Today I went top-drawer, stimulated by a comment thread to my previous shaving using (on the whole) very economical tools: the Sodial razor (head: the action part) and the Ecotools Finishing Kabuki brush. So today I picked my top-of-the line products: my Rooney “Finest” (no longer available and it cost a pretty) Style 2, Creed’s Green Irish Tweed shaving soap and EDT (used as an aftershave), and my Feather AS-D1 (I’ve not tried the D2) with a Feather blade.
I have to say that this was an exceptionally enjoyable shave. I used Jlocke98′s combination of Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap (lavender, in this case) along with some oil (and I used emu oil) for my pre-shave beard wash.
The lather that Creed produces (at least in my tub—companies will change without notice their soap formulation, and sometimes (Floris, Penhaligon, Trumper, and probably others) the result is a worse (but more profitable) soap. Creed, so far as I know, has made no changes, and I hope they don’t: the lather is wonderful—in consistency, efficacy, and fragrance.
And I must praise the brush as well: it holds a load of lather in a firm yet soft knot: it puffs up a fair amount with the load of lather and feels great against the skin, with just the right resilience.
Three extremely comfortable passes—the Feather is a terrific razor, especially with a Feather blade—and my face is totally smooth. Faceturbation will ensue.
I sprayed a good amount of the Green Irish Tweed EDT into my palm, then applied it as an aftershave.
As noted: this was an exceptionally good shave. Whether I appreciate it more for having shaved with lesser products yesterday, I don’t know. But it’s good to treat oneself well. Life is short.
Filed under: Shaving
