Howdy all! I'm here to review a very generous PIF From Xillion. The review is of the ABCBA shaving soap from RazoRock. Being a man of medicine, this will be a very clinically-style review. Being a goofball, there are sure to be a few jokes thrown in the mix. Here we go!
First Impressions: Right away, upon opening the tin, I was surprised by the somewhat pearlescent sheen of the soap. Not really relevant, but it is pretty. The texture is medium-soft, as has been my experience with Italian croaps.
Scent: First off, I'm not sure what I was expecting (I may have gotten it mixed up with the Don Marco in my head), but taking a deep whiff of the soap snapped my head back. Not that it's off-putting or incredibly strong, mind you. It's a very nice almond scent (granted, this will be the first almond-scented soap I've used), somewhere between maraschino liquor and marzipan, with that slight warming sensation to the nose that you get from sniffing a fine amaretto. What knocked me back on my heels was the force of memory: my grandmother passed away last year, and one of my first Christmas memories is her giving marzipan fruits to my brother and I. The smell of ABCBA is a dead-ringer for that remembered scent, and the effect was like a sledgehammer to the heart. I may or may not have tasted it in a momentary trance... It does NOT taste like marzipan.
The Setup:
I decided to use as many of my everyday choices as possible, in order to evaluate the soap on it's own merits. I had a 48-hour growth of whiskers to try it against.
Prep: Hot shower, wash face with Cirmes Sapera wool fat soap (I used to use it for shaving, but I got tired of fighting with it to lather and banished it to pre-shave duty.)
Razor: MD Dragon shavette. My day to day workhorse.
Blade: Asco half-blades (Also generously included in the PIF. I've never used this brand before and I wanted to keep as many variables constant as possible, but I ran out of Feathers and the Derbys that came with the MD are just awful. I cannot for the life of me remember why I kept them.)
Brush: Parker Synthetic Silvertip. I have a VDH boar and VDH Pure Badger, but I opted for the synthetic as it has no smell (the badger is still being de-funked) and the smaller knot looked like it would work better with the small tin.
Method: Face lather.
Aftershave treatment: Cold water, alum, cold water, Adidas Dynamic Pulse A/S splash, Nivea Sensitive balm.
The Trial: First off, although it is soft to the touch, it holds up well while being loaded. Loaded for about 20 seconds, then set to face lathering. The synthetic knot can be a little tricky to lather with, but through sheer dumb luck I hit the sweet spot on the first try. Lather was very thick and cushion-ey, and the scent, while still present, toned down to a warmer, almost toasted-almond aroma. I gave this the standard run, one WTG pass, relather, then XTG on the cheeks, chin, and upper lip. Usually I can feel a little bit of stinging on my neck and jawline after the first pass, but I didn't with this (Great soap or Great blades? I don't know, but I honestly think both). To that end, I decided to try an XTG pass on my neck and jawline, which I never do. Surprise! No irritation! Not even when I later went outside into the howling subzero wind! Finished up with a cold-water rinse, alum, more cold water after I took pictures (I noticed that, despite the fact that the alum was on my skin much longer than usual, it still didn't sting!), then some Adidas DP splash and a little Nivea balm. Excellent!
The results: Not BBS, but I never get that anyway. A very smooth, very comfortable DFS though, even on my neck and jawline. I don't think that's ever happened before! I'm quite impressed! I'll have to make a point to try some of their other products in the future! Thank you so much for the chance to try this soap, Xillion! In the end, though, a picture is worth a thousand words.
First Impressions: Right away, upon opening the tin, I was surprised by the somewhat pearlescent sheen of the soap. Not really relevant, but it is pretty. The texture is medium-soft, as has been my experience with Italian croaps.
Scent: First off, I'm not sure what I was expecting (I may have gotten it mixed up with the Don Marco in my head), but taking a deep whiff of the soap snapped my head back. Not that it's off-putting or incredibly strong, mind you. It's a very nice almond scent (granted, this will be the first almond-scented soap I've used), somewhere between maraschino liquor and marzipan, with that slight warming sensation to the nose that you get from sniffing a fine amaretto. What knocked me back on my heels was the force of memory: my grandmother passed away last year, and one of my first Christmas memories is her giving marzipan fruits to my brother and I. The smell of ABCBA is a dead-ringer for that remembered scent, and the effect was like a sledgehammer to the heart. I may or may not have tasted it in a momentary trance... It does NOT taste like marzipan.
The Setup:
I decided to use as many of my everyday choices as possible, in order to evaluate the soap on it's own merits. I had a 48-hour growth of whiskers to try it against.Prep: Hot shower, wash face with Cirmes Sapera wool fat soap (I used to use it for shaving, but I got tired of fighting with it to lather and banished it to pre-shave duty.)
Razor: MD Dragon shavette. My day to day workhorse.
Blade: Asco half-blades (Also generously included in the PIF. I've never used this brand before and I wanted to keep as many variables constant as possible, but I ran out of Feathers and the Derbys that came with the MD are just awful. I cannot for the life of me remember why I kept them.)
Brush: Parker Synthetic Silvertip. I have a VDH boar and VDH Pure Badger, but I opted for the synthetic as it has no smell (the badger is still being de-funked) and the smaller knot looked like it would work better with the small tin.
Method: Face lather.
Aftershave treatment: Cold water, alum, cold water, Adidas Dynamic Pulse A/S splash, Nivea Sensitive balm.
The Trial: First off, although it is soft to the touch, it holds up well while being loaded. Loaded for about 20 seconds, then set to face lathering. The synthetic knot can be a little tricky to lather with, but through sheer dumb luck I hit the sweet spot on the first try. Lather was very thick and cushion-ey, and the scent, while still present, toned down to a warmer, almost toasted-almond aroma. I gave this the standard run, one WTG pass, relather, then XTG on the cheeks, chin, and upper lip. Usually I can feel a little bit of stinging on my neck and jawline after the first pass, but I didn't with this (Great soap or Great blades? I don't know, but I honestly think both). To that end, I decided to try an XTG pass on my neck and jawline, which I never do. Surprise! No irritation! Not even when I later went outside into the howling subzero wind! Finished up with a cold-water rinse, alum, more cold water after I took pictures (I noticed that, despite the fact that the alum was on my skin much longer than usual, it still didn't sting!), then some Adidas DP splash and a little Nivea balm. Excellent!
The results: Not BBS, but I never get that anyway. A very smooth, very comfortable DFS though, even on my neck and jawline. I don't think that's ever happened before! I'm quite impressed! I'll have to make a point to try some of their other products in the future! Thank you so much for the chance to try this soap, Xillion! In the end, though, a picture is worth a thousand words.
