The Wife brought me the Plisson European Grey badger brush from a trip she made to Paris, where she went to the shop of the last Master Barber in Paris, and this is the brush he recommended for a lifetime of good service. The feel on the face is coarser than a silvertip, but not particularly prickly and not at all uncomfortable—indeed, the coarse feel is pleasant.
I had no trouble at in loading the brush from Institut Karité’s shaving soap, 25% shea butter, and I worked the lather into my stubble a little longer than usual because of the pleasant feel of the brush. The fragrance of the soap is pleasant but low-key: basically, a clean soap-like smell.
The Eros slant is quite good for me and feels and performs much like the iKon 102. The blade on both of those slants is not twisted, but the efficiency is extremely good, and improved even more after the first pass when I put in a new blade. (The first pass went well, but the ease and smoothness of the cutting was a bit subpar for this razor; things improved noticeably with the new blade, which means the old blade was well past its change date.)
A perfect BBS result with no problems or nicks. I used a very tiny dot of Institut Karité aftershave balm, and it was ample. This is an excellent balm for winter’s cold dry air, and it’s less costly than other good balms. (Note that the bottle is 250ml—most balms seem to be sold in 100ml bottles, at about the same price as the IK.)
Filed under: Shaving
