Clik here to view.
Not CK-6 but damn good: Organism 46-B and the iKon open-comb
I can see how my memory tricked me: the regular Phoenix Artisan formula is quite good, so after using it a while (in the various fragrances I have), you start to feel that it couldn’t be better. But...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Phoenix Artisan Briar and the reliable Edwin Jagger razor
I’m starting to see how I lost track of how exceptional is the lather from Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 soaps: the lather from their regular soaps is extremely good, so my soap expectation is reset by still...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chiseled Face’s Sherlock and another fine lather
I’m starting to think that a key factor in creating an exceptional lather is using a good synthetic brush. Since synthetic brushes tend to harbor a lot of water, it’s important to give them a couple...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Italian this morning, with a touch of German and Spanish
My Colonia shaving soap (I don’t even try to figure out the specific name given all the options) responded well to the Mühle second-generation synthetic and produce a very nice, thick, rich lather....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Today’s shave: Italian in spirit (and partially in fact)
Italian Barber is a Canadian company, but, as the name implies, Italian in outlook and heritage. The brush is from them, as is the Stealth razor, and I bought that puck of Tcheon Fung Sing, an Italian...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nancy Boy and Annik Goutal
I used my little Omega badger brush, but I think the Wee Scott, with its finer bristles, would have been a better choice for the Nancy Boy shaving cream, now running low in the tub. Still, it worked...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Avocado to start the day
Green is the theme of the shave: the soap, not shown, is a pale green as well, and a very nice lather it made, thanks in part to Phoenix Artisan’s Green Ray shaving brush. My Rockwell 6S with the R3...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New brush, new razor, and oh my! A great shave
A while back Manuel Vazquez, who writes Refineria de Caballeros, a shaving blog, wrote to ask me if I would be interest in trying a new razor. I replied in the affirmative, and yesterday I received...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Yaqui Jano-Bi: comb guard on one side, bar guard on the other
This is the Jano-Bi (Jano for Janus, the two-faced (literally) Roman god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings.). Its design resembles that of one of my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fine new badger brush from Yaqi and the Parker Slant, with Lenthéric and...
It turns out that the bi-color synthetic brush I used has a removable head (threaded base, with the handle tapped), and with it I got a very nice badger brush. This is a Yaqi brush and I’ll note that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A well-prepared brush and another Yaqi razor
This 24mm Yaqi badger brush has a fairly dense but still soft knot, and yesterday I made three lathers with it: loading the brush, working up a lather in my palm, rinsing the brush completely, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Yaqi Target Shot and DOC razor with Martin de Candre and Guerlain Vetiver
I really like this Yaqi brush—both knots, the silvertip and this synthetic bi-color knot. And it made a very fine lather from Martin de Candre. This razor’s head is the Yaqi double open-comb, the same...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Yaqi travel razor, with Otoko Organics and Speick
I always forget just how excellent the lather from Otoko Organics is. This morning the Kent Infiinity made a wonderful lather, a pleasure to use. This Yaqi razor very neatly fits into the little...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Catie’s Bubbles Waterlyptus and Esbjerg aftershave gel, with the Baby Smooth
Catie’s Bubbles Waterlyptus has an interesting fragrance that seems good as a summertime shave, and the Yaqi 24mm synthetic worked up a great lather from it. The Baby Smooth is, right now, my favorite...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Barrister & Mann Reserve Spice and the Game Changer .68-P
Barrister & Mann’s Reserve soaps call for a synthetic brush, and I like this Keyhole brush a lot. It did a fine job, producing a fragrant and thick lather. RazoRock’s Game Changer .68-P is a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A wonderful shave on a holiday: A great way to start a week
I really like this little Yaqi brush, and the lather from Van Yulay soaps is always good. This is a soap I bought after buying a sample and found I kept returning to it with pleasure. A good lather...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Achilles and the Target Shot, with Lupo
I highly recommend this brush, and the fact that it comes with two knots is an interesting enhancement. One knot is silvertip badger, the other (pictured here) is a very appealing synthetic. It made a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Still thinking about the travel shave kit: Simpson Case with case
I tend to keep thinking about my decisions once they’re made, which generally leads to on-going revision and refinement. (In programming this is referred to as “iterative development”: build, test,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Departure-day shave: Fine Classic, Puros la Habana, and the iKon 101, with...
The Fine Classic is a marvelous brush: 22mm knot with a long loft and a soft feel, and makes lather like nobody’s business. It was easily loaded from Van Yulay’s Puros la Habana shaving soap, though...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Cube and Mickey Lee’s Pantie Dropper, with the Baby Smooth
The Cube is a pre-shave soap. My long-time stand-by, MR GLO (Musgo Real Glyce Lime Oil soap) is fine, but the Cube intrigued me, particularly the description of Version 2: CUBE – 8 ounces and 6 sides...
View Article