Holy Hannah this shave is over! It’s been years since I’ve had an experience like this one. Today was Razorock P.160. An iconic soap that I read about often when I got back to traditional shaving. This is their newest tallow iteration and frankly I was a bit excited to try a marzipan soap as I haven’t smelled that scent since many years ago when I worked through a kilo of Vitos (great soap). I chose some favorite gear, Gillette new, Nacet blade, DublDuck boar, all of which I am a tad more than familiar with and love. I loaded the soap and enjoyed the almond scent. Loaded it heavy in fact, and took it to my cheeks to built it. Whoa! That Marzipan scent suddenly became artificial and cloying. Soldiering on I added water until a good lather was made but that scent didn’t improve. Keep in mind, this is not my first go with a Razorock soap, and I think Razorock is under rated but Brothers let me tell you, when I laid steel to whiskers I knew this one wasn’t going in the books as nostalgia but rather would reside in the chapter along side a gentleman’s story who, on a rafting trip, spent his night in the willows wrapped in a blue tarp trying to avoid a hoard of mosquitos on a very hot night. In the morning when asked “how was your night?” He answered “I haven’t had a night like that since Guadalcanal”!
Slickness was lacking, protection was lacking, scent was unpleasant, and overall performance was lackluster. The shave is over thank goodness. No blood. No burn. No fun. Could I discover what is different with this soap and make it perform better? Yep, probably, but alas, this soap has seen the last it will see of my brushes. Hey, new experiences are worth it even if they turn out to be less than stellar. Makes me appreciate Tabac so much more.