What soap/cream did you use today?

James Taylor wrote a song in which he sings “the secret of life is enjoying the passing of time” and this morning I have to concur.  This morning I found my nose was back on task concerning Salters dirty nasty French Vetiver.  Ah, what a fortuitous blessing.  I really do love this stinker and until this morning covid had robbed me of this olfactory bliss.  It’s been half a year or so since my bout of covid and everything else had returned to some modicum of normal but for some reason this reeker was an outlier.  In fact until about a month ago it was scentless and if you have ever had the experience of opening a jar of this cream you know well what an enigma my situation was. It’s been quite a while since I’ve done three passes but I sure savored the journey this morning.  JT writes I. The same tune “Einstein said we could never understand it all” and that being the case, I’m just going to enjoy the ride.


https://youtu.be/yHWHPPHpAj8

Thank you for that.  The Live at the Colonial Theater (2007) performance (One Man Band) is one of my favorites, and IMO The Secret of Life is a song worth listening to.  

All JTs songs are worth a listen.  All my kids first concerts were James Taylor.  Wanted to start them out right.

Succès (Ethos) mossy pineapple
Shave 5 ・ 133 g left

So it’s back to Ethos Succès for me. This soap really does wonders for my skin, patching up holes and just generally calming things down. The scent? Mostly pineapple, and lots of it. There may also be a pinch of something mossy at the bottom, and maybe a few flower petals have been thrown in. But like so many of Ethos’ concoctions, Succès smells quite fruity.
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Razor Henson Medium Blue ・ Blade Astra ・ Brush Peregrino ・ Hoard 16,934 g (⇣791 g) ・ Done by September 15, 2057

   

So it is here

For better or worse, whenever skin in serious trouble ETHOS does the job of calming like no other.  While all the top artisan soaps are truly amazing and Grooming Dept just so very very close (at a great price too), ETHOS has that ever so slight healing edge for my skin.

So grateful for my leathern mug where the only issues I’ve found are with Demon Cinnamon but I’m grateful that Ethos is a solution for you that suffer.

I can’t say why Mitchell’s Wool Fat hits the brush so infrequently at my place.  It sure shaves great.  It’s easy to lather (in spite of others struggles).  It smells amazing!  Often the scent is described as “soapy” but if soaps smelled like this my bride wouldn’t have to bribe me with treats to take a bath.  Shoot, I might shower twice a day!  My, my, my what a great scent.  I must resolve to whack that puck more often.  So fellas, help me understand why it is that The Fat has such a reputation of poor performance?  Generally poor performing soaps can be traced back to 1) poor ingredients list or 2) hard water.  I don’t believe water can get any harder than mine yet I’ve never had issues lathering this soap.  I can’t imagine it’s related to not loading long enough because I have heard tales of gents rubbing the bristles on the bar for minutes and still not getting performance.  Whatever is going on, I’m glad it isn’t me dealing with the issue.  Great soap. And I used a spineless knot this morning just to see how it went.  No issues at all and the shave was luxurious.  I’m guessing this handle won’t wear this knot for very long though.

Post a lather shot. I’ve never had any luck with the fat, even though I love the scent, preferred it over Tabac but all my lathers were too airy.

I can’t recall ever posting a picture of my lather but I’ll see if I can’t get that done for you.  (I have no idea how gents post clean, well staged lather photos.)

I’m guessing this handle won’t wear this knot for very long though.

is that the Motherload knot?  I had similar issues with it.  Unbelievable softness but minimal backbone.

This is the kind of lather I get when the realization that I only have 20 minutes to shower/shave/dress/make my lunch/get out the door or else I'll be late for an important meeting.  I probably spent a whopping 30 seconds on this beautiful beast. 

Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood

I’m guessing this handle won’t wear this knot for very long though.

is that the Motherload knot?  I had similar issues with it.  Unbelievable softness but minimal backbone.

It’s a mother alright!  Love the softness.  It has worked on a triple milled hard soap without issues.  Whipped a cream into submission.  So for a knot with no spine it’s doing ok but man is it ugly!  I’ll mess with it a while longer but this gorgeous handle will likely be wearing a fat badger 28.mm when the dust settles.

MdC Fougere

Succès (Ethos) mossy pineapple
Shave 6 ・ 131 g left

Lately I’ve been watching Sherlock Holmes movies. (Jeremy Brett is still the best Holmes ever!) Apart from the plots – which I know like the tip of my chin – I’m fascinated by the ornate Victorian rooms, the sturdy wool clothes, and the odds and ends dangling from the walls and mantle. It all adds so much to the gaslit setting. And I secretly covet Holmes’ hand-carved Meerschaum pipe. Only problem is, I don’t smoke. So instead, I wish I had a Meerschaum lathering bowl. And it would have to come with a silver lid, on a hinge.

So what is Meerschaum? It's a kind of clayish material, commonly found in Turkey, that’s very easy to carve. It’s also very light. So light, in fact, it floats. Sailors scoop it off the waves in the Black Sea.The German word Meerschaum literally means ‘sea scum’. A better way of translating it, though, would be ‘sea lather’. Now that sounds nice, doesn’t it.
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Razor Henson Medium Blue ・ Blade Astra ・ Brush Peregrino ・ Hoard 16,931 g (⇣794 g) ・ Done by March 31, 2057