What soap/cream did you use today?

Eleven Barbershop (prototype)

The Eleven soap base is evolving, and I’ve had the pleasure of trying out the latest versions. I find the improvements subtle – simply because the current base has been excellent all along. It’s a soap that is easy to use and always results in a great shave. This upcoming Barbershop scent should appeal especially to those in search of a classic scent in the genre. When using this, I cannot help but think of the name Yves Saint-Laurent, in the best possible way.

Talbot Authors Ridge really is an  amazing fall scent but would work very well in the spring too.  Shoot it would be great anytime of year.  The scent to me is moist loamy earth, freshly turned over.  Like digging a post hole in the fall among a hardwood forest.  Moldering leaves, moisture, and earth.  Do I want to smell like this all day?  Surprisingly yes!  I want the scent to have zero projection but want it to hug my skin close.  This is a scent not to be shared but enjoyed all by me.  Thankfully the scent of the soap lingers lightly for half a day so on days I use this soap I’m not going to apply a scented ANYTHING.  Just let it waft up occasionally as a little gift.

Stirling Agar  - an easy to load/lather soap that produces a great yogurt-like lather.

Over the past couple days, I've gone through a lot of the gear I don't use and came across the Gillette Blue blades and decided to give it a go today.  The first pass told me why these should be "display-only".  After shaving the right side, i ditched the Blue blade for a GSB

Joserra Rodrigo de Jerez

Stirling Agar  - an easy to load/lather soap that produces a great yogurt-like lather.

Over the past couple days, I've gone through a lot of the gear I don't use and came across the Gillette Blue blades and decided to give it a go today.  The first pass told me why these should be "display-only".  After shaving the right side, i ditched the Blue blade for a GSB

I think swapping for the silver blue was a good choice!

I cheat!  My oldest Son is a brush maker so I don’t have to sit on an idea and wonder.  I just make a blank and tell him my birthday is coming.

If I'm making the connection right, this explains all the Teton Zen brushes I'm seeing you with. I am terrible at social media and I've been trying to get Instagram and Facebook to work and understand how to be able to get one made by him or at least watch one of his live turnings of a handle if I know in advance. So far I've been unsuccessful........ Signed technology challenged Dave in KY

Eleven Barbershop (prototype)

....When using this, I cannot help but think of the name Yves Saint-Laurent, in the best possible way.

May I inquire as to which YSL scent you are referring to? 

Pecksniff's Charismatic shaving cream. Horrible stuff that smelled musty and would not lather at all.

Wow. What's in a name? Ever read Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit? Pecksniff doesn't come off too well there either.

Morocco t. (Tallow+Steel) cade, cade, cade, cypress

My favorite brush (Phoenix Shaving’s Peregrino 24 mm) is dangling from the ceiling suspended by a hair-thin strand of fishing line. It sways in the ceiling fan’s current, and as it dries it perfumes the whole room with the smoky aroma of cade and cypress. Truth be told, the scent of today’s lather was immensely powerful and bitter. It brought tears to my eyes and compelled me to rinse them out between passes. Tallow + Steel are not to be faulted for scrimping on fragrance. But does it smell good? Well, yes, my room smells pretty woodsy thanks to the scent coming off the damp brush, but Morocco is really almost too much to mash around your face. Get it in your mouth and you want to spit. Get it up your nose and you’ll feel the burn for a while. But taken in small airy doses, Morocco is nice autumnal scent.