Shave of the Day 2015

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SOTD Tuesday 20/10/2015

Cold water shave
Soap: Shaver Heaven, Spiced Mahogany
Brush: Simpson Berkerley
Face lather
Razor: Dovo Stainless Steel 5/8

A great shave soap (lather, performance & moisture) added to the joy of a good straight razor.
 
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Face Wash : PAA Menthol Pre_Shave soap
Pre-Shave : Myrsol Emulsion
Brush : Plisson La Maison du Barbier
Soap : Mike's Peppermint and Rosemary
Razor : Hoshi Tombo 4000
After Shave : Alum, Argan Oil
After Shave Splash : Tom Ford Extreme

Today's absolutely superb shave is dedicated to the Shave Gods, who have smiled upon me and delivered (with the Postie's help) the newest, smallest and without doubt the cutest member of my little family of Hoshi Tombo razors, the Hoshi Tombo 4000. Resplendent in birds-egg green scales, this little beauty measures only 50mm long at the cutting edge and 15mm deep.

It was back to the Mike's soap today to see what a synthetic brush can do with it. The answer is wonders! Using the techniques sent to me by @@alfredus and @@Lifes a Peach, I got one of the best lathers I've ever made. Plenty wet and not too thickly slathered on - the little razor won't hold half a litre of used lather on its dinky blade. The shave was awfully close to perfect - the Hoshi combined lightness, balance, agility, comfort and the expected sharpness to make a sublime experience of the two passes needed for a full BBS finish.

I'd planned on something else post-shave, but after a shave like that only the absolute best could do it justice. Out with the unused sample bottle of Tom Ford Extreme, and on went a scent to die for and which I'm sure will last all day. Thanks to @@Osman for this - he took me into one of the department stores here to show me what absolutely top end men's fragrances are about. OMG, I can deal the idea of hundreds of dollars for a razor, but $450-500 for an itty bitty bottle of fragrance? I wish.....

Thank you Shave Gods! While you're at it, dispense a bit of goodness to the other members of this forum :)
 
Pre-Shave PAA Mentholated ICE Scentless Pre-Shave Soap
Brush The Grooming Co Synthetic
Soap Mike's Coconut Tallow, Lanolin & Kokum Butter Shaving Soap (kindly donated by @alfredus)
Razor Gillette/Otto Roth New OC
Blade Persona Blue Med Prep
Post Shave Myrsol F./Extra

Following @alfredus's suggestion of "load it like you hate it" I went to town on the bar of Mike's Coconut. Giving it a liberal amount of water resulted in a lovely lather that was very slick and cushioning. This is definitely a soap that needs a good area for loading.
Lovely DFS and the Myrsol F./Extra was icing on the cake.
 
Brush Shedomatic
Soap PAA Strewth
Razor 37c
Blade Rapira
Post Shave Cold water, LOTS of cold water, then PAA Menthol Pre-Shave soap, finally Nivea Sensitive ASB

This shave was awful, one of the worse shaves I've had without butchering my face.
Started with massive amounts of burn from the soap, ran only a few passes due to increasing irritation for what was a <SAS and ended with a reaction leaving me looking like a cross of a beetroot and tomato!
Something in this soap does NOT like me and it failed to provide adequate protection and glide to complete an effective shave.
The person that loaned it to me experienced difficulties with it too, namely loading it.
I didn't experience the same issues of it foaming up, I bloomed for 10 minutes with copious amounts of water and got a nice thick lather.
To describe it's scent, leather, dirty chemically treated industrial leather.
To give an idea of the burn/irritation, I could feel it through a constant flow of cold water and the PAA Menthol Pre-Shave which is usually entry level mild to me, burnt like being hit by a wall of Napalm.

Oh well, you live, you learn.
Guess PAA soaps do live up to the infamy surrounding them.
The Pre-Shave is ok though, yet could do with more menthol.
 
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SOTD Wednesday, October 21

Cold water shave
Soap: Shaver Heaven, Spiced Mahogany
Brush: Edwin Jagger badger
Face lather
Razor: Inoue Fujisuke

Spiced Mahogany just smells great. Wife comments on this each morning. The "naked" kamisori went just as well with the rubber nandle removed & it just looks more manly now.
 
StueyB said:
Proraso Green
I use my finger to get it out of the jar so I apply a "fingers worth". The smaller 100ml jar lasted Sept - Jan with almost daily use.
Whether I use it pre or post I apply it to a damp - not wet - face and rub it in. I focus more in the area under my jaw and neck as these are the more sensitive areas. Probably massage it in more when using as a pre than post.
Emulsion
Use mostly as post and applied to dry face (after witch hazel) and rubbed it in. it spreads surprisingly well and you only need a small amount - about the size of my fingernail will do

The PAA Mentholated ICE Scentless Pre-Shave Soap has nice level of menthol - more than the Emulsion but less than the Proraso. Also as it's scentless it doesn't interfere with the scent of the lather.
Click to expand...
My large tub of Proraso green has gone runny,like thin custard.
It has lots of water in it,enough to pour off,even when refrigerated to harden it.Has it gone"off"?
 
tullfan said:
My large tub of Proraso green has gone runny,like thin custard.
It has lots of water in it,enough to pour off,even when refrigerated to harden it.Has it gone"off"?
Click to expand...
On the scant info I'd suspect it's just had too much water left in it after uses & is essentially 'super-saturated'. Personally I'd just get a fork or similar and churn it to get as even a consistency as possible and then use it up like that - hopefully this is as a thinnish cream you can dip your brush into.

The info I've had & followed is that all shaving soaps should be allowed to dry out fully after each use. Generally that can just be a few hours out with the top off. Failure to do so can see a gradual buildup of water in the soap container which doesn't bode well for the soaps long term happiness. :)

FWIW if the soap were 'off' - (and with a mainstream commercial product like Proraso thats very unlikely both as it's packed full of preservatives & also likely very little unsaponified oils that are prone to rancidity) - you'd find it had a very strong, off, foul odour that would make it very unpleasant to use. So I'm certain it should be usable - but perhaps in a manner different to what you'd prefer.
 
Pre-Shave PAA Mentholated ICE Scentless Pre-Shave Soap
Brush The Grooming Co Synthetic
Soap Shave Heaven 1st Anniversary Soap
Razor Gillette/Otto Roth New OC
Blade Persona Blue Med Prep
Post Shave Myrsol F./Extra

Lovely shave this morining. The Synth quickly produced an excellent lather from the Shaver Heaven 1st Anniversary. The scent was even able to make it past my hayfever addled nose.
The New OC is a lovely razor - I can't believe that this is over 80 years old.

Need to look for some more summer aftershave - seem to remember @filobiblic mentioning something about a new store opening up or something like that
 
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Just for your information: it's music week at YKW :cool:

Pre-Shave: Occams pre-shave soap, cold water
Razor: IKON DLC Slant with long Bulldog handle
Blade: Voskhod (2)
Brush: Omega 49
Soap: Bald As German Rice Pudding (Soap made and kindly donated by @bald as)
Post-shave: Alum, Stirling Vetiver alcohol free Witch Hazel, Draco Noir Neroli & Bergamot Argan Oil (Oil made and kindly donated by @Draco Noir)​

The only issue I have with the razor so far: it is really hard not to overdo it - it just feels so deceptively smooth on the face!

Lovely shave today, really enjoy the lather of @bald as soap...just needs a bit of R&D in the post-shave department and I would say it is ready to be commercialised. As for the scent, it gave me a couple of sleepless nights, thinking of what it reminded me and for some very strange reason it is the German Rice Pudding I always had in my youth :D :D :D

@Draco Noir shave oil really helped in the post-shave department and the scent is simply divine and right up my alley!
 
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