My Fatip, Joris, Schone, Collection and Journey 2018 and Beyond.

[Raven Koenes]

View attachment 969439

Cal, Here is our cat Kala. Kala is another variation on the name of the Goddess Kali. It's not a very good photo, as her eyes look cloudy. She is very good at hunting mice. She also is very particular about liking a certain brand of imported canned French Tuna for cats. She tolerates other kinds of canned Tuna, but she always has to walk away from those first. She absolutely scoffs at any and all canned chicken.

 

[Cal]

Cal, fortunately, is pretty good about finding my errors. He's especially good about pointing them out, so that I might correct them.

You have to understand that I have a PhD in PainInTheAssery.

 

[Raven Koenes]

You have to understand that I have a PhD in PainInTheAssery.

 

[Cal]

Cal, Here is our cat Kala.

Excellent!

My favorites are tabby cats, and I love the M for Meow (which probably signifies "I am God") on all of their foreheads.

 

[Raven Koenes]

Excellent!

My favorites are tabby cats, and I love the M for Meow (which probably signifies "I am God") on all of their foreheads.

I am never going to look at that aspect of her quite the same! It fits her personality purrr-fectley.

 

[Esox]

I hope it's not because I used a Merkur Progress last Week.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

In transit covers a lot of ground.

 

[Raven Koenes]

SOTD:
Razor: Fatip Grande
Blade: Astra sp (1)
Brush: Omega S11745
Soap: Wickham 1912 Cashmere
Aftershave: Proraso Green (Splash)

Ah! Today's shave was pure heaven. There is absolutely nothing like the return to my Fatip Grande after a Merkur outing. There is no other DE made that handles so well, and where I am so confidently assured of the results each time. This was love and kizmet all wrapped up into one. Have I ever mentioned I really love Fatips?

I have to give a shout out to all the other hardware and software that made this shave so good. My Omega S11745 was such a joy to use. I wonder why I use any other brush than an Omega S-Brush? I haven't used an Astra sp lately. I have forgotten how sharp and smooth they are. They are definitely right up there for the best bang for the buck. Wickham 1912 Cashmere? You know how absolutely good you are! Today was a return to Proraso Green (Splash) for an aftershave. The scent, menthol, and post shave feel of Proraso Green is top notch. The Italians really know there stuff.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Now I'm worried that you've returned to normal.

Big Nurse told me there's a vacancy in the Padded Room.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Raven Koenes]

Now I'm worried that you've returned to normal.

View attachment 970390

Big Nurse told me there's a vacancy in the Padded Room.

Happy shaves,

Jim

BOSC Maxim #2: "Totally out of hand is the new normal."

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Style points are very important here.

BOSC Maxim #2: "Totally out of hand is the new normal."
View attachment 970392

Just wrap your "guys" in tinfoil like you use to make your anti-brainmatter-stealing alien hats.

Trust me on this, Rave.

Some guys go a bit further, but anything beyond foil is excessive.

If you start a thread on this please specify "no pictures!"

 

[Raven Koenes]

SOTD:
Razor: Fatip Grande
Blade: Astra sp (2)
Brush: Omega S10019
Soap: Wickham 1912 Cashmere
Aftershave: Proraso Green (Splash)

Another great shave today, and my copying and pasting of my SOTD seems to all be correct. It's a good day.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

What scents in Wickham do you have, Rave, and which are your favorites?

I have Cashmere and like it, but I like Magnum better. Not that I'm using anything not made by Grooming Dept.

Nice photo. Nice razor. Glad you're back to what you like best.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Raven Koenes]

SOTD:
Razor: Fatip Grande
Blade: Astra sp (3)
Brush: Omega S10077
Soap: Wickham 1912 Cashmere
Aftershave: Proraso Green (Splash)

I had a very nice shave today. This is only day three on an Astra sp, and it felt slightly tuggy in one spot. This was the blade I started with, and then I only used them three and out back in the day. I get ten shaves out of every other blade I use. Can I with an Astra? Is it me, or are the longevity of Astra blades kind of short like Feathers? I was kind of surprised and figured I would zip through the week like any other blade. We will see what tomorrow brings.

 

[Raven Koenes]

What scents in Wickham do you have, Rave, and which are your favorites?

I have Cashmere and like it, but I like Magnum better. Not that I'm using anything not made by Grooming Dept.

Nice photo. Nice razor. Glad you're back to what you like best.

Happy shaves,

Jim

So, Grooming Department it is for you then? It beats out WK for you? Their web site sure seems to be sold out. Are they pretty hard to obtain? I am looking at Wickham 1912 Magnum now that you've enabled, mentioned, it lol.

Thanks for liking the photo. I'd like to think I'm getting better at photography, but I most likely lucked out with the lighting.

 

[Johnnynroy]

So, Grooming Department it is for you then? It beats out WK for you? Their web site sure seems to be sold out. Are they pretty hard to obtain? I am looking at Wickham 1912 Magnum now that you've enabled, mentioned, it lol.

Thanks for liking the photo. I'd like to think I'm getting better at photography, but I most likely lucked out with the lighting.

I know it wasn't addressed to me, but I wanted to jump in here and discuss my experience with these soaps. And, hopefully, get some troubleshooting assistance from Jim and the other members of the BOSC braintrust on what I could be doing wrong with these soaps. I don't have the same luck with them that the majority of people seem to have. I have two tubs of Grooming Department Veritas, one is the original soupy formulation that is now solid and the other is the as intended second tub. I also have two tubs of WhollyKaw, Fougere Bouquet that is just the donkey milk formula and Pasha's Pride which adds in some bison tallow/milk/weird component. I have read on numerous places and in numerous reviews how fantastic both GD and WK are. With my water, brushes, and lathering method, I find them to be less water stable than Stirling or Sudsy Soapery. When I look at the geographic locations of these vendors, I wonder if this plays a role. Stirling and SS are produced in the Midwest, with SS being produced about 90 minutes or less from where I currently live. GD and WK are produced on the coasts of the US. I did have examples of each of these soaps, except GD, when I lived in Ohio which is at least 8 hours further East. My opinions on these soaps haven't changed since I lived in Ohio.

I have tried loading each of these soaps with differing amounts of swirls on the puck. The first tub of GD Veritas is the outlier for me when compared to the other tubs of GD and WK, in that it is very water stable and requires very little product to make heaps of nice slick lather. I typically overload my brush with Stirling (it's so cheap for nearly 6 ounces and I have several tubs of the stuff to get through), but load about the same with SS, GD Veritas second tub and WK. That is to say, about 25 to 30 swirls on the puck with almost no pressure. Stirling usually gets 40 to 50 swirls. I do often add two to five drops of water to the puck as I load to help the brush pick up more product, with all of my soaps. For WK, I sometimes have to go much higher on the swirl count, up to 50 swirls or more, to get enough product. I then bowl lather, slowly adding water about 5 drops at a time to the bowl until the brush is putting out lather with a nice wet sheen to it as I swirl it in my captain's choice ceramic bowl. I then take the brush to my face to finish with a slight face lather that is mostly just applying what is already in (not on) the brush to my face. I don't make all of my lather in the bowl, then scoop it onto my face with the brush. I use the brush to generate some lather on my face, and spread this fairly thinly across my face and neck. Second pass usually the lather is slightly thinner and wetter, but the progression is perfect with Stirling and Sudsy Soapery. Slightly more cushion and thickness to the lather on the first pass, while still having excellent slickness, then increasing in slickness while losing some cushion for the second pass. What happens with GD Veritas second tub and WK is a decent enough first pass lather with enough cushion (just barely enough), with a second pass lather that gets completely blown out and actually becomes somewhat sticky. I've tried all three tubs (GD and WK) with just 10 to 15 swirls on the puck, which was definitely worse. The first tub of Veritas, however, overloads my brush very easily. I've gotten a good 2 pass lather out of 6 swirls on the puck before. 8 to 10 seems to be its best zone, however. It has less structure and cushion on the first pass compared with Stirling and SS, but is slightly better in slickness. It also doesn't blow out on the second pass like the other pucks do.

I should have probably started off with this, but all of this is using my TurnNShave Quartermoon synthetic brush, which I've found to be a pretty good brush. It does retain a lot of water at the knot base where it has a huge glue bump, which I thought was blowing out my lathers, so I now squeeze this area first before adding water to the lather. This hasn't helped the lathers on the second pass unfortunately. I've tried my badger brushes with Stirling, Sudsy Soapery and WK, but not with the GD. The badgers do ok with Stirling and SS, but can't seem to lather the WK at all. Blows out on the first pass, without fail. I'll have to try the WK again, and try out the GD with them.

I don't know that I'll be buying GD or WK again. I prefer the "incorrect" version of GD and don't like the lathers I get from WK all that much. I'll be selling the Fougere Bouquet as my wife doesn't like the scent that much, but she does like Pasha's Pride a lot (as do I). I'm going to try out Noble Otter as I've heard good things about its cushion and slickness. I tend to hear only things about slickness with the other current "top tier" artisan soaps. Unless I can figure out what I'm doing wrong with these other soaps, I likely won't be buying them again.

So, what say you, BOSC braintrust? Any other lathering ideas that might help me not blow out these soaps?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

So, Grooming Department it is for you then? It beats out WK for you? Their web site sure seems to be sold out. Are they pretty hard to obtain? I am looking at Wickham 1912 Magnum now that you've enabled, mentioned, it lol.

Thanks for liking the photo. I'd like to think I'm getting better at photography, but I most likely lucked out with the lighting.

At least for now, Rave.

It's not like I have abandoned or discarded the idea of using my other soaps, but I am only reaching for the Grooming Dept soaps. Also, I have a Grooming Dept veggie soap which is perfectly good but I'm not reaching for it either.

Frankly I'm not entirely sure why I like the GD soaps so much. I was told by the gentleman who got me to try them by sending me a sample of a couple of GD soaps along with samples of other very good new artisan soaps something that may play here. He said if you use the GD Lusso soap for a week you'll notice an improvement in your skin (or something like that). I tried it, and I noticed my shaves left my skin feeling better.

As you know, at least I think you know, my number one objective with my shaves is a Damn Comfortable Shave every time as defined by three thing.

• The shave is comfortable while I'm shaving.
• My skin feels comfortable immediately after I shave.
• My skin feels comfortable until the next shave.

More so with Grooming Dept soaps than any other I've used I'm getting Damn Comfortable Shaves. In addition, I don't see any downsides to the soaps. There's not lack of slickness, residual glide is the best, etc.

Grooming Dept soaps are almost always sold out in minutes or hours after being released. That said, they are not really hard to obtain if you're willing to play the game.

If you want GD soaps get on his email list. He sometimes announces when he will release soaps. He'll say a certain soap is to be released for sale at 11am PST on Monday. Buy it at 11am and it will be easy. It also helps to be registered in advance on his website before the release. There are a couple of active GD threads of B&B; sometimes members will discuss upcoming release dates and times.

Mo also tends to not sell the same soap twice. He is constantly improving his bases. He tinkers with everything all the time.

To me his scents are a mystery. I never know what I'm getting. One of the soaps I've ordered from him is not very much, as a scent, to my liking (although it may be growing on me), but I don't hate the scent and never thought of getting rid of it. I do scoop out a bit of soap and use it so that I don't put water or brush to the puck until I've decided on the scent.

I very much think the soap (and the preshave and the serum) worth it!

I know it wasn't addressed to me, but I wanted to jump in here and discuss my experience with these soaps. And, hopefully, get some troubleshooting assistance from Jim and the other members of the BOSC braintrust on what I could be doing wrong with these soaps. I don't have the same luck with them that the majority of people seem to have. I have two tubs of Grooming Department Veritas, one is the original soupy formulation that is now solid and the other is the as intended second tub. I also have two tubs of WhollyKaw, Fougere Bouquet that is just the donkey milk formula and Pasha's Pride which adds in some bison tallow/milk/weird component. I have read on numerous places and in numerous reviews how fantastic both GD and WK are. With my water, brushes, and lathering method, I find them to be less water stable than Stirling or Sudsy Soapery. When I look at the geographic locations of these vendors, I wonder if this plays a role. Stirling and SS are produced in the Midwest, with SS being produced about 90 minutes or less from where I currently live. GD and WK are produced on the coasts of the US. I did have examples of each of these soaps, except GD, when I lived in Ohio which is at least 8 hours further East. My opinions on these soaps haven't changed since I lived in Ohio.

I have tried loading each of these soaps with differing amounts of swirls on the puck. The first tub of GD Veritas is the outlier for me when compared to the other tubs of GD and WK, in that it is very water stable and requires very little product to make heaps of nice slick lather. I typically overload my brush with Stirling (it's so cheap for nearly 6 ounces and I have several tubs of the stuff to get through), but load about the same with SS, GD Veritas second tub and WK. That is to say, about 25 to 30 swirls on the puck with almost no pressure. Stirling usually gets 40 to 50 swirls. I do often add two to five drops of water to the puck as I load to help the brush pick up more product, with all of my soaps. For WK, I sometimes have to go much higher on the swirl count, up to 50 swirls or more, to get enough product. I then bowl lather, slowly adding water about 5 drops at a time to the bowl until the brush is putting out lather with a nice wet sheen to it as I swirl it in my captain's choice ceramic bowl. I then take the brush to my face to finish with a slight face lather that is mostly just applying what is already in (not on) the brush to my face. I don't make all of my lather in the bowl, then scoop it onto my face with the brush. I use the brush to generate some lather on my face, and spread this fairly thinly across my face and neck. Second pass usually the lather is slightly thinner and wetter, but the progression is perfect with Stirling and Sudsy Soapery. Slightly more cushion and thickness to the lather on the first pass, while still having excellent slickness, then increasing in slickness while losing some cushion for the second pass. What happens with GD Veritas second tub and WK is a decent enough first pass lather with enough cushion (just barely enough), with a second pass lather that gets completely blown out and actually becomes somewhat sticky. I've tried all three tubs (GD and WK) with just 10 to 15 swirls on the puck, which was definitely worse. The first tub of Veritas, however, overloads my brush very easily. I've gotten a good 2 pass lather out of 6 swirls on the puck before. 8 to 10 seems to be its best zone, however. It has less structure and cushion on the first pass compared with Stirling and SS, but is slightly better in slickness. It also doesn't blow out on the second pass like the other pucks do.

I should have probably started off with this, but all of this is using my TurnNShave Quartermoon synthetic brush, which I've found to be a pretty good brush. It does retain a lot of water at the knot base where it has a huge glue bump, which I thought was blowing out my lathers, so I now squeeze this area first before adding water to the lather. This hasn't helped the lathers on the second pass unfortunately. I've tried my badger brushes with Stirling, Sudsy Soapery and WK, but not with the GD. The badgers do ok with Stirling and SS, but can't seem to lather the WK at all. Blows out on the first pass, without fail. I'll have to try the WK again, and try out the GD with them.

I don't know that I'll be buying GD or WK again. I prefer the "incorrect" version of GD and don't like the lathers I get from WK all that much. I'll be selling the Fougere Bouquet as my wife doesn't like the scent that much, but she does like Pasha's Pride a lot (as do I). I'm going to try out Noble Otter as I've heard good things about its cushion and slickness. I tend to hear only things about slickness with the other current "top tier" artisan soaps. Unless I can figure out what I'm doing wrong with these other soaps, I likely won't be buying them again.

So, what say you, BOSC braintrust? Any other lathering ideas that might help me not blow out these soaps?

I'm sure I can help much, Joel, but your thoughts and views are very intriguing to me.

A couple of things come to mind.

I only face lather. I suspect that means almost nothing I know about using the soaps applies to bowl lathering. I use much the same method of face lathering with all soaps. A soaked (in the green mug in cold water) and partly shaken brush. Sometimes a puck which is bloomed with cold water (although I've recently stopped blooming my GD soaps). A brush which is heavily loaded. Soap applied to my face and neck like spackling. Then, water added with the tips of my brushes so I can make lather. I make the lather very wet and hydrated but also foamy and creamy and thicker than some guys.

There are some GD soap specific variations in my method. With the Lusso based soaps I use a lot less soap. The loading time is greatly reduced. I also leave my partly shaken brush wetter with all the Grooming Dept soaps than I do with any other soaps. Grooming Dept soaps are very thirsty. Some - I'm thinking here the duck soaps - are even more thirsty.

With all soaps I revisit the puck and load a bit of soap whenever I feel the need to, usually with a brush the tips of which have just been lightly dipped into my bloom/dipping water (which lives in its own copper mug).

I don't have this figured out yet, but I'm noticing that my Grooming Dept soaps lather differently and behave differently with different brushes. I don't use any brushes I don't like nor any that I find to perform inadequately. So, it's not like I'm saying I'm getting bad results with the combination of any brush and any GD soap, but I'm getting different results. Less lather. More need for added soap. More need to work a bit harder to build the lather.

In order to figure this out better I'd probably have to use just one GD soap for a while and try different brushes. I'm not quite willing to do that, but I'm definitely sure the soaps behave differently depending on the brush. I'm pretty sure the easiest way to get a great GD lather and enough of it is with one brush, the copper, but the other Manchurian performs well with all the GD soaps, too.

This particular Omega Premium from Connaught works very well, too.

These are actually the brushes I consider my best brushes. I'm not saying the Jade is my favorite boar (although it's in the running and gaining), but I do think it my best performing boar. The copper Manchurian is my favorite brush overall.

Anyway, the brush seems to matter. I sort of think the GD soaps are easier to use well with my badger brushes. It's not a big deal. The soaps work well for me with the boars, but I think slightly better with the badgers (overall).

I used to sometimes use distilled water to soak my brushes, dip their tips, bloom the soaps, etc. in an effort to make sure my water wasn't a factor. I found it wasn't. My water behaves much like distilled water. Your water may be a factor as might be the water of the manufacturer (interesting notion that).

Joel, I can't really say that I find Grooming Dept soaps the easiest or most consistent soaps to use. In fact, the opposite is true. Mo's soaps vary a lot. He tinkers with them so each soap is "new." I don't find them hard to use or a PIA. I do find them to be brush-sensitive. All that is worth it too me because of the quality of my Grooming Dept shaves and the improvement I see in my skin using the soaps and other Grooming Dept products.

My original Veritas is still not as dry and hard as I want it to be before I use it. It's much more solid, but I'm going to wait a bit longer before trying it. It's been well over a month, and it is still becoming more solid.

I wish I could say more exactly what the appeal of the Grooming Dept soaps is for me. As you know, I like a lot of other soaps but not all. In the Wholly Kaw line, the only scent I know I like is King of Oud, but I like that scent and that soap a lot. I like several other soaps equally well and a bunch of soaps almost as much but I like the GD soaps better because my shaves are better with them.

None of that says anything about your situation - water, method, brushes, skin, whiskers - and probably doesn't help at all, but it's all I've got at the moment.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Is it me, or are the longevity of Astra blades kind of short like Feathers?

Feather is my longest blade (34 shaves), and Astra is my third longest (26 shaves). Most give me 10-14 shaves in comparison.

 

[Raven Koenes]

Feather is my longest blade (34 shaves), and Astra is my third longest (26 shaves). Most give me 10-14 shaves in comparison.

It must be me Al.

 

[Esox]

That is to say, about 25 to 30 swirls on the puck with almost no pressure.

That might very well be the difference Joel. I load my brush hard with a lot of pressure. When loading my brush I splay it as much as I can with considerable pressure and just enough water on the tips to let it slide over the soap without feeling like its sticking to the soap.

Doing that, you're loading not just the tips, but the entire length of the bristles. It can also help to wet the soap first, I just give it a quick pass under the running tap and pour off the excess. If my brush feels like its sticking and not gliding I know I dont have enough water.

With that said, I load Stirling, WK and Wickham about the same. The same length of time and with the same splay and pressure applied, which is enough for the knot to splay wide enough the tips are at or outside of the tubs edge with my 22mm synthetic and loading the fibers for their entire length. Its always easy to add more water later but its difficult to take it away. If I tried loading my brush with the 'no pressure' mantra in mind, I'd be there a long time.

One other thing I do is, when finished shaving I rinse the tub and puck off, pour any remaining water off and screw the lid back on. I dont let it dry. That extra water gets absorbed by the soap and it becomes softer, and consequently, easier to load. My PdP loads quicker now than most of my other soaps because I've used it so often its become quite a bit softer. I use my WK much less and its noticeably slower to load than my PdP. So are my Wickham soaps, both of them.

Theres no need to be gentle, load it like you're angry and drive it like you stole it.