Shave of the Day Thread - 2017

[Mark1966]

Razor: Vintage Eclipse Red Ring
Blade: Vintage Australian Gillette Super Stainless [aka "Aussie Spoiler"] (5)
Brush: Vintage butterscotch distressed Culmak reknotted in TGN finest
Soap/Cream: Squadron Soap Spitfire
Aftershave Splash: Australian Private Reserve - Un côtelette de porc

Another early start to try and get this balloon thing happening. Of course it is the coldest morning of the year so far as well ..,

Feeling the love from this great shave though.

I flew, we survived. The RAAF balloon which was also up decided to show off with a little 'kiss' of the lake -

 

[Benjamin]

Razor: Rockwell 6S - 3
Blade: Voskhod (2)
Brush: Semogue SOC Boar
Soap: OSP Fougère
Post: Witch Hazel, TSW Balm

Nice shave today, back on plate 3 today after going to close on plate 4 yesterday. See lather shot here.

 

[Sxot]

Pre: Hot Spa
Brush: Shavemac 26mm Two Band
Soap: Art of Shaving - Sandalwood
Razor: Tanifuji 6/8
Post: Sandalwood splash

Screwed up the Lather today. Looked good but halfway through the second & final pass (ATG) things weren't right. I rubbed some in my fingers to find almost no slickness! Either too much water, or too short a load. Damn. Third day in a row sub par shave.

 

[todras]

Post: Sandalwood splash

Is that 'The Santal' or another one ?

In case anyone wonders or see's it in my or sxot's SOTD, some months back @Sxot asked me to make him a pure Mysore Sandalwood splash, so I told him I could but it would be really, really expensive as 6ml of Sandalwood would cost $60. Anyway I made the splash, called it 'The Santal' and thought I might release it sometime or someday for the Sandalwood lovers (I would buy bulk sandalwood, which would still be bloody expensive but do-able) as the fragrance of pure Mysore Sandalwood is exceptionally delicate and special...

Anyway,Low-and-behold not a week later the price for Indian Mysore Sandalwood skyrocketed to $75 - $90 for 6ml where it has stayed ever since. I had 14mls of the Mysore I bought at the cheaper price and when we got to the APR soap thing I decided to use it to make 2 pucks of soap, one each as he already had the splash.

Suffice to say, I won't be releasing 'The Santal' anytime soon, even with the quantities of Sandalwood I am able to buy now, it's just cost prohibitive.

 

[walklikeaduck]

SOTD (6/4/2017)

Pre: Lucky Tiger Face Wash
Razor: Mongoose SE
Blade: Kai Captain Titan Mild (19x)
Brush: RazoRock Plissoft
Soap/Cream: RazoRock For New York
AS: Thayer's Lemon/Cool Water
Balm: Soap Commander Integrity
Fragrance: Davidoff Cool Water EDT

 

[SpeedyPC]

Date: 06 April 2017

Brush: - Semogue SOC 2 Band Badger in Ash Wood 24/53mm
Lather: - Stirling Baker Street
Razor: - Merkur 34C
Blade: - Feather #1
Post Shave: - T.N. Dickinson Witch Hazel Astringent / Australian Private Reserve Mycroft Aftershave Splash

My neck feels a lot better and I'm ready to get back onto my Feather AC SS shavette again this Saturday shave.

WOW!! @todras you've done it again another fantastic aftershave splash called 'Mycroft' is Sherlock Holmes brother first name is another great combination together with Stirling Baker Street shaving soap, while I'm still enjoy reading the complete ebook edition of Sherlock Holmes. The scent has blend in perfectly together with shaving soap and the aftershave splash has really made my day in wet shaving even more and more relaxing and enjoyable

PS. Have you thought about making an aftershave splash called 'Watson' something for extra protection for our skin to feel extra smooth and fantastic throughout the whole season.

 

[Sxot]

Is that 'The Santal' or another one ?

In case anyone wonders or see's it in my or sxot's SOTD, some months back @Sxot asked me to make him a pure Mysore Sandalwood splash, so I told him I could but it would be really, really expensive as 6ml of Sandalwood would cost $60. Anyway I made the splash, called it 'The Santal' and thought I might release it sometime or someday for the Sandalwood lovers (I would buy bulk sandalwood, which would still be bloody expensive but do-able) as the fragrance of pure Mysore Sandalwood is exceptionally delicate and special...

Anyway,Low-and-behold not a week later the price for Indian Mysore Sandalwood skyrocketed to $75 - $90 for 6ml where it has stayed ever since. I had 14mls of the Mysore I bought at the cheaper price and when we got to the APR soap thing I decided to use it to make 2 pucks of soap, one each as he already had the splash.

Suffice to say, I won't be releasing 'The Santal' anytime soon, even with the quantities of Sandalwood I am able to buy now, it's just cost prohibitive.

What makes you think it was one of your splashes @todras??? I didn't say it was an APR splash, and it's missing from the photo. No no, it's the AoS splash.



That was an attempt to not displaying/talk about an unobtainable product, and yet still be truthful in my SOTD! In answer to your question; It is the pure Sandalwood. Now you've let the cat out of the bag I can tell P&C it is to die for! Special is the right word. It's so luxurious however it is used sparingly unlike my other splashes which I splash around with abandon. Same with the soap - it's something else. As it happens I was looking at Aussie Sandalwood EO just now for bath soap - it's not cheap either! It will either be a very sad, or very expensive day when it is gone. I have loved Sandalwood since my early teens when I was given a comb, powder and bath soap set for a birthday and it remains my favourite scent to this day. I have found most Sandalwood products to be very disappointing in the scent department and now you know why. Not this stuff though, it is outstanding.

 

[todras]

As it happens I was looking at Aussie Sandalwood EO just now for bath soap - it's not cheap either!

Its a different species and entirely different fragrance too, I do like the Australian Sandalwood but it is not best suited to perfume. The main difference with the Australian produced Sandalwood (aside from the species and different ratios and compounds that occur within it) is that the Australian Sandalwood has very low levels of occuring β-Santalol which is the 'goodness' people look for. If you are going to spend the money, and both are very expensive, it is worth shelling out for Mysore Sandalwood - just make sure you buy it from a reputable outlet as it is often adulterated. It may be worth looking into the New Caledonian species of Sandalwood, they run to around $160 for 30mls...again different to Mysore or 'true' Sandalwood but very nice none the less.

That was an attempt to not displaying/talk about an unobtainable product, and yet still be truthful in my SOTD! In answer to your question; It is the pure Sandalwood. Now you've let the cat out of the bag I can tell P&C it is to die for! Special is the right word.

That's why I asked if it was the Santal to begin with

It's not unobtanium per se either, you just got lucky in asking me for a pure Sandalwood splash just prior to the price exploding to stupid levels - chance had it I had 18mls of Mysore kicking around at the time with no plans for it.

I won't be offering it as an APR release not out of being exclusive or anything, but purely because it's highly unlikely that people would want to pay $110.00 for an aftershave. If the price internationally comes down to something more reasonable then it is a possibility however for the future but even then, pure Sandalwood fans are few and far between.

The thing to realise too is that most of what people like and think of as pure 'Sandalwood' is not pure Sandalwood at all but is usually an accord made up of either pure EO's containing Sandalwood as a part, aroma-chemical's and EO's or pure fragrance oil. Some of them are very, very nice and are used in big name perfumes (99% of big names are accords and not pure).

PS. Have you thought about making an aftershave splash called 'Watson' something for extra protection for our skin to feel extra smooth and fantastic throughout the whole season.

No, I have not...

There is very little extra I can add to the now final APR aftershave formulation that has proven, peer reviewed benefit to the skin, does not effect the fragrance and does not substantially effect the price. The APR aftershave formulation as it stands offers excellent (and proven) skin care benefits while delivering the fragrance as an alcohol based perfume. A purely skin care based product would not have any fragrance whatsoever, it would be a completely different animal by design.

 

[Snooze]

There's been quite a lot in the financial press recently about the Australian company TFS/Quintis which grows plantations of Indian Sandalwood in Australia, mainly in WA. Another company produced a report de-valuing the trees which are classified as "assets".
@todras is this Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) a different tree to the Mysore sandalwood? If so, looks like the sandalwood price is heading in the right direction for Quintis!
There is an interesting article on perfumery and sandalwood here from the Quintis site,

 

[todras]

@todras is this Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) a different tree to the Mysore sandalwood?

Mysore is the city, near which they grow the Santalum album, it is called Mysore Sandalwood to denote it from the West Indian Amyris balsamifera. If the outfit in WA can produce an oil from Santalum album of the same standard (GCMS comparable) then they will be onto a winner as worldwide the prices of the Indian product are skyrocketing, in addition to the purity of the supply often being questionable.

I would suspect they are already contracted to large multinational perfume concerns who want to secure a guaranteed supply of a certain grade, their product may not even make the small scale market.

 

[Snooze]

Mysore is the city, near which they grow the Santalum album, it is called Mysore Sandalwood to denote it from the West Indian Amyris balsamifera. If the outfit in WA can produce an oil from Santalum album of the same standard (GCMS comparable) then they will be onto a winner as worldwide the prices of the Indian product are skyrocketing, in addition to the purity of the supply often being questionable.

I would suspect they are already contracted to large multinational perfume concerns who want to secure a guaranteed supply of a certain grade, their product may not even make the small scale market.

Ahh I see...
They claim to have sourced the pure seeds from Mysore and have been growing them for 15 years...must be ready to harvest. Thats why the hedge fund was trying to trash the price and pick it up for a song!

 

[Greenpike]

Razor: Gillette New SC with Stray Whisker handle
Blade: Astra Green (2)
Soap: K Shave Worx Grapelicious sample
Brush: Wolfpac Finest Badger (with Hof soaking chalice!)
Post: PAA Amber AS + Cerruti 1881 EdT

Thoughts...
- A lovely lather, as always by K Shave Worx. It really is my favourite soap in terms of performance as I never get it wrong. It just suits the way I create lather. The scent on this one is a happy 5 but I'm not a purple slushy scent kind of guy.

 

[todras]

hey claim to have sourced the pure seeds from Mysore and have been growing them for 15 years...must be ready to harvest. Thats why the hedge fund was trying to trash the price and pick it up for a song!

Oh I would have no doubt a hedge fund would love to pick up such an asset, long term it has the potential to be worth astronomical amounts of money especially if the Sandalwood is of a high standard which I suspect it very well is given our climate and the bearing of technology on their enterprise.

Obtaining the seeds in itself is only part of the process (verifying the seeds is quite easy) you then next have to grow the crop for 15 years and hope that it produces a Sandalwood that when assayed has the compounds in sufficient strength and ratio - which it appears they have done. The next part involves waiting another 10-15 years while the oil ages as this is where the real money is (in relative terms). The truly prized Sandalwood Oil (Mysore Rare) is often 20 years old or more and sells for $300 to $500 USD per ml however it is very rare consumers get to purchase it, most of it is sold to bidding monopolies and cartels established some 100 to 200 years ago. there are of course other, non perfume related needs and requirements for Sandalwood oil that is pure.


My instinct tells me they will sell a large volume of their oil to an international consortium for the purposes of aging, if one were to purchase 20 litres of pure Sandalwood oil and then subsequently age it (given it's an ever vanishing commodity anyway) the value in 10, 20, 30 years time would be astronomical at the current rate we are losing the ability to produce Sandalwood oil.

 

[Nightguard]

Brush: M&F L7 Finest
Razor: Wilkinson Sticky
Blade: Scottish Perma Sharp
Cream: TOBS Sandalwood
A/S: Real Shaving Balm
Cologne: Crabtree and Evelyn Sandalwood

A little bit ashamed to say that despite 5+ years of traditional shaving I've never used TOBS Sandalwood. I've very much done myself a disservice there, great scent and the usual excellent performance from TOBS. Will need to pick up the A/S and cologne now.

 

[Snooze]

Brush: M&F L7 Finest
Razor: Wilkinson Sticky
Blade: Scottish Perma Sharp
Cream: TOBS Sandalwood
A/S: Real Shaving Balm
Cologne: Crabtree and Evelyn Sandalwood

A little bit ashamed to say that despite 5+ years of traditional shaving I've never used TOBS Sandalwood. I've very much done myself a disservice there, great scent and the usual excellent performance from TOBS. Will need to pick up the A/S and cologne now.

How is the Scottish Perma Sharp @Nightguard ? @TomG and I have picked up some and would like your opinion on this vintage blade

 

[Spencer Frankel]

Brush: M&F L7 Finest
Razor: Wilkinson Sticky
Blade: Scottish Perma Sharp
Cream: TOBS Sandalwood
A/S: Real Shaving Balm
Cologne: Crabtree and Evelyn Sandalwood

A little bit ashamed to say that despite 5+ years of traditional shaving I've never used TOBS Sandalwood. I've very much done myself a disservice there, great scent and the usual excellent performance from TOBS. Will need to pick up the A/S and cologne now.

Shame on you! TOBS Sandalwood was luckily one of the first additions to my den. Just fantastic. Just send a message regarding my post. Thanks mate
Happy shaving

 

[Tony Forsyth]

Preshave: Hot water splash
Razor/Blade: ATT Atlas & Voskhod (5)
Brush: TF Custom "Ice Fusion" 26mm High Mountain White.
Soap: APR "General Ledger"
Post shave: Hot water splash, Witch Hazel, TSW Balm.
Aftershave/Cologne: APR General Ledger.

My shave tonight was going to be an APR Mycroft shave but decided to hold off on that one until my Mycroft EDT arrives. So next best thing was APR General Ledger. Great shave cannot fault anything tonight.
Have a good night lads the end of the week is near
Cheers Tony

 

[Nightguard]

How is the Scottish Perma Sharp @Nightguard ? @TomG and I have picked up some and would like your opinion on this vintage blade

An excellent blade IMO. Very smooth and sharp, I typically get 10 shaves out of them.

 

[Spencer Frankel]

SOTD
Razor: PAA OC Slant Bakelite
Blade: Perma-Sharp (2)
Brush: TF Custom Synthetic
Soap: Shaver Heaven Forbidden Forest
Post shave: Thayer's Witch Hazel, Shaver Heaven Forbidden Forest AS Balm

Changing from daily shaves to every second day now. So wanted to go out with a newie. And how perfect to get the big mail call from Ben. And what a stunning scent this is. Different to anything I have. Grassy with a beautiful floral top not with a slight mellow tangerine smell. Performance was absolutely 10/10. Will provide a lather pic from this stunning soap and brush too
Have some splendid shaves everyone
Spencer

 

[thw]

Brush: Omega Synthetic Hi-Brush
Soap: Proraso Green
Razor: FaTip Gold "Festina Gentile" (Gentle Head) Razor
Blade: Gillette 7 O'Clock Green (5)
Lotion: Alum / Mennen Skin Bracer / Nivea Post-Shave Balm / Pinaud Clubman Talc

The FaTip Gold razor continues to impress. It is wonderfully smooth and provides a very close shave without irritation, even on day five of a 7 O'Clock blade. The blade alignment issue is largely remedied by holding cap and plate together as the handle is tightened.

Recently, I spotted a lone bottle of Mennen Skin Bracer on a store shelf and snagged it. It's retro scent is reminiscent of my younger years and of a bygone era and less complex world. The Pinaud Talc is applied only later, after the lotions have dried. The result is a comfortable sensation of a very smooth shave.