I sincerely applaud the effort and kudos for the great name you came up with! I'd be interested, but I really don't want to do a subpar effort compared to the others who participate. Preparing and sending samples could also turn out to be a nightmare atm since german customs are cracking down hard on every parcel that's non-EU due to the European football championship. I really don't want them to delay everything so that nothing reaches anybody in time. However, I'll cherish your SOTD review posts!
27.05.2024
- Prep: head and face wash; moisturiser
- Razor: Leaf Thorn (Fig)
- Blade: Derby Premium half DE
- Brush: Omega Roma Colosseo 31 mm
- Lather: WestMan - MazaGran
- Post Shave: Westman MazaGran ASB
1 pass head shave at night (in my time zone at least). Good shave.
As I mentioned yesterday, I started reading American Psycho and apart from the shaving brush passage that stood out to me, Bateman also applies moisturiser before he shaves as some kind of pre-shave. Just out of curiosity, I tried this today - the results aren't really convincing me to do this again. It wasn't bad, but there was just no positive effect to be felt from this.
Something else I tried out that I saw in a video by YouTuber Baldcafe is starting my head shave from the back of the head. I already tried this for 2 pass shaves, but today was the first time I actually started this way. Well, I can see his reasoning: the worst part is behind you after that (pun intended) since the sides and top of the head are a walk in the park for experienced head shavers. OTOH, I generally like to give the coarser hair around my crown a bit more time to be softened up by my lather. But well, you'll never know if you don't try out some things.
MazaGran is a delightful gourmand scent that smells like a noble coffee house. I'm glad to have a matching set of it and the WestMan base is very agreeable for my sensitive scalp.
Oh, I understand. There's been worse said to me and said by me to others during friendly banter. Just wanted to remark that I genuinely find your posts and comments well-written and can't imagine your spoken word to be worse. Simple text-based communication is not that well suited to convey such hidden compliments. No ill intent towards your friends from my side ✌🏻
No problem. Figured since some sources might be german-speaking only, I'd give it a try. That's a very precise dating you obtained there though!
No worries, sometimes it's hard to remember how many soaps of a particular genre you've got 😉
Btw I thought I'd try to help with finding a manufacturing date for your straight razor in some german resources, but no luck. One archived german eBay listing had a 5/8 Wüsthof as "made between 1960-70" but such seller's are a unreliable source for that.
That's quite an impressive collection of barbershop scents! My personal favourite is CFGs Ghost Town Barber.
13.05.2024
- Prep: warm water
- Razor: Leaf Thorn Fig
- Blade: Leaf half DE
- Brush: AP Shave Co. 30 mm Tuxedo Fan w/ black & clear handle
- Lather: Moon Soaps - Union
- Post Shave: Thayer's Cucumber facial spray; Moon Soaps Old School "balm"
2 pass head shave to inaugurate the new razor. Very smooth dome and nice feeling.
So the Thorn was said to be a great razor for head shaving and I can actually agree that this reputation is deserved. It's not totally perfect though. My only gripe is that water can accumulate in the hollow part of the handle where the TTO mechanism sits, but everything else about it is really fine. Despite being sold as an aggressive version, it feels mild to me without sacrificing efficiency. I was a bit worried about the handle, but it turned out to feel good in my hand and not slippery at all. I also shaved my neck today and here it felt harsher. OTOH, going ATG as the first and only pass with a new razor is probably not the recommended way of doing things. I had to use alum on my neck, but in general shaving with it felt really smooth for a first impression. I will try it with a plethora of different soaps and a few different blades.
As for the Moon Soaps "balm", like I wrote in the Mail call post it's actually more of a lotion. And it's even thinner than the WestMan balm that I own. The toner was absolutely not needed with this one. While the scent is very mild, the skin feeling is rather positive, so - kinda undecided about this one.
Thanks DJ, have a fun and safe trip.
It really is the only gold plated razor I own - I'm not too keen on golden things, be it jewelry or razors. But vintage razors are an exception, especially this one. The plating coming off in certain places gives it a rugged charm. Plus it works really well for shaving my head and contouring my beard.
Btw, once you get back could you look through your pile of samples? Unfortunately I haven't gotten around to sending you the Reserve Classic, but there's a chunk missing and I can't remember sending it to anyone else.
Thanks for the offer, but I'm in Germany. The cost of sending it to me would be awful for you. But SW base is definitely one of my favs too.
Yeah, assembled is the right word instead of 'built' 😅
Yep, like one of those Ikea kits where you just need a screwdriver. But from some chinese company off amazon. Surprisingly, it's very sturdy for that.
DaveWave94
joined 1 year ago
20.07.2024 - Pungent Banana!
Head shave and beard contouring. 1 pass plus cleanup on the dome.
So since our inaugural BVWSC-shave had to be postponed, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to use another banana scent before trying Don José.
Boonana is unfortunately one that I despise. The release was a real hypefest back then and everyone except me seemed to praise the soap... Well, time to find out if my mind has changed. Spoiler alert: no, it hasn't.
Boonana is the scent equivalent to rotten banana peels. It smells kinda like when you used to be a school kid and forgot to take out a banana from your lunchbox in the summer holidays, then find it again after six weeks. It's a pungent banana smell. I definitely don't get the comparison to Samhain, SWs Magnum Opus IMHO. While Samhain is a delightfully wicked take on Pumpkin Spice Latte, this here is just decomposing banana. Ugh! The typical SW properties are thankfully still there, so you have a top notch vegan soap base and a great alcohol free aftershave... But I'd rather use bangers like Samhain, Necromantic, GraveFruit 2, Valley of Ashes or the sadly discontinued Pomona than this organic waste smell. Worst SW scent together with the rightfully discontinued Tres Matres IMHO. I'm just grateful that I'll catch less flak for my opinion this time than back in the day on Reddit (it's actually nice that everyone here is mature enough to know that one can respectfully disagree and a negative opinion is not a direct insult to the artisan).
Basically I tried to cover up the pungent banana with coffee smell by an Extro EdT and went grocery shopping smelling like a hipster coffee shop. No wonder I had most of the lanes to myself...
So yeah, after reading this essay of a SOTD you can guess that I am very excited for AYLM Don José and what a kind of write-up I'm capable of. I promise a honest first impression review!