The Omega 20102, shown in the photo, feels good on the face, lathers well, and has excellent capacity, but (and you expected that word, didn’t you?) the knot when wet and/or lathered has a hollow in the middle. The hollow does not seem to affect lathering, feel, capacity, or performance, but somehow it bothers me. I like the Omega 10048 (the Pro 48) much better — because the Pro 48 has not hollow plus the slightly greater loft provides a little nicer feel on the face.
The lather was excellent. Phoenix Artisan’s Alt-Eleven is a CK-6 formula soap, so there’s that, plus the fragrance is pleasant, a take on Alt-Innsbruck’s fragrance of green tobacco (flower). With Fendrihans excellent stainless-steel Mk II (here adorned with a bronze coating), I got a very good shave. Getting the smooth finished required a bit more work — feel for roughness, run the razor over it again — than I like, so a blade change followed the shave. Still, the result as I feel my face now is extremely smooth — and, thanks to the Star Jelly aftershave balm, here in the Alt-Eleven fragrance:
Deionized Water, Perfumers Alcohol, Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Caprylyl Methicone, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Cetearyl Alcohol, Allantoin, Menthol, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Hexylene Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Parfum (Fragrance)
The menthol load is light, which I prefer.
Extremely pleasant way to start the day. The tea this morning is Murchie’s No. 22 blend: “green Gunpowder and Jasmine, as well as Keemun and Ceylon black teas.”