SAFETY Razor Shave of the Day (SOTD)

[warhawk]

Hi Matt:  Wow.... I did not realize you haven't shaved with a vintage SE razor.  Wow.... what took you so long.  I get some great shaves with my GEM 1912s and ER 1912s.  The 1912s for me give me the best vintage SE shaves over the 1914s, Gem G Bar, and Gem Micromatic OC.  Glad that you enjoyed it.  Also... thanks to you I am about to pull trigger on Barrister and Mann Adagio.

WARHAWK

[warhawk]

Friday,  July 1, 2016

ikon #102 : Catie's Bubbles Celtic Knot  : Gillette Black: Simpson 46 Berkeley

[120inna55]

Another fine SOTD, Mel!

... thanks to you I am about to pull trigger on Barrister and Mann Adagio...

It's a beautiful scent!  I wish it lasted longer, but Will says it's brief by design.  He wanted to keep is light for Summer.  Adagio has a very light menthol that's just enough to feel some cooling without influencing the scent.

[Cobranet]

Since this is one of my favorite things on this forum I decided to post a picture too. Every time I see these great pictures of these soaps and razors it makes me want to shave....of course I have already shaved so I have to wait. Anyway here's mine....

Cremo as a pre shave

Wood & Lather Barbershop

Merkur 34c

Personna Lab Blue Blades

Dickinson's Witch Hazel

Lubriderm  Mens 3 in 1 lotion

[warhawk]

Thanks Matt.  I cannot wait to try the Adagio.  I also got the after shave splash too.

WARHAWK

[warhawk]

@ Cobranet: Nice SOTD pic... I hope this won't be your last post.  Sometimes... I feel that Matt and I are the only ones posting our SOTD pics.  I hope you and more can post their SOTD pics, too.

WARHAWK

[Cobranet]

I only have my Merkur so my photos will not be as varied as the ones you guys have been posting.


Merkur 34C

Van Der Hagen Badger brush

Personna Lab Blue

Palmolive

Cremo for pre shave

Dickinson's Witch Hazel

Lubriderm Mens 3 in 1 lotion

[120inna55]

I only have my Merkur so my photos will not be as varied as the ones you guys have been posting...

This is just a nice way of pointing out that you have some self-control.  LOL. Great pic!  Thanks for posting in here!

[120inna55]

Van Yulay - Soap of the Gods - Hercules (Russian Tea)
BSB-Ti w/HMW Extra Dense
1912 Type Star | Gem by Personna (2)

This was my first go with Van Yulay's goat milk and glycerin hybrid formula, Hercules.  It's an interesting process to order Hercules.  There's a drop-down menu with an inordinate list of fragrances from which to choose.  Without checking the scent profile which is on a different page, I selected "Russian Tea".  I'd never heard of Russian Tea, but I'd assumed it would smell something like tea.  Little did I know that there are essentially two types of said tea.  One that's actually tea with rum and served with lemon, the other being a sweet concoction made of Tang, instant tea, instant lemonade, cloves, and cinnamon. Van Yulay's Russian Tea is based on the latter.  Not even a hint of tea.  It turns out, despite it's absolute contradiction to what I was expecting, Russian Tea was quite pleasant.  Off the puck it was orange heavy.  As I lathered it, the orange had sharp and dark features such that my first impression was perhaps blood orange.  I then detected a light effervescence that suggested mint.  As the shave progressed, the scent got heavier and more complex with cinnamon, cloves, and finally musk.  The orange never left front stage, but it was hardly single-faceted.  It is a very pleasant scent that has a bit more depth than many citrus-scented products I've experienced.

I've had excellent experience, performance-wise, with Van Yulay. However, browsing their website, I can clearly see that I've not even come close to experiencing all of their soap formulas.  I was interested in Hercules (and Aquarius) due to its segregation on the website along with its denotation as a "hybrid".  It was unclear as to the "hybrid" nature of it, but I was drawn to it in light of its inclusion of goat's milk.  It also contains glycerin, as do many artisan soaps.  However, the site's description states, "Formulated with Goat milk Soap & Glycerin Soap (Half Human & Half God) [sic]".  I interpreted this to mean that it is half melt-and-pour glycerin soap and half goat's milk traditional shaving soap. In my experience, glycerin is great for slickness, but not much for cushion or post-shave. While glycerin is used as an ingredient in upper end soaps, I generally relegate glycerin-based soaps on the cheaper, poor performing end of the shaving soap spectrum.  Given that, I should also note that among a plethora of skin-friendly ingredients this "hybrid" contains a few of my favorites: Kaolin clay and kokum, mango, and shea butters. (A complete list of ingredients can be found at the end of this writing). Skepticism aside, my experience with Van Yulay meant it deserved a try.

The other Van Yulay soaps I've used are piped into the jar into star-shaped molds à la cake icing. Hercules does appear to have been poured into the jar instead of being injected.  While it still probably qualifies as a croap, it's firmer than most. It loaded into the damp badger knot easily without the need for blooming.  I added quite a bit of water to the loaded knot at this point and began to face lather.  I soon had an extremely thick, dense yogurt-y lather.  I really had to push it around.  I'd clearly loaded too much product.  That's a first for me, as I prefer to bring the knot to max capacity since I'm working on a head and face shave.  I chuckled at myself and was grateful I'm a shower shaver, because I did have a bit of a mess.  This soap does seem to stretch farther than most of my other soaps.  I just added a bit more water to achieve a more manageable lather, and all was well.  The slickness was quite impressive, and the protection was top-notch.  The inclusion of clay was evident both with regard to the unique slickness and density.  I was able to loosen up a bit while taking the vintage SE out for its second full run.  I took long frontal to parietal sweeps while only barely feeling the blade.  Two passes with some clean-up was all that was required to achieve BBS.  I didn't have to reload the brush between my face and head shave either.  Part of this is attributable to the efficiency of the 1912 Star, accomplishing the equivalent of a three-pass DE shave in two.

I considered forgoing an after shave since the post-shave of Hercules left my scalp and face feeling soft and moisturized, but it's hot out here in East Texas, and I just like to use a splash.  I obviously chose the paired "Russian Tea" scented splash which is alcohol free, and has aloe and witch hazel among other goodies. I'll note that despite my detection of background cinnamon and clove notes, my skin did not react with redness as I usually experience with those two oils.  They may not even be present in the soap or splash, but rather my brain may have filled it in out of association with the other notes.

Despite the scent being a curveball, I enjoyed this shave very much.  I highly recommend Hercules and even the Russian Tea scent as long as you know you're getting citrus and not tea.  I count myself among the snobs that avoids melt-and-pour glycerin shaving soaps, but I do not put Hercules in that category.  This is an exceptional soap as has been my experience with other Van Yulay soaps.

Hercules Shaving Soap Ingredients: Deionized water. Glycerin. Sorbitol. Sodium cocoate. Sodium stearate. Saponified oils of soy bean and safflower. Stearic acid. Kokum butter. Mango butter. Coco butter. Shea butter. Amino acids. Chamomile. Calendula. Polyquats. Liquid silk. Marshmallow root. Allantoin. White Kaolin clay. Silica powder. Vitamin E. Fragrance.

Some obligatory lather pics:

[warhawk]

That is a great SOTD pic!!!!

WARHAWK 

[warhawk]

Friday,  7-8-2016 SOTD

Razor:  Weber DLC

Blade:  Feather

Soap:  Barrister & Mann Adagio

Brush:  Simpson Chubby 2 Synthetic

Dessert:  Ice cube rub and the Adagio After Splash by Barrister & Mann

This is my 2nd time using the Adagio by Barrister & Mann.  All I gotta say is "WOW". This is the perfect summer scent. My only small complaint is that I wish the scent was stronger. The performance of all Barrister & Mann soaps are elite. I love the glide, sickness, cushion, and ease of lather. You will see me using Barrister & Mann more. I also got the Adagio after splash and love it.



WARHAWK

[120inna55]

Great SOTD, Mel!  I agree Adagio is awesome.  Will said he kept is light and short-lived by design.  His aim was for a light Spring/Summer scent.  His Glissant soap formula is still my benchmark by which I measure all other soaps.

[Cobranet]

I ordered this soap after a glowing review from PaulHFilms on Youtube...he wasn't wrong ...Great Stuff, Great Shave!

[SlyCatCrossing]

Saturday 7/9/16 SOTD

This is my first SOTD post AND my first shave with my brand new Merkur 37c! I used Barbasol aloe since its what I had available at the time but I have a la toja shave stick on its way in the mail.  For the time being I also have cremo cooling and headslick that I may mess around with.  Anyway, off to the shave!

Razor: Merkur 37c Slant Bar
Blade: Astra SP
Cream: Barbasol Soothing Aloe
Aftershave: Witch Hazel then Aqua Velva Classic

This was my first shave with my new 37c and a slant bar in general.  The quick version is I was surprised by how forgiving it was! Overall the shave was actually too comfortable and not close enough but I almost immediately noticed two things: 1. I was a little apprehensive to dive right in since slants are commonly referred to as aggressive and 2. I went with a "middle ground" blade incase it was a bit too harsh.  I am confident that with a slightly sharper blade, proper soap + brush lather, and no more concern of a cheese grater shave (lol) I will be achieving the best shaves of my life

[120inna55]

Head & face shower shave. 1 days growth.

Technique:  WTG / XTG / ATG/clean-up.
Prep: Shower.     
Soap: Barrister and Mann - Rhapsody
Brush: BSB-Ti w/HMW Extra Dense
Razor: Star 1912
Blade: Gem by Personna(1)
Post: Barrister and Mann - Rhapsody

This was my first time using Rhapsody soap, but I've been using the splash periodically for the past week.  While the margins are getting tighter and the field is getting packed with top-notch artisans, Barrister and Mann's Glissant soap base remains my personal benchmark.  It hits all the right criteria for me: ease of lather, durability, water range, density and cushion, slickness, and post-shave feel.  That's not to say that I haven't used other soaps that are slicker than Glissant, for instance, but Glissant manages to meet all the criteria well and consistently.

In true Barrister and Mann fashion, Rhapsody is a unique and complex scent.  Upon lathering, I get a rather striking and robust pungent pear blossom aroma.  There's no mistaking this is the foremost scent of this soap.  Pear blossom is a complex scent all by itself.  I have quite a bit of experience with the scent as I was surrounded by pear trees where I grew up.  The scent of a pear blossom changes quite a bit over its lifetime.  The early blossom is bitter and green and later, at full bloom, it evolves to the familiar pungent scent that travels on the wind quite well.  As the blossom yellows and then browns, it peaks with a sickly sweet scent with acrid notes.  Rhapsody seems to hit this just before the sweetness really hits.  It's not all pear blossom, though.  As the shave progressed, the profile got deeper and heavier with warm sandalwood and patchouli and finally a musky vanilla.

The splash starts the step-wise introduction of the aforementioned notes in just about the same order, only faster, of course.  The dry-down is a pleasant pear blossom, vanilla, and musk that seem to be equally distributed. Much later, probably around 4 hours, I detect a transient peppery note before it fades.

Rhapsody is not your typical floral scent.  It accurately captures the pungent essence of pear blossoms without being single-faceted by incorporating somewhat subtle complementary notes.