Flask's newbie adventure

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

I was simultaneously inspired and horrified by @Guido75's recent mash up Tabarko experiment. Would two scents that individually trigger anxiety attacks be something I like in combination? Or would they send me gibbering to the Big Nurse?

I decided that was a question I didn't need answered.

But as I was pawing around for a fallish soap this morning I realized, wait, I could try a fallish scent combination experiment myself. Lord knows i have plenty of soaps to play with.

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After some sniffing and snorting I ended up deciding on what I've nicknamed Atomic Sky Pumpkin Harvest. That's only a working title.










These are two very soft soaps, with the MacDuff's being the softer of the two, so I decided to bowl lather. Something I don't do very often, generally just with soft soaps and cropes like these. My RV 25mm STF is great with a bowl so it got "voluntold" to participate this morning. And it wasn't happy about participating in something so uncouth as mixing artisan soaps, thank you very much!

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I decided to mix 1g of each soap into the bowl, for a generous 2g load. More than enough for three passes with the STF by my experience.







Once it was messily transferred to the the bowl, I started to think wow, that's a lot of soap. Then I smushed it around with my finger to mix it up - and thought "Oh, Adam. That's WAY too much soap."

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At this point the scent combination was hitting me full force and let me tell you, the apple of the Harvest Sky was the winner. Easily the top note in the bowl and lathered up on my face, the apple did combine nicely with the PAA's sweetish bay rum. It was like the MacDuff's fig note got sweeter and smoker in combination with the Atomic Pumpkin.

I had at the super pasty concoction with the STF and not surprisingly it immediately turned into toothpaste. Water!! More Water! Ok, some more water!

At some point I just decided to bring what I had to my face and went to work with a few more spritzes from the water bottle, eventually achieving a yogurty, mediumish structure and very buttery lather. It was plenty slick, had great cushioning and a touch of that kinda cake frosting feel that I associate with CK6.

On my face and shaving, the warm apple scent reigned supreme. MacDuff's scent really stomped on the PAA scent which surprised me a little. It was there, the sweet and the bay sneaking around under the apple, but it was second chair to the Sky of Harvest.

The post shave feel, a few hours in, I can report as fantastic! Truly, I've got GD Karios levels of steely tight marbleface right now. If the scent side of this experiment was a little underwhelming, the post shave feel discovery was worth it alone.

I'm looking at my soaps a whole different way now. Thanks a lot @Guido75!

Its so good to see a new post from you Flask, I gotta be honest, I am so excited, I vocalized WOOT WOOT. I Think what impresses me the most, is that you have a Cayuene Workshop shave bowl, I absolutely love it! You know I have one too, the Dark Nebula variety, life is just so good, when you embrace the Cayune, and work the soap lather into the ridges with extreme prejudice. Start whipping that brush around and around, soap bubble bubble towel and trouble, whip whap, putting your skills on the map, gonna get this done in a snap.

Flask says that was way too much soap, I say depends on how much water you put in it. I do 3-pass shaves, with the possibility of a 4th being added later, so having an additional amount of soap, is where I want to be. I don't know where you wanna be, but if I had to guess, I'd say you want oil slick alley on your face, ready for the blade of destiny, to vanquish enemy whisker insurgence, leaving the road less traveled on intact. You also have a lovely brush as well Flask, so kudo's my friend!

Its interesting that you mentioned going with a fall scent, I couldn't agree more. Which is why in my last shave, which you can read about in my Timeless Bronze 0.38 thread, I gave a full report, and I used Stirling's Almond Creme shave soap, which is heavenly. If you are a lover of almonds with a dash of cherry, both eating them, and wearing them on your face, then Almond Creme is where you wanna be. Captains Choice Italia pretty much smells the exact same, so I used that aftershave to compliment the soap.

Again, its just so nice seeing a new post from you Flask, when I saw the notification of your post, I put the new thread I am working on hold, I clicked that notification so fast! And then when I saw your pictures, I was like, where's my water bottle, I am about to lose some H2O due to drooling. Thank you so much for making a post today, you really made my day.

 

[flask28]

Its so good to see a new post from you Flask, I gotta be honest, I am so excited, I vocalized WOOT WOOT. I Think what impresses me the most, is that you have a Cayuene Workshop shave bowl, I absolutely love it! You know I have one too, the Dark Nebula variety, life is just so good, when you embrace the Cayune, and work the soap lather into the ridges with extreme prejudice. Start whipping that brush around and around, soap bubble bubble towel and trouble, whip whap, putting your skills on the map, gonna get this done in a snap.

Flask says that was way too much soap, I say depends on how much water you put in it. I do 3-pass shaves, with the possibility of a 4th being added later, so having an additional amount of soap, is where I want to be. I don't know where you wanna be, but if I had to guess, I'd say you want oil slick alley on your face, ready for the blade of destiny, to vanquish enemy whisker insurgence, leaving the road less traveled on intact. You also have a lovely brush as well Flask, so kudo's my friend!

Its interesting that you mentioned going with a fall scent, I couldn't agree more. Which is why in my last shave, which you can read about in my Timeless Bronze 0.38 thread, I gave a full report, and I used Stirling's Almond Creme shave soap, which is heavenly. If you are a lover of almonds with a dash of cherry, both eating them, and wearing them on your face, then Almond Creme is where you wanna be. Captains Choice Italia pretty much smells the exact same, so I used that aftershave to compliment the soap.

Again, its just so nice seeing a new post from you Flask, when I saw the notification of your post, I put the new thread I am working on hold, I clicked that notification so fast! And then when I saw your pictures, I was like, where's my water bottle, I am about to lose some H2O due to drooling. Thank you so much for making a post today, you really made my day.

Ha! Thank you man, that's super nice of you to say.

There was some impressive rhyming in your post!

 

[Guido75]

Most welcome @flask28. I say let the mixing and matching begin! This was a ratio of 1:1 so you can take it in any direction from the on with your weight scale!

 

[swellcat]

What was your breakfast cereal/shaving soap pairing?

Marshmallows and Nag Champa

Beware of feeling compelled to warship Satin if you trod down this crooked path.








Disclosure: I don't own these products, but I did see one of them marked down at the grocery store.

 

[flask28]

HA! Nice @swellcat!

What soap goes with WheatChex I wonder?

 

[swellcat]

Got grain?

It's not just for breakfast, anymore.

 

[flask28]

Here it's a little over a year of wet shaving here at B&B and I've been lucky enough to be able to try dozens of razors. Most of those of those were loans from generous brothers, some were gifts, or BST/Reddit/ebay scores. They all got an audition and, like @Phoenixkh, I ended up with a small clutch of razors that seemed to work for me better than the rest. They all nail the smooth/efficient balance for me in a way made them stand out. I'm excited to use any of these, it's hard to choose in the mornings.

What I am as thankful for is that over the year each of the razors have, over time, received custom furniture direct from the garage of @Tanuki. Today the last (?) stand came in and really tied the room together . Together they have a pleasing organic symmetry - like a wood, leather and chrome garden. Growing in my medicine cabinet. LOL.

The long wide stand is custom dimensioned for the RR Thin Vintage handle with the fancy o-rings, it fits perfectly! That's got a Set #23 flat bottom tech head on it, easily the favorite of the many techs I've been able to try.

The Slim was my DE second razor, a gift from B&B, and still a favorite of mine. It's stand was the first I recieved, I think it was almost experimental. A successful experiment! The marbled stand is holding the Senator, a score from @gpjoe. Every time I use that razor I think to myself "why do I need any other razors? This one is perfect." But then I used one of the others and think the same thing.

The standouts are the Athena and ARES - both the razors and the stands. The stands both celebrate the Hellenistic lines of the razors they support with their classical amphora and tuscan shapes, @Tanuki outdid himself here. I think Daedalus might have been a better screen name! And of course these razors are outstanding, effortless BBS shaves with zero irritation pretty much every time.

Thanks to everyone for helping me in my journey to find "my" perfect razors, and special thanks to John for the shared enthusiasm and generous donation of time, skill, creativity and wood from the trees in your yard.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Adam, those razor stands, particularly the stand for the Athena, are amazing. Anyone would be impressed. Beautiful design, beautiful woods, and beautiful work.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Mr. Shavington]

Nice that you even have custom razor holders for your Lambdas that match the handle designs, an amphora and a column.

 

[flask28]

Nice that you even have custom razor holders for your Lambdas that match the handle designs, an amphora and a column.

Yes! That is really what make those stands stand out. So to speak.

The symbolism of the shapes was all @Tanuki's idea. I know he really enjoyed using those razors and these stands may be an expression of that. I'm surprised he's not on the waitlist yet!

 

[flask28]

Adam, those razor stands, particularly the stand for the Athena, are amazing. Anyone would be impressed. Beautiful design, beautiful woods, and beautiful work.

Happy shaves,

Jim

I agree 100%!! And about the Athena stand, that's seriously inspired work there. I keep finding little subtle elements he added - much like the Athena itself.

 

[Phoenixkh]

That's a lovely collection, Adam.... and those stands for both Lambda models... breathtaking... well done, @Tanuki .

 

[Mr. Shavington]

Yes! That is really what make those stands stand out. So to speak.

The symbolism of the shapes was all @Tanuki's idea. I know he really enjoyed using those razors and these stands may be an expression of that. I'm surprised he's not on the waitlist yet!

Exactly. Foremost among the reasons the stands stand out is that the stands stand for something, in addition to simply being stands that stand. I think you’ve set a new stand standard. And it stands to reason that you are the standard bearer for the new stand standard. Well done, sir.

 

[gpjoe]

Good stuff.

 

[flask28]

Exactly. Foremost among the reasons the stands stand out is that the stands stand for something, in addition to simply being stands that stand. I think you’ve set a new stand standard. And it stands to reason that you are the standard bearer for the new stand standard. Well done, sir.

omg

I want to try to come back to that...but I can't. You've planted the sword deeply in the stone and I'm not enough of a hero to pull it out. "Standard bearer for the new stand standard" you should win something for that.

Nicely played!

 

[Mr. Shavington]

omg

I want to try to come back to that...but I can't. You've planted the sword deeply in the stone and I'm not enough of a hero to pull it out. "Standard bearer for the new stand standard" you should win something for that.

Nicely played!

Well, sometimes you have to take a stand.

 

[thombrogan]

Congratulations on your first year of bon vivant extravagance, @flask28 ! Your enthusiasm is contagious.

 

[Guido75]

Has it been just a year? I have the feeling you have been around forever! Way to go Adam!! And thank you for being a positive force for good!

@Tanuki showed me the stands in an earlier conversation we had and I think they are indeed gorgeous!!

Enjoy those fine razors!

Guido

 

[flask28]

Congratulations on your first year of bon vivant extravagance, @flask28 ! Your enthusiasm is contagious.

Has it been just a year? I have the feeling you have been around forever! Way to go Adam!! And thank you for being a positive force for good!

@Tanuki showed me the stands in an earlier conversation we had and I think they are indeed gorgeous!!

Enjoy those fine razors!

Guido

Thanks guys!! Most of all this is your fault . You've been far too welcoming, open with your experiences and cool to hang out with.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, it's been a great year - my shaves are on a whole different level than they were. I'm taking care of my elderly mother's dog right now and I figured I'd abuse him for a season's greeting for all of you: