Author Topic: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)  (Read 741887 times)

Offline warhawk

  • sly 4 life
  • Sly Moderator
  • Sly Nobility
  • *****
  • Posts: 7615
  • Country: us
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1605 on: May 28, 2016, 08:11:12 PM »
HI Matt:  I just emailed the Holy Black Trading Company.  I will say that the finish has no irregular
marks or scratches.  Man... that would be great if it were cerakoted.   I will post here and on my YouTube channel when I hear from them.  Thanks for liking.  I am no expert or great video guy.  Matter of fact those YouTube videos that you see are straight raw.  I don't know how to edit, yet or put some fancy music.  I am just having fun. O0 

WARHAWK O0
Tough times don't last but tough people do!!!


Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1606 on: May 30, 2016, 06:14:33 AM »
Dr. Jon's - Hydra
Ever-Ready 100T w/TGN Finest
Above The Tie S1 w/Triad Rolling Hex 316 Stainless
Treet Platinum Super Stainless (1)


This is my second outing with Dr. Jon's.  I noted a bit more density and thus a more traditional lather than I had experienced with "Bandit".  However, as with "Bandit" the stellar slickness is the reason Dr. Jon's will likely be one of my more frequently used soaps. The scent of "Hydra" is not open to interpretation.  I say that because you can legitimately pick out each of the distinct scents that are printed right on the tin: lemon, orange, grapefruit, mandarin, lime, and bergamot.  The exception for me was that I kept wanting to say tangerine, but I understand that's the mandarin.  I'm just more familiar with tangerines, but the two are closely related.  This is not one of those multifaceted, complex scents that unfolds, reveals, and surprises.  What you smell off the puck is what you get, and that's a very good thing if you're a citrus lover.

The paired splash is surprisingly different.  Initially a sharp but sweet orange scent was right up front, but as time passed each fruit sort of rotated through.  Three hours out, the lime seems to hang around with more prominence, and it's quite enjoyable.

Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1607 on: June 05, 2016, 06:27:23 AM »
Through The Fire Fine Craft - Devil's Cut | BSB-Ti w/HMW | Above The Tie S1 w/Triad Rolling Hex 316 Stainless | Treet Platinum Super Stainless (1)


When compared to soaps I've used recently, this one took a bit more work to dial in.  I think the lather was a bit sensitive to warmer water.  When I sorted that out, I had a good lather going, but I pushed it too far with the water, and it broke down.  It was reminding me of Stirling's old finicky tallow/clay formula, which was worth the time to figure out.  Undaunted, I essentially started over and was able to obtain a very dense lather with fair to moderate slickness.  Post-shave was lacking a bit, but to be fair, I've gotten spoiled by recent products.

The splash was pretty harsh even for alcohol-based splash, but it rather quickly began to soothe which I attribute to the witch hazel and aloe.

I was expecting (hoping for) a straight whiskey fragrance, but the soap was essentially a very spicy sandalwood with faint hints of whiskey.  The splash was similar/complementary, but the whiskey seemed to be replaced by clove and cinnamon notes. (I should note, clove and cinnamon is not mentioned as an ingredient, so this is just my nose interpretation).  The splash was reminiscent of Derby City Chop Shop's Winter Reserve, but with less depth.  Given that it's a bit lighter than Derby City, I would call this the "Summer" version of that scent profile.

While my review may seem lackluster, I did enjoy both the soap and splash.  I do intend to revisit Devil's Cut.  The scent alone is worth another go, but I think I can adjust for the small quirks with performance I encountered.  Perhaps lanolin or shea butter would have raised the post-shave up a notch.

Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1608 on: June 05, 2016, 06:30:21 AM »
Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements - Spring-Heeled Jack | BSB-Ti w/HMW | Above The Tie S1 w/Triad Rolling Hex 316 Stainless | Treet Platinum Super Stainless (2)


It's been a couple years since I've purchased a PAA soap.  As most of you know, the containers have changed to the more traditional plastic jars.  While I was a fan of the over-sized tins of old, they were a little cumbersome on the narrow shelf in my shower.  I do appreciate the translucent plastic containers with waterproof labels.  It's an overall nice, durable presentation.  

In addition to the packaging, there have been marked improvements in the soap formula.  The lather was easy and dense as usual, but slickness was very good and out-performs my old tins of CaD, Speakeasy, and Cavendish.  It looks like I need to upgrade those.

Something PAA has never lacked is bold and accurate scents.  Spring-Heeled Jack is the first coffee-scented soap and splash I've used that pulls off a coffee scent without a creamy undertone.  There's still some sweetness, but it's more of a chicory sweetness, so I'll abide that.

My only complaint is about the splash is the inclusion of alum in their alcohol splashes.  I know it's a personal favorite of Douglas', and alum is a post-shave staple for lots of wet shavers.  Unfortunately, I'm one of those who suffers from a pretty bright red skin reaction to alum.  I endure it, regardless, because I enjoy the overall effects after the redness settles down which ends up being about 20 minutes.

PAA has made some great improvements on an already excellent product.  It looks like I'll have to dig back into their website and pick out a few more crazy scents as well as upgrade my current ones.

Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1609 on: June 11, 2016, 11:46:01 AM »

Head & face shower shave. 5 days growth.

Technique:  WTG / XTG / ATG/clean-up.
Prep: Shower.     
Soap: Van Yulay - Soap of the Gods - Puros La Habana
Brush: Kent V8
Razor: Above the Tie S1 w/Triad Rolling Hex 316 Super Stainless Handle
Blade: Treet Platinum Super Stainless(1)
Post: Van Vulay After Shave Splash - Puros La Habana

Of late, I've seen "Soap of the Gods" soaps in sparse SOTD pics, and I was of course, intrigued.  Coincidentally, I happened upon a couple positive reviews of "Van Yulay" by two of my favorite reviewers, Michael Freedberg and Michael Ham (aka Leisureguy).  At which point, I discovered Van Yulay is a skin care company with "Soap of the Gods" being their shaving soap line.

Van Yulay's website, specifically the shaving soap section, can be a bit overwhelming in that it has 2 pages of various soaps.  I counted 81 different between the 2 pages.  The default sorting is alphabetical, but unfortunately, a few of the titles begin with the unique name of the scent, while others begin with "Shaving Soap of the Gods…" before indicating the scent name.  This lends to a bit of a scattered presentation with thumbnails that are about twice as large as they need to be.  The sorting options are the standard for any catalog site.  If the proprietor ever sees this, I have just a few suggestions that would make the process a bit more appealing, most of which have to do with the webmaster in particular:

First, it would be nice to stipulate that these are all "Soap of the Gods" soaps, and omit that from the title of the product purchase link.  It's their brand, so I’m by no means suggesting they remove it from the product label or even the details page.  If the omission of the phrase is a deal-breaker, then they should correct the three outliers on page one to maintain uniformity and allow for a true alphabetical listing.  Additionally, a few other sort options would be nice.  Since their extensive lineup consists of tallow, vegan and/or clay, I would love to be able to sort them in that fashion to narrow down my browsing. I would even be willing to accept a compromise by just segregating the vegans to a page of their own. The search function works quite well, however.  Also, it would look a little less crowded if the thumbnails were either smaller, or better yet, formatted such that the entire round label is visible.  The "quick view" pop-up link works well, but again, the whole label is not visible because it's cropped.

Van Vulay does not offer an alcohol splash, but rather a balm and a splash that is water-based.  The after shave products contain good skin care ingredients like aloe and witch hazel among a number of other goodies that I recommend you discover on their site.  Each of these can be customized to match the fragrance of their various soaps.  As a nice touch, menthol can be added for $1 more ($0.25 for the balm).

I ordered "Puros La Habana" soap and the matching splash (without menthol).  The 4 oz. soap was $14.74, the 4 oz. splash was $9.99, and First Class USPS shipping to Texas was a mere $3.55.

The products arrived in a box just large enough to hold the single tub and splash that were individually wrapped in bubble-wrap.  They were packed tightly and securely.  There was no additional security tape around the individual lids and the splash's bottle did not have a security seal.

While the art choice for Puros La Habana is good, the execution is lacking a bit.  The labels seem to be water resistant, but the ink easily flakes off with a finger nail.  Despite that, there were only a couple faint scratches on the labels until I attempted to work out a bubble with my thumbnail.  The images on the front of the tub and the bottle were crisp but with crushed blacks making it appear to have been printed with a lower quality inkjet printer.  The ingredients list on the bottom of the tub is so blurry, it's almost illegible.

The splash is a milky base with an amber substance  that I assume is the fragrance oil separated at the bottom of the bottle.  With a bit of vigorous shaking, it becomes homogeneous again, but it separates within minutes, so if you're not already in the habit of shaking the splash just prior to application, you'll want to be conscious of this with Van Yulay's splashes.

The soap looks quite interesting in the tub.  There are 4 star-shaped molds that have fused together.  They appear to have been squirted directly into the tub with something like a pastry bag. The individual molds can be separated and removed in case you want to share your soap as a sample or even if you would prefer to press one into a separate bowl for lathering/loading.  I've never seen this presentation before, but I can certainly appreciate its benefits.

As my first soap from Van Yulay, Puros La Habana caught my attention because of the description: "Rich tobacco cigar notes and spices of Cuba".  The singular description was appealing to me because singular cured tobacco notes are somewhat hard to come by in the wet shaving word.  At least I think I would like to try a soap that smells only like a fresh, unlit, Cohiba.  However, in my experience, cured tobacco scented soaps end up containing the tobacco notes, but they're accompanied by other sweeter fragrances.  In my mind they typically end up smelling like a man who would smoke a Cuban cigar as opposed to smelling like the cigar itself.  I do understand that my romantic idea of a soap that smells singularly like a cigar would probably not be appealing to most people.  Puros La Habana falls in line with my prior experiences.  In fact, off the puck, I was quite disappointed to note a complete absence of tobacco notes.  It actually smelled like the almond-scented mini bar soaps found in hotel rooms.  It was pleasant, but hardly what I'd expected.  However, being quite aware that the dry scent is often vastly different from the lathered scent, I was still hopeful.

Fortunately, the scent became more true to form once I lathered it.  I immediately picked up on a light powdery scent that evolved to bold warm spices, elements of which were suggestive of cinnamon, clove, and black pepper.  Cured tobacco didn't really emerge until the end of the first pass, but then it resonated and ultimately dominated the profile with elegant powdery notes and intermittent leather undertones.

I'll be honest.  I chose my vintage Kent V8 for this shave for a very flaky reason:  The color of the handle looks great alongside the color scheme of the VY products, so I thought it would make a nice SOTD pic.  Fortunately, the vintage badger knot of the Kent is exceptional, so I didn't sacrifice anything.  The Kent tends to hold more water than my other two badgers (TGN finest, and an unknown source HMW from BSB.).  Given this particular soap contains clay, I let the Kent do its thing and started with a relatively damp, but not dripping, brush.  I loaded directly in the tub and was blown away by the immediate creamy protolather.  With my hard water, I got a beautiful dense and creamy face lather within a few seconds.  The lather was reminiscent of Stirling's discontinued clay formula, but it would have taken a good 2 minutes to achieve this level of lather with Stirling.  I mention Stirling because until now, they were really the only soap makers that could pull off a clay soap with my water.  For me, it was worth the extra effort I had to put into Stirling's old finicky formula.  (I should note, Stirling has re-formulated and eliminated almost all of their clay bases, and I do love their new formula.)  Van Yulay managed to get the right ratio with this base.  Another aspect to this soap is the water range.  Clay seems to get slicker with more water, but if that clay is accompanied by tallow, you run the risk of breaking down the lather if you're overzealous.  This particular formula doesn't contain tallow.  While I'm certainly a fan of tallow, I feel this formula is not missing anything by omitting it.  I'm no expert, but I suspect this is what provides the exceptional range without sacrificing density.  As I've stated before, I tend to like my final pass on my head to have a relatively thin, but slick lather.  I can easily achieve this with this VY formula while still maintaining a thick, dense shiny lather for my face and neck.  I experienced zero irritation despite starting with 5 days of growth.  That alone is a testament to the impressive performance of this soap.

I used the splash more as a fragrance, since the post-shave was sufficient to go without it.  There's nothing particularly special about the splash other than the usual soothing effects of aloe and witch hazel, but the fragrance is the reason to use it.  It simply picks up where the soap left off and has lingering warm spicy tobacco notes with faint and clean powdery undertones.  It's truly an elegant scent.

This is my first impression and shouldn't be taken as a full review.  I recommend you check out Michael Freedberg's and Michael Ham's reviews for more insight, but I am for certain sold on Van Yulay's soaps thus far.  I am off to order more of their offerings as we speak.  Happy shaving!

I'll list the ingredients here, but please note this is for the Puros La Habana scent. Van Yulay has a few different bases, so I encourage you to peruse their site to find details about the scents in which you take interest: Stearic Acid, Aloe Vera, Coconut Fatty Acid, Castor, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Babassu-Manteca-Argan-Abyssinian-Coconut Oils, Kokum and Cocoa Butters, Calendula, Extracts, Poly Quats, Sodium Lactate, Allantoin, Silica, Liquid Silk, Bentonite Clay,Tobacco Absolute, and Fragrance.

The splash ingredients vary only by the fragrance you specify and the option of including menthol.  Otherwise, their ingredients are as follows: 70% Water, Aloe Vera, Witch Hazel, Abyssinian Seed-Emu-Red Castor-Evening Primrose-Rosehip Seed-Oils, Comfrey, Calendula, Tepezcohuite, Oat, Marshmallow, Green Tea Extracts, Liquid Silk, and Fragrance. 


Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1610 on: June 13, 2016, 09:49:05 PM »
Dr. Jon's "Classic"
Ever-Ready 100T w/TGN Finest
Gillette Tech (pre-war)
Treet Platinum Super Stainless


Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1611 on: June 14, 2016, 07:29:22 PM »
Cold River Soap Works - Le Chypre Sombre | BSB-Ti HMW | Gillette Tech (pre-war) | Polsilver SI (1) | Barrister and Mann - Lavanille


I usually shave every other day, but digging through my samples drawer, I came across the Polsilvers.  I don't recall ever having used this blade before, so I figured I'd give it a go.  The Tech has been being neglected lately anyway.  Le Chypre Sombre performed nicely as expected, and the Lavanille tonique feels as great as it smells.  I don't really have an opinion either way as far as the Polsilver.  It was a great shave, but one shave isn't enough for me to call it.

Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1612 on: June 17, 2016, 06:52:04 AM »
Van Yulay - Soap of the Gods - "Achilles" | BSB-Ti HMW | Above the Tie S1 w/Triad Rolling Hex 316 Stainless | Gillette 7 O'clock Super Platinum (Black) (1)


This was my second use of a Van Yulay soap.  Achilles uses their tallow and bentonite clay formula.  Running the risk of sounding like Joe Rogan asserting every MMA fighter with whom he's currently enthralled to be "the best pound for pound…", I'm going to say Van Yulay can easily rival any of the soaps in my arsenal.  In fact---and I'm not overstating this---Achilles, in particular, excels in all of the criteria by which I measure an excellent soap: ease of lather, water range, density, slickness, and post-shave.  Which brings me to the semi-subjective criteria: scent, packaging, value, and customer service.

Van Yulay describes Achilles as, "tobacco with the perfect amount of Kentucky bourbon, hints of cherry, notes of vanilla, of rosewood, cedar, smoke, and sweet birch."  I can't argue with any of that, frankly, but the order and impact of these notes deserve some illustration.  Straight from the dry tub is a bold, bordering on excessive, sweet bourbon fragrance.  We should all know by now that notes from the dry puck rarely provide much insight as to the lathered product.  I can say that room temperature bourbon in an old fashioned wouldn't have emanated throughout the bathroom to the degree the open tub of Achilles did.  I was interested to see how this would transform once lathered.

While on the subject of the dry tub, still present in Achilles are Van Yulay's signature star molds (which I confirmed are in fact piped into the tubs with an icing bag).  Unlike my initial use of Van Yulay, Achilles has the molds surrounded by a lustrous dark substance that appears to be liquefied, but it's actually firm with a slight candied tackiness. While it's an interesting presentation, I was concerned it was unintentional and possibly the victim of the hot Texas temperatures.  I contacted the proprietor, Monica, to inquire about the dark syrup.  She quickly responded and reassured me this was the "bourbon drizzle" and that it was completely intentional.  She nailed the customer service aspect, and there's more on that later.

With regard to packaging: My introduction to Van Yulay was outlined in my first impression of "Puros La Habana", one of their "manteca" soaps.  At that time, my impression was overwhelmingly positive.  To recap, the only negatives I encountered was a slightly arbitrarily organized website and sub par label printing.  After sending my first impression review to the vendor, the majority of the website issues were corrected within minutes.  And the labels?  Well, there's still room for improvement, there.  Following my positive experience with "Puros La Habana", I purchased 3 more VY soaps.  I note that the label issue was not an isolated one.  They are quite susceptible to scratches (not unlike the PAA tins of old), and the colors are crushed and muted as compared to their representations on the website.  I know this is a bit frivolous, but honestly this is where the negatives stop.

In my mind, value is married to performance.  I'll expound on the performance later, but Achilles at $17 performs at least as well as soaps for which I unreservedly pay $25.  There's no question that $17 is more than fair for a soap of this caliber.

Now I will address the performance.  Again, adapting my behavior slightly to accommodate the clay, I used a slightly wetter knot than usual.  This resulted in a very quick capacity load for the HMW knot with a controlled amount of protolather.  Despite the very dark brown "bourbon drizzle" and the tan stars, the resulting lather was slightly lighter than the head on a draught stout beer.  I dumped quite a bit more water into the knot using the finger dribble method and proceeded to face lather.  I achieved a usable lather within a few seconds, but I knew VY could do more, so I continued to challenge the limits of this tallow-based soap by adding even more water.  With my hard water, this would have destroyed most of my other tallow soaps, but Achilles revealed its sweet spot and exploded into a ridiculous amount of a strikingly creamy and dense paintable lather.

As expected, the intense bourbon fragrance immediately settled down when the water hit it, and it transformed to a more realistic representation.  Bourbon kept the stage throughout the shave, but it was sweetened a bit with cured tobacco and to a lesser extent, dark cherry and vanilla alcohol.  The vanilla and cherry somehow suggested to me cola.  One could deduce that Achilles then took on the fragrance of bourbon and Coke, but the mellow warm tobacco kept that from happening.  Towards the end of the shave, the scent got even more complex with smoky, woody notes.

I was impressed with my inaugural use of the Indian Gillette 7 o'clock Super Platinum blade. I can't rule out Achilles' superb protection playing a role, but I could barely feel the blade, and a touch-up pass was not needed to achieve BBS.

I admit I'm ignorant as to which ingredients contribute to post shave feel. After a cold water rinse, Achilles left my scalp and face feeling the way I'm accustomed to it feeling after using lanolin and shea butter products.  Yet, I don't see either of them mentioned in the ingredients list.  Nevertheless, my skin felt at least as good as it does following a shave using my benchmark products.

The pleasant sweet bourbon scent lingered as I cleaned up my gear.  I took pause before applying the paired after shave splash.  My prior experience with Van Yulay's splash proved that the scent perfectly matched the soap and lingered for a good 4-5 hours.  I began to wonder if such an accurate bourbon fragrance was actually a good scent to wear for a prolonged period, if at all.  To my surprise, the splash turned the tables on the fragrance profile.  Warm, sophisticated cured tobacco was the dominate note with bourbon remaining in the background.  This was precisely the opposite of its properties with the soap.  The same notes are present but with a different impact and presence, making the prolonged scent of the splash less whimsical and much more refined.  While I am sure this is an intentional turn, I suspect the mellow aloe carries the tobacco better, where an alcohol base may have pushed the bourbon to the forefront.  The alcohol-free splash just added more goodies to my skin.  The key ingredients are aloe and witch hazel, but there are a number of ingredients the benefits of which I admit I am ignorant (I list both the soap and splash ingredients following this review).

Then came the real test.  The overall scent profile of Achilles shares some properties with another artisan's soap that I love, Beaver WoodWright's "Captain's Pipe".  Achilles is not a duplication of Captain's Pipe, but the sweetened tobacco notes were enough to remind me of it.  The problem is, for my wife, the mere hint of Captain's Pipe evokes nausea.  She's normally not very vocal about my choices in fragrances, but she absolutely abhors Captain's Pipe.  Therefore, I'm given to only using it while she is gone for a prolonged hunting trip.  To my relief, she found Achilles to be quite pleasant.  As a result, I look forward to using this combination time and time again.

This was a 5 out of 5 shave.  I've been late to the game with regard to trying out Van Yulay's products.  Many of you are already familiar with them, but Achilles is listed as a "new" product on their website.  If you haven't tried it, and bourbon and cured tobacco is your thing, you really need to pick up a tub before the vendor wises up and charges what it's worth.

Achilles Soap ingredients: Stearic Acid, Coconut Fatty Acid, Palm Stearic, Castor, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Tobacco Tea, Aloe Vera, Coconut-Emu-Tallow-Meadow Foam-Borage-Argan- Oils, Kentucky Bourbon, Sodium Lactate, Herbal Ground Tea, Calendula, Extracts, Poly Quats, Allantoin, Silica, Bentonite Clay, Glycerin Soap, Tobacco Absolute, Mica and Fragrance.

After Shave Splash ingredients:  70% Water, Aloe Vera, Witch Hazel, Abyssinian Seed-Emu-Red Castor-Evening Primrose-Rosehip Seed-Oils, Comfrey, Calendula, Tepezcohuite, Oat, Marshmallow, Green Tea Extracts, Liquid Silk, and Fragrance


Offline warhawk

  • sly 4 life
  • Sly Moderator
  • Sly Nobility
  • *****
  • Posts: 7615
  • Country: us
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1613 on: June 18, 2016, 12:45:18 PM »
Saturday, June 18, 2016 SOTD

iKON Slant #102

Gillette Seven O'Clock Black

Catie's Bubbles Celtic Knot

Semogue Texugo

Ice cube rub, refrigerated WH, refrigerated FINE Fresh Vetiver

Just had an incredible shave with the #102 . . . I absolutely love this razor.  I paired it with a Gillette Seven o"clock Black and it was magic.  It has been awhile since I used some Catie's
Bubbles.  Glad that I did because it is a great performing shave soap and the Celtic Knot scent
is so invigorating.  It smells like a spiced up Irish Spring.  Sorry . . . no SOTD pic for today.
Matt... keep those incredible pics coming, brother!!!

WARHAWK O0
Tough times don't last but tough people do!!!


Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1614 on: June 18, 2016, 10:53:36 PM »
Mel, we must be on the same wavelength with the 7 O'Clocks.  Right after I post my first use of one, you use it in your shave.  I'm liking the blade.  I've used it in 2 razors, now, and I can barely feel the blade.

Route 66 "A Perfect Gent"
Ever-Ready 100T | TGN Finest
1976 Gillette Super-Speed
Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Platinum (Black)


Like I needed another soap, I picked up Route 66 based on a recommendation.  My  objectivity is going to eventually come into question if I keep saying a soap is "stellar".  Frankly, it's because I listen to the community and thus only use good products.  Route 66 is no exception.  Just as I'm a sucker for fancy packaging and limited releases, I'm equally a fan of sales.  I took advantage of Route 66's Father's Day Sale and headed over to their site. From a design perspective, a vendor walks a line between charm and gimmick.  With a name like Route 66, I was braced for the gimmick, but there was none.  The first thing I noticed was the overall slick appearance of their website.  It was quite easy to navigate and organized.  I love that you can add-on a matching balm with each soap from that soap's page via a dropdown menu.  In turn, you're rewarded with a $1 bundle discount from the balm.  The soap was $15.49 for 5 oz. The balm was $11.49 for 2.2 oz.  Shipping in the US is free.  The only payment method offered is PayPal. I placed the order late Wednesday afternoon; I received a shipping notification Thursday at noon, and I received the package Saturday via USPS.

The soap and balm arrived in secure packaging with the balm double wrapped in bubble-wrap, and the soap came in a small wax paper bag sealed with a customized sticker.  There was no product scent emanating within the box.  The professional water-resistant labels on both the soap and balm were pristine. The scent name is printed on a sticker that is perfectly placed on both the soap and balm. The only ding is that the ingredients list on the balm is not legible.  Magnifying it reveals the printer did not print it well.  There was no evidence of overspill.  The soap tub is the standard all plastic translucent Parkway with a black lid.  It was evenly filled with approximately 2 cm to spare.  The all plastic balm bottle is dark amber with a solid black disc-top cap. The balm had a tamper-evident seal.

The TGN knot soaked in warm water while I showered.  The croap consistency is on the firmer side.  I would say it's close to that of Barrister and Mann's.  I started with a dry puck and slightly damp knot.  The TGN rarely has the capacity to serve 3 head and face passes, so I didn't attempt to load for that, and anticipated a reload after 3 face passes.  Loading was quite easy.  I dribbled a little water into the knot and proceeded to face lather.  The scent was immediately reminiscent of Soap Commander's "Courage" which in turn is a familiar classic masculine scent, the origins of which I can't place.  It's no accident the two smell similar because they share many scent notes: peppercorn, ginger, jasmine, cedar, and frankincense.  I didn't do an A/B comparison, but from memory, I would say Route 66's "A Perfect Gent" is a bit bolder.  It started as a bright and sharp peppercorn and ginger with warm woody notes.  As the shave progressed, it departed a bit from "Courage" in that I detected dark labdanum notes, which I like.  The lather was a bit thirsty, and that's a good thing.  It was dense and paintable and provided a wet sheen.  I have no other term than that.  Some soaps' sheen, when present, is iridescent as if the light is refracted by oils.  Others are just "shiny" as the light is reflected by water.  Route 66 is the latter.  Glide was perfect such that I could comfortably take long frontal to parietal ATG sweeps. The superb residual slickness, while usually ill-advised, facilitated working areas without visible lather.  The post-shave feel was soft, supple, and well-hydrated.  There was zero redness or irritation.  My skin quite simply loves lanolin.

I used the matching balm because my skin also likes shea butter.  Their balm also contains aloe and other skin goodies (complete ingredients list to follow).  The fragrance perfectly matched that of the soap.  I don't detect it at all 3 hours later.

In Route 66, we have yet another artisan/vendor from which to choose.  The overall performance and quality matches the other top vendors.  As I've indicated before, the performance standard seems to have topped out, so artisans have to concentrate on additional factors to set themselves apart.  I believe Route 66 accomplishes this with an attractive professional presentation, a good price point, and a very intuitive website.  As a result of this shave, I've ordered 2 more bundles from them.

Soap ingredients: Stearic acid, palm kernel oil, vegetable glycerin, lanolin, avocado oil, coconut milk, silk amino acids, fragrance and/or essential oils.

Balm ingredients include (as per their website): Soy, aloe vera, shea butter, vitamin E, vegetable glycerin, calendula, chamomile, linden blossom, cornflower, St. John's Wort, fragrance and/or essential oils.

Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1615 on: June 20, 2016, 06:46:38 PM »
Dr. Jon's & Beaver Woodwright - "Bandit"
BSB-Ti HMW
Above the Tie S1 w/Triad Rolling Hex 316 Stainless
Gillette 7 O'clock Super Platinum (Black) (2)


Offline Cobranet

  • Sly Jr.
  • **
  • Posts: 92
  • Country: us
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1616 on: June 20, 2016, 07:01:21 PM »
I love your photos, They make me want to shave ! If I wasn't already shaving my face and head with a safety razor I do believe that your photos would make me go out and buy one!

Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1617 on: June 27, 2016, 05:54:25 AM »
Barrister and Mann - Adagio
Ever-Ready 100T w/TGN Finest
Above the Tie S1 w/Triad Rolling Hex 316 Stainless
Gillette 7 O'clock Super Platinum (Black) (1)


When I finished up with the Adagio splash, my wife expressed, "That's the first fruity scent you've used that I actually like."  Adagio is heavenly.  The first impression from the soap is a light cherry that's soon enveloped in a lovely green fruit note.  It's not your typical fruit, however.  It's not quite citrus nor is it quite melon, yet it has characteristics of both.  The cherry sustains throughout as a clean musk base builds.  This is another artfully crafted scent that one expects from Barrister and Mann, but it remains light in spite of its complexity.  The light cooling from the gentle menthol is welcomed this time of year.  Adagio sports the latest base from B&M, codenamed Glissant.  Glissant provides an easy lather and incredible slickness and protection, but the post shave is my favorite aspect.  The splash is the same scent overall, but there is a slightly tannic first scent that fades in less than a minute, leaving the beautiful Adagio cherry, green fruit, and musk notes.  My only complaint is that it simply doesn't last long.  Given it's light nature, it's probably by design, but about 2 hours later, I can't detect it.  I do highly recommend Adagio, and if you think you don't like fruity scent profiles, you may yet like Adagio.

Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1618 on: June 27, 2016, 08:45:35 PM »
I'll post a review of Nuàvia Blu after I've used it a few times, but for now, first impression is that's it's very similar to MdC.  Post-shave precludes the need for post products.


Offline 120inna55

  • Ultimate Sly Guy
  • *****
  • Posts: 912
    • 120inna55
Re: SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)
« Reply #1619 on: July 01, 2016, 04:47:33 AM »
Chiseled Face - Pine Tar | Ever-Ready 100T w/TGN Finest | 1912 Type Star | Gem by Personna (1) | Pinaud Clubman


I recently was in the market for a brush to hold my favorite boar knot.  A kind fellow wet shaver responded and wanted to deal in trade.  The deal seemed fair to me, but he felt is was unbalanced in his favor, so he decided to "throw in" a surprise with the brush.  The add-on item was a 1912 Type Star SE.  He'd noticed an absence of vintage SEs in my SOTD pics.  As a matter of fact, my only experience with SEs is with my beloved Mongoose.  I quickly discovered the vintage SE is a totally different monster.

Last night, I took the Star for an apprehensive spin.  I decided to do a face-only shave and save the scalp for when I had more nerve.  In case things got hairy, I hedged a bit by choosing Chiseled Face's Pine Tar. I have found Pine Tar to be quite forgiving and facilitates healing better than most any other soap I've used.  I was immediately confounded by how gentle and mild the Star was while being equally loud and incredibly efficient.  The gentleman who gave me the Star had prepared me that it would sound like "buttering toast".  That's no lie!  All in all, my first vintage SE shave (face-only) was perfect. This SE did in two passes what most of my DEs would do in three.

So, tonight, I decided to do a full head and face shave using the same combo.  Thus my face had one day's growth, and my head had three.  I started with my face as per my usual routine.  A single WTG pass resulted in a shave that would have been presentable and certainly equivalent to two passes normally.  Therefore, I skipped the XTG pass and went right to ATG to get an easy, comfortable BBS.  This was clearly the easiest neck shave ever.  My confidence at it's peak, I went right the scalp.  Two very intuitive passes, again, got me BBS.  I'm truly in awe of the performance of this razor and presumably blade.

I finished with Clubman because this shave just deserved it.

I am so grateful to this kind fellow wet shaver for introducing me to this additional aspect of the wet shaving realm.

 



Enter your email address: