Acting on a tip from Grooming Dept., I used again the soap I used Saturday, a donkey-milk, duck-fat, lamb-tallow shaving soap (so not completely vegan, though it also includes some vegan ingredients). That soap, as I mentioned at the time, left my skin feeling quite good, and the tip is that with this sort of soap it’s worth skipping the aftershave — just finish the shave by rinsing your face (and for that I like to use first warm water, then a splash of cold).
In addition to liking the ingredients, I also wanted to use the soap again because I was intrigued by how it seemed to load: although it contains no clay, it loads just like a soap that does contain clay. So I had to try it again to verify, and yes, that is indeed the case: if you didn’t check the ingredients, you would swear by the way the soap loaded (requiring a little extra water) that it contained clay.
The lather from this soap is really excellent, today brought forth with my ebony-handled Sabini brush. The lather has a wonderful fragrance, and it is very thick, creamy, and slick, providing superior glide.
The razor this morning, rapidly becoming my favorite slant, is the iKon stainless slant with the coated head. It’s an absolutely wonderful razor if you pay attention to the angle (keep the cap in contact with your face, the handle away from your face) and pressure (light).
Three passes left my face perfectly smooth, and after rinsing and drying my face, my skin feels wonderful. A trace of the soap’s fragrance remains.
I should note that because Grooming Dept. does small batches, his stock tends to sell out, so if you want some of his soap, check out his site and also the online vendors that stock his soaps — for example, West Coast Shaving in the US, Italian Barber in Canada, Slickboys in the UK. It’s worth noting that in addition to shaving soaps, Grooming Dept. offers a range of grooming products: