A while back I often recommended the $8 Ecotools Finishing Kabuki make-up brush as a frugal but good shaving brush. At the time, there were no synthetics in that price range, and the Ecotools wasn’t bad, though not a shaving brush.

Those days are past. With the surge of excellent synthetics, many at low price points (the brush in the diagram is Maggard’s 24mm synthetic for $12; their equally good 20mm synthetic is $10), the utility of the Ecotools in shaving is gone: better to spend $2 more and get a real shaving brush.

This is not to say that the Ecotools is a bad shaving brush: it’s not (IMO). If it were, I would not have recommended it. But now you can find much better brushes for about the same price.

With the brush shown, I got an excellent and very fragrant lather (Orange Blossom, Peach, Gardenia, Jasmine, and Honeysuckle) that was also thick and slick.

The Rockwell R3 is the plate for today; for me it seems the most “natural” plate. But I also used the Feather blade (now on it’s fifth shave), and once again it worked quite well for me in this razor: three passes, no problems, baby smooth finish.

A good splash of Chatillon Lux’s Vide Poche, and the weekend is well-launched.

And, in upcoming razors, via Twitter:

Wunderbar Slant by RazoRock is getting closer. I’m not sure I can make a better shaving razor

— RazoRock (@razorockJoe) February 27, 2016

The tiny tub is a sample of Meißner Tremonia’s Lavender de Luxe shaving paste, somewhat firmer than a shaving cream. Given the tub size, it seemed appropriate to use Simpson’s Wee Scot as the brush, and I had no trouble in loading the brush and working up a fine lather.

The X3 is a marvel, seen here on a UFO handle: three very easy passes to perfect baby smoothness without even a hint of a problem. As before, the razor feels on the face as though it has no blade, but the stubble nevertheless is removed efficiently and completely. It’s a wonderful razor, and is due to be available in March.

A tiny splash from the little sample of Chiseled Face Trade Winds aftershave, and I’m ready for another good week. March has traditionally come in like a lion and gone out like a lamb, but the weather here is more lamb-like than leonine.

I was asked whether I preferred the feel and performance of the Dorco PL-602 or the Feather Popular, both being inexpensive razors likely to be selected by someone just dipping his toe into the DE shaving water. My immediate thought was that I much preferred the Dorco, but just to be sure I did a comparison shave.

First, of course, was that vitally important step: the prep. I used JabonMan’s Eufros Vetiver de Haiti shaving soap, which has a fine fragrance and produces a superb lather, made this morning with my silvertip badger from the Copper Hat, a shaving store in Victoria, BC. Its (quite comfortable) handle is made of Delrin™, which is tough, hefty, and has a good feel. The prep is always enjoyable and a very nice way to get into the shaving mood, since you can stretch out this intro by working the lather well into your beard as you become more awake.

The two razors did make for an interesting comparison. They are both lightweight, and the Dorco is somewhat lighter. In terms of comfort, the Dorco is better though not so much better as I recalled. The Popular has sharp corners, though, and they occasionally dug in a little bit, which distracted from the comfort, and the Dorco seemed to have a smoother feel.

In performance, they both did fine. I think the Dorco might be a little more forgiving in the hands of a novice, but I don’t have any testimony from novices, so this is somewhat speculative. Either would work, but of the two I would favor the Dorco.

A splash of Guerlain’s Vetiver, and the day is launched.

For a while I recommended the Ecotools Finishing Kabuki (at left in photo) as a good but inexpensive shaving brush for the frugal novice. At the time, the Ecotools was $7.50 at Walgreens (in the cosmetics section) and I found it worked well—and I particularly liked the handle.

But that was then, and now a frugal novice can choose among a number of really good actual shaving brushes that sell at a modest price. Moving from left to right in the photo, following the Ecotools:

RazoRock Plissoft synthetic  – $10. This may be a temporary price (it’s shown as a markdown from $15). An excellent brush with good feel and performance. It has a 24mm knot and feels fuller on the face than the Ecotools—as indeed do the other synthetics shown.

Omega S-Brush S10005 – $9. Omega called the S-brushes “synthetic boar,” and they do have a bit more face feel than more recent synthetics, but the knot is still very soft. Important note: while the regular-size S-brushes are excellent (and some cost less: the S-10019 is just $7, even less than the Ecotools), the pro-size S-brushes are (for me) totally unsatisfactory: a springy knot that doesn’t feel good on the face and lathers poorly. I really like the S-brushes in the regular size, but I strongly advise avoiding the pro size.

Maggard 22mm synthetic – $10. Maggard also has several 24mm synthetics for $12. There’s no difference in performance, no material difference in lather capacity (both sizes hold plenty of lather), and only a slight difference in face feel.

And, speaking of how things change, I would say today that a synthetic brush may well be one’s first choice as being every bit as good as natural-fiber brushes in terms of performance, better than many in terms of feel (though that depends on personal preference), and generally less costly—and have no break-in period (as boar brushes do) and dry more quickly than natural-fiber brushes since synthetic fibers don’t absorb water.

Tim’s Soap is closing its doors and going out of business. His soaps were available from a variety of vendors, as he says at the link, so you may be able to pick up a tub or two for a while, but the soap is gone. (Full disclosure: I just ordered a few tubs from Shave Revolution.)

He writes that he started making shaving soap for himself because he is sensitive to lanolin and to shea butter and many of the good artisanal soaps will use those. So Tim’s Soaps came up with an excellent formula that omits the two. This morning I used Greek Peach, which I think was his first big hit. It makes a lovely lather, today with the Maggard Razors 22mm synthetic ($10: a bargain). It really was an exceptionally good lather.

The razor today is the Maggard V3A: the aggressive version of their V3 head. They refer to the guard as a “closed comb,” a formulation obviously derived from “open comb” without actually thinking about the meaning much beyond “closed is the opposite of open,” but it does point out the redundancy of the term “open comb.” I now usually describe razors as have a bar guard or a comb guard, which does the job. (“Closed comb” bothers me because in fact combs do not open and close: a “closed comb” makes no sense unless you see any bar as a comb that happens to be closed. But I am somewhat literal-minded.)

The head, with its bar guard, is here mounted on the Maggard MR11 stainless handle, a very nice handle with a crisp feel.

This razor definitely feels aggressive: lots of blade feel, but well-behaved for me with a Personna Lab Blue blade. In using it, you do feel that you have to pay close attention—the shaving is not so carefree as with more comfortable razors—but I had no problems and I easily got a very close shave. You do become conscious of the need for light pressure and you tend to watch blade angle closely, but that may well be all to the good. I think those who enjoy the feel of an aggressive razor—the noticeable blade feel—will like this razor, and with good technique and a light touch it does an excellent job: totally smooth face after two passes, and the reduction after the first pass, WTG, was substantial.

A good splash of Booster Aquarius finished the shave, and the middle of the week is already here.

An extremely smooth and pleasant shave today. Mr Pomp made a superb lather from Creed’s Green Irish Tweed shaving soap, and the Wolfman bar-guard razor removed lather and stubble with equal ease, resulting in a baby-smooth result after three passes. A splash of Creed’s Green Irish Tweed EDT and the day is well begun…

except that I took longer to get to blogging than I thought, so some videos I meant to appear after this post have gone up before the post, and they’re really worth checking out: take a look at the videos in the three previous posts.

I haven’t used my Stirling brush for a while, so picked it this morning. It’s a very nice little Plissoft: good knot, sort of stubby but pleasant handle. I easily got a top-notch lather from Strop Shoppe’s Lemon Eucalyptus, and since they’ve closed their doors I highly recommend that before the soaps are gone that you pick up a tub from one of the vendors who still have it in stock. It’s a soap worth owning, and there will be no more.

My iKon DLC-coated stainless slant, on iKon’s SE handle, did an extremely fine job. This razor has excellent acoustics, and the sound of the blade cutting the stubble was highly audible. No nicks, no problems, and a BBS result.

A good splash of Stirling’s Vetiver aftershave, a witch-hazel-based aftershave, and the shave was complete and the day well started.

I’ve made lather using the Semogue 830 shown a handful of times, and the brush seemed ready for a real shave. I generally prefer boar brushes with plain knots, lacking the dyed stripe, but I wanted to try another Semogue and this one is often recommended.

I have to admit that, with Tim’s Soap discontinuing operations, I compulsively purchased a few tubs from dealers who still had some in stock. This Ruby Red has a grapefruit-tinged fragrance, and I got quite a nice lather from it.

The 37G did a fine job: easy cutting (it’s a slant) and a BBS finish. Although the 830 has had some use, it still managed to kill the lather by the third pass, a proclivity of new boar brushes, so I reloaded the brush for that pass. I imagine that in another five or six shaves I will have no problems getting the lather to persist for the entire shave.

A rinse, dried my face on my barber towel, and then a splash of Chatillon Lux’s Gratiot League Square, and the weekend is ready.

Recently a 3-D printed razor, and a slant at that, became available: the Kraken 248. I decided to try it.

First, of course, the prep: My Semogue Owners Club boar brush is very gradually breaking in, and today I managed even to get a decent third pass from it without reloading. Unlike the Semogue 830 I used Saturday, this knot is, as you see, natural boar, which in general I prefer.

Time’s Soap Vintage has a fragrance that might well be called “Barbershop”: old-timey, pleasant, nostalgic. The lather was quite good.

In contrast, the Kraken 248 is quite crude. You have to go out and buy your own machine screw, nut, and washers, which I did. The nut fits snugly in the handle and will not come loose and fall out, so that’s good.

The finish seems crude, and the razor lacks a comfortable feel. It does do a good job if you’re careful, but frankly I cannot recommend this. The Fine Accoutrements slant, another plastic slant but one with much better fit and finish and requiring no trip to the hardware store, sells for $27.50, just $5.22 more than the Kraken 248. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but $5.22 seems a much more suitable price for the Kraken than $22.28 it costs. (Indeed, the $3.48 Dorco PL-602 blows away the Kraken 248 in terms of fit, finish, ease of use, comfort, and efficiency.) I should note that I just discovered that you can get the Kraken in white plastic for $15.38, an option I didn’t at first see. (The default option is the $22.28 metallic finish.)

I would never have purchased this razor without an on-going interest in exploring shaving products, but now that I have and I’ve used it, I can make a strong recommendation: if you want to try a slant in the $20-$30 range, get the Fine slant and not the Kraken. I’m making an exception to my rule of getting accustomed to a razor: I don’t think I’ll be shaving again with the Kraken.

I applied Esbjerg aftershave gel and look forward to tomorrow’s shave. Live and learn.

BTW, I have no personal animus against the maker, whom I don’t know, and I agree that the experiment was worth trying. I just don’t think it’s worth selling.

What a lovely shave! The bright side of shaving with the Kraken slant is that it makes you appreciate a good razor all the more.

Today’s Tim’s Soap is Wood & Roses, and the Omega boar brush shown, with its exquisitely soft knot, did a fine job: three passes with no reloading needed and a great feel on the face.

The iKon X3 is a wonderful slant, and it should be available this month. Here you see it on a UFO handle. Once again it delivered a delightful shave: smooth, comfortable, and—in a word—enjoyable. BBS, no nicks.

A splash of Chatillon Lux’s Champs de Lavande, and I’m ready for the day. Total steps yesterday came out to 4112. Perhaps I’ll do more today. (I have to do some grocery shopping, and that adds a noticeable number of steps.)

What a wonderful shave today! The prep was MR GLO, as is almost always the case, and then I used the Omega 20102 shown to make a great lather from Meißner Tremonia’s Indian Flavour shaving soap. I love the fragrance, and this brush is well broken in: made a great lather and absolutely no need to try to stretch out the third pass. I had plenty of lather for all three passes, and the brush felt very nice. This is the brush I recommend when novices want a boar brush: it has a large-enough knot to have good capacity, and I like the stubby wooden handle.

RazoRock’s Black Mamba is another of the first-rate, world-class razors that Italian Barber turns out, unfortunately in limited runs for a short time only. The razors are truly remarkably good, and I do hope that the upcoming slant will produced in larger production runs for a longer time. I certainly will try to buy one the instant they are released, whenever that may be. His track record in razor design is impressive.

With the Black Mamba I got a totally comfortable and very efficient shave, ending with an absolutely smooth face. A good splash of Saint Charles Shave’s Dark Rose aftershave, and I am ready to walk—except it’s raining.

I just received an email from Rockwell. Among other things, it says:

Now that all the pre-orders and free upgrade Rockwell 6S’s have been shipped out, we’re able to flip over to regular orders! Any new orders placed through rockwellrazors.com will ship out within 2 business days. It’s important to note that in order to better reflect the final total costs of manufacturing the Rockwell 6S, the price of the Rockwell 6S will be increasing from $79.99 to $99.99 on the morning of Saturday March 12th. This price still reflects an incredible value for a adjustable all stainless steel razor and will allow us to continue to maintain the highest quality standards in the on-going production of the Rockwell 6S. Of course we owe you our backers and supporters a huge debt of gratitude and so wanted to make this price change public to you can share the information with friends or get an extra Rockwell 6S yourself before March 12th. If you know anyone who you think would benefit from the customizable shave of a Rockwell 6S, point them our way! Also, friendly reminder: Father’s Day is only about three months away – it’s never too early to get a head start on gift preparation.

I do recommend this razor highly, and I wondered at the $80 price: it seemed too low for what you get. The $100 price seems more in line with the razor’s quality and capability.

So if you think you might want one, or plan to give one as a graduation gift or the like, ordering now will save you $20.

The Vie-Long brush shown was sold as a boar brush (the Bombito from Bullgoose Shaving), but it has always seemed like horsehair to me. I checked with Phil, and he told me that Vie-Long sold it as boar. So it’s boar at least by decree, and a very nice brush at that. I do like the octagonal handle shape.

I was sent the tub of Otoko Organics as an experiment. Some where having difficulty lathering it, and the vendor was wondering whether it was a bad batch. The tub fell under my chair and I just discovered it, so I am belatedly running the experiment. I had zero trouble in lathering the soap: instant lather, good lather, and lasting lather. It did everything a lather could do.

Today I decided to try one of the Rockwell blades, and I was surprised when I removed the Feather blade to see quite a bit of tea-staining in the razor: rust along the cap and on the blade. I don’t know whether it was dissimilar metals or what. It is just cosmetic, I believe, and I can probably removie it if I want with a soft toothbrush and mild abrasive (e.g., toothpaste), but I was surprised by it. iKon stainless razors also had a problem of mild rust—tea stains—and I think that is one reason he went to the B1 coating. I have no idea whether it’s specific to the Feather blade, but I didn’t notice it with the first blade I used.

UPDATE: I notified Rockwell of the issue and got an immediate response. I sent them a photo, which enabled them to see the source of the problem: the tea stains were only on the cap, not on the baseplate, and they wrote, “The caps are bead blasted in a different way than the plates (so they don’t get scratched), clearly there was a component in the beads that didn’t get fully washed out in finishing.  A quick CLR bath and scrub will almost certainly permanently fix the problem. I’ve notified every level of our production team to ensure this doesn’t happen again.” Once again we see a thoughtful and problem-solving approach. I have a lot of respect and admiration for this company in how they work to resolve problems. Start-up hiccups are not uncommon; once properly addressed, they don’t recur. I continue to be pleased with the Rockwell and the Rockwell experience.

Once again a great shave fro this razor. The Rockwell blades are okay, but for me they are not so good as others, but blades, you know? A brand that’s excellent for one can be poor for another. And in any event, I had a very nice shave with a BBS result.

A good splash of Blenheim Bouquet, and I can see the weekend just over the horizon: hull-down, as Jack Aubrey would say.

Let me add: the price of the Rockwell 6S razor, with all three double-sided baseplates, will be increased by $20 on Saturday, going from $80 to $100. If you are thinking about buying this wonderful razor, for yourself or for a gift (e.g., a graduation gift this spring), buying it now will save $20. But you have to purchase today or tomorrow to get the $80 price.

As you can tell, I’m working through the boar brushes. This is the best of the lot, probably because it’s the most broken in. Some say that this brush, the Omega 10048 (aka Pro 48), is too large for face lathering, but that’s not been my experience: it face-lathers like a champ for me, and it has wonderful capacity and a nice, soft feel while still having good resilience.

The lather from the late, lamented Strop Shoppe is one of their standards and, given the excellent fragrance and the superb lather, one can see why it is so admired. You’ll note that I am in no immediate danger of running out: the tub holds half a pound.

RazoRock’s Baby Smooth is a truly superb razor, and it gently and efficiently wiped away the stubble, leaving me with a baby smooth face (presumably the reason for the name). No problems, total comfort.

A splash of Bulgari as an aftershave, and the week draws to a close with a rainy day out here.

My Semogue 830 brush is slowly breaking in, though at this point I still have to reload the brush for the third pass. At one time I would have gotten rid of the brush as a bad brush, but now I have enough experience to recognize that the brush simply is still not broken in. I hope.

Catie’s Bubbles Le Piment de la Vie is a wonderful soap. You’ll note that this soap does not provide the kind of training wheels for loading that novices like: no high sidewalls to help those who are still learning how to load a brush avoid messy loading. (With practice and experience, it’s easy to load a brush neatly even from a container filled to the brim with soap, but developing the skill takes some time and attention so a surprising number fail to learn it.) The fragrance is extremely nice, and the lather is wonderful.

The razor shown is the second iKon razor model, from a while back. It is the usual stainless steel that iKon favors, but I had mine gold plated since it is such a good razor: extremely comfortable and highly efficient. Even after the first pass the stubble was much reduced, and after the second my face was BBS in some places. The final pass resulted in a BBS result over all my face, with no trace of a nick or other problem.

A splash of Chiseled Face’s Cinnawood Boroka, and the weekend is launched.

AlphaGo’s match with Lee Sedol (9d and world champion) is now 3-0 in favor of AlphaGo. Amazng.

“Trust but verify” was the formulation Henry Kissinger used, and it’s good advice. (One common manipulative appeal is “Don’t you trust me?” The answer is, “I do trust you, but I also verify. Doing both gives me peace of mind. Don’t you want me to have peace of mind?”)

Rockwell learned the lesson in two steps: trusting without verifying twice. I imagine that a third lesson will not be needed.

Here’s the article, well worth reading.

Yesterday I happened to pick up this Tcheon Fung Sing soap, an artisanal soap from Italy, to use in making lather to continue breaking in my two Semogue brushes. (One reason I recommend Omega rather than Semogue boar brushes for novices is the insanely long break-in period Semogue brushes require. I was palm lathering, since I wasn’t going to shave (Never on Sunday) and I did want to give the brushes a bit of a workout. When I palm lather, I have the hot-water tap on to just a trickle, and I will extend my left fingers under the flow briefly, then work that dab of water into the brush (and lather), then extend my hand again for a little more water, then work that in, and so on.

After just a few increments of water, the lather was an incredibly rich, thick, creamy, slick concoction, a really superb mix. I haven’t used Tcheon Fung Sing for a while, and I don’t recall it being so good—if it had been, I think I would have used it more often. Moreover, since I generally don’t palm lather, I don’t know whether other soaps are also capable of this. There’s much experimentation ahead.

So today I again did palm-lathering, this time with Mr Pomp (the brush shown), again using Tcheon Fung Sing. Same result: amazingly rich, thick, creamy, slick lather. This set the stage for a very fine shave indeed.

As you see in the photo, I broke somewhat with my usual practice of using a slant on Monday and decided to use the Rockwell. What is not evident in the photo is the baseplate selection: R6. And I used a Feather blade.

Delightful shave. The Rockwell is an extremely well-designed razor. Very comfortable shave, no nicks at all, and an amazing amount of stubble removed on the first pass. By the end I had a very comfortable BBS result. I think this razor system is definitely going to make its mark.

A good splash of Paul Sebastian, a not-very-expensive aftershave I buy from Amazon and like a lot, and the day begins.

I must do a walk. Now that I’m routinely wearing a pedometer, I saw that yesterday—a rainy day when I did not go out but did a fair amount of cooking—I see that I took 302 steps total. With my walk I usually have 4500-5500, depending on whether or not I did any grocery shopping. (Walking up and down the aisles of a supermarket adds a surprising number of steps.)

I continue to love the Omega 21762 boar brush and its incredibly soft knot, and I had no trouble getting a fine lather from Tim’s Soap Signature.

After using my Rockwell R6 yesterday, the iKon Shavecraft X3 felt more than ever as though the blade were missing: the R6 plate provides a lot of blade feel (though still comfortable), while the X3 really feels on your face like an empty razor—except that the stubble mysteriously vanishes. This razor should be available within the next two weeks, and I do recommend it highly. As you see, I’m using it on a UFO handle.

A splash of Bathhouse Soapery’s aftershave, which I think they no longer stock, a shame. It has interesting ingredients. By searching on the ingredients, I think I found where they got the base mix, which sells $34/gallon, not a bad price for an aftershave. (The half-gallon size is $30, so buying a gallon makes sense). The ingredients from the mix at the link:

Aloe Barbadensis (Organic Aloe) Leaf Juice, Phenoxyethanol, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Water, Organic Alcohol extracts of Vaccinium Myrtillus (Organic Bilberry) Fruit (and) Saccharum Officinarum (Organic Sugar Cane) (and) Acer Saccharinum (Organic Sugar Maple) (and) Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Organic Orange) Peel (and) Citrus Medica Limonum (Organic Lemon) Peel (and) Vaccinium Macrocarpon (Organic Cranberry) Fruit (and) Salix Alba (Organic White Willow) Bark Extract, Malic Acid, Citric Acid, Tartaric Acid, Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acid, Dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE), Glycerin, Polysorbate, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Essential Oil, Citrus Bergamia (Bergamot) Essential Oil, Anthemis Nobilis (Roman Chamomile) Flower Essential Oil, Chamomilla Recutita (German Chamomile) Flower Essential Oil, Pelargonium Graveolens (Geranium) Essential Oil, Tetrasodium EDTA, Alcohol (May contain sodium bicarbonate and/or citric acid as pH adjusters).

A very fine shave, and yesterday’s step total was 5040, much better than the 302 on Sunday.

The Wet Shaving Products Stubby that I have—a take on the Simpson Chubby, I believe—is a bit of a lather hog, though I did get three passes from it. I think I may part ways with this brush, since I prefer brushes that are less dense and have a longer loft, and thus are no so afflicted with “backbone.”

The lather itself was good, and I like the Solstice fragrance. My Gillette Aristocrat, the name (which Gillette used for several razors) this time applied to a gold-plated Slim Handle, has not been in use lately, and in fact I’ve not used many of my vintage razors. I’ll take a turn through them, but I’m thinking that I should recognize that I prefer modern razors and start selling the vintage ones.

The shave is only okay today. The Aristocrat had an Astra Keramik Platinum blade, a brand that’s great for me, but this blade was due for replacement, and so it’s now been replaced with an Astra Superior Platinum, still quite good for me though not so good as the Astra Keramik Platinum, now no longer available.

Three passes, good closeness, and a splash of Floïd. It’s cleaning day, so now I must ready the apartment.

My Whipped Dog silvertip, which is really quite a good brush, made a fine lather from Barrister & Mann’s Roam shaving soap. And the Gillette Executive (the gold-plated version of the Fat Boy) did a fine job with a Personna Lab Blue blade: three passess to a BBS finish. A splash of Barrister & Mann’s Fougère Classique, and I’m set for St. Patrick’s Day.