Head & face shower shave. 2 days growth.
Technique: WTG / XTG / ATG/clean-up.
Prep: Shower.
Soap: Wholly Kaw - "Scent # 3" (beta)
Brush: Ever-Ready 100T restored by Thomas Burgess with TGN Finest Badger knot
Razor: Edwin Jagger DE89 with iKon Bamboo Handle
Blade: Treet Platinum Super Stainless(1)
Post: Fine's Snake Bite
Soap review:
Wholly Kaw kindly sent me a sample of a soap they're working on. If I understand it correctly, it's intended to pair with a splash already in production, "Jamestown Gentleman". The soap is in beta. I want a tub of this stuff now! I wouldn't change a single thing about it with regard to performance and scent.
I'd never used anything by Wholly Kaw, and frankly, I hadn't heard much about them. I'm not sure why they've been under my radar, because the performance stands up to anything I've used. It provided superior protection and an enormous amount of thick, dense, paintable lather with a luxurious sheen. I'm usually not a fan of sample sizes, but pressed down into a shallow ceramic bowl, "Scent # 3" loaded effortlessly. I then started building the lather in my Nicole Pangas shaving bowl. I do note it performed better starting out dry, but slowly dribbling in small amounts of water dialed it in perfectly. Finally, it exploded into the voluminous lather seen in my photo. It should be noted this is the leftover lather after a 45-second load and 3 head and face passes. (For those of you who scoff at the 45-second load, that amount is typically what is required for me to have ample lather with some left over for post shave. It was obviously too much for this sample. I can't say if that's because I'm accustomed to loading from a puck as opposed to a thin sample pressed down into a shallow bowl, or if it's simply a Wholly Kaw characteristic.) There's still enough of the sample to get me probably another 3-4 3-pass shaves.
The scent of this beta sample is, in a word, beautiful. It started with a light, nondescript powdery floral scent in the bowl. Working the lather into my skin, it warmed up to a definite tobacco floral aroma with warm woodsy and musk notes that never overpowered the gentle sweetness of the tobacco. Subsequent passes held those notes.
The post-shave result was very soft and moisturized, and is easily in my top 5 artisan soaps. I finished with Fine's Snake bite because I didn't want to mask the lingering scent from the soap. I was still aware of the scent about an hour later. I need to do more research, but if this truly is the same scent profile for Wholly Kaw's "Jamestown Gentleman" splash, I need it. I also need this soap in my rotation ASAP.