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Lavender morning
The brush is my Yaqi Target Shot, which arrived with two knots, each with a threaded base to fit the tapped handle. One knot is synthetic with the Target Shot pattern, the other the silvertip badger...
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Erasmic’s doughty shave stick
I occasionally will tear into a rant about marketing directors who fail to brand their product, and today’s shave provides a reason. I thought the lather from the shave stick in the photo was really...
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A non-sweet Orange Vanilla
I had expected this shave stick from Mystic Water to have a sweet fragrance, but to my surprise, the fragrance seemed more serious, with a dark, masculine vibe. The fragrance I experienced could be...
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Honeysuckle and the delights of using great equipment
Two things I particularly noticed in this morning’s shave: The Phoenix Artisan Kokum Butter formula (less costly than the CK-6 formula) is really excellent, good enough that one wonders why he worked...
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Grooming Dept shave: Moisturizing Pre-Shave, Ousia shaving soap, Rejuvenating...
Grooming Dept Moisturizing Pre-Shave is now my daily first step, it having superseded MR GLO of days past. The current formulation is amazingly effective and also efficient: the tiniest smidge easily...
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Rosy morning
Rose is the fragrance of the day, beginning with Mystic Water Yellow Rose. When I use the LABL (load a bit longer) technique, I generally must add some water to the brush as I work up the lather on my...
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Mumtaz and Hermès
“Mumtaz and Hermès” sounds a little like a vaudeville duo from the first decade of the 20th century, but they are the software of today’s shave. Grooming Dept Mumtaz uses the Kairos (tallow) formula....
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Sandalwood and…
Sandalwood Rose has a pleasant fragrance, and the lather made by this little Vie-Long natural-bristle brush (I say horse, others say boar) was excellent. Phoenix Artisan’s Ascension is a super-nice...
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Leather and the Model T
Wholly Kaw’s Project Leather soap in his tallow formula produces an exquisite rich lather from: Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Donkey Milk, Glycerin, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate,...
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The wonderful Monday shave, supercharged with a superlather.
When I complained about my horsehair brush’s lather capacity in an earlier post, Larry commented that he had found that a superlather (a lather made using both shaving soap and shaving cream) worked...
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Cedar morning with black currants
Grooming Dept’s Cedarwood shaving soap has a very nice fragrance, which issues from the following ingredients: Orange EO, Grapefruit EO, Ginger Lily EO, Ginger EO, Pink Pepper EO, Geranium Absolute,...
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Rustler’s Ridge and a handle observation
I just received my order of Rustler’s Ridge from Phoenix Artisan. I bought the CK-6 formula, so the soap is familiar (and top-notch). It was the fragrance that caught my attention: Top Notes...
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Woodhue for Men returns as Black Shroud — and a new razor
I just got Phoneix Artisan’s Black Shroud, a reincarnation of the fragrance found in Woodhue for Men, made by Febergé from 1938 to 1986. (Phoenix Artisan gives the release date as 1944, but that was...
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New adjustable razor
I chose Grooming Dept Chypre Peach because of the chypre aspect — from Wikipedia: Chypre (pronounced [ʃipʁ] or [ʃipχ]) is the name of a family (or concept) of perfumes that are characterised by an...
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A brush with a soft touch and the apotheosis of the Edwin Jagger razor
The Mühle silvertip badger has a lovely and exquisitely soft knot, very gentle on the face but also very easy to load and a fantastic lather facilitator, the lather this morning was derived from...
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Oh, that Monday shave! I love the Eros.
I think it’s a good thing to look forward with some eagerness to Monday mornings. My Copper Hat silvertip brush raised a great lather from Barrister & Mann’s Cologne Russe. I started with a...
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Spice of the morning
I got a late start today, but not unpleasantly so, and the time of day affected the lighting, as you see. Barrister & Mann’s Reserve line of soaps and aftershaves is quite good. He recommends...
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Above the Tie’s R (now R1), with Barrister & Mann Lavanille
I have now really tuned in to Lavanille and like it a lot. It’s odd how it can take some time to grasp what a particular fragrance offers because we don’t think of a fragrance as being something to be...
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Loving the iKon Short Comb with a lavender lather and classic aftershave
My Maggard 22mm synthetic-knot brush easily aroused the lather latent in Barrister & Mann’s Reserve Lavender shaving soap, and the classic fragrance of lavender was very appealing on a somewhat...
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Rustler’s Ridge and Gillette’s Heritage
Several shaves ago, when I was using this very soap, I commented about the absence of the soap’s name on the side label. Not having a name on the side is not an issue for a man who owns but a few...
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