Today’s shave is to compare and contrast two aftershave: Aion Nourishing Balm and Grooming Dept Rejuvenating Serum. (Aion is a brand name Grooming Dept recently introduced.) But to do that, the initial priority is the shave.
I’m very fond of my Rooney Finest Style 2, and it easily produced an excellent lather from Grooming Dept’s Mumtaz shaving soap.
Bergamot, Lemon, Mandarin, Orange, Jasmine, Rose, Incense, Vanilla, Opoponax, Civet, Tonka Bean, Cedarwood, Iris, Patchouli, Vetiver, Leather, Musk, and Sandalwood.
This soap is in his Kairos formula, a tallow-based soap. He sometimes varies the formula (for example, using lamb tallow + emu oil instead of beef tallow), but this is the base formula.
I noticed I had to add a little water to complete the loading. This happens with some Grooming Dept soaps even though they do not contain clay, the common reason more water is need in loading. I think here it’s just because the soap is so rich. Check out the ingredients list:
Water, Stearic Acid, Beef Tallow, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Kokum Butter, Castor Oil, Tucuma Butter, Avocado Oil, Glycerin, Coconut Milk, Goat Milk, Cupuaçu Butter, Shea Butter, Safflower Oil, Collagen Peptides, Whey Protein, Betaine, Fragrance, Lauryl Laurate, Jojoba Oil, Lanolin, Colloidal Oatmeal, Rice Bran Wax, Meadowfoam Oil, Linoleic Acid, Ethylhexyl Olivate, Hydrogenated Olive Oil, Isostearic Acid, Allantoin, Sodium Lactate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Gluconate, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Tocopherols, Silk Peptides.
Whatever it was, the resulting lather was totally wonderful. The razor today is the superb RazoRoch MJ-90A, to my mind the absolute perfection of the Mühle/Edwin Jagger idea. It’s a remarkably good razor, and I think the US$30 price is a bargain.
That said, today I did not get quite the perfect result this razor normally delivers. I fault the age of the blade, so following the shave I swapped out the (old) Gillette Silver Blue for a (new) Kai. Next shave will be better.
I applied Nourishing Balm to the left side of my face and Rejuvenating Serum to the right (matching alphabetic order — aftershave and sides of face (left, right) — to aid memory). They feel different when being applied — the balm feels slicker and slighter than the serum — but now, after they have settled down, on feeling my face I cannot detect a difference. Both leave my skin feeling soft, nourished, and supple, and I like the effect of both. I’ll call it a tie and try again sometime when I have a new blade in the razor.
The tea this morning is the last of my Murchie’s Editors’ Blend: “a rich and smooth blend of black teas: Ceylon adds depth and a brisk sparkling finish, Yunnan provides smoothness and sweetness and Keemun ties it together.” I didn’t realize how much I liked it, but on observing my behavior — that is, that this tin is empty while others are mostly still half-full — I realize that I must like it. (I often find that observing my behavior provides me information about my preferences about which I am not consciously aware — cf. Susan Blackmore’s comment on the various selves of which we are made.)