Fairly often I will be pleasantly surprised by the excellence of a shave. Partly, I imagine, it’s due to subjective factors — my mood, how well I slept, and so on — but I’m sure that also the combination of things used plays a major role.
As I customarily do, I began the shave with a little Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave massaged well into the stubble, then applied a little water to that. Then with the WSP Baroness I loaded the brush — easily and quickly — with Wholly Kaw’s Merchant of Tobacco shaving soap. I use the tallow formula (see the little cow’s head silhouette at the bottom of the lid):
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Donkey Milk, Glycerin, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Sodium Shea Butterate, Garcinia Indica (Kokum) Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Lanolin, Fragrance
The hops extract is not a common ingredient. The maker notes:
Hops Extract is added to provide biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic providing relief for inflammation and prevention of spider veins.
The fragrance is extremely nice:
Tobacco, Bourbon, Oud, Black Pepper, Vanilla, Peru Balsam, Honey and Bitter Cocoa giving the overall blend a pipe tobacco forward scent with warm and woody notes of bourbon and oud. Aromatic and musty Black pepper lends the scent several dimensions and the Vanilla, Honey and Bitter Cocoa tones the woody notes a bit without making it sweet.
So I start with excellent prep. Then the Parker (Semi-)Slant, here on a Yaqi handle and quite a good slant, did an excellent job of comfortably removing every trace of stubble.
And then I ended the shave with a couple of squirts of Grooming Dept Hydrating Gel added to a small splash of Phoenix Artisan Cavendish.
The result was an exceptionally smooth shave, with my skin feeling soft and supple.
The tea this morning is a favorite, Murchie’s CBC Radio Blend: “A blend of choice Ceylon and China black teas, Jasmine and other green teas with a touch of citrus.”
Today is a day of light rain, but walk I must: PAI at 87. I want it to be at least 100.