West Coast Canadian Pass-around Box

[Pepin]

Day Seven:

Soap: Cella
This was in the plastic bag marked “Cella Extra Purissima”. Not sure now what the unlabelled soap I tried on day two was (from the strong scent of almonds/marzipan I thought it was Cella). It is a very easy soap to lather. Quickly I had a nice dense lather. I was amazed at how good the lather is. I had a very good shave with it, the lather very slick and the shave felt very good. The scent is very actually a subtle marzipan scent. This is a very nice soap.

Brush:
My Semogue 1305 boar.

Blade: Merkur.
Second day with this blade, an okay shave. Not bad, but not a memorable blade.

Razor:
Used my English Gillette Rocket. No issues using the Merkur blade in it.

Aftershave: Old Spice
Had a second go with this classic AS. It has a very nice scent.

Will package it up and mail it off after work. Summary to follow.

 

[Pepin]

Summary of the last week
​

Cream: For me the best cream was the Park Avenue Cool Blue. It has a nice fragrance, lathers easily and you get a slick, smooth lather.
Soap: This is a difficult choice as there are two which I really enjoyed, the Barbus and the Barrister & Mann. Both of these soaps delivered a great lather for me, nice slick smooth resulting in a very good shave. I enjoyed the fragrances of both, however if I have to pick one, it would be the Barrister & Mann, as there are so many nice scents. The Pre de Provence was close, but the scent was faint.
Brush: The Simpson’s Berkley was a very nice brush. Its small size feels awkward at first, but you quickly get used to it. It feels nice on my face, and was good at lathering.
Blades: I tried the Nacet, Bolzano, and Merkur blades. I would not call any of them a bad blade, average if anything. If I had to pick a blade after one shave, it would be the Bolzano.
Razors: I tried the triangle-slot Gillette Tech. I have a ’61 Tech and a ’48-’52 Tech, both of which I find to be too mild; and hence a relegated to the collecting side. This Tech is a very nice shaver, comfortable to handle, with a nice weight balance.
Aftershave: Of the ones I tried there were two I liked, the Brutal Grand and the Old Spice.

The box moves on: I cleaned the Tech with Scrubbing Bubbles, and shampooed the Simpson’s Berkley. To the box I added some aftershave, Duro (a Turkish lemon scented AS). I messaged “SteveTheCanuck” today. The box will be sent after work, and I have sent him a message with the shipping information.

 

[Pepin]

Here is the shipping tag.

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

I've received the box. Wow it's big! Will be taking a closer look later today.

 

[Pepin]

It is a beast of box alright.

There are many soaps to choose from, let your nose decide which you like.

There were several whose "fragrance" prompted me to past it on for a better selection. Soap-wise I would recommend you look at trying the Barbus, Barrister & Mann, and Mystic Waters.

Enjoy the great shave items

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

OK I've unpacked it. This is a lot of stuff. Looking forward to the first shave.

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

Today's shave:
Blade: Bolzano Score 7 out of 10
Brush: Wilkinson Sword Finest Bristle Score 7 out of 10
Soap: Mystic Waters Vanilla Sandlewood Score 8 out of 10
Aftershave: Old Spice Classic
Razor: Razorock Jaws (mine)
Razor: Gillette Fat Boy. (mine)

I started out by using a razor I'm familiar with. The Razorock Jaws is a slightly agressive razor. Mid-range really. I wanted to get a decent impression with a razor i was familiar with. Couldn't resist trying out the Wilkinson brush. So many times I passed it by in the Target store. Cutting off a little sample of the soap I deposited it in my bowl, a 1970's jelly mold bowl which does an awesome job as a shaving bowl. The brush soaked in a mug full of hot water while I showered.
The soap lathered up easily with the Wilkinson brush. I can tell that the bristles are bit bigger than more expensive brushes but it did a decent job of whipping up the lather and felt fine. The first pass lather was a little thin but I think it's due to my experience. Every soap is a little different.
The Bolzano blade tugged a bit and I was a bit surprised at this. I've heard good things about this blade but really it seemed to be in the middle of the pack as far as comfort goes. The Mystic Waters smelled nice and provided an above average experience but again I expected more . The cushion and glide is not as good as the soap I've been using lately... from the First Canadian Shave Soap Company.
For the second pass I switched the blade to my Fat Boy set to 7. The soap was a bit less thin than before but again, it was not up to the FCSSC. Again, the blade performed about the same. I prefer the Gillette Nacet, Personna Red and Feather to the Bolzano. Finished off with some Classic Old Spice. I liked it but my wife said it made me smell like Grandpa.
I know this review sounds a bit down but really it's more to do with expectations than performance. In reality they perform well enough and I ended up with a DFS. I expect that I don't have the soap quite dialed in so take that one with a grain of salt.

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

Today's shave. My jelly mold makes a great shaving bowl. You can see the sample of Mystic Waters soap I carved off and applied to the bottom of the bowl. The result was a DFS.

 

[imcndn]

The Wilkinson Sword brush... is that a boar?

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

I think it is. The box says Finest Bristle. They were under $6 at Target until they disappeared.

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

Certainly not as smooth as a badger.

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

Further info on the Wilkinson brush: It's got a smaller knot. I think this brush would be an OK travel brush. For the price it's quite acceptable.

 

[jefhunter]

Further info on the Wilkinson brush: It's got a smaller knot. I think this brush would be an OK travel brush. For the price it's quite acceptable.

This is exactly what mine has become. No worries about loss or anything.

 

[Pepin]

Which soaps from the First Canadian Shave Soap Co. do you use? I agree that the lather I got from the FCSSC ranked up there with the best of them..

I enjoyed the Lavender, I found the scent of the Rosemary & Lime nice, but faint.

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

My fave is the Rosemary and Lime but yes the scent is faint.

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

Today's line up:

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

One more time.

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

SOAP: BARRISTER & MANN -SOLSTICE 9 out of 10
BRUSH: SIMPSON -BADGER 10 out of 10
RAZOR: DIANE SHAVETTE 8 out of 10
BLADE: PERMA SHARP SINGLE EDGE FOR SHAVETTE 8 out of 10
AFTERSHAVE: BRUTAL GRAND 7 out of 10

Prep this morning, as always was my usual shower. I left the brush soaking in a mug while I did this. Shaking off the excess, I proceeded to whip up some decent lather from what was a paper-thin sample of the Barrister and Mann soap. There wasn't much of a scent to it. Perhaps it was due to the sample size. That's the only reason I didn't give it a solid 10. The soap was slick and cushiony and did an awesome job. I'd highly recommend trying a bigger sample.

Speaking of whipping up a lather, this little Simpson brush punches above its weight class. I was suspicious before but all I can say now is WOW. The quality of this little guy is outstanding. I'll have to figure out a way to drop a brush from my already too huge assortment so I can justify buying a Simpsons.

This was my first time with a Shavette. To be fair, I have a few straight razors I use on a regular basis so this wasn't entirely new territory. I have to admit being more afraid of the Shavette than my first time with a straight.

The razor was easy to load. You slide out the blade holder and mount your blade before sliding the holder back into the razor. Pretty easy really. When using the razor, the sensation was fairly close to what I experience with a straight. Once I got the shaving angle optimized it worked very well. I was rewarded with BBS above the jawline and a decent shave on my neck. Even when I'm using my favourite straight razor, I never get better than a DFS on the neck so I'm pretty happy with this. The Perma Sharp blade performed well. I don't know how many shaves you can expect to get out it but I doubt it's made with more than one shave in mind. The only real negative about the Shavette was that the weight and balance were not what I'm used to. I like the heavier weight of a straight razor.

I have never heard of the aftershave and it was a complete mystery to me. The scent is masculine, with a familiar barbershop thing going on but with a heavier, muskier quality about it. My wife gives it the thumbs up but it doesn't fit with my usual tastes. I like it. I just don't LOVE it. Give it a try for yourself.

Overall it was a really pleasant shave this morning. No weepers, not smilers.

 

[Pepin]

The Brutal Classic has a scent similar to Arlington/4711, just a little more complex.

They have them in some Polish stores.

Starky's in Mississauga. Not sure if there is an outlet in your area.

 

[SteveTheCanuck]

This morning's shave