Wholly Kaw’s La Supérieure Dulci Tobacco Shave Cream makes a fine lather, though the fragrance for me is muted. The Mühle silvertip shown has quite a gentle knot, but a single swirl of the damp knot easily picked up enough shave cream for a luxurious lather. I’ll note in my marketing persona that it strikes me as odd that “Wholly Kaw” does not appear on the lid label (and there is no side label save the one I made).
Well-lathered, I picked up my Stealth, one of my favorite slants, and set to work. Although it was cutting well, I realized in the first pass it was not cutting so easily as it should: cleanly cutting but with more resistance than seemed right. I removed the old blade (a Gillette Silver Blue, FWIW) and put in a new Gillette 7 O’Clock SharpEdge — and full stealth mode returned, with an easy (and highly effective) glide through the remaining stubble, in the end leaving my face perfectly smooth and with not even a threat of a nick. The Monday morning shave is a great thing.
A splash of Phoenix Artisan Cavendish provided the tobacco fragrance, and of course a squirt of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel carried it in a skin-care direction. I love Monday mornings now, and that’s due to the shave (though in fairness this Monday will will be very nice: I’ll get my flu shot and then walk through downtown Victoria, getting a haircut, having a Burger Crush veggie-style vegan cheeseburger (scroll way down for the menu — an omnivorous local said that the veggie burger is so good there that he always gets it instead of the regular cheeseburger), a stop at Murchie’s to restock on tea (Baker Street Blend, London Afternoon, Earl Grey Cream, and Storm Watcher, 4 oz each — and perhaps Editor’s Blend as well), and picking up a book (Vladimir Nabokov’s lectures on Don Quixote) at the sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ branch of Greater Victory Public Library, sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ being the Lekwungen name for James Bay).