Josh's 3017 Journey

[nelsonic21]

May 4.

The Van der Hagen soap is finished. I used my Rudy Vey brush this morning to load from the little sliver left in the tub, added a little water and loaded a bit more. The lather was decent and protected well giving a good shave. I checked the tub after work and there was barely any left.

The soap lasted for 80 shaves making it a great value for such an inexpensive soap.

 

[nelsonic21]

May 5.

Started a jar of Santa Maria del Fiore Sapone Da Barba by Razorock. The packaging has a very high end feel with 8.5 oz of soap in a glass jar with a kraft style label. I got this soap for free from the PIF table at Maggard's meetup 3 years ago and it was used. The jar is pretty full, but I have to take a before and after weigh in to determine how much soap was left.



I'll get to the shaving experience in the next post, but first want to go over the recommendations with this soap. According to Italian Barber's website this is a soft soap that can separate if it isn't allowed to air dry after use or if stored in a hot environment. They recommend not ordering it during the summer if you live in a warm climate and apply it directly to a brush before lathering. I have to admit if that this is not a soap I would purchase after reading those warnings. However in my initial shaving experiences I did not have any separation issues.

 

[nelsonic21]

May 7

I've been using the Razorock soap for a few days and have had some successful shaves. According to the website the scent is Tabacco Toscano Colonia; think Toscano cigar with hints of vanilla, amber and a backdrop of eucalyptus and menthol. What I noticed is an earthy scent (which is probably tobacco leaf), musk cologne with a bit of sandalwood all of which I really like. The soap consistency is described as very soft traditional Italian shaving soap, some people call this style of soap a "firm cream." What I noticed is a putty like consistency and a little softer than Stirling soap. Which is most likely due to the soap drying out a bit since it's at least 3 or 4 years old.

Shave #1

This shave was done before I looked up any information on the soap. I started loading directly from the jar with a wet badger brush. After a 20 second load I face lathered, added a little water and got a decent lather. It protected well during the shave and left a little bit of slickness behind after the final rinse. The scent was strong and did outlast the Clubman aftershave. I did let the soap air dry after checking out the website.

Shave #2

I removed a bit of soap and bowl lathered for 30-40 seconds with an additional 20 on my face using the same brush as the previous shave. There was a bit of soap still in the bowl so it didn't behave like a cream. The lather was the same as the first shave as was performance and scent.


Shave #3

I went back to face lathering with the same brush noticing an improvement in the lather though I did struggle with loading. Scent and performance was the same. I let it air dry for an hour afterwards. This is the routine I'll stick with unless the soap softens up.

 

[nelsonic21]

June 5.

I've been using the Razorock soap for about a month. The scent and performance have remained the same. Loading however became more difficult when I switched brushes. The first week of shaves were with a Simpsons Berkeley best badger which was able to get enough soap for 3 passes.

The next week I used a Semogue 1305 which needed to reload after the first pass. I spent more time loading the next shave, but still had a thin second pass. I tried all my brushes using each for at least 3 shaves. The Berkeley, custom Shavemac pure and Rudy Vey Shavemac finest all were able to get enough soap with a 45 second load. The Semogue, custom Omega boar and Duke 2 best badger had to go back to the jar after the first pass.



Here's the brushes I used. The 3 on the left struggled and the 3 on the right worked well.

I'm sure the loading issue is due to how old the soap is since no reviews mentioned this with the soap. I stopped letting it sit out to dry hoping that would help soften it up, but it hasn't helped. I'm still going to use this soap until it's finished. It looks like I barely put a dent in it.

 

[nelsonic21]

September 14

Still using the Razorock soap. It started to develop a hole in the middle late last month. I pressed the soap down to fill it and noticed it had softened up a bit. I felt little beads in it and it almost has the consistency of floam. I've been letting it air dry for 30 minutes after shaving to keep it from getting too soft which has helped. The scent has gotten a little weaker, but it has become easier to load and build lather.

 

[nelsonic21]

October 17

The Razorock soap is finished. It lasted an amazing 165 shaves. According to my kitchen scale there had been a little over 5.5 oz in the jar making it a great value for a non triple milled soap. IT continued performing well up until the last few days when many of the little beads of soap didn't lather and ended up getting stuck on my brush and face. I did get enough for a 2 pass shave after a good load.




Overall this was a good soap that probably would have performed better if I had bought it new. I'm not sure which soap/cream is up next. So for the next few shaves I'll use up the last of a tube of Palmolive cream.

 

[nelsonic21]

October 21

I've been using Palmolive lemon shaving cream for the past few days. It's the last bit of a 70 gram tube. This is a budget cream that is at least 5 years old. It's thickened up during that time and now has the consistency of toothpaste, but still lathers. The medicinal lemon scent still remains, but doesn't last after lathering.

Today I got it dialed in by making sure to give the brush a good shake after soaking. I bowl lathered because trying to face lather can make the cream go flying off the brush. Adding a dribble of water helped get a good lather (a little more will thin it out quite a bit).




I used a Gillette New LC for the shave and the cream did its job. I heard someone describe this as a pedestrian cream and agree. A pre shave cream would probably help enhance the lather, but isn't necessary for a good shave. There's no lingering scent or residual slickness so any aftershave or balm should pair up nicely. Overall it's a budget cream that's fine for eveyday use.

 

[nelsonic21]

October 23

I started a new tin of Simpsons shaving cream. This is a 125ml/4.2oz size and is a discontinued item I received as a gift a couple years ago. According to Simpsons website there might be some evaporation. The site claims this will enhance your whole wet shaving experience, leaving you revitalised and your skin feeling fresh and super smooth and represents excellent value for money.


The cream has a whipped cake frosting consistency and a nice citrus/floral scent. I took a dab that was a little smaller than an almond, put it in my Duke 2 badger and face lathered. I added a bit more water spending 45-60 seconds working the cream. The result was a good not great lather that might have been the result of being a bit stingy with the product.




I shaved with my Merkur Progress and didn't have any nicks or irritation. The lather on the 2nd and 3rd passes was a bit thin and I'll use a bit more product in the future. The cream rinsed off cleanly after leaving no residual slickness though a little of the scent remained. First impressions is that I liked the cream, but didn't feel it was a luxury product. It didn't quite hit the level of Taylor of Old Bond Street (which is my favorite cream). I'm looking forward to see how it continues to perform.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

We obviously come from different schools of lather preference. Those thinner lathers are what give me my very best shaves, assuming the glide is there.

The "luxury" feel I got from Taylor's, only went so far as applying it. It felt less luxurious in its removal. Too rich for my tastes, and thinning it down lost sickness. Having said that, I can't remember whether or not I had "doscovered" synthetic brushes when I last tried the Taylor's, Trumpers, and Truefitt creams

 

[nelsonic21]

November 7

After couple weeks using the Simpsons shaving cream the quality of the lather has improved. Even though I'm not getting a really thick lather, it is staying consistent throughout 3 passes. The lather still rinses away cleanly leaving behind some scent. This is a good performing cream that's on par with TOBS.

 

[nelsonic21]

December 5

Today's shave with the Simpsons cream featured a Merkur Progress, Astra SP, Razor Emporium best badger, Noxzema pre shave and Corn Huskers.


Lathering was not easy today. After applying some Noxzema I put a decent amount of cream to the brush and began face lathering. The lather wasn't building well so I added a bit of water, but that didn't seem to help. So I loaded the brush with my leftover soap and this got a good lather. The shave went well with no nicks, cuts, irritation.

Now this is a new brush and my first couple uses didn't build a good lather either. At first I chalked this up to the brush breaking in, but now I think has more to do with the size of the knot. I've mainly been using Simpsons Berkeley which is a small brush and this one has a 26mm knot with a higher loft. I'm thinking that when I apply the cream it's going deep into the knot and the bristles aren"t able to get a good lather going. When using a soap the product is being loaded onto the tips.

I had similar issues with an Omega boar which also has a higher loft. For my next shaves I"ll try putting the cream directly on my face and then using the brush to build a lather.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I'm thinking that when I apply the cream it's going deep into the knot

For my next shaves I"ll try putting the cream directly on my face and then using the brush to build a lather.

I had a similar kind of fiasco when I first tried using creams. My solution is bowl loading... not bowl lathering.

I put a splodge of cream, usually just under 1ml, in a wet lather bowl (scooping up some water, and dumping it straight back out, beforehand). I then load as if I was loading from a soap, but stop before the lather builds. Then I face lather as normal.

This means the cream is evenly distributed about the bristles, just like soap would be, and avoids overscrubbing my face with goalless bristles. It also means I haven't got a big glob of cream deep in the knot, which isn't readily converting to lather. It works every time for me now, and the few second spent with the bowl, are easily recovered with the improved ease and speed of face lathering.

 

[Ligeti]

Lovely to read through this 3017 topic!
Thanks a lot for sharing.

 

[nelsonic21]

December 10

On the 6th I applied some cream to both cheeks and started face lathering. This did not work out resulting in a pretty weak lather. I ended up loading some soap to get a shave ready lather. I think I might have just spread the cream a bit too thin when applying.

The next day I followed the advice of AimlessWanderer and used the bowl I have for soaking brushes. I put an almond sized amount of cream in the bowl, gave the wet brush one good shake, loaded for 15 seconds and face lathered. This technique worked well and I've stuck with it since. I'll try this with my Duke 2 and see if that brush can come back to life.

Here's a pic after lathering for a first pass.

 

[nelsonic21]

January 10

I can start to see the bottom of the tin though there is a decent amount of cream left.



The cream is still performing well, but has started to dry a bit. I've noticed a bit of it left after bowl lathering and put it back in the tin. My Razor Emporium brush has seen the most usage since my last post. I did try loading from the bowl with the Duke 2 a couple times, but the 3rd pass was very thin.

Today's shave was with the Razor Emporium brush, Merkur Progress at a 2 with a Personna blade and finishing with a little Corn huskers lotion. It was a good shave with a sour cream consistency in the lather.

 

[nelsonic21]

February 2

The Simpsons shaving cream is finished.


It lasted for 102 shaves which is about as long as a tub of TOBS lasts. The last few shaves I loaded directly from the tin since it had dried out a bit. It still performed well and the scent remained. It's hard to determine if this is a good value since Simpsons has discontinued this cream. The prices I've seen for the remaining stock has been around $25 which seems a bit high. Overall it was a decent cream, but wouldn't replace TOBS as my favorite.

 

[Ligeti]

So....
What's up next?

 

[nelsonic21]

February 6


I started a new cream on the 3rd. It's the Cremo original shave cream which according to their website Our original formula that got everbody talking. A subtle citrus scent makes for a highly bright, fresh and enjoyable shave. Cremo contains unique molecules that become impossibly slick when mixed with water, so your blade can glide effortlessly over skin. You'll enjoy a clean, comfortable shave and astonishingly smooth skin while fighting nicks, razor burn and irritation. This is available at many brick and mortar stores for around $6-8 for a 6oz tube.

I've been using it for a few days trying too figure out the right amount of cream. They recommend an almond size amount, but that only barely provided enough for 2 passes. I think this was made to be used without a brush and a 1 pass shave providing 90 days of shaving. So I started the shave with a few little ropes of cream and bowl lathered with a wet brush. The lathering released a sweet citrus scent.



For today's shave I used a little more water which created a frothy thin lather. However I did have more than enough for 3 passes.

First pass


Third pass


The Cremo protected well though I didn't notice the razor gliding across my face any quicker than normal. There is some residual slickness after requiring a little longer rinse. The scent did not outlast the shave and I didn't feel I could get away without some post shave product.

First impressions are mixed. I like the scent and ease of lathering, but am dissapointed with how thin it is and feel Cremo's marketing claims are a bit exaggerated. However the cream seems to be marketed more towards shavers who use cartridges and canned goo. I'll continue using this until it runs out and see if I feel differently.

 

[nelsonic21]

February 13

11 days into using the Cremo shaving cream and I think I've gotten the water to product ratio in a good place. For the first several shaves I gave the badger brush a good shake and bowl lathered which made it thin. It protected fine, but the lather flinging got pretty annoying. I would wipe off a few bathroom surfaces after every shave.

So I started squeezing the knot after a shake and this has given me better results. I'm also able to get away with using 2 little ropes of cream instead of 3 which is nice since I seem to be going through the tube rather quickly. The lather was enough for 3 passes.



Today's shave was with my Merkur Progress and Duke 2 (which i performing better with this cream than the last one). The shave went well with no nicks or irritation though the slickness made holding the razor a bit difficult. Not sure how much longer the tube will last so I might try few sample size soaps next.

 

[nelsonic21]

March 13

Still using the Cremo shaving cream. Today's shave was with my Merkur Progress, Rudy Vey brush and Gillette aftershave gel. The cream continues to work the same though the scent has disspated a bit and flinging issues remain. A little water makes the lather thin out quite a bit. While the tube does say concentrated I think they're comparing it to products like canned Barbasol rather than a traditional shaving cream.

I've gone through over 2/3 of the tube so I doubt it will last through this month. Not sure about the value on this one. It's widely available and inexpensive (I can pick it up at a local store for about $6), but is marketed to people shaving with canned cream or gel and a cartridge razor. Anyways, I'll see how long this lasts and come up with some final thoughts.