I decided to compare a soft badger with the soft goat+horsehair. The badger knot has a bit more resilience, but they are surprisingly close. I think the goat+horsehair holds water better.
Today, too, the third pass was somewhat short of lather. Perhaps these very soft brushes require more water to ensure good loading. I’ll try another soft brush tomorrow, using a bit more water, and see whether I can beat the third-pass lather curse.
The fragrance of this Lenthéric soap is wonderful. It’s a hard soap — triple-milled, I would say, as was common back in the day. It still lathers like a charm and has a clearly present fragrance.
The is the Goodfellas’ smile Legione slant. The head seems to be the same as the Parker (semi-)slant, but the handle — a very nice handle — is Goodfellas’ own. I got mine from Italian Barber.
Three passes produced perfect smoothness, and a splash of Guerlai Vol de Nuit, with a couple of squirts of Hydrating Gel, worked well as a fragrant aftershave. Luca Turin declares this to be a unisex fragrance, and who am I to contradict The Man. (Turin was the subject of Chandler Burr’s wonderful book The Emperor of Scent.)