AoP's Commonplace Shaving Journal

[Alum of Potash]

7-25-22:

Vitos crema pre - dopobarba (mentholated pre-shave);
Cyril R. Salter Rose & Geranium (shave cream);
Omega 80267 boar (shaving brush);
Dovo Shavette w/Turkish Lord blade (razor);
Thayer's lavender witch hazel (astringent).

I've been liking the Focus R21 shavette so much that I decided to acquire a Dovo Shavette to see if the smoothness had to do with the plastic housing, the real "Shavette" having one as well. What is strange is that I was expecting a housing for the dedicated Dovo Shavette blades but the razor does not appear to have come with one, only one for DE half blades.

Overall the shave went quite well. No weepers or harshness. Feel from spine to edge was a bit like a 3/8 straight razor, which makes me wonder if the razor isn't primarily intended for hair cutting rather than shaving. Spine is a little narrower than the Focus, which means that one can obtain a shallower angle in shaving. Result seemed closer than with my Focus. Loading the blade the housing was tricky; one end kept slipping out of the pin registration, but once it was in place it stayed there. This Turkish-made Lord is different than the Egyptian-made half blades I've been using. Allegedly, the Turkish Lord is "smoother" than the Egyptian "imposters." It did not feel as sharp, that's for sure. At one point, I even could put a little pressure during the pass like straight (although not as much) which normally is a big no-no with Shavettes. The Cyril R. Salter cream's scent being so delicate, the Thayer's lavender was a nice complement. Didn't want to override the effect by applying a heavier-scented aftershave afterwards.

 

[Alum of Potash]

8-9-22:

The shaving part is actually from yesterday, 8-8-22.

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-shave);
Stirling Sheep (shaving soap);
Frank Shaving two-band (brush);
Dovo 5/8 full-hollow square-point (razor);
Osma bloc d'alun (astringent);
Floid mentolado vigoroso (aftershave).

Yesterday's shave was interesting. First time using a straight in a little while, after my days on the road and subsequent fascination with the Dovo Shavette loaded with the Turkish Lord blade. Have to say that the Dovo straight laid low four days of beard growth lickety-split, the sides of my face feeling BBS from the get-go. But then in following along the jawline, I forgot about the square-point, which bit me there. Had I been using the razor regularly, it wouldn't have happened, the shavettes being more like round-points. Subsequently passed the tip three times in a wine cork I have reserved for the purpose. Rest of the shave was quite good. Frank Shaving brushes have a reputation for losing bristles, but I haven't experienced this too much apart from maybe six lost in starting out a while back. A nice price for it delivers, looks like Maggard is now out of these completely.

Today, I had a city building inspector over to look at some problems I'm having with an abutting developing project next to my residence. In showing him the best view from my upstairs bathroom, he noted my small collection of brushes there. Turns out that he's a wet-shaving aficionado, started asking me for recommendations for a good shaving soap for "sensitive skin" and so forth. Nothing like that to win a city official over to your side! Let's hope so, in any case...

 

[Alum of Potash]

8-19-22:

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-shave);
Stirling Sheep (shaving soap);
Vie-Long horse-badger (brush);
Dovo 5/8 full-hollow square-point (razor);
Osma bloc d'alun (astringent);
St. John's bay rum blended w/pea-sized dollop of 444 (after-shave).

The tip of the razor kept leaving me with little scratches, leading me to think that I might have rolled the tip. So I did a few passes on a small coticule with baby oil and a small piece of Vermont slate to touch things up. Today's shave was very close, although a little bit harsh. We'll see if continued stropping with help smooth things. A little bit of tingle in applying the alum block. It has worn down to where it's about the size and thickness of a DE blade! Palm-lathering the sheep soap with the Vie-Long horse-badger went very well. My favorite brush of all. The trick is not to soak the knot in advance, just the tips for around 30 seconds. Bay rum with a little bit of 444 for a cool-down effect. Another favorite, I could honestly use this sequence everyday.

 

[Alum of Potash]

9-11-22:

Haven't posted here for a while due to a number of reasons, relocation to France, travel on the road, spotty Internet connections, etc. While spending a few days in Paris upon arrival, I had one of the worst shaves of my life, which involved a Zaza blade in a shavette. A lot of criticism of that blade for good reason in my opinion. Still, as the parent company of the Turkish Lord blades I've been using and enjoying, I had to give one a try.

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-shave);
Proraso con aloe e vitamina e (shave cream);
Vie-Long 14095 badger-horse blend (brush);
Dovo shavette w/Turkish Lord blade (razor);
Myrsol Metilsol (astringent/after-shave).

Beer: La Chnoye Blonde.

A nice shave overall with some players I haven't seen in a while. End of the road for this small tub of Vitos cream. I'll have order some more as a mentholated kick at the start is essential as far as I'm concerned. In my opinion, this older model of the Vie-Long 14095 is loaded with more badger hair than horse hair as compared to my more recent model back in the States. Both do the job great though, my favorite brush of the many, many I've tried. Just not all that good for face-lathering, which is why I palm-lathered instead. This "sensitive skin" Proraso cream has a musty scent that I really enjoy. No other way to describe it, just musty. Ended with Myrsol's Metilsol, which seems to evaporate quickly. What can I say about it? It's sort of a high-octane version of their Agua Balsamica, and as it has potassium alum in the solution, a separate astringent isn't needed. Not sure I'm the biggest fan of it, but it is a curious offering. As for the Turkish Lord blade snapped in half, it's around four shaves in, but my experience with the Zaza blade has sort of led me to realize that the blade itself is pretty rough in feel compared to say, a very expensive Timor blade from Solingen.

Yes, sometimes during an evening shave, I'll enjoy a beer at the same time. The Chnoye Blonde is a local beer available in a nearby supermarket. A blond beer that does the job it's supposed to do. Nothing exceptional, but not a bad beer at all.

 

[Alum of Potash]

9-15-22:

The shaving edge with half-laps.

This result has a long history. In December 2021, my barber here in France showed me a Chinese Titan straight razor he had picked up out of curiosity. He said that he had not arrived with a shaving edge with it, and I said that it might have to do with how it was ground. Two weeks ago, I stepped in for a hair-cut and asked him the status of things with the Titan razor. He told me that things were pretty much as they were back in December. Having nothing better to do, I asked him if I could give things a shot, to which he loaned me the razor.

First off the razor was honed as if it were a kitchen knife, not a razor, with the bevel aimed sky-high rather than in line with the spine. It took me a long time with a coarse > fine > extra-fine DMT diamond hone progression so that the stars were aligned. Tried a number of approaches that lead to a drooping heel and an overly-burnished toe before finally settling on a small 1-5/8" x 4" soft, hard, and true-hard Arkansas sequence involving half-laps alone that did the trick. The bevel was finally uniform. Tonight's shave was good, but not the greatest, so I added a few more half-laps on a small piece (38mm x 80mm) of purple Welsh slate used with the same light machine oil as used with the Arkansas stones. Now to return it to my barber.

 

[Alum of Potash]

9-28-22:

Myrsol Emulsion (pre-shave--not shown);
Proraso with aloes and vitamin (shaving cream);
Vie-Long horse-boar (shaving brush);
Dovo Shavette w/Timor blade (razor);
Osma bloc d'alun (astringent--not shown);
Myrsol F./Extra (after-shave).

The hinge at the end of the plastic housing of this Shavette has always seemed flimsy, and a couple of shaves ago, it came apart, leaving me with two plastic pieces with no hinge. Doesn't seem to matter much as I can just sandwich the blade in place and slide both pieces into the razor housing as before. Four shaves in with the Timor blade and it's doing a nice job--a smooth shave in two passes plus touch-ups. Haven't used the Vie-Long horse-boar brush in a while. What I like about it is that the horse hairs that have a tendency to lack backbone when long like this are supported by the stiffer boar bristles. Very easy to whip up the lather in a bowl or in the palm, which was the case here. The extra in the Myrsol F. after-shave must mean extra alcohol because there was a high-octane burn in applying it at first. Hard to describe the scent, some sort of Spanish tobacco caramel type blend. The bottle's almost empty and I've ordered some Floid original instead. (Will hold onto this bottle though for a later order as Myrsol has recently changed the design).

 

[Alum of Potash]

10-01-22:

My order from Gifts & Care today arrived with the bottle of Floid, a Fatip piccolo special edition with two combs (one open and the other closed), and a large jar of the Vitos pre-shave cream I ran out of. Upon arrival the shipping package and its contents looked undamaged, but when I removed the bottle of Floid from its protective sleeve, I noticed that a section of the cap was seriously cracked and that a section had fallen off (see attached picture). I have written to the seller about this and hope that they will either send me a replacement bottle or refund the cost as the alcohol will began to evaporate quickly as the bottle is not completely sealed as it is.

As for today's shave:

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-shave--not shown);
Proraso aloe and vitamin E (shaving cream);
Vie-Long horse-boar (brush);
Fatip piccolo special edtion w/Tatra blade (Razor);
Osma bloc d'alun;
Myrsol F./Extra.

Nice to have the mentholated pre-shave cream again. I really like the deadening sensation that menthol gives at the start of the shave. A lot of familiar players I won't comment on here. First time using the Fatip razor and the Czech Tatra blade, the blade I found in a nearby health food store. For the Fatip, I wanted to use it sort of like a Razorock Lupo with the open comb on one side and the closed comb on the other. So for the first pass I used the open comb plate to lay low around 72 hours worth of whisker growth, followed by the closed comb for the second pass and touch-ups. Seemed to work well that way. No nicks, no weepers, and a close shave always "riding the cap." The open comb carried a lot of lather for repeated passes sort of like a SLOC razor, which I appreciated. The closed comb side, allegedly milder, allowed me to buff things without irritation. Throughout the process the Tatra blade seemed sharp and efficient without seeming harsh. Last shave with the very thinned-down alum block as it broke in half and shattered in the sink, leaving the pieces as shown. I finished there with a new on. Even though the shave did not seem harsh, there was a bit of alum tingle, which was a surprise. We'll see if this improves with subsequent shaves.

 

[flask28]

10-01-22:

My order from Gifts & Care today arrived with the bottle of Floid, a Fatip piccolo special edition with two combs (one open and the other closed), and a large jar of the Vitos pre-shave cream I ran out of. Upon arrival the shipping package and its contents looked undamaged, but when I removed the bottle of Floid from its protective sleeve, I noticed that a section of the cap was seriously cracked and that a section had fallen off (see attached picture). I have written to the seller about this and hope that they will either send me a replacement bottle or refund the cost as the alcohol will began to evaporate quickly as the bottle is not completely sealed as it is.

View attachment 1531933

As for today's shave:

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-shave--not shown);
Proraso aloe and vitamin E (shaving cream);
Vie-Long horse-boar (brush);
Fatip piccolo special edtion w/Tatra blade (Razor);
Osma bloc d'alun;
Myrsol F./Extra.

View attachment 1531937

Nice to have the mentholated pre-shave cream again. I really like the deadening sensation that menthol gives at the start of the shave. A lot of familiar players I won't comment on here. First time using the Fatip razor and the Czech Tatra blade, the blade I found in a nearby health food store. For the Fatip, I wanted to use it sort of like a Razorock Lupo with the open comb on one side and the closed comb on the other. So for the first pass I used the open comb plate to lay low around 72 hours worth of whisker growth, followed by the closed comb for the second pass and touch-ups. Seemed to work well that way. No nicks, no weepers, and a close shave always "riding the cap." The open comb carried a lot of lather for repeated passes sort of like a SLOC razor, which I appreciated. The closed comb side, allegedly milder, allowed me to buff things without irritation. Throughout the process the Tatra blade seemed sharp and efficient without seeming harsh. Last shave with the very thinned-down alum block as it broke in half and shattered in the sink, leaving the pieces as shown. I finished there with a new on. Even though the shave did not seem harsh, there was a bit of alum tingle, which was a surprise. We'll see if this improves with subsequent shaves.

The damaged delivery is disappointing. Hope they take care of you.

Fantastic photos and great journaling!

 

[Alum of Potash]

10-14-22:

Haven't posted in a while as I spent a week visiting friends in the Drôme region of southern France, close to the "plain-de-dieu" where some of the better côte-du-rhône varieties originate from. A very beautiful region with lots of medieval and ancient Roman ruins. And the wine harvest having ended, we walked past some of the vineyards eating leftover (organic) grapes straight from the vine. What fun! For the trip, I had planned to travel light, leaving my laptop behind and only relying on my Smartphone, but then I forgot to bring my Smartphone with me and had no connection to the Internet world at all! Guess I needed a break from it all...

As for today's shave:

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-shave--not shown);
Proraso aloe vera and vitamin E (shaving cream--not shown);
Fatip Piccolo special edition w/Tatra blade);
Osma bloc d'alun (astringent--not shown);
Brummel w/a dollop of 444 post-shave cream (after-shave).

A quick shot of some of today's players towards the end. The Tatra blade is mellowing nicely at around four shaves in, and the Fatip razor is doing the job it's supposed to do, shave my face. Starting out with the OC plate removed much of 3-1/2 days' beard growth in the first pass, followed by a second pass and final touch-up buffing with the closed-comb plate. Changing plates like this does not seem like such a chore, and a close, smooth shave was the result. No real tingle in applying the alum block, etc. The Brummel after-shave is one of many so-called "blue" aftershaves coming from Spain. I haven't tried any others besides Williams, but I do like the Brummel scent. How to describe it? It's sort of "blue" and "chemical-smelling" in an ocean-y, barber shop sort of way. A dollop of 444 placed on the palm prior to the splash and then blended added a nice cool-down effect at the end.

 

[Alum of Potash]

10-18-22:

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-cream);
Proraso aloe vera and vitamin E (shaving cream);
Vie-Long barber's 19mm boar-horse (brush);
Osma bloc d'alun (astringent);
Myrsol formula F./Extra (after-shave).

Think I finally included all the player's in today's shot. A nice, close shave in the usual two passes plus touch-ups. We've had some surprisingly nice weather here over the past few days, and in shaving off around four days' worth of growth, I noticed that my skin was paler there than other areas of my face that had been exposed to the sun! Really enjoying the Vie-Long barber's brush for palm lathering. Measuring ~20mm at the handle with an ~59mm loft, it's not exactly a popular dimension by today's gargantuan waist-size standard, but by scrunching up at the base of the knot in starting out, one can obtain a bit of backbone, followed by a release at the end to finish building the lather with the entirety of the knot. The Tatra blade is still holding up nicely around five shaves in. I may have look into picking up some more of these.

A follow-up on the Floid bottle with the cracked cap. After a couple of exchanges with Gifts & Care, they agreed to send me a replacement cap by the mail. It arrived over the weekend, but it's from another bottle, not Floid's. The threads seem to match, so I'm going to let things stand as they are. But the obsessive collector in me would have preferred to have a true Floid replacement cap for the designated "Genuine Aftershave" bottle. Now to finish off the Myrsol F./Extra to replace it with the Floid.

 

[Alum of Potash]

10-25-22:

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-shave);
Proraso Aloe and Vitamin E (shave cream);
HJM 20mm boar (shave brush);
Focus all-aluminum shavette w/Timor blade cut in half (razor);
Osma bloc d'alun (astringent);
Myrsol Formula F./Extra (after-shave).

Some familiar players, so I won't comment on them. For tonight's shave I chose to return to an all-metal shavette to see what the result would be, seeing that I've been having great results with shavettes used with plastic blade housing. By the end of the first pass I was congratulating myself and thinking that maybe my increased experience with the other shavettes had done the trick. But then, during the second pass, I experienced a couple of mysterious weepers, and in applying the alum block after the shave, a strong reaction occurred, indicating a harsher shave. Going to try another all-metal shavette to see if the same thing is the result there. I picked up the HJM boar brush for around 4 euros 11 years ago. It is one of those German boar knots formed by "Bertha" as Gary at the Shoebox Shaveshop used to style it. That meant that the tops of the bristles were clipped at the top in the interests of expediency. Only now, after 11 years of albeit infrequent use, are the tips starting to break in. The ergonomics of the handle are terrific. I would pick up a Persian Jar of similar size as a companion, but I'm really on a wooden handle kick right now. Wrote to Shavemac to see if they might produce something custom, but they said they're only dealing with resin handles. I could, of course, acquire a similar Muehle boar brush, remove the knot, and plant a badger knot in its place.

 

[Alum of Potash]

11-15-22:

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-shave);
LEA classic (shaving soap);
Vie-Long horse-badger (shaving brush);
François ~5/8 near wedge (razor);
Osma bloc d'alun (astringent);
Floid "The Genuine" (aftershave).

Haven't posted here in a while. The main reason is that as I was using pretty much the same shaving materials as before, there hasn't been very much new to comment about. I did do a side by side comparison with an all-aluminum Focus shavette and the R21 with a plastic housing, and the plastic housing shavette yielded the smoother shave hands-down.

As for today. A nice, close shave in two passes plus touch-ups. Ergonomics of this French razor are a bit difficult for me. The blade's spine is narrower than I'm used to and the scales are very thin, making me think they may be made from ivory. It had been sitting on the shelf unused for around four years. First shave with it three days ago tugged a little, so I perked things up by stropping on a double-sided leather pasted strop, 8 laps on the red side followed by 8 laps on the black side. Tonight's shave was much easier as a result. 30 seconds of loading the LEA soap onto the brush went well prior to palm-lathering. It's a nice all-around soap with a mild "barber shop" type scent. The lather seems a bit drier than the Proraso cream I've been using though. Finally finished the Myrsol F./Extra bottle and this was my first time using the supposedly original formula Floid. Really, a different sensation than most other aftershaves I've used, it felt a little bit thicker, like a lotion. Alcohol was there, but not very pronounced. Slowly built to a menthol cool-down. I could not smell much of a scent in applying it, but after drying, there was a nice powdery scent that lingered for a while.

 

[Alum of Potash]

11-18-22:

Please see my post as linked below.

***** SOTD "WHERE I'M FROM" Week - November 14th to Nov 20th, 2022 ***** - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/sotd-where-im-from-week-november-14th-to-nov-20th-2022.632547/page-8#post-12016578

 

[thombrogan]

Saw it. Thank you!

 

[Alum of Potash]

12-06-22:

Stirling Sheep (shaving soap);
VP Leonhardy boar-badger (shaving brush);
Dovo Shavette with Turkish Lord half-blade (razor).

Haven't made a journal entry in a while. No real excuse, although I had been busy preparing for my return to Old New England and exactly 36 hours after arriving I then came down with a pretty nasty flu. Only now starting to feel strong enough to shave and make an entry like this.

Given the circumstances, I thought it would be fitting to match them with an austere shave. Hence, the sole use of the Stirling Sheep soap. A couple of years back, I asked Rod of Stirling to recommend a soap that would work best without any sort of post-shave treatment, and he recommended his Sheep line of soaps, to which I was inclined to agree. The usual two passes plus touch-ups yielded a nice, close shave; and thirty minutes later, my skin feels pretty smooth. Okay, a post-shave treatment would be preferable, but it's not too bad, especially if one were pressed for time or short on things.

The VP Leonhardy boar-badger shave brush is in a class of its own. Loaded with clipped boar bristles (German manufacturers seem to like this for some reason), it is easily the scritchiest knot I've ever encountered. It is not for face-lathering! Otherwise, or palm-lathered in this case, it works fine, and in this case, complemented the austere theme.

The brush has also launched are hopefully to be my lathering scruples for the time being:

• A "natural" shaving brush knot (at present these are animal sourced--boar, horse, badger, blends, etc.);
• A "natural" shaving brush handle (wood, metal, stone, bone, horn, or potentially ceramic--not plastic);
• Palm-lathering, as opposed to face- or bowl-lathering.

We'll see how long I can stick to my scruples here...

 

[Alum of Potash]

12-10-22:

Vitos cream (mentholated pre-shave);
Stirling Texas on Fire (shaving soap);
Semogue "Owners' Club" best badger (shaving brush);
Dovo Shavette w/Turkish Lord half-blade (razor);
Stirling Texas on Fire witch hazel w/aloe (post-shave/astringent).

Back-to-back shaves involving Stirling sheep tallow on 12/6 to beef tallow today on 12/10 and I do hereby declare the sheep tallow soap to be the "slicker" of the two, with the beef tallow feeling a little bit drier in comparison. Once again, a close, smooth shave in two passes plus touch-ups. Last shave for this blade though after around 6-7 shaves and a trip across the Atlantic. The SOC brush is definitely a work of quality. Thing is, with palm-lathering, it is a bit of a lather hog, holding it in the knot rather than releasing it in the palm. So a narrower knot with hair that sheds more is needed. Boar, horse, and even pure badger are better in this regard. The "Texas on Fire" scent is not for everyone with its smoky, some would say spent ashtray, scent. I like it though. Keeps me warm outside on a raw, cold day like today's was here.

 

[Alum of Potash]

Correction to one sentence as written directly above. It should read: "So a narrower knot with hair that sheds lather more is needed.'

 

[Alum of Potash]

12-13-22:

Stirling Sheep (shaving soap);
Omega boar (shaving brush);
Dovo Shavette w/Personna blade (razor);
Thayer's lavender witch hazel (astringent).

First time using one the larger Personna hair-shaping blades, which uses a different plastic insert. I was running late for an appointment and started to rush things, even though the larger blade was new to me. Everything was going quite well during the first pass until I felt something catch beneath my jawline and the blade dug in. Ouch! A quarter-inch cut was the result. Thankfully, it wasn't too deep and had almost healed by the end of the shave, but I will definitely have to go slower next time. Also helps that I had to wear a mask during the appointment as I came down with Covid around ten days ago. That hid the cut from view. Thayer's alcohol-free witch hazel was the perfect post-shave given the circumstances and went well with the subtle "sheep" smell of the sheep soap.

 

[thombrogan]

Please heal from the infection and the cut soon.

 

[Alum of Potash]

In rereading what I wrote on 12-06, I said that I had come down with a nasty flu. That's what I thought it was as I had a fever of 102 F at the start and a home test yielded a negative result, and I'd heard that with Covid, the fever was lower, around 100.5 F. A few days later, when the fever had passed and I was feeling better, a friend suggested that I take a lab test to be sure. So I did. And the surprise was that I tested positive. That explains the lingering cough...

Also, in today's shaving entry, I forgot to mention that the Omega boar brush did a phenomenal job in loading from the puck and palm-lathering.