An extremely nice shave today, with an international flair. Let’s start the shave in Portugal, with MR GLO (Musgo Real Glyce Lime Oil soap) from Portugal serving for the brief stubble-wash at the sink. Then from France, my Plisson European Gray brush (a gift from The Wife from one of her Paris trips) went to work on Canada’s Tallow + Steel’ Dark shaving soap: coffee + cocoa + vetiver + ginger + benzoin + peppermint. As you see on the label, this soap is specifically from Winnipeg, over in Manitoba.
I really enjoyed the lather: the soap is fragrant and the brush has a pleasant coarse feel without being stiff: a soft coarseness.
The razor head is Maggard’s V3A (the “A” referring to efficiency—”aggressive”—and not to comfort, which is mild. This might be considered a US contribution, though the head is manufactured in China. (BTW, I bet many men pass by this razor because they believe that “aggressive” is commenting on the comfort, not just the efficiency. That’s why I find “mild” and “aggressive” unhelpful in describing razors. Maggard should have called it the V3E (“efficient”), which leaves the comfort issue explicitly unaddressed—and it is in fact very comfortable indeed.)
The blade is a Personna Lab Blue, which is made in the U.S. And that is a favorite blade of mine.
Three passes left a perfectly smooth (and unharmed) face, and a splash of Dark aftershave finished the job.
I send this shave out to couple of readers: to John Perry, who has a V3A on its way to him, and to Antonio Munoz Torralbo in Spain, who just recently rejoined DE ranks and posted a comment about how much he enjoys it.