Razor: Merkur 37c (Not in the box)
Brush: Omega Synthetic
Blade: Super Max (1st Use)
Cream: La Toja
Aftershave: GF Trumper Sandalwood (Not in the box)
Prep: A wash with face soap followed by a hot towel
The shave:
Razor/blade: Merkur 37C with Super Max
The 37C is a game changer as far as blades go. Essentially a slant provides an auto slide function which the shaver would normally have to do for themselves. On that often the most rewarding is achieved with not necessarily the sharpest blade but one that is really smooth as with the aid of the slant design you are left with an incredibly efficient and mild feeling shave. This has been my experience to date with many blades e.g. Astra, Voshkod. This morning’s shave however changed my beliefs that a slant could turn nearly any blade into decent shaver. I have never experienced any tugging with the 37C until the ‘Super Max’. Now having a name like super max one would assume it has some great prevailing quality which strives to be the best... One shave with this blade is enough to not make me wan try another. Again this may be another YMMV kind of thing
Brush: Omega Synthetic
Using this brush for the first time I was really impressed with the lather and feel. Full disclosure I have only used one synthetic in the past, which was a Mhule V2 with a 22mm knot. In comparison the fan knot felt more at home than the compact bulb shape knot of the Mhule. The combination of the soft tips and springiness of the fibers, meant the brush was great at performing a gentle scrub, whilst building up a thick lather and pliable enough to lay it out evenly once switched to painting strokes.
As it stands I am fully invested into my badger brushes. But as a quick drying travel brush you may consider taking on a trip, I don’t think you would be missing you den at home nearly as much if you were to abandon you routine entirely and instead go for the dreaded canned goo.
Cream: La Toya
Often popping up on threads here and there another cream I had been eager to try. For me the pros of this cream like many creams in tubes is convenience. A small squirt in a bowl is all you need to generate a thick usable lather without much fuss. This one was no different and combined with the synthetic I was able to get a decent lather quickly with little stress over achieving a scientific level of water/product ratio. My skin did feel clean and soft after washing it off and overall it did provide a decent shave. Being spoilt by the many products on offer however, its overall marks suffered as a result of the scent. It’s not a terrible scent but in summary it just comes across as lack luster. I had images of week old washed sand, which had been left to ferment in a bucket somewhere. Probably being over dramatic there, but again I would choose others before picking this one up.
