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45 Shaves!! And the countdown to 50 is underway!!Last night, I had shave #45 with blade #2 of the vintage Polisilver Stainless Steel blades. The blade was held in place with a nickel Fatip OC Piccolo head on a gold Grande handle. This shave was pretty darn excellent!
I used Haslinger Aloe Vera shaving soap and made a good slick and cushiony lather with it. I initially thought I had added too much water, but the lather was super slick and it still maintained a good cushion.
Prior to the shave, I repeatedly splashed myself with warm water while brushing my teeth (including rinsing with mouthwash), used warm water to soak my Semogue Owners Club cherry wood handle finest badger brush, and also soaked my soap puck upside down in my Captain's Choice Seaworthy lather bowl in which I had added just enough water to soak the top of the puck.
After the water in the lather bowl turned filmy, I shook my brush to remove some water from it, then dumped the filmy bloom water into an empty cup. Next, I picked up the soap puck in my left hand and swirled my brush across it for a minute before scooping up the protolather and transferring it to my lather bowl. What I couldn't remove from my hands and the top of the puck, I rubbed on my face.
I then rinsed the remaining soap off my fingers with some tap water and collected the soapy water in the bloom water cup. I picked up my brush and began to stir it in the lather bowl while gradually adding some of the soapy bloom water to make my lather. When my lather looked shave-ready, I applied a little of the soapy bloom water to my face by hand before each lather pass.
I did my usual two pass (WTG and ATG) shave and buffed my trouble areas. I managed to get an irritation-free BBS.
I cleaned up my shave with my usual alum block and felt the tiniest bit of sting in one or two spots. I then cleaned my shaving gear before taking a warm shower, which washed off the alum.
Finishing up the shave, I applied some aftershave splash (Stirling Spice) and aftershave balm (Korres Saffron Spice). I feel a bit more sting from the alcohol in the splash.
All in all, I would give this shave a 99/100.
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