's just one of those soaps that every time I see someone enjoying it, I read another person's view that they hate it. I guess that is why I have never pulled the trigger yet on it.

Love the Pic!

Thanks Don. IMHO, LR soaps are worth the purchase, if only in the smaller size. The one downside to their soaps is the SoS, which I didn't address in the post above. Hawkeye seems to be well scented, but only gets up to about a 2.5/5 at its strongest. The smaller tins aren't going to take a huge bite out of a budget, and the soap, from a performance standpoint is about on par with Stirling, though the lather is quite different (more airy vs. creamy)

 

[Cvargo]

Well Josh you have picked a great soap for the every other day treatment. I can't decide what my next victim will be, but am leaning towards a half puck of Williams Tonsorial.

 

[clyde72]

Well Josh you tied with Don for having the journal that I'm furtherest behind on so far! All caught up now!

Not sure how I got so far behind on yours and Don's journals. Sorry!

Great shaves, reads, reviews and pictures!

That Kamisori is a looker! Too bad the edge wasn't up to par!

Congrats on the Fili!

Oh and HOLLLY Mail Calls Batman!!

Some great acquisitions!

 

[Dagwoodz]

Well Josh you have picked a great soap for the every other day treatment. I can't decide what my next victim will be, but am leaning towards a half puck of Williams Tonsorial.

Thanks Chad...I'm looking forward to it. It'll allow me to go through one of my soaps while still experiencing some variety on a day to day basis. The Williams Tonsorial might be a good one to use...if I remember correctly, Chris was getting some darned good lathers out of those.

Well Josh you tied with Don for having the journal that I'm furtherest behind on so far! All caught up now!

Not sure how I got so far behind on yours and Don's journals. Sorry!

Great shaves, reads, reviews and pictures!

That Kamisori is a looker! Too bad the edge wasn't up to par!

Congrats on the Fili!

Oh and HOLLLY Mail Calls Batman!!

Some great acquisitions!

Thanks Craig!!

 

[Dagwoodz]

SOTD - Sunday, 17 June, 2018
Wild West Soap Company Doc Holliday | ERN 204 5/8” Round Point
Currently on Shave #522 | Straight shave #319

First off, I would like to wish all of the fathers out there a VERY happy and wonderful Father’s Day today!

Secondly…it’s video day! Of course, I woke up late because that’s just how things go. I’ll go over the soap in a written and video review, but I was very happy with the performance. The ERN was in great form today, still smooth, but sharp enough to give me a nice 1/4” cut by the left ear. I didn’t even realize it until I saw red wiping the lather off of the blade. Once I noticed it, the bleeding stopped so there wasn’t any need for me to use the styptic. A very shallow one, and honestly, I’m not even worried about it. The rest of the shave went by without incident, WTG, GTG, XTG and no clean-up.

So, three passes, as per norm, finishing up with the Captain’s Choice Cat O’ Nine Tails, CL Bon Vivant salve and Davdioff Hot Water EdT, as I didn’t have anything close to a mulled apple cider scent. All three of these matched up fairly well with the spicy notes of the mulled cider. With it being Sunday, not sure if there’s going to be any mail today, but I have hope. LOL.

Thanks for reading and have a great day everyone!

 

[dangerousdon]

Glad you didn't go out in Van Gogh style! At some point I am going to have to get some Wild West Shaving Co. Soap.

 

[GearNoir]

A Doc worthy shave. Good stuff!

Sometimes those bites just ninja you good, some you don’t even notice till you’re admiring your handiwork in the mirror post shave!

 

[Dagwoodz]

Glad you didn't go out in Van Gogh style! At some point I am going to have to get some Wild West Shaving Co. Soap.

Thanks Don...Just a little vertical line by the ear. WWSC is worth checking out. If the packaging is going to be an issue, you can always take one or two pucks (if you buy multiple pucks of the same scent) and put them into a full sized tub so you have space to lather.

A Doc worthy shave. Good stuff!

Sometimes those bites just ninja you good, some you don’t even notice till you’re admiring your handiwork in the mirror post shave!

LOL...nice gif. Love that movie, and was part of the reason I bought this soap. Plus I love hot mulled cider.

 

[DocHoliday0831]

It happens to be my third favorite scent from WWSC. Great shave

 

[clyde72]

Great read, shave, and picture Josh!
I've had Wild West on the bucket list, but it keep getting pushed back, but it is there!