
No problem at all using a badger brush with Dr. Jon’s Vol 3 today, the exemplar being Rose of Phrygia: “Dark, sweet spices over vetiver and tobacco with top notes of two different rose accords.” I took care to load the brush well, and I noted that today I did have to add a little water during loading, something that the synthetic brush used yesterday did not require (probably because synthetic brushes tend to retain a lot of water). I think the problem from two days ago was insufficient loading due to insufficient water available during loading.
With an excellent lather (whose fragrance is admirable), I went to work with the Rimei and easily obtained a smooth finish. The hit of menthol in the aftershave is still unwelcome, and I’ll post a warning note in the Guide update section and also suggest to Dr. Jon that the presence of menthol be explicitly noted in the aftershave description (in boldface), rather than buried in the list of ingredients. Since people can purchase menthol crystals to add their own menthol if they want it, I think a soap’s regular matching aftershave should be menthol free.
But overall a fine shave, and we have a sunny morning for the weekend opening.