Pre-shave: Warm rinse
Lather: Arko shaving stick and Arko Cool Mint Cream
Brush: Turkish No6
Razors: Unknown (possible Merkur) German Bakelite Slant with a Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Last shave for now with an interesting slant – and a DFS it was. Mixing the Arko stick and cream gave a very, very dense lather, requiring quite a bit of dipping of the brush.
A little while back I bought a puck of Walter’s Shaving Soap from Prairie Creations. It is meant as her take on the in/famous Williams Shaving Soap, which apparently is one of those you either love or loathe – I’ve never tried it, so I can’t tell you how the Walter shape up against the original.
The Walters is a fairly hard puck of soap, requiring a fair bit of loading to get enough on my brush. It makes a nice, thick creamy lather with plenty of glide and cushion – and it stays nice and creamy too; no collapse or drying out. The Walters could be a bit more moisturising, and the lemon scent is definitely not going to be everybodys cup of tea – in fact, this is the only soap my Better Half insists that I keep in a closed container.
Overall you can do a lot worse than a puck of Walters – I got some better soaps, but they cost a fair bit more.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid soap, Orange
Lather: Prairie Creations Walter shaving soap (lemon)
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE boar-badger brush
Razors: Unknown (possible Merkur) German Bakelite Slant with a Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Another DFS with an interesting razor – mild for a slant, yet picky about the angle.
A while back I bought – among other things – a jar of KISS Cream from Prairie Creations. It’s the first cream I seen that requires a spoon – but then it has a consistency more commonly found among creams in tubes.
Overall I’m very happy with it; the tea tree oil it is “flavoured” with is neither too strong nor too weak, the lathers has plenty of glide and cushion, but…every rose has it’s thorns, and in the case of Krissy’s KISS cream it is that it is rather picky when it comes to how much water I add. Too little and the lather collapses during my first pass, too much and it gets all runny – and the line between not enough and too much is very fine. In my opinion this means it’s best suited for those of us who lathers in bowls, as opposed to those who face lathers, but as always YMMV.
Spend some time with it and get a good lather tough, and the KISS cream will reward you with a comfortable and well scented shave – and if you’re willing to work with it I can recommend Krissy’s KISS cream.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Tea Tree Oil
Lather: Prairie Creations KISS Tea Tree Cream
Brush: Vie-Long 14033 mixed horse-badger brush
Razors: Unknown (possible Merkur) German Bakelite Slant with a fresh Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Back in my own den, and trying the NOS German bakelite slant for the first time. It’s a featherweight sledgehammer – mild and efficient. Gave a DFS too…
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Peppermint
Lather: Lea shavestick and Arko Cool Ice cream
Brush: Body Shop Synthetic
Razors: Merkur 985CL with a Lord Platinum, and Cadet TTO-13 with a Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, travel sized alum stick and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Last shave from the GoBag for a little while – mixed lather performed as well today as it did last week. A DFS all told, but I’m happy to head home and change things up a bit more again.
I have to admit that I like TTO razors; not only do they represent a neat little bit of mechanical ingenuity but they are easy to load with a fresh blade. So when a new player came onto the scene with a range of TTO and three piece razors, I put one on my wish list.
The one I picked was the TTO-13, available from Shave A Buck for a little under 25$. I couldn’t not avoid the temptation of ordering a few more things though… so my total was a bit higher.
The Cadet TTO-13 arrived in a decent blue plastic box, just as their three piece TP-01 Open Comb did. The craftsmanship is excellent, even more so when you consider the low price, and the fit and function is close to flawless. It’s worth nothing that you twist the whole handle to open the doors on the Cadet TTOs, not just the know on the bottom. In that regard it is similar to my Parker 22R, and unlike my Gillette TV Special. What you prefer might vary – I’m fine with both systems.
The first thing you’ll notice when you pick up the TTO-13 is that it’s a hefty piece of metal. It’s heavier than my Parker 22R, a razor some people are already claoming as being too massive. However the balance on the Cadet is excellent, with the CG being just below the ‘double ball’ on the handle.
The handle itself is comfortable to hold, and the machined chequerboard pattern makes it near impossible for it so slip even with wet and soapy fingers. It’s a quite long handle, so if all you’re used to are short handled razor it might take a while getting used to – on my hand I seem to prefer the longer handled razors, so to me the length was a plus.
The head itself is – as mentioned – well made and functions smoothly, and loading a blade is so easy a child could do it. It is worth noting that the Cadet TTO head has a flatter blade angle and a larger blade gap than either my Parker or my Gillette TTO have. This gives a more aggressive shave, and means it’s less forgiving to errors in the shave angle. It also means that you can get a potentially closer shave – however that also depends on the blade you’re using.
The Cadet TTO-13 shaves very well, and I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone who are in the marked for a long handled, hefty TTO razor.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Peppermint
Lather: Arko Cool Ice cream
Brush: Body Shop Synthetic
Razors: Merkur 985CL with a Lord Platinum, and Cadet TTO-13 with a Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, travel sized alum stick and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Still shaving from the GoBag, still getting really nice shaves out of it, and still longing for my den with it’s wider range of options.
A bit early this morning when I went out; -6°C. Not terrible cold, but cold for being this part of Norway this early. Still, the splash of Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum I put on my face just before popping out felt great – and the chill brought out the fragrance in a new way.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Peppermint
Lather: Lea shavestick
Brush: Body Shop Synthetic
Razors: Merkur 985CL with a Lord Platinum, and Cadet TTO-13 with a Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, travel sized alum stick and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Still on the Go, sort of, so still shaving from the GoBag. Getting some really nice shaves out of it, so I’m not complaining.