ETHOS Grooming Essentials A New Line

He did it again. I can’t explain why he does or how but, I’m extremely grateful for Frank’s Dragonsbeard tremendous generosity and his over abundance in character in just being a decent human being and a hell of a guy. I’m truly blessed to call him my friend and shave brother from another Mother. I just saw the package late in the evening yesterday as my sister-in-law told me there were a few things that she got in the mail the day before and had left them for me in the dining room. I saw the box and quickly opened it to be greeted by this wonderful and rich aroma before even seeing the product. I had an idea of what it was from those initial whiffs and I assumed it was the Vanilla Safi. Bingo! It was the Shave soap and the Remede Revitilizing Serum. I will let you know from the start as I have told Frank before, I am not a big fan of vanilla scented shave products because of the cloying sweetness and synthetic type aura that I get most of the time. Gentlemen, this is not one of those scented vanillas that hurts the olfactory senses. This is something else all together on another plane. It’s rich, has depth and is not overly sweet done in a semi masculine way. This coming from just the soap! I haven’t even mentioned the Serum which is even richer and shall I say, almost decadent in scent. This is as pure of a vanilla that I’ve ever sampled and not just your run of the mill vanilla. I can’t remember the vanilla bean that Frank used for this creation but, I do know that it is one of the most sought after vanilla bean in existence. The quality and gourmand like level of this product is indescribable. The care that Frank took to make this product plus substantial cost is noticed at first sniff. I can tell he poured his heart & soul into this one. To put it bluntly, in the shave realm the rest of the vanilla based offerings aren’t a pimple on this products ass, period. It is simply gorgeous. Shave to follow shortly as I know the performance is a given.





I have been in a sort of funk concerning the shaving hobby as I have been dealing with a personal health issue as of late which many do not know except for a very select few here in this forum. No, it is not me though, I surely wish it were. It’s the love of my life as she fights with grace and a conviction that is truly inspiring. Dignity and humility under fire. She’s my Hero and my anchor. Tough times we live in made worse by a disease that ravages the human anatomy with extreme and unadulterated prejudice. I wish this on no human being nor anyone should witness such a devastating and gut wrenching battle. It shakes one to the core and at times tests your belief in whatever faith a man might have, whether in truckloads or a spec of sand. You question the very basic foundation of the meaning of life itself and to what purpose.

This is one of the places where I find, just for the tiniest of moments a reprieve from the daily fight. I enjoy the banter, dialogue and the overall comradery that this shave forum offers and delivers if only for a few minutes. I don’t ask for me and I only ask for my Wife but, I ask you gents whether you know me or not, like or dislike my person, if you have a brief moment in your time to just mention her in a prayer. I would be most grateful and appreciative of your effort. 

I apologize for taking this thread and posting something out of nature for this threads intended purpose. My intentions are not to play on one’s feelings or emotions. Just asking for a little help in faith, hope & compassion. 

Thank you, Gents. And thank you Frank….

Tears as I read this Gus and obviously things are worse than I realized. In my thoughts and prayers for certain................words escape me Amigo......

Thank you Brother……

I don't follow this thread closely.  However, I view it from time to time.  Enough so to appreciate Frank's doings.

I would like to express gratitude for those truly wonderful human beings who contribute in such a fine way to the wetshaving hobby (addiction?)

Frank is a shining example.  Thank you Frank

Thank you MaxP for the kind words!
Much appreciated!

GlazedBoker I may have posted earlier that the Vanilla Safi is so wonderful that I wanna “eat my own face”. So your enjoyment is no suprise as it is THAT good. ?

GlazedBoker  I may have posted earlier that the Vanilla Safi is so wonderful that I wanna “eat my own face”. So your enjoyment is no suprise as it is THAT good. ?

I saw the post and thought it was tempting to use Safi lol

Since Shaver_Brian posted some of his troubles, I will echo some similar thoughts or experiences. The other day after getting my order, I scooped out some of the Fresco firm base and put it in a loading dish. Just as before, using a little less than almond size amount of soap wasn't enough to develop the thick paste I was hoping. After I had my first pass, I loaded more soap to thicken up the consistency. Then last night when I used my Lavender Supreme firm base, I tried loading directly from the tub. I was using a badger both for Fresco and for the Lavender soap. I wrung out the brush fairly well and loaded for a while. I want to say that most soaps have a break in period in my experience as silly as it may sound for soft soaps. Maybe my thought is after a soap has been loaded from a few times, it works out to make the surface a bit easier and ready to give up the product. I could be wrong but anyways, I think the next time I use the Lavender Supreme, I may even decide to try giving it a short bloom.

The shaves still went well but next time, I am going to try and make sure I have less shaves where I under load moving forward. I don't care as much about how long my soap jar lasts as I primarily use 24mm brushes. Personally, I feel more let down by a shave where I didn't load enough product over feeling like I am "wasting" product. I don't worry about how much the price per shave costs as long as I fully enjoy the experience of my shave.

Cheers everyone and will report back soon.

Since Shaver_Brian posted some of his troubles, I will echo some similar thoughts or experiences. The other day after getting my order, I scooped out some of the Fresco firm base and put it in a loading dish. Just as before, using a little less than almond size amount of soap wasn't enough to develop the thick paste I was hoping. After I had my first pass, I loaded more soap to thicken up the consistency. Then last night when I used my Lavender Supreme firm base, I tried loading directly from the tub. I was using a badger both for Fresco and for the Lavender soap. I wrung out the brush fairly well and loaded for a while. I want to say that most soaps have a break in period in my experience as silly as it may sound for soft soaps. Maybe my thought is after a soap has been loaded from a few times, it works out to make the surface a bit easier and ready to give up the product. I could be wrong but anyways, I think the next time I use the Lavender Supreme, I may even decide to try giving it a short bloom.

The shaves still went well but next time, I am going to try and make sure I have less shaves where I under load moving forward. I don't care as much about how long my soap jar lasts as I primarily use 24mm brushes. Personally, I feel more let down by a shave where I didn't load enough product over feeling like I am "wasting" product. I don't worry about how much the price per shave costs as long as I fully enjoy the experience of my shave.

Cheers everyone and will report back soon.

Hi Zac 

A question, are you adding water as you build the lather?  I don’t start out with a rung out brush. I soak my brush for a few minutes then I give the brush a few shakes to get some of the water out but there’s definitely water in the brush. I swirl for about 30 seconds because I’m a bit of a lather hog, meaning I like a lot. That’s if I’m loading right from the jar. If I’m loading in a shaving bowl. I’ll load the brush for about 45 seconds or if I scoop out I’ll mash it into the bottom of the bowl, put a few drops of hot water in and as I begin to swirl in the bowl adding a few drops here and there until I build a rich creamy lather.  I must note I do prefer using a synthetic brush lover my badgers not only with my soaps but with others I have in my den. I definitely like them when using the F base as I find they seem to build the lather more quickly and I have a new love affair with my Simpson T3. I also find the F Base takes a good amount of water. 

I will note I think both my Standard base and my new Vegan Cream build the lather faster when using a shaving bowl. 

Now you’ve sparked my curiosity so I’ll have to test all 3 and I’ll use a badger and report back. 

It also funny because some of the feedback I get from my customers is the F Base when they load from a jar lathers up quickly into a very slick creamy lather.  So I wonder does the water make a difference. I’ve been in NYC for 3 days and shaved every day with Greenfresh and I used a 22” badger travel brush and the lather built up very fast and also notice it took extra splashes of water to get the lather rinsed as compared to my hometown water. Weird but definitely noticeable. 

Thanks for the feedback and keep me posted on how you make out moving forward with the F Base.

Awesome photo my friend!

You and I definitely have to have a conversation!

I’ll pm you when I get back home.

GlazedBoker  I may have posted earlier that the Vanilla Safi is so wonderful that I wanna “eat my own face”. So your enjoyment is no suprise as it is THAT good. ?

Couldn't have said it better myself amigo.....

Well look what just landed at my house. 

For those that may be wondering if I forgot your request to do a closes dupe you the scent I’m still working on it between projects. I ordered the soap and the aftershave as they had it in stock at an supplier in England but they refunded me aftershave money as they probably can’t ship it because of the Alcohol. I could use a sample of that and I was sent one by a member but I have no idea how but it just disappeared and I can’t find it.  So if anyone can send me a little bit pm me and I’ll give you my address. At least I have a good supply of the Shave soap now. 

In case anyone is wondering, this image below was downloaded from a website. I didn’t have time to set up a photo before I left work