Shave no. 38? Wow, that's stunning!Last night, I had shave #38 with blade #2 of the vintage Polisilver Stainless Steel blades. The blade was held in place with a Fatip Open Comb Grande in gold that I bought off the BST. The Grande was definitely lighter than the Piccolo and there is a distinct difference in how each balances and feels in the hand. While I prefer the overall dimensions of the Grande's handle, as of now, I prefer the Piccolo's balance.
I used Tabac (tallow) shaving soap and made a good slick and cushiony lather with it.
Prior to the shave, I showered with warm water and also used warm water to soak my Semogue Owners Club cherry wood handle finest badger brush. After shaking my brush to remove some water, I picked up the soap puck in my left hand and swirled my brush across it for 40 seconds before scooping up the protolather and transferring it to my Captain's Choice Seaworthy lather bowl. What I couldn't remove from my hands, I rubbed on my face.
Next, I rinsed the remaining protolather off my fingers with some tap water and collected the soapy water in an empty cup. I then picked up my brush and began to stir it in the lather bowl while gradually adding some of the soapy water to make my lather. When my lather looked shave-ready, I applied a little of the soapy water to my face by hand before each lather pass.
I did my usual two pass (WTG and ATG) shave and buffed my trouble areas. My Grande had more blade feel and exposure than my Piccolo. Where with the Piccolo, the shaves had been smooth and I pretty much never felt the blade, with the Grande, I couldn't find an angle where I did not feel the blade. Still, I managed a BBS without cutting myself. That said, my previous shaves with the Piccolo felt better overall.
I cleaned up my shave with my usual alum block pass before washing it off and applying aftershave splash (Stirling Spice) and aftershave balm (Van der Hagen Post Shave Soothing Balm). As with my shaves with my Piccolo, I felt no sting from the alum block though I felt a bit of sting from the alcohol in the splash, though.
This was my sixth time using the VDH balm. Again, I used a little less than pea sized amount of the balm and got a better skin feel (i.e., less "heavy"/greasy) but still perspired a bit more on areas of my face to which I applied the balm than areas without the balm.
All in all, I would also give this shave a 98.5/100.
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