Connor's Shaving, Fragrance, and Restore Journal

[conroygc]

Good morning gentlemen!

I decided to combine a few previous threads I have started into one master thread.

About Me and How I got into Wetshaving
My name is Connor Lawrence. I'm 22, born and raised near Salt Lake City, Utah. I'm studying Physics at the University of Utah and I deliver pizza for a locally owned pizza place. I like vintage and fine clothing, shaving paraphernalia, all sorts of things that smell good, cigars, whiskey, jazz & blues, craft beer, steak and bars that remind me of the TV show Cheers. I have a GF I've been dating for a few years, she's very supportive of my hobbies and I'll probably mention her often.
My adventures in wetshaving started with the website Art of Manliness 2-3 years ago. Their first article was a guide on how to shave with a safety razor called "How to Shave Like Your Grandpa". I've always loved everything old and vintage, and I must admit that website has had a large influence on me as I've grown these past few years. Anyway, I soon purchased a '40s Gillette at an antique store and it's history from there.

I don't have too much of an outline for this thread, but I'll be posting lots of pictures of my SOTDs, new acquisitions, razors I'm working on restoring, my thoughts on fragrances as I go through my samples and everything else that us gents on this here forum enjoy.

Most importantly, I look forward to getting to know more B&B members. I think it's great that there's a place on the internet where I can converse with so many like minded individuals who share the same hobbies I do.

Thanks for reading!
Connor




My shopping list/WTB/WTT/ To-try list
Tabac Soap or Cream
Arko Stick
Proraso Sensitive Skin Soap
Proraso Pre-Shave
T&H Sampler: http://www.truefittandhill.com/detail_10106__37.html
GFT Sampler: http://www.trumpers.com/product_detail.cfm?ProductID=111547656
DR Harris Sampler: http://www.drharris.co.uk/shaving-soaps--creams/d-r-harris-all-shaving-cream-trial-size
MWF Soap
Boar Brush
W&B "For Barber's Use" straight razor w/notch
Green Irish Tweed frag
L'Occtaine Vevyter
Mama Bear's Soap
Handmade Soap Company Shaving Soap
Order from Garry's Sample Shop
Nivea Sensitive ASB
All of Penhaligon's Scents except Sartorial
Cella Soap
CrOx on a strop
Mugso Real A/S
Ogallala Bay rum A/S
Lucky Tiger Face Tonic
Moonshine cologne
Floid Aftershave

My Shave Den: (strike out if it's no longer with me)
--Razors--
Dovo "Best Quality" 5/8"
Dovo "Silver Steel" 5/8" w/Ebony scales
Goldy Bros ZOZ
W&B Full Wedge 5/8" (under restoration)
--Pre--
Shave Secret Oil
Pacific Shaving Company Pre-Shave Oil
--Soap/Cream--
Dr. Bronner's Peppermit Gel
CO Bigelow Eucalyptus and Mint
Mugso Real Cream
Williams/VDH Frankensoap
Pacific Shaving Company Cream
--After--
Barbershop Bourbon AS (Clubman)
CO Bigelow Elixer Red ASB (thanks invizable!)
Thayer's Original Witch Hazel w/Aloe
SCS Avocado ASB (thanks invizable!)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum
Burt's Bees Aftershave Balm (thanks invizable!)
Lucky Tiger Menthol Vanishing Cream
--DEs and Blades--
A few Gillette Techs & Slims, An Engels, Merkur 34C
--Scents--
Bvlgari Black
Geo F. Trumper Sandalwood
Tabac
Truefitt & Hill Trafalgar
Saint Charles Shave Limited Sandalwood
Saint Charles Shave Smoke & Beads
Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme
Hermes Concentre d’Orange Verte
Crabtree & Evelyn West Indian Limes
Musgo Real #2 Oakmoss
Penhaligon's Sartorial
Cuba Paris Prestige
Lalique Encre Noir
Burberry Brit(Finished Bottle)
--Strops & Hones--
SRD 2" Latigo Strop
Heritage Shaving Leather Strop
Boker Japanese 600, 1000 and 1500
Naniwa 5K, 8K and 12K
--Brushes--
Heritage Shaving Pure Badger Hair
No-Name Silver Tip
VDH Boar

 

[conroygc]

Hot Shower
Shave Secret Oil
Mugso Real
Gillette Tech/Wilkinson Sword
No-Name Silver Tip Badger Brush
Thayer's
SCS Avocado Balm
T&H Trafalgar EDT

The Razor
Don't you love when you tell someone that you shave with razors from 50 years ago, and instead of looking at you crazily they say "Oh really? I have a few of my grandfather's razors. You should have them!". Me too. That's how I acquired this Gillette Tech. I haven't bothered to date it to an exact year. I was much too aggressive when I cleaned it and all of the finish is gone. The handle is brass colored, the head is gold colored, and the cap is silver colored. I've been using straights for several months, but I finally decided to try one of the DEs I have sitting around. I popped a Wally World Wilkinson Sword blade into it and did two passes. Wow! Such a great shave. So smooth. Really a great razor and will be a keeper for when I'm in need of a quick, no fuss shave.

Mugso Real
SCAD is the flavor of the week at my house. I'm sure I'll start in on soaps too. Picked up a nearly full tube of Mugso off the BST recently and was excited to try it out. I must say the lather was wonderful! I'm betting it's the lanolin, but man it just worked for me. Super slick, easy to lather, and left my skin feeling great. I'll definitely be picking up more lanolin products soon. I had to look it up to remind myself, but lanolin is "wool grease" described by wikipedia as "a yellow waxy substance secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals."
As for the scent... I liked it fine immediately. To me it has a simple, classic barbershop smell, though perhaps a little "medicated" smelling. I prefer stronger, more EO based scents, like sandalwood, mint, menthol, etc, but that nostalgic barbershop scent will keep this product in rotation for me. My GF was going through my recent acquisitions, and she was not so fond of the smell. It reminded her of rash cream! I'm really bummed she said that because now when I use it I'll have to focus on "barbershop" instead of medicated rash cream when I use it...
Anyone else a fan of the Mugso? Anyone agree with the GF about the scent?

 

[conroygc]

This is a repost of another thread I started:

Seeing as how the smells are one of my favorite aspects of shaving, it felt only right to start sampling different fragrances, but I held off for a while since they can get mighty pricey. Then I found Acherfire's vendor thread...and viola! Couldn't resist ordering a few that I had read about here on the forums and picking up some frags that I have been wanting to try like Sandalwood and veviter. Here's what came in today:

Bvlgari Black
Geo Trumper Sandalwood
Tabac
Truefitt & Hill Trafalgar
Saint Charles Shave Limited Sandalwood
Saint Charles Shave Smoke & Beads
Dolce & Gabbana Pour Homme
Hermes Concentre d’Orange Verte
Crabtree & Evelyn West Indian Limes
Musgo Real #2 Oakmoss
Penhaligon's Sartorial


(prior to this order I've only ever owned three frags: Burberry Brit, Aqua Di Gio (didn't like), and Cuba Paris Prestige)


Initial Thoughts from the GF
Not surprisingly, she loves Bulgari Black, T&H Trafalgar and Pen's Sartorial, though she did say the later reminder her of her grandfather; not in a bad way, but it's sort of odd if your significant other reminds you of your grandfather...especially in bed. She hated Hermes Concentre d'Orange Verte, which is too bad since that's one of my early favorites. All the other scents she was pretty neutral on, though we both agreed Smoke & Beads smells strongly of hippies.

 

[conroygc]

Truefitt & Hill Trafalgar Cologne - Retail $75/100ml

The first sample from the collection didn't disappoint. Trafalgar had almost a clean and refreshing scent to it, masculine and not too strong. It's only been three days since I first wore this, but I already can't remember much else about it. I'll have to post sooner after trying frags.

Penhaligon's Sartorial Eau de Toilette - $110/100ml

The English scents continue to please. I was surprised at how different this scent was from when I first sprayed it on compared to a few hours later. My initial impression agreed with my GF's, it reminded me of old men. Not in the derogatory sense some people use, I mean more that this is a very refined, masculine, mature scent. After a few hours of wearing however, it took a somewhat different note. Still refined, but a little more sweet. I must admit I am tempted to order a full bottle of this great smelling edt. FWIW, my mom caught a whiff of me at the family Christmas party and asked me if I was wearing Elsha.


A Couple Questions:
1. Where do you apply the scent? I've read at the pulse points, so I've been doing a spray on either side of my neck, and one spray on one wrist, which I then rub onto the other wrist. My understanding is that I can tone up or down from there based on the silliage of the scent.
2. Is it more correct to use the word scent or frag? Does it matter, or are these terms interchangeable?


One last thought...
I'm quickly finding I don't like fragrances that smell like "cologne". I use the word cologne because I can't think of a better word for it, but let me give you some examples. So far I don't care at all for Aqua Di Gio or D&G Por Homme. They smell like...cheap department store cologne to me. Am I way off here? The Bulgari Black almost has this same quality to me, but those hits of leather/rubber actually make this an appealing, very sexy scent.


Thanks for reading my ramblings! Apologies for the back to back long posts, but I've been meaning to type all of this up for a while now.
Cheers,
Connor

 

[StylinLA]

A Couple Questions:
1. Where do you apply the scent? I've read at the pulse points, so I've been doing a spray on either side of my neck, and one spray on one wrist, which I then rub onto the other wrist. My understanding is that I can tone up or down from there based on the silliage of the scent.
2. Is it more correct to use the word scent or frag? Does it matter, or are these terms interchangeable?

There are no hard fast rules. On the side of the neck can tend to make the scent wear a bit louder, and also being closer to your nose, tend to make you more apt to olfactory fatigue. But I wear there sometimes.

Of late, with most scents I do one to chest, one to back of neck, one to each wrist. Once you have worn a scent a few times, you may develop a slightly different method that you use to wear each one since they vary in strength and projection (the ability to "project out" to others). A wife, GF, or good friend can help you assess how "loud" your scents are, as well as how long they last. The dreaded olfactory fatigue is very real, and basically means your own nose is tuning out the scent, often leading you to believe it doesn't last. Women have a very good sense for these things, and asking your GF will help. Many women I know are masters of wearing just the right amount of scent with the effect being it kind of comes and goes...it doesn't stay ever present.

Scents, frangrances, frags are interchangeabe, with frags sort of being an "insider" slang term...for guys who are into this stuff enough to hang in the fragrances forum. Both are generally used because they are preferable to saying cologne or aftershave, which everyone understands, but are technically inaccurate. Men's scents are really in four categories; After shave, eau de Cologne, eau de Toilette, eau de Parfum. They are all scents: they vary in concentration of fragrance and alcohol.

 

[conroygc]

StylinLA,
Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear there are "no hard, fast rules", that's what I was hoping.

I just decided what my next purchase will be. I'm very excited about this! I'm going to order the samples from Truefitt & Hill, Geo F Trumper, and D.R. Harris:
http://www.truefittandhill.com/detail_10106__37.html
http://www.trumpers.com/product_detail.cfm?ProductID=111547656
http://www.drharris.co.uk/shaving-soaps--creams/d-r-harris-all-shaving-cream-trial-size

I've heard so many mentions and positive comments about the products and scents from the above companies. I've very excited to try all of their different lines. I probably won't place the orders until mid-January when funds have settled a little from the holidays, but I'm looking forward to it.

 

[ChiefWahoo]

I'm in the middle of Trumper and Truefitt samples right now and love the Trafalgar myself. Didn't know Harris had a sample pack. Can't wait to try that one. Thanks!

 

[StylinLA]

Btw, I should have mentioned, check with GF a few hours after you have applied a scent...not right after you put it on. Many of them start differently and louder than they will be after a couple of hours.

 

[conroygc]

Btw, I should have mentioned, check with GF a few hours after you have applied a scent...not right after you put it on. Many of them start differently and louder than they will be after a couple of hours.

Even though I'm two scents in I've noticed that. The sartorial smelled very different at the end of the night compared to when I first sprayed it.

Update: Got a sample of Encre Noir this morning. Also on the way is GFT Eucris soap, MWF, a sample of pen's BB, a boar hair brush, tons of homemade shaving cream, aftershave, and oil. Also, I'm about 90% sure my parents are giving me a shaving brush for Christmas. Woo-hoo!!

 

[conroygc]

Oh boy. I talked myself into another decants order. On the way:

Borsari Acqua Classica de Parma
Penhaligon's Endymion
Penhaligon's Racquets
Penhaligon's Blenheim
Demeter Dirt
Geoffrey Beene Grey Flannel
Givenchy Insense
Filles des Iles Golden Floral


I think it may be time to slow down on the purchases...

 

[conroygc]

I've heard that there is quite a difference between the Tabac edc and the Tabac edt. I'm not sure which one I have, exactly. I thought this was a pretty simple fragrance when I sprayed it in. I didn't detect too many distinct notes. Mostly an earthy smell, perhaps some light oakmoss and veviter. This scent quickly faded after about five minutes, and didn't ever come back. Even a few hours later when I smell my wrist where I applied it I can hardly smell it.
I like the scent fine, thought it's not mind blowing. I would still love to try the Tabac soap, but it looks like their frag won't make it into my favorites book.

There is a great store here in Salt Lake City called Tabula Rasa. They specialize in fine pens and stationary, but in the past few years they have added a decent selection of shaving gear and now some high end fragrances as well. My family and I go Christmas shopping there each year, so yesterday we made our annual trip. I was excited to see that they carry Geo F. Trumper, Edwin Jagger, Caswell-Massey and Jack Black products. Fortunately nothing they had in stock was too inciting and my wallet lives to fight another day. Their fragrance collection however was another story. I was very surprised to find that they carry Penhaligons. I was able to sample the Edymion, Blenheim Bouquet, and English Fern. I must say I enjoyed all of them immensely, though the English Fern was the one I almost purchased on the spot. It was appealing because it doesn't smell even close to any other fragrance I've sampled so far. So far, in my book, all of Pen's fragrances deserve a place on my counter.

 

[conroygc]

I recently picked up what I thought was some vintage Ed Pinaud aftershave. Due to the packaging, I'm guessing its from the sixties. The bottle was nearly full so I decided it would be a great buy. It had a kind of mild floral scent to it, which I found a bit odd.

I shaved, and proceeded to splash some of this golden liquid on my face. It became quickly apparent that this was actually ladies perfume, and now my face smelled like a little old lady. Oh well, live and learn, and now I have a cool old bottle of perfume.

 

[rickboone1]

Do you work at The Pie?

 

[conroygc]

No, I live about 20 minutes outside of Salt Lake and work at a little local pizza joint kinda similar to the pie. I've been to the pie many, many times though!

 

[conroygc]

Note: I wasn't aware that I would not be able to edit posts after a certain amount of time. The list in my first posting is out of date. I guess I'll have to make a Wiki article sometime.

First up, the scent I wore yesterday:

I must say I had high hopes for this scent. Veviter is talked up a lot around here and this particular frag was recommended by Randy as one of the best for veviter. While I do like the smell quite a bit, I just don't love it on me. It was too strong, and too sweet smelling. It's been a full 24 hours since I applied it and I can still catch good whiffs of it here and there. Perhaps I'll enjoy it more during the summer, but for now, my sample of this is going in the drawer.

I posted a little thread about this in the shaving cream forum, but along with the vintage perfume above, I found some NOS Burma-Shave at an antique store recently. The cream still appears to be usable, so I'll try it out one of these days. I also scored a vintage Burma-Shave bottle. According to the pamphlet that came with the tube, it was once full of shaving cream. I think I'll wash it up and store some of my current stock of shaving cream in it.

I got around to polishing up some antique store finds from a few months ago of some nice vintage Gillettes.

Slim Adjustable in Original Case

Can anyone help me date/name this razor? Too bad some of the teeth are bent.

40's Super Speed. This one is going to my nephew for Christmas.

Most of the plating came of this razor due to the clean up. Shaves wonderfully though, one of my favorites. Can anyone help with a name/date?

Starburst

Here's a picture of the whole family, before cleaning.


I received a few packages in the mail today. I traded a couple shaving mugs for some homemade shaving cream, oil, and aftershave balm from a wetshaving friend on Twitter. The rest comes from recent BST purchases. The puck of soap in the plastic is MWF. Can't wait to try everything out!

 

[conroygc]

Dear mods,

Any chance you can delete the two lists out of my original post?

Much thanks!

 

[conroygc]

Geo F. Trumper Sandalwood Cologne - $60 for 50ml

This is a wonderful sandalwood cologne. Features just the right balance of sandalwood and spices. I ended up wearing this on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day, because the GF and I liked the scent so much, and it was a good match for the holidays. I keep hearing that it is comparable to Chanel's Egoist. I'll have to try that one sometime.


SOTD 12/27/11
Hot Shower
Home made lemon pre-shave oil
GFT Eucris shaving soap
Edwin Jagger silver tip that I received for Christmas
Gold Dollar #66
Thayer's
Homemade Sandalwood Vanilla skin milk

I decided to copy SRP and B&B user jdto's format for SOTD posts from here on out. So big hat tip to Jack and his wonderful shaving journal!

The Anticipation
This morning's shave was the last thing on my mind before falling asleep last night. I've received so many new products and shaving gear in the past few weeks that have not been used yet and I've got at least two weeks before I'll run out of new frags to try. Trying new products is definitely one of my favorite parts of the wet shaving experience. B&B user paco664 was kind enough to send me a Gold Dollar 66 razor after expressing my disbelief to him that a $6 razor could deliver a great shave. The thing is hefty, and I was curious to see how it would perform.
My friend Alex Marks (@AlexMarks89 on twitter) generously sent me the pile of homemade shaving goodies I mentioned above. Today I tried out the preshave oil and the skin milk.


The Prep
Hot shower, as always. My parents gave me a Edwin Jagger brush for Christmas. There was no indication of what kind of badger hair it is on the box, but they said it was the nicest one available and it appears to be a finest/silver tip badger brush. I let the new brush soak in some hot water and splashed a little water on the GFT Eucris to let it soak as well. I rubbed a few drops of Alex's homemade lemon scented preshave oil to let the whiskers soak. The scent of this product is not great...the lemon is overpowering and smells like lemon pledge. For the next batch I'd recommend toning down the lemon and perhaps adding a few notes of other subtle scents to even it out and add some complexity. Pacific shaving company's shaving oil is a good comparison for a citrus smelling pre-shave oil. The oil certainly did its duty in terms of softening whiskers, adding some slickness to the shave and leaving my skin feeling nice, but I think it is a little too runny for an oil and seemed a little on the greasy side, though it washes off fine. I must say that Shave Secret Oil is still my favorite pre-shave due to the smell and the cost!


The Lather
This is my first shave with the Geo F. Trumper's Eucris soap. I was looking forward to trying out my first Trumpers soap after reading so many reviews of it here on B&B. I like the scent of the Eucris fine...but I don't love it. It kind of reminds me of some Old Spice deodorant I used to have. No matter what individual notes I look for in the smell, my brain still goes back to deodorant. I let the water soak the top of the puck, shook the water out of my brush, and loaded the brush for roughly a minute. Question: How hard am I supposed to press the brush onto the puck? Do I just want the tip of the brush touching the puck, or should I press down so that the brush almost flattens out onto the soap? I added a few drops of water into my bowl and whipped the lather for another minute. I wasn't super impressed with the lather, but that's probably due to user error. It was a tad fluffy and dried out on my face before I got through my first pass. A bit dried onto my lips and when I breathed out little flakes would come flying off. Do I just need to add more water to the lather? Between this experience and the lather from the MWF the other day it's pretty clean I need to improve my lather making somehow.


The Shave
Would the Gold Dollar deliver a golden shave or pull whiskers off my face like I was expecting it to? Paco664 honed this razor wonderfully before sending it out to me, and I must say I was extremely impressed with the quality of the razor and the shave. The GD is pretty big, much bigger and heavier than my Dovo Silver Steel. I think I really like the heft on this razor. It sliced through whiskers like butter, without any dragging anywhere on my face. I will end up PIFing this razor or giving it to a friend to help them get started (since the razor was given to me...pay it forward, right?), but I have ordered a couple Gold Dollars on eBay to test my honing skills and see if I can make these razors as nice as Paco has. The first WTG pass went well. Very smooth feeling as the razor glided over my skin. I was surprised to see that I had a small nick near my lip at the end of the first pass. It's funny how you don't even feel them. I added some more water to my lather and for the second, XTG pass. I was feeling a little razor burnt and had a couple nicks, so I didn't bother with the touch up pass.


The Post
I splashed on Thayer's original witch hazel and let that cool my face for a few minutes. Have I mentioned how much I love this stuff? It's like putting ice water on a fire when I have a spot of razor burn. Someday I'll have to order a sample pack from Thayer's and try all of their products. I followed that up with Alex's vanilla/sandalwood skin milk. This stuff is great, and he gave me what must be a six month supply of it! For some reason it actually smells more like almond to me than sandalwood/vanilla, but either way the scent is very mellow and pleasing, and it fades fairly quickly (which I like in a ASB). I have oily skin and usually avoid after shave balms since they leave my face very greasy. While the skin milk does leave my face a little more oily that I would like, it is less so than any other ASB I have ever used and the healing and conditioning effects are wonderful. My face feels great after using this, great work Alex.

EdT: Concentre D'Orange Verte by Hermes - $70 for 3.3

oz

I love this scent, but unfortunately my girlfriend hates it. I had to wait for a day where I would unfortunately not be seeing her.
Smells like oranges with very subtle hints of other spices and patchouli. Instantly reminded me of the simmer pots my family makes at Christmas time. I don't think I'd splurge on a full bottle, nor would I wear this every day, but it is a nice "special occasion" smell.
After wearing this for a couple of hours, I think I'd rather have this smell as a home air freshener than a cologne. It smells wonderful, but IMO this is what a "place" should smell like, not a person.

The Verdict
As is the case with straight razor shaving, as soon as you think you have it down, you realize again that you suck. My lather from the soaps is still weak. I think it'll take quite a bit of practice before I can get them where I want. Obviously my technique with the razor is lacking, too. After the second pass I had about half a dozen very small nicks on my mustache and above-the-chin area. I also had some nasty razor burn right above my adams apple. Both were cured completely by the aftercare products, but it's still frustrating that I can still get a better shave from a safety razor than any of my straights. I will continue to work on blade angle and pressure, since I'm sure those are what are causing my issues.

For anyone who reads my ramblings, I hope that easing back into the week after the great holiday is going well for you and that you have been able to enjoy some shaving related Christmas gifts the past two days!

Cheers,
Connor

P.S. I just wanted to thank Jack/jdto again. His journal has made great reading material, and anyone who reads it will be able to tell I am stealing his style a bit

 

[conroygc]

Hot Shower
Shave Secret Oil
Alex's Homemade Peppermint/Chamomile Shaving Cream
Edwin Jagger Silvertip
Gold Dollar #66 & Dovo Silver Steel Ebony
Thayer's
Barbershop Bourbon AS
Pen's Racquets

The Anticipation
I'm most excited to shave when I have new stuff to try, and I'm going to have new stuff to try for a very long time. Back in the Fusion days, I wouldn't dream of shaving two days in a row. The razorburn and ingrown hairs were not worth it, and I had a beard most of the time anyway. After yesterdays shave, which was a mild improvement over other shaves as of late, I decided I'd go for another shave today. My goals were to do two passes and a touch up pass with absolutely no nicks or irritation by focusing on my blade angle and using as little pressure as possible.

The Prep
Hot shower followed by Shave Secret oil. Soaked the Edwin Jagger brush and busted out the homemade soap my friend Alex gave me.

The Lather
The homemade chamomile/peppermint soft soap had a great scent as I scooped a little bit into my shaving bowl, but unfortunately it faded very quickly. The lather wouldn't whip up very thick, it stayed a little thin and foamy no matter what I tried to do. I didn't add glycerin to it, I'll have to do that next time. The soap looked a little thin on my face, but didn't dry up at all throughout the shave. It wasn't the slickest stuff I've ever used and the cushion could be a little better, but overall this wasn't a bad soap. Wish the smell stayed on longer. For my second and touch up passes I added a little Musgo to the mix to improve the lather.

The Shave
Again, the goal for today was as little pressure as possible in order to achieve a completely irritation free shave. I focused on my blade angle too, and it was a looong shave. I switched off between my two razors to see which one I liked better. I'd say they were equal on sharpness, but the heft and weight of the gold dollar made that one stand out a little bit. WTG and XTG, and then a touch up here and there. The good news is I had absolutely no nicks. Not even one like tiny red dot. I think this is only the first or second time I've been able to do that. The bad news is my face was fairly irritated by the end of the shave.

The Post
I poured out more Thayer's than usual and really soaked my face and let it dry to help with the razor burn. Followed that up with a small splash of my barbershop bourbon aftershave (Clubman mixed with bourbon and glycerin). Oh man, gotta love that sting. I usually only use this when I'm shaving really early in the morning, because it's a better pick me up than coffee. My face is still feeling a little sensitive and irritated, which is disappointing, but not too surprising for having shaved two days in a row.

Edt: Penhaligon's Racquets

This is the first Pen's fragrance that I haven't loved. The only scent I get after dry down is powder and it smells pretty perfumy.

The Verdict
Mild success today considering I didn't have any nicks or cuts and that I successfully shaved two days in a row for the first time since I've had real facial hair. It's still frustrating I get a less irritating shave from my DEs still, but I guess I'll just have to keep working at it. Still having a ton of fun trying out new stuff, and really enjoying my morning shaves.


I was quite bored yesterday and ordered myself a little care package from West Coast Shaving. On the way is Proraso in the white tub, Ogallala sandalwood and bay rum soap, Razorock xxx, speick stick, pinaud clubman special reserve, erasmic stick, and a stick of arko I ordered off eBay. I also won a gold dollar #66 and a #300 on eBay. Lots of gear on the way!