The Wet Shaving Products Baroness has not so dense a knot as others in the line-up, and this morning I didn’t quite load it fully enough with soap. Still, the lather I got was quite good — just by the third pass I was running a little light.
Wholly Kaw’s premium soap, with the ingredients shown on the label (and he makes a vegan version as well), is quite nice. He recently moved to a new website, and that of course inevitably requires a fair amount of fixing and adjusting, but it is now shipshape, as you can see from the page for this soap. The ingredients in full:
Tallow-based: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Donkey Milk, Water Buffalo Milk, Glycerin, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Sodium Shea Butterate, Garcinia Indica (Kokum) Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Water Buffalo Whey, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Lanolin, Fragrance, Citronellol, Linalool, Coumarin, Benzyl Benzoate
Vegan: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Glycerin, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Sodium Shea Butterate, Garcinia Indica (Kokum) Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Polyquaternium-10, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Soybean Glycerides, Shea Butter Unsaponifiables, Fragrance, Citronellol, Linalool, Coumarin, Benzyl Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin
He describes the fragrance as:
Well blended notes of Tobacco, Bourbon Vanilla from Madagascar, Ginger, Vetiver, Cypriol, Ylang-ylang and Cassia absolute.
Gingery vanilla gives off boozy notes without being too sweet on the drydown. Tobacco comes into play in the middle notes. Woody and earthy notes from Cypriol and Vetiver tone down the sweetness.
I note that this soap is $27, and Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 formula is $25.
The OneBlade still managed a good job, but I can tell the edge is struggling a bit. From the first pass, the cutting was not nearly so easy as with a new blade. Certainly manageable, but I could feel the cutting distinctly — not quite tugging, but moving in that direction. Nevertheless, I did get a good smooth result, and if money were no object (i.e., a new blade every day didn’t bother me), I can see that this razor (in the steel version) would be quite a pleasure. Some might give up the latte in favor of this and pocket the money saved.
A good splash of Barrister & Mann’s Reserve Cool aftershave, and the week’s moving right along.