This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
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21 June, 2023
Summer time in Taiwan means highs of 35C+ almost daily so every day is a good day for some menthol. I find that I enjoy both synthetic and normal menthol and I've even started adding menthol drops to my shampoo which feels fantastic.
It's been awhile since I've used Tundra Artica and it performed as expected. Decided to break into the SV splash samples that I have and use the matching splash. I was surprised as to how mild the scent was. I was expecting it to be a bit overpowering, but it settled in nicely. I smell good without having a vapor trail behind me.
Wednesday has arrived. The coffee is brewed. Time to rolling. Have a great day all!
Two maybe three shaves away from the first tub kill of the year.
A quick midweek shave, with a shavestick moshed into a tub and a brush I made myself. I should get the lathe out again and make some more.
21 June, 2023
A GEM Contour leaning against a Wilkinson tub filled with Stirling Glastonbury soap next to a Zenith B21 boar brush and a bottle of Stirling Vetiver witch hazel toner
The very genereous @[email protected] lent me his GEM Contour (the swan song of the GEM saga) and gifted me this tub of Glastobury. I enjoy the dank scent, and love the sheep base.
The razor needs some getting used to. It's a much milder razor than the other GEMs I've tried (which is all of them, broadly speaking) and I sometimes struggled finding the right angle. More testing is clearly required.
Quite a nice shave overall. Done with the Derby blade now. It's not for me but I'm sure it is for some people. This soap has been sitting in my travel things for a while but decided to pull it out today. It has a scent which I can't describe well, but it's soapy and fresh. The lather it made was slick as well.
Super Speed Wednesday, 21 June, 2023
Damn fine shave today. Iβm close to killing the Midnight Stag. It will be missed. Have a great day, everybody!
SOTD Jun 21, 2023
Pour one out for Bell Ringer. You will be missed.
PS: I included my razor today. π§
How is that razor as far as aggressiveness? I have a first gen MMOC and it is pretty harsh I find myself passing it over for the Ever Ready all the time.
I'll admit I'm not good at describing razors in a precise way, but I find it comfortable and very easy to use without sticking or irritation. I'd say it's a comfortable but relatively aggressive two passes. Less so than the Blackbird SS.
That sounds like some fancy coffee. Who roasted it?
The producer is Wilton Benitez and JBC (Wisconsin) roasted it. I know there are countless good options CONUS these days, but JBC was one of the better roasters nationally a decade ago. The last two interesting roasters I tried through a local cafe were Brandywine and Bivouac, both of which seem to focus on natural process stuff.
June 21 2023
Today is my daughterβs last day of kindergarten, going to pick her up from school and take her out to lunch to celebrate. A fine shave this morning with some fine gear.
Jun 21, 2023 - Marilyn
I know that this v15 can be a soap hungry knot, so I intentionally loaded more soap than usual. However, something was really off with the lather from this sample. It just remained thin and slightly oily. Nevertheless, it still provided enough slickness for a single pass and touch ups with the FBT. Hopefully, this is just a bad sample, and maybe I'll try again with a synthetic knot to compare.
Marilyn is an amazing scent that fits the theme well. I don't know if it's a scent that I would wear often, but I like it.
Rating: 3.5/5
June 21, 2023
I really enjoyed this shave. I can't believe that I haven't tried this razor/blade combination before. The Era Level 3 is my favorite razor as of the past few months, and Bolzano has long been a good blade for me. Since I started keeping track of combos that I like (and ones to maybe avoid), Tech/Bolzano has come out on top. The Era/Bolzano seems to match that. Super comfortable, super close.
Carpathia is getting towards the end. A good sized ring of death. I love this scent and will be sad to see it go, but its low level puts it on the kill list.
Just had this set show up last night. I think I easily have more barbershop scents than any other genre of scent. Off the tub it's really nice, a blend of the citrus and florals. The dry down, post shave, is more of the musk, patchouli and leather. To me it vaguely hits on the barbershop vibe, but this is just first impression. Nice shave this morning. This set is a keeper.
Jun. 21, 2023
Great shave. Hot this morning so I grabbed a set with some chill.
June 21, 2023 Black WatchDay
3 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
I told myself I was going to cool it on 3-pass shaves for a while, but Black Watch, Highland base, perfect (by accident) hydration, and a (hastily) refreshed edge could not be denied. Too luxurious to stop. I imagine that Black Watch will be a good candidate for Austere August for many. I'll be using SV 70th Anniversary but, if I weren't, I think a month of the Black Watch goodness would be my choice.
June 21, 2023
A nice refreshing shave, with a good amount of boom shakalaka. It's still hot and humid, and no sign of diminishing temperatures or humidity.
Have a good evening!
June 21, 2023
