SOTD 7-13 May 2023

8 May, 2023

Good morning all! Hope you had a great weekend.

Great shave this morning! Skipped yesterday so today's shave was especially nice. The "muggies" are returning, along with temps in the mid and upper 80's so I went with a nice, refreshing citrus theme today. Grabbed the tub of TOBS "Grapefruit" shave cream but before building the lather I used the PAA mentholated Cube preshave soap for a nice, icy kick. Great lather built with the Wild West Brushworks "Canyon" ST for two passes (+ touch-up) with the Tatara Masamune and I finished with a splash of ETHOS Grooming Essentials "Nuage De Citron" skin food splash and several sprays of Acqua di Parma "Colonia" EdC.

Hope you have a great day.

PAA "The Cube" Mentholated Preshave Soap / Taylor of Old Bond Street "Grapefruit" Shave Cream

Wild West Brushworks "Canyon" ST Badger / Tatara Masamune / Polsilver

Alum / ETHOS Grooming Essentials "Nuage De Citron" Skin Food Splash / Acqua di Parma "Colonia" EdC

8 May 2023

Monday AM 2023-05-08
'Fairy Tales' by Hans Christian Anderson was first published on this date in 1835


Rooney 1/2 Horn Finest (24/50) 
Crabtree & Evelyn Sweet Almond Oil shaving cream (vintage)
Schick Krona
Iridium Super (2)
Ginger's Garden Almond aftershave 

The Krona is my concession to 'character.' I have better razors, but I am not looking for a mythical perfect shave. If I wanted the 'best' shave, I would just have one razor, one soap, and one aftershave. For me this morning shaving ritual is an exploration, in which the journey, the experience, is more important than the destination. If I had a garage full of cars, I would want one of them to be a '53 MG TD. It would not be the fastest of the cars, but it certainly would have as much character as any of the others.

SOTD 5/8/23

Razor: Super 109 (w2)
Brush: Zenith 
Soap: SV Felce Aromatico

Razor: Star Junior, Red Baton Handle.
Blade: Personna GEM PTFE Stainless Steel Blade
Brush: Simpson Butterscotch Chubby 2 Synthetic
Pre-Shave: Proraso White
Lather: Seaforth! Sea Spiced Lime
Aftershave: Shannon's 25th Street Lime splash
Additional Care:
  Thayers Facial Tonic Witch Hazel Unscented

SOTD 20230508 Neon by IschiaPP @ Forio

• Lub: Water
  
• Razor: Gillette Labs UK 2023 Exfoliating Razor Neon Night Edition FlexDisc #17
  

#Shave #WetShaving #WetShavers
#ShaveOfTheDay #ShaveLikeaMan
#Test #Titanic #Multiblade #WIP

Full size: 1000x1000px
Soundtrack: Michael Giacchino - Life's Incredible Again (The Incredibles 2004, OST)

Razor: Cx Cu-B17 original plate
Blade: Feather
Brush: RV handle with Muhle STF
Soap: Mechanical Christmas
AS: Mechanical Christmas

Razor: Blackland Blackbird
Blade: Treet Silver (carbon steel)

Soap: Stirling Soap Company Varen
Brush: Heritage Collection Ever-Ready 3 Step w/ 26mm High Mountain White
Bowl: Bluff Cove Pottery

Post 1: P.A.A. Alum w/ No-Slip Grip System & Dry Dock System
Post 2: Dickinson's Enhanced Witch Hazel Deep Cleansing Astringent w/ Menthol & Eucalyptus
Aftershave: Brut
Post 4: Neutrogena Hydro Boost Gel-Cream Extra-Dry w/ Hyaluronic Acid

So. For many of you, Varen isn't new. For me, on the other hand, it was until today. I've heard so many positive remarks made about this soap's scent and thankfully for me, they hold true.

As you can see, I was feeling green today so I went with my matching Heritage Collection Ever-Ready brush. This thing is just a beautiful, soft badger brush that's always a pleasure. It's semi-gelly but not too much.

So the soap... Varen is this green, mossy, musky, fern-type scent that has these floral and cedar notes around it. Man is it good!

I feel good around this scent. It's not overly "clean" but it is fresh and beautiful in a manly way. Its notes are a blend of oakmoss, lavender, coumarin, vetiver, sage, cedar, lichen, and geranium. I can pick up on all the notes, but I'm a big fan of the oakmoss, vetiver, sage, and cedar notes in it. Needless to say, I want a full-size set of this awesome fougere. I think it's a real winner.

I did a three-pass shave with the Blackbird, Treet combo and in the grand scheme of things, all went well. It's just that I've noticed that for me carbon steel blades tend to give me a lot of irritation when going against the grain. They're fine for with and across passes but being the bbs chaser that I am, I've found carbon steel just can't cut it that well when asked to do a lot. Pun intended.

All in all, I had a great shave. The Varen soap was stupidly slick as always. I'm such a huge fan of Stirling's soap base because of this. Among other reasons.

Anyway, I finished this green shave off with a most appropriate green aftershave. Brut. Not sure what to say here though. You either know or you don't. You either like it or you pass on it. For me, it's a loved classic that will always have a place in my shave den.

Alright ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for reading. Enjoy your day and your shave.