Lenthéric stopped making shaving soap long ago — perhaps in the 1930s, certainly by the 1940s. The tub is made of bakelite, a popular material in the 1930s, and the little art-deco design on the handle also seems from the 1930s.
I found this tub of soap a couple of decades ago on eBay. It’s a triple-milled soap and the lid is reasonably tight-fitting, and it is a very well-made soap. So this morning as I loaded the brush I enjoy a rush of fragrance, and the lather I got was thick and creamy, absolutely top-notch. The brush is an Edwin Jagger synthetic, whose knot is not so fine and packed as the Plissoft synthetics. Jagger (and Mühle) went for an imitation badger idea, so their knots don’t have quite the same feel as the Plissoft/angel-hair knots — but also perform extremely well.
Today’s razor is the Yaqi Tile, a stainless steel number that currently is not available. I just bought it (US$20), so perhaps it will be restocked. I hope so, for it is an uncommonly good razor. It looks, feels, and shaves very much like the Henson razor, so much so that I would say that the Tile is a knockoff of the Henson — but since the Henson is aluminum and the Tile is stainless steel, it seems more like a knock-on, an upgrade. The handle I’m using is the RazoRock Halo handle.
I think this is the best of the Yaqi heads I got, though I do have one more I haven’t yet tried. It is the stainless version of the Flip that I used before, which seems to be based on the iKon Shavecraft #101. That one I believe will also be first-rate.
A splash of Guerlain Vetiver, augmented with a couple of squirts of Grooming Dept’s Aion Hydrating Gel, and the weekend is launched.
The coffee this morning is Fantastico’s Guatemala Santa Clara Altos Dos. I still have almost half a jar of beans, so I’ll be drinking this for a few more days: “Full-bodied, rich, balanced. Chocolate hazelnut cream pastry, vanilla, subtle red berry.”