ban·shee ˈbanSHē/ noun
- (In Irish legend) a female spirit whose wailing warns of an impending death in a house. (source - Online Dictionary)
(From MER Shaving’s Etsy site):
Ingredients:
Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Water, Potassium Hydroxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Coconut Oil, Duck Fat, Duck Fat, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Lanolin, Glycerin, Sodium Lactate, Fragrance
Scent Description: Smells similar to a popular Irish fragrance
I believe it is his take on the Green Irish Tweed, though I have no comparison since I have not tried it and at $195 for 4 ounces, even at Walmart, it is highly unlikely I will.
For me the scent is a fresh Fougere; nice spring green fern with lemon, floral and something else I cannot make out. I am not one for floral scents so I am happy to report this is more of citrus fresh and something else, rather than a prominent floral. The scent is not heavy, however, you can customize your order and ask for more scent...I like it just as it is. Thirty minutes after my shave my bride could still pick up the scent on my face and she gave me the all over face nuzzle.
Set Up:
1. 1961 Fatboy, restored by Cap Murphy and re-plated by Chris Evatt.
2. Restored Ever-Ready Butterscotch brush with a 20mm Ace Finest Badger knot. 3. Personna blade
4. Vintage Old Spice mug
Performance:
This is a medium soft soap and is very easy to lather, taking roughly 40 seconds to load with my vintage 20mm Ever-Ready brush. Using my OS mug and adding drips of water along the way, this easily produced enough lather for a three pass shave with touch up and still enough left over for another pass or two. The soap produces a very slick lather with plenty of glide and cushion, not to mention residual slickness.
After a three pass shave with touch ups my face felt just shy of BBS and the ‘61 Fatboy with a Personna Blade, at times, felt like it had no blade at all. My face felt so great that after the cold water rinse I decided to skip my usual Captain’s Choice or Dominica Bay Rum after shave. All day long...a smooth face that felt well hydrated.
I have his Duck Sauce soap which is amazing and is the same formula. In fact you can order any of his soaps with duck fat or you can order them without. You can also add menthol, extra menthol, extra fragrance and extra menthol; your choice.
Day two:
After yesterday’s shave, I decided to do something I have never done; shave one side of my face with one soap and use a different soap on the other….Banshee’s Breath versus Saponificio Varesino Felce Aromatica.
Both soaps were lathered in separate Old Spice mugs; I used the same ’61 Fatboy and the same Personna blade. Brushes were a custom silvertip and the aforementioned vintage Ever-Ready.
Results:
I asked my bride to be the judge and she could not tell which side was smoother. She likes both scents, but for different reasons…”do not ask me to choose, I like them both.”
For me the Banshee’s Breath side provided a more comfortable end result today with no appreciable sting when applying the Captain’s Choice Bay Rum aftershave. The SV side had a bit more sting on my neck; typical trouble area. After completing the shave, I compared the slickness of the remaining lather and in my opinion Banshee’s Breath is a bit slicker. Post shave the Banshee side feels more hydrated. During today’s shave the Banshee also has a slight edge when it came to the razor gliding across my skin.
All in all this has been an enjoyable experiment/comparison and while I really enjoy Saponificio Varesino Felce Aromatica, it has, until futher notice, lost its place as my favorite fougere and perhaps my top soap. Only time will tell.
I hope this has been informative and interesting, feel free to ask questions.