Mixing and matching

What happens if I use a shave stick on my face and some cream on the brush? I decided to find out:

Arko stick with…

  • Arko Cool Mint: Lots of lather, good for shave, needs lots of water – and nice scent too.
  • Dalen d’Men Energetic: Very dense, very thirsty. Subtle scent of menthol
  • Derby Lavender: Very thirsty and dense – almost too dense – lather. No particular scent.

Derby stick with…

  • Arko Cool Mint: thirsty, dense lather with a very noticeable citrus scent.
  • Dalen d’Men Energetic: dense without being overly thirsty, noticeable but not too strong menthol scent.
  • Derby Lavender: dense, rich lather, smelled mostly like soap. Took a bit of work to get going.

GzD stick with…

  • Arko Cool Mint: Made for a dense, thirsty lather – seems like the scents cancelled each other out.
  • Dalen d’Men Energetic: Dense without being overly thirsty – quite strong menthol scent and feel.
  • Derby Lavender: Dense and thirsty lather, but surprisingly good glide and cushion.

Lea stick with…

  • Arko Cool Mint: A thicker, denser lather than either product makes on their own.
  • Dalen d’Men Energetic: Thick, somewhat thirsty. Sort of a soapy menthol scent.
  • Derby Lavender: A thick, but not too dense, lather that smells mostly of soap.

Result? Encouraging – but I’m not the first to try this; after the experiment got under way I was rereading Leisureguy’s Guide to Gourmet Shaving where he describes the combination of shave stick and cream as “superlather”.

Shave of the day 6th May

Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Lea stick and Dalen d’Men Energetic cream
Brush: Turkish No6
Razors: Bakelite slant and Gillette ’58 TV Special, both with Zorrik Super Stainless
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum

Shave of the day 3rd May

Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Tea Tree
Lather: Arko stick and Dalen d’Men Energetic cream
Brush:Turkish No7
Razors:Bakelite slant and Gillette ’58 TV Special, both with fresh Zorrik Super Stainless
Post-shave: Cold water rinse and alum.

Just add another blade

Shave of the day 1st May

Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Mike’s Peppermint & Rosemary
Brush: Vie Long 14033
Razors: Cadet’s TP-01 OC and TTO-13, both with Derby blades
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Proraso Liquid Cream Aftershave

Occam’s razor

Occam’s razor (also written as Ockham’s razor from William of Ockham, and in Latin lex parsimoniae) is a principle of parsimony, economy, or succinctness used in logic and problem-solving. It states that among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions should be selected.
The term “Occam’s razor” first appeared in 1852 in the works of Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet (1788–1856), centuries after William of Ockham’s death. Ockham did not invent this “razor”; its association with him may be due to the frequency and effectiveness with which he used it. Ockham stated the principle in various ways, but the most popular version “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity” was written by John Punch from Cork in 1639.

So what does a philosophic principle have to do with shaving? Read that last paragraph again, and pay extra attention to “entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity”… in short, Occam’s Razor tells us that you’ll only really need one blade (straight, SE or DE) to shave; having two or more introduces needless complexity to the process.

Shave of the day 29th April

Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Mama Bear’s Awakening
Brush: Semogue TSN 1012 LE brush
Razors: Cadet’s TP-01 OC and TTO-13, both with Derby blades
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Prototype Menthol

Shave of the day 26th April

Pre-shave: none
Lather: none
Brush: none
Razors: Philips AquaTouch AT890
Post-shave: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum

Running short on time, I decided to try the reasonable expensive electric razor we got for my Better Half to do her legs with in summer – I guess I was thinking that a bad shave was better than no shave…

Wrong! Not only did it do a lousy job on my neck, but my neck now itches.

Shave of the day 24th April

Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid
Lather:Derby shavestick with a touch of Dalen d’Men Energetic cream
Brush: Semogue TSN 1012 LE brush
Razors: Cadet’s TP-01 OC and TTO-13, both with Derby blades
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum

Homemade shaving soap

One of the other members on my favourite shave-forum have experimented with making his own shaving soap. The results are encouraging and the process don’t look impossible to emulate – even if I don’t think I’ll be allowed to turn the crock-pot into a soap maker any time soon…