SOTD 4-10 October 2020

Date:- 06 October 2020

Pre-shave:- Cold Water straight from the tap
Bowl/Scuttle:- Captain's Choice
Brush:- RazoRock Plissoft Bruce Synth. 24/57mm knot
Soap/Cream:- Ariana & Evans ~ Kaizen
Razor/Blade:- Karve CB Matt SS 'SB-C' / Vintage Gillette Aussie Spoiler #2
Post/After-shave:- T.N. Dickinson Witch Hazel Astringent mixed into the 240ml bottle with Natural Glycerin (20 drops) & Tea Tree Antiseptic (5)
Fragrance:- YSL L’Homme

BLACKLAND TRADERE / FEATHER / OKU SERRANO / TABAC

SOTD: Nice relaxing shave this morning - new formula GD preshave is nice and slick! Hope everyone is doing well!

[b]SOTD TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 6, 2020[/b]

This morning’s shave featured my H. Boker & Co Cast Sheffield Steel razor, newly returned yesterday from its beauty treatment in the highly skilled hands of Glen Mercurio (@gssixgun). I can’t believe it's the same 150 yr old razor. The blackened, chipped blade with the age-oranged scales have been transformed. Glen recovered the blade etching and returned the scale color to its original ivory color. And the three pass (WTG, ATG, XTG) shave that scooped up the slick, purposefully thin MWF mug lather was extremely smooth and comfortable. I’m really developing a warm feeling for Sheffield cast steel razors. Or maybe it’s just something about the way mid 19th century straight razors were created?

The Viking Silvertip Badger whipped up a very different consistency of MWF lather for the dome shave, slick, thick and yogurty. The Christopher Bradley fitted with its OC D plate cleaned away the dome stubble in a slow and luxurious, two pass (ATG, ATG) shave knocking it off right at the skin line. Lather consistency matters a great deal, depending upon the shave tool selected. Thin, slick lathers are my preference for straight shaving my mug, whereas a thicker lather seems to work better for my noggin shaves. The post shave skin feel MWF and Nancy Boy provide can’t be beat. 

Pannacrema Nuavia Blu and yes, even Tabac, provide a similar, slightly sub par post shave experience, but they stink too much for my taste. The scents I prefer in a shave soap or cream are lime and lavender, thus my affection for the two Castle Forbes creams featuring those scents. My preference is always for a nice, clean, soap smell, or an AS/balm with scent fade. This, of course, puts me at odds with probably 95% of all other wet shavers, but my response will always be, “de gustibus non disputandum”, my version of YMMV. This morning’s shave left me feeling clean, smooth and velveteen!

RAZOR: H. Boker & Co. Cast Steel 5/8 (Mug), Karve Safety Razor D-OC (Dome)
BLADE: Sharp Star DE
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by Argan Oil
BRUSH: Viking Silvertip Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys Lilac WH. Finished with Alt-Innsbruck.

[Image: 31850832.jpg]Paradigm SE
Feather pro super
Simpson M7
Bowl-hand made
Sebum green

Chuesday Shave in Tabactober

Razor: Chinese Half-DE ‘Kamisori’
Blade: Personna Platinum 1/2
Brush: DIY M7 Boar 24mm
Soap&AS: Tabac

Thuesday, October 6, 2020.
Geo F Trumper, Coral skin food, pre shave. Meißner Tremonia, Wild oranges: Shaving cream, lotion & balm aftershave. Shavemac D01 silvertip two bands badger, Butterscotch. Ferd. Herberz & Cia., Palmera, 14, Solingen.

Tuesday AM 2020-10-06
National Garlic Lovers Day


Rooney 2/1 Ivory Finest (22/56)
Proraso Red shaving cream
Carbon Damascus/R2
Wilkinson London Bridge (9)
Barrister & Mann Cologne Russe aftershave
Art of Shaving Sandalwood & Cypress

The brush is soft but not floppy, which was perfect for lathering the cream. The Proraso, while not having my favorite sandalwood scent, made great lather. And the razor and blade were excellent, close and smooth with wonderful audible feedback. The aftershave was not really necessary but added a nice zing, and the cologne was a very good finish.

Vintage or modern? It is a question that gets asked quite a lot in this lovely hobby. There a proponents on both sides of the discussion and I sit on the fence between the two. However, I must say that it is pretty cool when you get a chance to experience a shave with vintage stuff and enjoy it as it would have been 60+ years ago. Well today was such a shave with a little modern thrown in.

Razor of the day the 1956 Gillette Red Tip Super Speed loaded with a fresh Gillette Platinum. No vintage blades today though I have many “Blue” blades on hand. I love the Red Tip and hands down it is one of my fav DE’s. It just works and though I have the “Trio” made up with the matching 56 Blue Tip and Flare Tip, the Red is just nicer in the hand.

Soap today modern Williams in a vintage Williams mug. The soap is easily acquired but the mug not so much. I was lucky enough to source one for a buddy in Chicago on behalf of Dave in KY and fired it off to him to add to his collection for his lad. A week later I got another in a lot of shaving stuff I picked up and put it away until today. Soaked the brush in the mug with the soap, used the soapy water as a pre-shave and lathered up a very nice clean smelling lather that was slick!

Three beautiful passes and BBS. Now to finish it all off I got some vintage Williams Aqua Velva (50s era) and slapped that on. Well if you have never tried the vintage juice...forget about it. There is no Aqua Velva made that compares to this goodness. Period. Oh yeah “there is something about an Aqua Velva man”....yup, he smelled AWESOME back in the day! The final bit of goodness some vintage Brylcreem Men’s Cologne. Never heard of it? Well neither did I until I got it in a lot with a bunch of Old Spice, English Leather and this Aqua Velva. It is also quite a masculine fragrance and a match to the Aqua Velva.

So there you have it some vintage goodness with a modern blade and soap mixed in. If this is the way the boys did it back in the day I can see why my Dad still gets all nostalgic. What an incredible shave. Enjoy the shaves, this hobby and the friendships you make here.

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Gillette Red Tip Super Speed 1956
Blade: Gillette Platinum
Brush: Simpson 59
Lather: Williams - Modern
Aftershave: Williams Aqua Velva - Vintage 50s
Additional Care:
B.I.G. Co. Alum Block
Williams Shaving Mug
Brylcreem Men’s Cologne - Vintage

Vintage or modern? It is a question that gets asked quite a lot in this lovely hobby. There a proponents on both sides of the discussion and I sit on the fence between the two. However, I must say that it is pretty cool when you get a chance to experience a shave with vintage stuff and enjoy it as it would have been 60+ years ago. Well today was such a shave with a little modern thrown in.

Razor of the day the 1956 Gillette Red Tip Super Speed loaded with a fresh Gillette Platinum. No vintage blades today though I have many “Blue” blades on hand. I love the Red Tip and hands down it is one of my fav DE’s. It just works and though I have the “Trio” made up with the matching 56 Blue Tip and Flare Tip, the Red is just nicer in the hand.

Soap today modern Williams in a vintage Williams mug. The soap is easily acquired but the mug not so much. I was lucky enough to source one for a buddy in Chicago on behalf of Dave in KY and fired it off to him to add to his collection for his lad. A week later I got another in a lot of shaving stuff I picked up and put it away until today. Soaked the brush in the mug with the soap, used the soapy water as a pre-shave and lathered up a very nice clean smelling lather that was slick!

Three beautiful passes and BBS. Now to finish it all off I got some vintage Williams Aqua Velva (50s era) and slapped that on. Well if you have never tried the vintage juice...forget about it. There is no Aqua Velva made that compares to this goodness. Period. Oh yeah “there is something about an Aqua Velva man”....yup, he smelled AWESOME back in the day! The final bit of goodness some vintage Brylcreem Men’s Cologne. Never heard of it? Well neither did I until I got it in a lot with a bunch of Old Spice, English Leather and this Aqua Velva. It is also quite a masculine fragrance and a match to the Aqua Velva.

So there you have it some vintage goodness with a modern blade and soap mixed in. If this is the way the boys did it back in the day I can see why my Dad still gets all nostalgic. What an incredible shave. Enjoy the shaves, this hobby and the friendships you make here.

Rating: 5 / 5

Razor: Gillette Red Tip Super Speed 1956
Blade: Gillette Platinum
Brush: Simpson 59
Lather: Williams - Modern
Aftershave: Williams Aqua Velva - Vintage 50s
Additional Care:
B.I.G. Co. Alum Block
Williams Shaving Mug
Brylcreem Men’s Cologne - Vintage

Awesome shave Ed