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Lavender again, with a gentle brush
The brush above was purchased from Strop Shoppe some years back, when Strop Shoppe was still in business. (They went out of business a while back, and Craig K has an interesting article in...
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Eucalyptus & Spearmint, a gentle brush, and one of the best slant razors of...
My Kent BK4 is a very gentle brush, thanks to its large, long-lofted, loosely packed knot. Withal, it was easy to load from Dr. Jon’s handcrafted Eucalyptus & Spearmint shaving soap, a Vol 3...
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Creed’s Green Irish Tweed seemed especially present this morning
A cup of the same coffee will taste spectacular one morning and meh another. We know how tastes can vary from one to person another (thus “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”: one person viewing the...
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Omega’s gentle boar brush and Goodfellas’ smile Legione Slant
The shaving soap this morning is doubly vintage, with “vintage” meaning “no longer available.” First, Mickey Lee Soapworks has closed its doors; and second, Bee Witched, with its beguiling (see what I...
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Boar-bristle brushes are great — and the Lupo razor is pretty nice as well
Yesterday’s shave with my Omega 21762 reminded me how very nice boar-bristle brushes can be, so I brought out my old favorite, the Omega Pro 48 (10048), to enjoy some more boar-brush pleasure....
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Back again to boar, and applying lessons learned
It’s hard to break away from boar once you’ve used a well-broken-in boar brush, and right now that’s the only sort of boar brush I have (but perhaps it’s time to get one that’s not yet broken in and...
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Dulci Tobacco and Cavendish
My wonderful Plisson European Grey badger brush seemed to enjoy Wholly Kaw’s La Supérieure Dulci Tobacco Shave Cream and certainly found it easy to make a superior lather with a lovely fragrance —...
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Probably the best razor I own, plus The Dead Sea
In loading my Whipped Dog silvertip — a very nice little brush — I continued my recent practice of loading longer than I’m accustomed to, and I was rewarded with a wonderful lather. RazoRock’s The...
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Alt-Eleven and the Henson AL13 Medium
Alt-Eleven is Phoenix Artisan’s homage to Alt-Innsbruck, and a very nice fragrance it is. The soap is their Kokum Butter formula, and while not so extraordinary as their CK-6 formula, it is...
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Cavendish and the Baby Smooth
I again loaded the brush — Phoenix Artisan’s Green Ray, a 24mm synthetic and a long-time favorite — at length and was rewarded with an exceptional lather, but this tub of Cavendish is the CK-6...
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Great shave with Solar Flare, Otoko Organics, and Ascension — but without...
I continue to like Otoko Organics and its unique lather — in fact, I like it a lot, and Phoenix Artisan’s Solar Flare brush had an easy time working up the lather. The Ascension, also from Phoenix...
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The LABL lathering method — and a fine shave
This morning I again took my time loading the brush — my Yaqi Target Shot — and once again enjoyed an especially thick and creamy lather (and this morning a very fragrant lather as well, thanks to...
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Great combo: Yuzu, Rose, and Patchouli
Declaration Grooming’s Bison-Tallow formula is an excellent soap (though their Beefsteak formula is even better). I used the LABL method with the Wee Scot and was rewarded with a fine and fragrant...
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Merkur 37G and Declaration Grooming’s wonderful Milksteak formula
I do love the Omega Pro 48. Every time I return to it, I think, “What a remarkable brush!” And today it made a superior lather from Declaration Grooming’s Cuir et Épices. I used the LABL method, and...
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Best of the Edwin Jagger/Mühle razor head design family: RazoRock MJ-90A and...
D.R. Harris has much single-handedly maintained the integrity of the classic line of English shaving soaps, the others having fallen by the outsourcing and reformulation wayside. (With shaving creams,...
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D.R. Harris makes great stuff
Today, as yesterday, I turn to D.R. Harris for my my shaving soap, and today it’s Arlington, “a classic blend of Citrus and Fern.” The brush is my Rooney Stye 1 Size Super Silvertip, and it did a...
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D.R. Harris Rose shaving cream and the blue Baby Smooth
Even though I’m using a shaving cream, I still used Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave to begin with. Then I wet well the knot of my Rooney Style 3 Size 1, shook it until it was damp, and squeezed a...
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I Coloniali, the Omega micro, and iKon’s Shavecraft Short Comb
As in yesterday’s shave, I again used Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave, and extruded a blob of shaving cream directly into the damp brush, then worked up the lather on my pre-shaved stubble. I was...
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Bay Rum morning
Finding my bottle of Taylor of Old Bond Street Bay Rum aftershave pushed me toward a bay rum sequence, and this morning my eye somehow went immediately to my Phoenix Artisan Bay Rum among the stacks...
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The vintage Eros slant with Meißner Tremonia Pink Grapefruit shaving paste
The Omega Pro 48 (10048) remains one of my favorite shaving brushes, and today the lather it made from Meißner Tremonia’s Pink Grapefruit shaving paste was remarkably good. I think it is in part...
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