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

[Raven Koenes]

Rave, I've not used the veggie WK soaps at all. I don't remember loading the tallow KoO for all that long, but it's been a while since I used it.

Some soaps require more loading time. That's for sure.

Happy shaves,

Jim

I've come to the conclusion that I need way less loading time than I first thought. I'm using way too much product. I've also found it takes a boat load of water when face lathering to hydrate WK vegan. Is the Tallow thirsty as well?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Rave, I consider the WK tallow soaps I've used to be quite thirsty.

As you know I've mostly (well, pretty much entirely) been using Grooming Dept soaps for a few months. I did however use enough tallow King of Oud to have to reorder a tub. With the GD soaps I jump around so I'm using a veggie soap one day, a duck the next, a Lusso based soap the next, etc, but in a random manner. I have over twelve tubs of GD soaps to jump around in (and I like that image).

Anyway, it's my impression from jumping around within the Grooming Dept soaps and from jumping around amongst a bunch of other soaps the way I used to and from occasionally sticking with one soap for a month (like during a Fixed Four) that the water to soap ratio and the amount of soap/water to use usually becomes pretty much automatic after a while if you stick with one soap.

For me this WSP soap was the big exception. I used it for a Fixed. It's a very good soap in all respects except it drove me crazy. What I concluded with it (long before the Fixed was over) was simple enough. The soap requires a lot of hydration to work just right (for me of course). However, it also has a narrow window of hydration. I have to hydrate it a lot, like to a huge degree to get it to shave nicely, but its breaking point is just beyond the point it needs to get to to work well for me. I found it tedious to lather if that word can be applied to face lathering with an otherwise good soap.

It's not like I ever had to wash it off and start over. It's a good soap. It's a difficult to use soap for me. Maybe it's easy for other gentlemen, and I'm surely not knocking it's scent or performance during the shave.

In contrast, many soaps have a rather wide range of hydration within which they work. Some, and for me tallow King of Oud falls within this group, I can always add a lot more water than I actually have to have and the soap still works fine. The "exactly right" amount of water doesn't have to be all that precise (like it does with the WSP soap).

Generally I want the lather so wet it almost wants to run down my chest and belly, but I don't want it to be a mess or a chore to get it that hydrated. There's a difference is how I have to load, hydrate, and lather the various Grooming Dept soaps. For instance the Lusso based soaps can be loaded lightly, but the veggie soaps not so much (they need to be heavily loaded compared with Lusso).

You'll remember how little loading was required with King's Ransom Soap MdC? What was it your wife called MdC? Anyway, just rubbing the brush in the general vicinity of the puck seemed to do the trick, right? Very little soap and a ton of water with that one.

They're all different? Well, probably if we got scientific many are much the same as others. Probably, for instance, all the GD Lusso soaps load and lather and hydrate much the same, and, I'd guess, we could easily enough find other soaps (like maybe a WK DM soap or 1912 or something) that was much the same as a Lusso soap in its loading, hydration, and lathering qualities. You and I jump around too much to find and ascertain these things, I think. Not that it's a bad thing at all, but you're worse about it than me except you at least use one soap for a week pretty much every week.



Probably too much information, but if anyone is into the fine points of the soaps, Rave, that person is you. I suspect there's room for some science here, but my methodology is more randomly artistic I think, and yours is also. We'll figure it out one day but we're having fun in the meantime.

Maybe Cal's off testing soaps and will have the answer.

Happy shaves my friend,

Jim

 

[Esox]

I seem to be only wanting to use my Nickel Fatip Grande as of late. I don't know when I'll get around to switching it out.

Is the Tallow thirsty as well?

I find my WK DM to be easier to load than Wickham. You dont need a lot of water, but it will sure take a lot if you want it too.

Load lightly and spend more time building the lather. You might find it gets even slicker.

 

[Raven Koenes]

SOTD:
Razor: Fatip Grande n
Blade: Lord Platinum (4)
Brush: Omega S10081
Soap: WK King of Oud
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman Original

What a nice shaving combination. King of Oud is still impressing. I'm going to miss the scent when the week is over. The New Lord Platinum Class blade pairs really well with my Grande. I'm convinced everything goes better with Fatip. My shave was smooth and hassle free and I had fun!

 

[Raven Koenes]

View attachment 1009932

 

[Raven Koenes]

Rave, I consider the WK tallow soaps I've used to be quite thirsty.

As you know I've mostly (well, pretty much entirely) been using Grooming Dept soaps for a few months. I did however use enough tallow King of Oud to have to reorder a tub. With the GD soaps I jump around so I'm using a veggie soap one day, a duck the next, a Lusso based soap the next, etc, but in a random manner. I have over twelve tubs of GD soaps to jump around in (and I like that image).

Anyway, it's my impression from jumping around within the Grooming Dept soaps and from jumping around amongst a bunch of other soaps the way I used to and from occasionally sticking with one soap for a month (like during a Fixed Four) that the water to soap ratio and the amount of soap/water to use usually becomes pretty much automatic after a while if you stick with one soap.

View attachment 1009927

For me this WSP soap was the big exception. I used it for a Fixed. It's a very good soap in all respects except it drove me crazy. What I concluded with it (long before the Fixed was over) was simple enough. The soap requires a lot of hydration to work just right (for me of course). However, it also has a narrow window of hydration. I have to hydrate it a lot, like to a huge degree to get it to shave nicely, but its breaking point is just beyond the point it needs to get to to work well for me. I found it tedious to lather if that word can be applied to face lathering with an otherwise good soap.

It's not like I ever had to wash it off and start over. It's a good soap. It's a difficult to use soap for me. Maybe it's easy for other gentlemen, and I'm surely not knocking it's scent or performance during the shave.

In contrast, many soaps have a rather wide range of hydration within which they work. Some, and for me tallow King of Oud falls within this group, I can always add a lot more water than I actually have to have and the soap still works fine. The "exactly right" amount of water doesn't have to be all that precise (like it does with the WSP soap).

Generally I want the lather so wet it almost wants to run down my chest and belly, but I don't want it to be a mess or a chore to get it that hydrated. There's a difference is how I have to load, hydrate, and lather the various Grooming Dept soaps. For instance the Lusso based soaps can be loaded lightly, but the veggie soaps not so much (they need to be heavily loaded compared with Lusso).

You'll remember how little loading was required with King's Ransom Soap MdC? What was it your wife called MdC? Anyway, just rubbing the brush in the general vicinity of the puck seemed to do the trick, right? Very little soap and a ton of water with that one.

They're all different? Well, probably if we got scientific many are much the same as others. Probably, for instance, all the GD Lusso soaps load and lather and hydrate much the same, and, I'd guess, we could easily enough find other soaps (like maybe a WK DM soap or 1912 or something) that was much the same as a Lusso soap in its loading, hydration, and lathering qualities. You and I jump around too much to find and ascertain these things, I think. Not that it's a bad thing at all, but you're worse about it than me except you at least use one soap for a week pretty much every week.

View attachment 1009931

Probably too much information, but if anyone is into the fine points of the soaps, Rave, that person is you. I suspect there's room for some science here, but my methodology is more randomly artistic I think, and yours is also. We'll figure it out one day but we're having fun in the meantime.

View attachment 1009933

Maybe Cal's off testing soaps and will have the answer.

Happy shaves my friend,

Jim

I agree with everything you've written here. I also concur that our methodology is more randomly artistic. This may pose a problem where the scientific method is concerned, but there is that point where science and art merge. It may best express itself in the art of Leonardo. For me it is like physically trying to build a fully functional Escher staircase when trying to review the simplest of shaving products. Little things like reality and physics get in the way.

 

[Esox]

I'll get to the Lord blade in my Grande yet Rave! Likely sometime tonight. It will be a workout for it...

 

[Esox]

Around 90 hours since my last shave. Damn, where did the week go? As I said, I'd be giving the blade a workout.

Lord Platinum, flipped and in my Grande for its second shave.

WK DM

First pass N>S. Tuggy. Very tuggy. I even picked up my Bullet Tip after two strokes on my right cheek, then put it down because, well, BOSC Rulz!

Second pass S>N. Hmmm, no tugging. Not even ATG on my cheeks and under my chin. Nice and smooth and really very comfortable.

Third pass directly ATG. Still no tugging. Very smooth and comfortable. I couldnt even feel the blade buffing around my chin and the sides of my mouth. This, is the difference a more rigid design makes.

Nice shave. Nice blade. Great razor.

I think I'll even use this blade again next shave, but in my NEW SC. The same razor I really liked this blade in around two years ago. I think with a little bit of gap, the tugging will be completely eliminated.

At the same time this is where an SE shines, brightly. The thicker SE blades, especially as sharp as PTFE blades are, would just wipe that 80 hours growth right off without a hiccup. The difference in blades, the thickness and sheer rigidity of the SE blades, really is dramatic.

To your question of shaving at 24 hours Rave. I've found my whiskers very difficult to cut with less than 40 hours growth. My shaves are usually so close, a 12+ hour BBS finish, that I rarely need to shave again so soon. I think the last time shaved at less than 40 hours growth was here. Oct.14 2017;

Shave 11.

38 hours since last shave.

Now we're getting somewhere...

I'm okay with having 5 o'clock shadow at 5PM the next day.

 

[Raven Koenes]

SOTD:
Razor: Fatip Grande n
Blade: Lord Platinum (5)
Brush: Omega S10065
Soap: WK King of Oud
Aftershave: Pinaud Clubman Original

I finished off the week with another great shave. WK King of Oud is a very nice soap. The scent can't be beat. It's great in the slickness and cushion department. The post shave feel is awesome. I still prefer SV soaps and think it is a better deal in the long run. Plus, you can't beat a ten second load time. King of Oud is a delicious scent, but SV Stella Alpina and Manna Di Sicilia are right up there. It gets really hard to judge the performance of top tier soaps as they all are top tier. I really have enjoyed WK and will miss the scent as I move onto Scheermonnik Delfts Wit with Reuzel aftershave for next week.

The New Lord Platinum Class blade was awesome on day five. I had absolutely zero tugging and got my best shave of the week. I tend to use a bit of a lighter quicker touch mid-week. On my last shave of the week I like to make it a good one and go for it. This blade does not disappoint.

 

[Raven Koenes]

Around 90 hours since my last shave. Damn, where did the week go? As I said, I'd be giving the blade a workout.

Lord Platinum, flipped and in my Grande for its second shave.

WK DM

First pass N>S. Tuggy. Very tuggy. I even picked up my Bullet Tip after two strokes on my right cheek, then put it down because, well, BOSC Rulz!

Second pass S>N. Hmmm, no tugging. Not even ATG on my cheeks and under my chin. Nice and smooth and really very comfortable.

Third pass directly ATG. Still no tugging. Very smooth and comfortable. I couldnt even feel the blade buffing around my chin and the sides of my mouth. This, is the difference a more rigid design makes.

Nice shave. Nice blade. Great razor.

I think I'll even use this blade again next shave, but in my NEW SC. The same razor I really liked this blade in around two years ago. I think with a little bit of gap, the tugging will be completely eliminated.

At the same time this is where an SE shines, brightly. The thicker SE blades, especially as sharp as PTFE blades are, would just wipe that 80 hours growth right off without a hiccup. The difference in blades, the thickness and sheer rigidity of the SE blades, really is dramatic.

View attachment 1010384

To your question of shaving at 24 hours Rave. I've found my whiskers very difficult to cut with less than 40 hours growth. My shaves are usually so close, a 12+ hour BBS finish, that I rarely need to shave again so soon. I think the last time shaved at less than 40 hours growth was here. Oct.14 2017;



I'm okay with having 5 o'clock shadow at 5PM the next day.

Thanks for the update.

 

[Esox]

Thanks for the update.
View attachment 1010395

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Maybe Mo will make us a Lusso based Grooming Dept soap which smells just like King of Oud. I'd say better than King of Oud but I'm not at all sure that's possible.

I'll admit to liking the scent of a fair far number of soaps but my two favorites for scent are GD Valencia and KoO (and they're nothing alike as far as I know; too be fair I know zip about scents except do I like it or not).

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Esox]

Lord Platinum, shave 3, flipped and in the NEW SC with WK DM.

First pass N>S. Second pass ATG. Third pass ATG. Cleanup ATG.

No tugging! I knew gap would make the difference but that came with light irritation and redness over my swirls.

Three shaves in a row with the WK Chypre Rose Concerto and I'm tired of it already.

 

[Raven Koenes]

SOTD:
Razor: Fatip Grande n
Blade: Lord Platinum (6)
Brush: Maggard 22mm Synth
Soap: Scheermonnik Delfts Wit
Aftershave: Reuzel

Today's shave was day 6 on a Lord Platinum blade. It was still smooth and efficient on 72 hours of growth. This is a smooth blade. I'm liking it. Today I used a Scheermonnik soap. This was just my first shave with it but I really like it. To me it edges out Wholly Kaw in performance. There is just something about feel of European Vegetal based soaps like SV, Wickhams 1912, and Schermonnik that I really like. I find these shops shine when I rinse in between passes and with the post shave feel. There is just something about Wholly Kaw where the lather feels bulky and thick in almost an artificial king of way. I know the ingredients are all natural. I just think that Scheermonnik beats it in a natural fluid way. It also has a short load time like SV and Wickhams 1912, so for the price you pay for 75g that is a plus. The other thing I liked about the scent was how nicely it bloomed. It is kind of a spicy Mahogany scent I've heard. I don't know what that smells like so I'll take their word for it. This was just my first shave with it so my opinion might change and WK might even out against it. Right now I'm basking in first use glow.

 

[Raven Koenes]

Lord Platinum, shave 3, flipped and in the NEW SC with WK DM.

First pass N>S. Second pass ATG. Third pass ATG. Cleanup ATG.

No tugging! I knew gap would make the difference but that came with light irritation and redness over my swirls.

Three shaves in a row with the WK Chypre Rose Concerto and I'm tired of it already.

Maybe you're just a tad out of practice with DE's? Why do you seem to be tired of WK Chypre Rose Concerto? I like the performance of WK soaps, but I do think they are a tad overrated. Everything about it should be right and in a way it is. For most people it probably would be. I just find it a natural soap that feels unnatural in a weird sort of natural way?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

 

[Esox]

Maybe you're just a tad out of practice with DE's? Why do you seem to be tired of WK Chypre Rose Concerto? I like the performance of WK soaps, but I do think they are a tad overrated. Everything about it should be right and in a way it is. For most people it probably would be.

No not out of practice. My Grande is like the friend you've had for 40 years but rarely get to spend time with. When you do, that time is great but then its back to everyday life which becomes smoother...or something lol.

The OC Fatip is still, as far as I'm concerned, the best DE on Earth. Learn to use one properly and get the most from it and no other DE can compare.

I will say this: After using my NEW SC for the first time in such a long time, it just doesnt shave as close as either my Grande or either Gem. Its very smooth and comfortable but once you're use to copious blade exposure, less just doesnt do it as well.

The performance of WK is okay, but the scent of this particular soap I dunno... Its heavy and musky and yet smells sort of like plastic. It's not sharp like Tabac but it has the same sort of insidiousness lol. I tire of it quickly.

I feel the same about Wickham English Rose. It has the same type of musky, heavy scent and the same sort of plastic or synthetic something of the WK.

I just find it a natural soap that feels unnatural in a weird sort of natural way?

Yeah. I get the same feeling, its odd. I cant explain it but it feels sort of...synthetic or something. Like a clone of a really good soap thats lost...something.

The one I keep going back to lately is Wickham Club Cola. Its a fairly strong, bold scent but at the same time light, breezy, relaxing and familiar. I dont find it tiring in the least.

I mashed all my left over Stirling samples into my mug on top of my Mama Bears. I'm going to start loading them hard to get to the gold buried under them. I'll be alternating them with CRS. Maybe a superlather hmmm.

View attachment 1011413

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Wickham Club Cola. What did you say it smells like?

I've only used the Magnum and Cashmere. I like both scents but like Magnum better. I may have had a sample of the 1912 rose. If so, I like it well enough.



There are certainly scents I don't like and a few I just can't stand, but mostly I care far more about performance. That said, a great scent is really good to find and yet extremely subjective.

Spoiler: So you like Tabac's scent?

Could I just forget what it smells like? Is that too much to ask?

There are so many good performing and good smelling soaps. Wow!

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Esox]

Wickham Club Cola. What did you say it smells like?

I've only used the Magnum and Cashmere. I like both scents but like Magnum better. I may have had a sample of the 1912 rose. If so, I like it well enough.

View attachment 1011492

There are certainly scents I don't like and a few I just can't stand, but mostly I care far more about performance. That said, a great scent is really good to find and yet extremely subjective.

Spoiler: So you like Tabac's scent?

Could I just forget what it smells like? Is that too much to ask?

There are so many good performing and good smelling soaps. Wow!

Happy shaves,

Jim

Scratch 'n Sniff lol.

Spoiler: Thou Shalt Not Sniff Tabac.

 

[Raven Koenes]

SOTD:
Razor: Fatip Grande n
Blade: Lord Platinum (7)
Brush: APShaveco Silksmoke
Soap: Scheermonnik Delfts Wit
Aftershave: Reuzel

Everything is firing on all cylinders with this combination. The Lord Platinum is still smooth, and the Scheermonnik is working perfectly. I love the scent, and a little product goes a long way. I'm quite happy with this weeks lineup. I did hear that the original guy that started Scheermonnik sold it to someone else. That someone else kept all the scents of the original guy and added a non-scented soap called Soek.