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An Italian-ish shave with Grooming Dept Mallard formula Almond Vanilla
My Grooming Dept soaps arrived yesterday. I notice that the soaps are again sold out (though some Grooming Dept soaps are still available from vendors who stock the soaps). In this viral age of the...
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Grooming Dept Corretto — even better than Almond Vanilla
This morning I brought out the other Grooming Dept Mallard soap I bought: Corretto. Scent Notes: Coffee, Brandy, Plum, Berries, Honey, Cacao Dust, Vanilla, Patchouli. I like this fragrance even better...
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More Corretto, in good company
My Nikon has given up the ghost, so my iPhone becomes the camera I use, thus the different angle. I like Corretto’s fragrance — and performance — a lot, thus the quick reprise. I brought out my trusty...
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Crazy Sandalwood — and camera working again
Nice to have the camera back It turns out that on a Nikon camera there’s a little button just above the viewscreen on the left that, if pressed even accidentally, will turn off the viewscreen. It’s a...
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Dr Selby and the Ascension
I got that little Vie-Long from Bullgoose Shaving years ago. He gave it the name Bombito, and it’s a grand little brush, and Vie-Long says that it’s a boar brush, though the bristles seem quite fine...
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A (US) Thanksgiving shave
One reader commented some time back that he like to play Leisureguy Bingo, by trying to predict the day’s selection of shaving products and tools. Today’s soap is, I imagine, quite predictable, but...
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Dapper Doc’s and Baby Smooth make for a great shave
I do like Dapper Doc’s Old Time Lilac & Fig’s fragrance, and when embodied in Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 formula, it’s remarkable. A wonderful lather (CK-6) with a fine fragrance (Dapper Doc’s) made...
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Phoenix Artisan Cavendish and a comment on CK-6 lather
In a comment on yesterday’s shave, Tony brought up the way that the lather from shaving soaps made with Phoenix Artisaan’s CK-6 formula has a different feel. I certainly noticed this as well on my...
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The terrific Monday-morning shave — and a few things I noticed
I really look forward to Monday mornings because the two-day stubble is a bit irksome and the shave is always a pleasure — today a particular pleasure because I particularly like Van Yulay’s Achilles....
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Stout-hearted morning with the excellent MJ-90A
The very fine bristles in Yaqi’s “cashmere” knot made a very fine-grained and thick lather, redolent with the fragrance of stout — Guinness stout, to be specific. I’m not sure of the “oatmeal” —...
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I must bring out Otoko Organics more often
Again I am surprised by how excellent Otoko Organics is, and the fact of tyyyhe surprise shows me that I am not using it frequently enough: it should not be a surprise. And it’s not just the...
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Discoveries and observations with Wholly Kaw’s Merchant of Tobacco, Plisson...
Tools of exploration and discovery A shave can be an occasion of discovery, of a quiet sort. Today’s shave was an example. The first was observing my Plisson HMW 12 (with the horn handle) at work on...
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Geo. F. Trumper Sandalwood shaving soap, from when it still was good
This tub is from the time back when Trumper made its own shaving soap — and did a good job of it. A very nice triple-milled soap that produces a fine and fragrant lather. I didn’t shake out the brush...
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Playing with loading the brush
I wanted to replicate the slow-loading experience from a couple of shaves ago. I tried yesterday, but had not shaken enough water from the brush. So today I picked another of Wholly Kaw’s beef...
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More lather fun, and the blissful Monday-morning shave
When one has been told how to do a repeated task, it takes some practice and experience to discover the absolutely optimal approach. The discovery experience often feels like an extraordinary leap of...
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A Yaqi brush with a knot that’s slightly too short (for me)
I’m still enjoying using an almost-dry brush for loading, and I picked a Mike’s Natural soap this morning because he makes a hard smooth puck that helps in observing the process. Once again I shook...
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Brush mystery but a great shave
There’s not much difference in knot loft between yesterday’s Yaqi brush (on the right at the right) and the RazoRock 400 I used today, but the feel on the face is worlds apart. As you can see, the two...
View ArticleCommon novice DE shaving errors: New Sharpologist article
I anticipated that the holiday season would see a fair number of men (who had expressed a hatred of shaving) receiving the thoughtful gift of a traditional shaving set-up — a DE safety razor, shaving...
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Fatip Lo Storto slant with bar guard
Someone a while back wanted a Fatip Lo Storto slant razor with a bar guard. It’s an extremely nice razor, very comfortable and very efficient. I just got an email from The Razor Company that the razor...
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Brushes to the test
I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of these two Yaqi brushes, both 22mm with 50mm loft. For the soap, I decided to treat myself, and again returned to one of Grooming Dept’s wonderful shaving...
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