Got a box of shave gear from Turkey again:
From bottom left and clockwise:
– GzD shavestick
– Dalan d’Men Energenic cream (menthol)
– Derby Lavender cream
– Turkish No6 (“Now, more quality, and aesthetics” – replacing a No6 I PIFed away)
– A sleeve of five Perma-Sharp Super
– A sleeve of five Wilkinson Sword
– And in the centre; a Wilkinson Sword Classic razor.
Pre-shave: Cold water rinse
Lather: Walter soap
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE badger-boar brush
Razors: Racer and Yuma, both with a fresh, unmarked blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, Alum block and Proraso Liquid Cream
I have a sleeve of blades with no markings, simply packed in translucent paper… but they do give a DFS regardless.
This has been sitting in my den for a while, not getting much use because I just couldn’t get it to lather properly – which I though was a shame since I really like the scent it has.
As they say, well, duh! A bit of digging recently showed me that this is a cream meant to be used with no brush… so no wonder I couldn’t whip it into a lather – it’s simply not meant to do that, so adding water to it and whipping it just made it runny.
Using it the way it was intended to was a significant improvement, but it can’t compare to proper lather in my opinion. Plenty of glide, fairly moisturizing and a pleasant scent… but no cushion at all. Nada. Zip. In that regard it was little different than shaving with just water.
For a brushless cream it’s decent enough – so if you’re in the market for that you could do worse than picking it up. For a proper ‘at home’ shave with a brush and enough time to use it…. no.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner Magic Soap, liquid orange
Lather: Mike’s Natural Orange, Cedarwood & Black Pepper Soap
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE badger-boar brush
Razors: Merkur 39C slant and Parker 22R, both with a fresh Treet Dura Sharp Classic
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, Alum block and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
I seem to be falling into the habit of having a citrus shave on Mondays…
Either the Dura Sharps are bad blades, or I got a dud one – several weepers and a small nick. A bit of alum and Krampert’s Finest will hopefully be enough to patch that up…
Pre-shave: Pure glycerine soap
Lather: Aubrey Organics North Wood brush-less (?) cream
Brush: –
Razors: Merkur 39C slant and Parker 22R, both with a Perma-Sharp Super blade (3)
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, Alum block and Proraso Liquid Cream
A different shave, since I used no bowl and brush. Still a pretty good one though, just not great.
While the focus on this blog is – naturally – the lower half of my face, I do try to take care of the rest of me as well.
My latest effort in that regard is a bar of “Fan medicated soap”, a Chinese soap which is heavily spiked with camphor. It’s supposed to “helps troublesome skin conditions and clears away jealousy, evil spirits, and unnatural illness”*, which I suspect is just what my feet needs from being in combat boots all day.
Packaging is simple; small plastic bag in a bright red Art Deco styled cardboard box that’s quite stricking. No list of ingredients, but it certainly have no lack of camphor.
The scent of it is strong – to the point where I think we’re going to have to keep the bar in a tupperware – but not unpleasant. The bar don’t lather easily but by using my hairy legs in much the same way I use my stubble to get soap of a shavestick, I made it work. At least it rinsed off easily…
It made for squeaky clean feet that smells of camphor… somehow I think the scent will linger for a few hours.
*) All according to the website my Better Half got it from – it’s available elsewhere, but not from many places that ships to Norway.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner Magic Soap, liquid Eucalyptus
Lather: Mike’s Natural Lavender & Eucalyptus Soap
Brush: Vie Long #14033 mixed horse-badger
Razors: Merkur 39C slant and Parker 22R, both with a Perma-Sharp Super blade (2)
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, Alum block and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
A very nice shave, despite a blade that’s not terrible smooth in my opinion.
My favorite shave forum – The Shave Nook – has it’s own YouTube channel with is well worth checking out. I’ve picked up more than a few tip and tricks from there, and it’s also great to see what I’m doing different than other wetshavers.
Pre-shave: Pure glycerine soap
Lather: Prairie Creations’ KISS cream w/ Tea Tree Oil
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE mixed badger/boar
Razors: Merkur 39C slant and Parker 22R, both with a fresh Perma-Sharp Super blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, Alum block and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
First shave with the KISS cream – very soft in the consistency, and made for a very frothy lather. Too much water perhaps? I’ll use less next time.
Also getting back into trying out the blades from the various sampler packs I gotten. This one was sharp enough, but not the smoothest. Have to see how it behaves further into the week.
Overall a DFS and a great start on the work week.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Magic Soap, liquid lavender
Lather: Prairie Creations’ Walter Lemon
Brush: Turkish No7
Razors: Merkur 39C slant, Cadet TP-01, both with a Derby Extra blade (4)
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum block and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
A DFS with a well performing puck of soap – that was delivered ten minutes before by the mail man.