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Black Beer, black razor, black brush with a long loft
The brush is an old Sabini with an ebony handle, and the loft is much more to my taste than the shorter lofts like the Cola’s 50mm. Measuring it, I would say it’s 55-56mm. A silvertip badger knot, it...
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Fine shave with some observations
Every aspect of today’s shave was a pleasure. It started with the foundation: that it was on a sunny morning, a Saturday morning, following a good night’s sleep. Then every step along the way was...
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More lather-loading fun, and the great Monday shave
Barrister & Mann’s Reserve formula shaving soap (today the Spice fragrance), like Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 formula on Saturday, started loading immediately with the almost-dry brush (and I followed...
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Milksteak formula and the almost-dry brush
Compared to Phoenix Artisan’s CK-6 formula and Barrister & Mann’s Reserve formula, Declaration Grooming’s Milksteak is not quite so eager to load. It’s certainly not difficult to load, but the...
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Your usual horse-and-goat-hair shaving brush
When I saw this Baili shaving brush, I knew I had to try it. Scroll down at the link for detailed specs. It arrived yesterday. First impression: it’s hard to believe the handle is made of wood. The...
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Gillette no longer knows how to make DE razor heads, but they don’t know how...
A few days ago, I got a fine shave from a Gillette Heritage DE razor. The head is the Edwin Jagger/Mühle head, presumably because Gillette no longer has the in-house expertise and experience to design...
View ArticleHoliday bargain: Baili BR171 for $4
Given the price, you might want to buy several to have on hand to give to friends who want to see what a pleasurable shave is like. The Baili BR171 is exceptionally comfortable while also being quite...
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The Dead Sea loves an almost-dry brush
Continuing my brush-loading observations, today I came to The Dead Sea, an extremely nice shaving soap from Italian Barber. As I’ve commented in the past, if your brush is slightly wet — wetter than...
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Handle change (for the better), and a speculation on why heavy, smooth metal...
The razor today uses the King C. Gillette head from Thursday’s shave but with a new RazoRock UFO handle. In the post at the link I had some harsh words about the usability of the origiinal KCG handle,...
View ArticleMental itch satisfactorily scratched: Novel name found.
In a shaving post a while back I was trying to recall the specifics of a science-fiction novel I read long ago. This morning the answer has been found, and I’ve updated that post: (It reminds of a...
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Stealth does it, with Zi’ Peppino
I love the Monday morning shave. Today’s seemed exceptionally pleasurable and with an exceptionally good result. First, the lather-loading observations. Because I’m paying such close attentional,...
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Solstice, of course, and a brush observation
I actually was shaving at the time of the solstice this morning: 7:59am PST. And of course I used Phoenix Artisan’s Solstice shaving soap, whose fragrance I like a lot. This Kokum-butter formula...
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Avocado morning
I’ve been eating a lot of avocado lately, so I thought an avocado shave was in order. Phoenix Artisan’s Green Ray shaving brush has a knot quite similar (except in color) to the knot of the Solar...
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New brush, great shave
The brush is an Amici synthetic from Italian Barber: 20mm knot with 50mm loft, right in the sweet spot — 20-22mm seems best to me, and a 50mm loft is just right. It’s Christmasy if you think of...
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Henson AL13M v. the AL13
Yesterday morning I used my Henson AL13, and though I got a wonderful shave, I had to do a bit of work under my jawline and on my neck. So I thought this morning I would try their AL13M for...
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Sherlock and the goat/horse-hair brush
After shaking the Baili goat+horse-hair brush as dry as I could, I began brushing Chiseled Face Sherlock soap, and to my surprise the brush — an extremely soft brush — began loading immediately. I did...
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I love the Pro 48, today showing its excellence with Mystic Water Oatmeal...
This is a considerably bigger knot that I would like in badger or horsehair or synthetic (or goat, for that matter): 28mm. I generally prefer 20-22mm, though some some synthetics 24mm is okay, but...
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The Omega 20102 is good, but the Pro 48 is better
I used the Omega 20102 today just to compare, and I again find that the Pro 48 is better: fuller knot (the 20102 has a kind of hollow center) and longer loft mean better overall feel and performance....
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Strong ‘n Scottish ‘n Vetiver, with the Parker slant
I responded on Wirecutter to a comment from a man who uses bar soap for shaving (!) because it “works fine” and added “most shaving soap is scented, which I HATE. (Why the hell does everything have to...
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Otoko Organics and the Fendrihan Mk II — and a bookholder
The bookholder was a gift from The Brother-In-Law, who’s handy with tools and woodworking. (He built his own house.) It’s a lovely (and useful) piece, and the prop that holds it up folds flat for...
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