Atomic Age Bay Rum v. (Phoenix Shaving)
spiced cola
Shave 2 ・ 112% left
Soap note: Phoenix Shaving doesn’t skimp when it comes to filling their tubs with soap. The label says I should expect 5 ounces, but my scales say I got well over 5½. No better reason, then, to load the brush full to bursting. I got a super luscious lather and a great shave. I also got a snootful of scent. What do I make of
Atomic Age Bay Rum? Well, there’s some bay in there, but there’s also a lot of cinnamon, lemon, and maybe neroli, and something dry and spicy. All in all, it smells like Coca-Cola to me. Not bad. It’s kind of fun for a hot summer holiday. It’s just not what I usually have in mind when I'm thinking about bay rum.
Razor note: The artistry of the Japanese barber lies in his ability to remove as little hair as possible with each snip. He works carefully around your head making pass after pass, and with each clip a little puff of powdery hair falls around your shoulders. He works very quickly, so you hardly notice what he's doing. But when you get out of his chair, you find the floor blanketed with hair dust, all very fine and remarkably small. The Japanese
Feather AS-D2 razor seems to work on the same principle. It’s both very mild and very efficient. Loaded with a sharp Feather blade, the razor slides effortlessly through the beard with each pass. When I look into the lather, I find only the smallest specks of dark hair. Two or three passes are always needed to clean away the visible growth, and one more is called for if I want a truly smooth shave. In spite of all this shaving, I rarely experience any irritation. For a mild razor it has great heft, but it's still maneuverable, and it could easily become a daily driver (if there weren't so many other excellent razors waiting to be put through their paces.)
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Feather AS-D2 ・ Feather Hi-Stainless ・ Phoenix Shaving Peregrino ・ Gilbert Henry, Bay Rum Aftershave Balm ・ Hermès, Vetiver Tonka ・ YTD: 380 g