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An aftershave duo to pair with a different take on Bay Rum: Grooming Dept.’s...
This tub of Lemon Bay from Grooming Dept. lacks the top label because this is a sample tub holding half a puck — plenty enough to get a sense of the (excellent) soap. The fragrance is wonderful — I do...
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Some earlier posts checking out the Rockwell 6S baseplates, including...
A reader emailed me a question this morning on how the Rockwell 6S R1 baseplate compares to the Feather AS-D2. As it happens, I did this comparison a few years ago. Here are the posts in reading...
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Simplified shave: Superior shaving soap obviates need for aftershave
Acting on a tip from Grooming Dept., I used again the soap I used Saturday, a donkey-milk, duck-fat, lamb-tallow shaving soap (so not completely vegan, though it also includes some vegan ingredients)....
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Another no-aftershave shave with Declaration Grooming Milksteak formula and...
I thought I’d try another shaving using a high-quality skin-friendly shaving soap — and Declaration Grooming’s Milksteak formula fits that description to a T. Here I’m using Cuir et Épices. My Omega...
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Mike’s Natural and the Phoenix Artisan Amber Aerolite brush, with the Mamba...
The Amber Aerolite is a brush that will be of particular interest to men who like a large handle with a good grip. The brush handle feels almost bulky in the hand. I like the faceted design — and the...
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Exceptional shave: good soap, good prep, good razor/blade combo, practiced hand
Combining good things in a good way in good proportions will often produce a good result. Take, for example, today’s shave. The shaving soap is Phoenix Artisan’s ultrapremium CK-6 formula, whose...
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Mike’s Natural Orange, Cedarwood, & Black Pepper shaving soap, finished with...
Photo is minimally altered so that you can still read the top label. You’ll note that I have taken matters into my own hands regarding the side label. I decided I’ll create a side label for all tubs...
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La Toja is terrific
I really like La Toja shaving soap, which seems to come only as a shaving stick (fine with me). I don’t know whether the mineral salts from the famous springs there are in fact what makes the...
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A perfect shave: So satisfying
When everything works, a morning shave can light up the day. Today: Soap: D.R. Harris shaving soap uses a good formula, and so far as I know they have avoided the mistake of outsourcing its...
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Hungarian Lavender today
Another of Mike’s Naturals, Hungarian Lavender uses the essential oil with his regular formula. Although it’s not visible in the photo, I did label the side of the tub, useful but something Mike...
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Mystic Water’s Wild Lavender and the RazoRock Adjust razor
Mystic Water’s Wild Lavender is a bit more lavender-y and a bit more present to the nose than Jeff’s Lavender, and the lather this morning was particularly good — better than yesterday’s from that...
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Thought I’d give Lavender a try this morning
It seemed time to use a Lavender shaving soap, and Meißner Tremonia’s Lavender de Luxe is excellent — as the photo shows, a blend of lavender, geranium, and cypress, a combination that has good depth....
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And now for something completely different: First Night on Planet Earth, with...
The Starcraft seemed appropriate to the soap, which seems already to be sold out (thus no link). It has the (un)usual CK-6 goodness and a very nice fragrance: Top Notes: Raspberry, Pine Resin,...
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Wow! What a great shave! With Grooming Dept’s Moisturizing Preshave and...
I won’t be able to stop feeling my face this morning. What a great shave! — both experience and result. Partly that’s because of my usual Monday practice — using a slant razor on a two-day stubble —...
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Fantastic shave, thanks to Grooming Dept and iKon
The star of this particular show is not pictured: Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave is the real deal. I’m blown away by how good it is. Those of you who have read the Guide know that I tried quite...
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A honey of a shave — Sardinian honey, to be precise
This morning my prep included Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-shave and then a very good lather from Mystic Water Sardinian Honey shaving soap. (You’ll note the little side-label I added so I can find...
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Shaving soap to honor the day — and my 1940s Gillette Aristocrat works better...
In honor of the day, I brought out my Special 218, a dark brown high-glycerin shaving soap that makes a wonderful lather (cf. Mama Bear soaps — the soapmaker who once made QED soaps retired some years...
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Barber-shop shave fragrances
Another fine lather from a Mike’s Natural soap, this morning his Barber Shop, whose light fragrance did tend toward barber-shop memories. Mike’s Natural fragrances do seem to be present but also not...
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Mystic Waters Oatmeal Stout and some observations on buying soap as refill...
I used Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave again this morning, and this time I remembered not to fully rinse my face following the first and second pass, but rather wet it lightly before lathering...
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Love Bombs with Fine slant and Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave
I believe that “Bombs” in the name of this shaving soap is a noun, rather than a verb (as in, say, “New Avengers Movie Bombs”), though certainly in some instances love does bomb, thus divorces. But...
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