Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Orange
Lather: GzD shave stick
Brush: Turkish No7
Razors: Cadet TP-01 OC and Cadet TTO-13 TTO, both with Lord Cool blades
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
A while ago I reviewed two Turkish brushes – the imaginatively named No6 and No7 – and was in general pleased with the result. Sometime after I had bought the two brushes however, the No6 was ‘upgraded’ by the manufacturer:
Please note, this product has been revised according to customer requirements.
Now, more quality, and aesthetics
Seeing as how I PIFed my original No6 away, I just had to get a new one… well, so I told myself at least.
The handle sits somewhat better in my hand than the original No6 did, due to the slightly more bulbous shape. The knot is very similar to the original, but the mounting of it is now done with a slightly better looking plastic ring.
In use the new No6 is more or less indistinguishable as the original No6 – good backbone, good flow, very little scratching. It’ll make lather just as good as a more expensive brush, but you’ll find it’ll hold less of it – more than enough for two passes though.
There is – as it was with the original No6 and the No7 – some discussion online as to the nature of the knot – horse or pig. Personally I suspect it’s a case of ‘whatever we can find’, but since Turkey is a predominately Muslim country I lean towards horse. Or at least partly horse – my original No6 certainly smelled rather strongly of stables, but a few hand lathers fixed that.
There is also a lot of indications that the quality control can be at best spotty – some users reports their brushes developing a ‘crater’ in the middle after a while. But for a brush costing about the same as a cup of coffee, can you expect perfection?
To repeat what I said in my original review; the No6 would be an excellent first brush for a newbie not wanting to spend much money on a new hobby. It’ll would also be a good “first horse” for more experienced shavers who wants to try something new. Or you could simply get one just for the fun of it – letting you get one more brush in your rotation without laying out more money than you would for a cup of coffee.
Can you afford not to try one?
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Mike’s Peppermint & Rosemary Soap
Brush: Vie Long 14033
Razors: Cadet TP-01 OC and Cadet TTO-13 TTO, both with Lord Cool blades
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Today; brush handles!
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Tea Tree
Lather: Prairie Creation’s KISS Cream w/ Tea Tree
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE brush
Razors: Cadet TP-01 OC and Cadet TTO-13 TTO, both with fresh Lord Cool blades
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest 80 Below
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Eucalyptus
Lather: Col Conk Bay Rum
Brush: Turkish No7
Razors: Merkur 25C Open Comb and Gillette ’58 TV Special TTO, both with a Trig blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
The Crabtree & Evelyn was one of the first soaps I bought after getting into traditional wetshaving, based mostly of the reviews available on the Norwegian webshop I bought it from. Yes, I bought this before I discovered the wide range of inexpensive hobbeist-retailers who shares my passion for a good shave – but I don’t regret buying it even at the higher price I paid.
C&E have a fair-to-decent reputation online as far as I can tell – overall good soaps that smells and shaves well. It isn’t as moisterinsing as Mike’s soaps, but it’s somewhat unfair to compare the two – one is machine made with a slightly scary list* of ingridients, the other is made by an artisan. The C&E Sandalwood comes in a nice wooden bowl though, so that’s a definite point in it’s favor.
The scent of the C&E Sandalwood might not be everyones cup of tea, but I rather like it myself. If you like natural and slightly old-fashoned scents – and lets face it, many wetshavers do – you’ll probably like the scent just fine. Building lather is easy with the C&E soap, every single brush I own does a great job of it. Like most other soaps it’s important to add enough water, but once that is taken care of the resulting lather does a pretty good job of providing cushion and glide.
Where the C&E Sandalwood fails is providing moisture; it does a better job than some other mass-market soaps I could mention, but falls well short of the Golden Standard**. It is heads and shoulders above anything that comes out of a pressurised can though, andfor those with dry skin a proper moisturising aftershave will fix any lingering dryness.
If you can live with a soap that don’t moisturise too well, and you like Sandalwood, you could do a lot worse than picking up a tup of Crabtree & Evelyn Sandalwood Soap.
*) Sodium palmate, potassium palmate, sodium palm kernelate, water, glycerin, potassium palm kernelate, stearic acid, fragrance, isopropyl myristate, tocopheryl acetate, bisabolol, sodium chloride, BHT, tetrasodium EDTA, tetrasodium etidronate, pentasodium pentetate, linalool, benzyl benzoate, benzyl salicylate, limonene, coumarin, titanium dioxide (CI 77891), iron oxides (CI 77492), iron oxides (CI 77491), iron oxides (CI 77499), yellow 5 (CI 19140).
**) Also known as Mike’s Natural Soaps…
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Lavender
Lather: C&E Sandalwood
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE
Razors: Merkur 25C Open Comb and Gillette ’58 TV Special TTO, both with a Trig blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
A pretty nice-looking one too, even if I would prefer not having the screw in the top.
More details – and perhaps just as important, the files you need to print one – over at Thingiverse.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Peppermint
Lather: Mama Bear’s Awakening
Brush: Vie Long 14033
Razors: Merkur 25C Open Comb and Gillette ’58 TV Special TTO, both with a fresh Trig blade
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum and Krampert’s Finest Prototype Menthol