A great shave today. I used Strop Shoppe’s Teakwood, which I believe was her first Special Edition shaving soap, loading the Omega 20102 boar brush easily and fully—as I loaded, the mix seemed a little dry (i.e., I had perhaps shaken the brush a bit too hard), so I added one small driblet of water during loading and got a perfect result.
The Weber DLC head is mounted on a UFO handle and loaded with a Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Plaatinum blade, and it did a terrific job. The Weber DLC is a wonderful razor, and I hope some day it may return.
Three passes to a BBS result, then a splash of Fine Fresh Vetiver. (He offers a choice between “fresh” and “clean,” which makes choosing somewhat difficult. :) )
You’ll note the soap has become somewhat brown in comparison to its appearance when new. Here’s a photo of that soap alongside a tub of a new (fresh) Strop Shoppe soap:
The contrast is striking, eh? It’s undoubtedly the result of some oxidation, but so far as I can tell only the appearance is affected: the soap still smells good and lathers well. Take a look at this thread on Wicked Edge, and you’ll see a comment from Strop Shoppe:
A few of our scents contain a touch of vanilla, which in just about any form or amount begins to turn brown after a while.[1] . We had one scent we were testing that smelled absolutely amazing and exotic, but it turned “doo doo brown” within a week and felt this would be unappealing visually.
A lot of products will contain a chemical vanilla stabilizer, but we’ve never found one we liked that didn’t have a chemically scent or wasn’t overly harsh on freshly shaved skin.
That being said, yes, we do put a “best if used by” on our soaps because some of the ingredients are added after the manufacturing and do have a shelf life.
Although the Teakwood soap works (and smells) fine, it is obviously more attractive when creamy white—and I would recommend a practice I do not follow: do not get more than 5 shaving soaps, and then replace a soap only when it’s totally used up. That will prevent soap’s turning brown. Having an excessive number of soaps, as I do, is inadvisable for various reasons: shelf life (though I do have some hard soaps that are decades old and work fine: Yardley, Paisley, Lenthéric), storage space, and out-of-pocket costs. I bought in excess because I was writing the Guide and wanted to write based on my own direct experience. (I’m not sure I could have resisted buying soaps even if I were not writing a book, but setting a would have been a good idea.)
Filed under: Shaving
