Hi from Adelaide

alfredus

alfredus

Auctioneer-in-Chief + organises many group buys
Staff member
Site Moderator
State Convenor - SA
Grand Society
Group Buy Caporegime
Charity Auction Team
Joined
Nov 14, 2014
Location
Adelaide
Another hello from Adelaide - a member from here invited me to join @ B&B...

I have been wet shaving now for more than 3 years - my current Hardware rotation:
ATT R1 Kronos
Weber PH
RR Stealth Slant V1
RR DLC Slant
RR Kiyara Slant

WD 24mm Silvertip
WD 24mm High Mountain
Vie-Long 12705B Horse
Omega 49

Voskhod & PolSilver SI Blades

Software: Mike's and Stirling mainly with some Haslinger Schafmilch, Otoko Organics and RR/HTGAM The Beach thrown in - and of course Occams Pre-shave soap!
 
Welcome Alf. That's quite the collection of razors! RR is RazoRock? How do you like their slants?
 
Mong. said:
Welcome Alf. That's quite the collection of razors! RR is RazoRock? How do you like their slants?
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Thanks for the nice welcome - yes RR is RazoRock and I guess since I have 3 I do like them a little bit :whistle::whistle::whistle:

No seriously they are fantastic and I can highly recommend them. I have tried out a variety of DE's (all sorts of Vintage Gillettes, Progress, 37c, Hoffritz Travel Slant, Eclipse Red Ring...) but for me the RR slants are just very different DE razors - the shave is super super simple and easy. So if you have the chance definitely try them out!
 
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SmallYetDeadly said:
Welcome alfredus :)

How are the WD brushes? Have you had other makes to compare against?

Cheers
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Unfortunately not - at least not in the badger department.
I have used a variety of boars - both Omega and Semogue - and the 49 is still my favourite in that department.
As for badgers I only had a Edwin Jagger in Best - it was scritchy and floppy - not to my licking at all.

I had both WD set at 48 mm - the Silvertip is heavenly soft - really pure luxury - especially coming from boar - and also not floppy. No problems with my soaps...
The HM has definitely more backbone - but also maybe a bit more scritch? Have to use it a bit more to be definitive on that...

The biggest surprise for me is the Vie-Long - at first I didn't like it and it was too scritchy - but after ~10 uses is super super soft, yet has a bit of scrub as well. Of course nothing like a boar, but still for a ~15$ brush I think the biggest bargain out there.
 
Hey there @alfredus! Nice to have you join in the fun here.

Looks like you've got a very nice razor setup... Perhaps too good for most of us- apart from @Mark1966 who has one of almost every razor...

I'm a little jealous of your RR slants. I've been after the Stealth for a loooooooong time but never wanted either pay a King's ransom for an early one, or able to get one in the IB Stealth lottery... I've resigned myself to waiting for them to become more available in another year or two.

Can I ask how your Otako Organics lathers? I've tried all kinds of brushes on mine and it's really, really bad. Even Col Conk gives better lather than it! I don't have particularly hard water- every other soap I've had or got lathers just fine. It's just this one. I honestly don't know why people like it for the lather it produces...
 
Col conk is better than something? Wow!

Welcome welcome Al. You use straights too I hope?
 
Welcome Alfredus, nice to see that despite being the 'new kid at school' you've got everyone swooning at that very impressive razor armoury. I felt quite good about my own Weber PH until I saw that rotation. :eek:

Look forward to chatting with you again soon. :)
 
Welcome aboard @alfredus . You've found yourself in Australia's best wet shaving forum…far, far better than those other rubbish Aussie-only shaving forums. From another newbie, this is a seriously great place to be - cause I've found its not all about what you got - a la YKW - but how you use it here that matters. Super keen to hear a little more from your experiences.
 
filobiblic said:
Hey there @alfredus! Nice to have you join in the fun here.

Looks like you've got a very nice razor setup... Perhaps too good for most of us- apart from @Mark1966 who has one of almost every razor...

I'm a little jealous of your RR slants. I've been after the Stealth for a loooooooong time but never wanted either pay a King's ransom for an early one, or able to get one in the IB Stealth lottery... I've resigned myself to waiting for them to become more available in another year or two.

Can I ask how your Otako Organics lathers? I've tried all kinds of brushes on mine and it's really, really bad. Even Col Conk gives better lather than it! I don't have particularly hard water- every other soap I've had or got lathers just fine. It's just this one. I honestly don't know why people like it for the lather it produces...
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Thanks for all the warm welcome!

Since I seem to have no posting privileges here yet (what do I need to do?) - here a link to a B&B post I created. It is with a boar brush - but I could also do one with a badger, if you need it. Basically the soaps needs very very little water. That's the whole trick. So just start with a super dry brush and it should be good...

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ganics-Soap-with-a-Boar-Brush?highlight=otoko
 
Nick the Knife said:
Welcome Alfredus, nice to see that despite being the 'new kid at school' you've got everyone swooning at that very impressive razor armoury. I felt quite good about my own Weber PH until I saw that rotation. :eek:

Look forward to chatting with you again soon. :)
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The Weber PH is a beautiful razor and I think you should feel very good about using it :)

I actually used mine today: it gives you a great close shave, so what is there not to like :D
 
alfredus said:
Thanks for all the warm welcome!

Since I seem to have no posting privileges here yet (what do I need to do?) - here a link to a B&B post I created. It is with a boar brush - but I could also do one with a badger, if you need it. Basically the soaps needs very very little water. That's the whole trick. So just start with a super dry brush and it should be good...

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ganics-Soap-with-a-Boar-Brush?highlight=otoko
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Hmmm. I'll give it a go, but I usually use a dry brush and add as needed.

So to confirm:
1) you used a VERY dry brush AND did not add any extra water
2) You only loaded for 10-15 seconds
...is that right?
 
filobiblic said:
Hmmm. I'll give it a go, but I usually use a dry brush and add as needed.

So to confirm:
1) you used a VERY dry brush AND did not add any extra water
2) You only loaded for 10-15 seconds
...is that right?
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OK, if you use a badger or horse: soak the brush and then really wring it dry
If you use a boar: soak the brush and then shake 3 times really hard out excess water.

I don't know how well your brush lathers (i.e. how much backbone it has) so I don't want to give you an exact time. But the soap is more on the concentrated side, and you won't need as much. So maybe 15 sec with a boar and 30 sec- 1 min with a badger. Again it all depends on your exact brush, but having said that, I don't think overloading is ever a problem.

Then lather for 30 sec and if you need add a couple of drops water. Now here is the tricky part: like all so called Vegetable soaps I have encountered so far, the soap takes very little water and is very quickly over-hydrated. You see that straight away with small bubbles forming - then the lather is very poor. So you really have to keep it on the creamy side and don't try to put too much air in there - so none of that whipped cream business :D

Hope I could help
 
alfredus said:
OK, if you use a badger or horse: soak the brush and then really wring it dry
If you use a boar: soak the brush and then shake 3 times really hard out excess water.

I don't know how well your brush lathers (i.e. how much backbone it has) so I don't want to give you an exact time. But the soap is more on the concentrated side, and you won't need as much. So maybe 15 sec with a boar and 30 sec- 1 min with a badger. Again it all depends on your exact brush, but having said that, I don't think overloading is ever a problem.

Then lather for 30 sec and if you need add a couple of drops water. Now here is the tricky part: like all so called Vegetable soaps I have encountered so far, the soap takes very little water and is very quickly over-hydrated. You see that straight away with small bubbles forming - then the lather is very poor. So you really have to keep it on the creamy side and don't try to put too much air in there - so none of that whipped cream business :D

Hope I could help
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This is great advice for lathering vegetable soaps more generally. Thanks @alfredus . Based on your description, sounds as though a synthetic (like an STF2) would be right for the job.
 
stillshunter said:
This is great advice for lathering vegetable soaps more generally. Thanks @alfredus . Based on your description, sounds as though a synthetic (like an STF2) would be right for the job.
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I don't have any experiences with synthetics - so I wouldn't know...
 
Nonick said:
Col conk is better than something? Wow!

Welcome welcome Al. You use straights too I hope?
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Almost missed this - guess it's because of the Col conk beginning :rolleyes:

Sorry, but no straights :cry::cry::cry:
I have a Parker shavette - drag it our every 6 months, butcher my face and that's it then...
 
Yeah I started on a dovo shavette those things are brutal. Like shaving with a light sabre.

I since restored a cadman straight and it's way easier to handle!
 
Nonick said:
Yeah I started on a dovo shavette those things are brutal. Like shaving with a light sabre.

I since restored a cadman straight and it's way easier to handle!
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So a real straight is easier??? Might have to try then one day...
 
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