This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
https://gem.wetshaving.social/ - a nice modern interface
https://old.wetshaving.social/ - designed to look like old.reddit.com
Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social/.
https://uptime.splettnet.com/status/wetshaving
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Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
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Dec. 22, 2023
Great shave. This scent is a very enjoyable tea type scent. The soap performs exceptionally. I plan to try more moon soap products in the future I’m thrilled with this one. I have their union scent on my mind for my next order, I’ve read good things on here.
I have Union, and while I don't dislike its fragrance, I don't really get it. I don't really know what to think of it and what to combine it with 🤷♂️
Friday, December 22, 2023
Unfortunately my Leviathan balm seems to be almost gone, while I still have a significant amount of the soap. I use a single pump of balm for each use, and it does admittedly feel like a lot of balm but my skin dries out easily and that always felt like a good thing. Plus, would they design it so that a single pump is more than one intended use?
December 22, 2023
Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts with Declaration Grooming B10
Lather: Wholly Kaw - Amber Bomba - Soap
Toner: Thayers - Lemon - Toner
Aftershave: Wholly Kaw - Amber Bomba - Toner
Talc: Yardley Gold
2 passes. Face lather. Good shave.
A very comfortable shave. Not quite BBS, more of a DFS++. Amber Bomba is excellent, though.
December 22, 2023
Today I did a side by side comparison of Gen 1 & 2. My initial use of the Gen 2 was yesterday, and it was tuggy. I blamed the blade, and it seems I was right, because today was much better.
The status quo is that the bumps on Gen 2 make it so the blade is held at a different angle. @djundjila@sub.wetshaving.social disagrees with this observation, stating that the spine on modern GEM blades rests on the backstops either way.
I took a close look at both razors today, and while I did see the Gen 2 have slightly more space between the baseplate and the blade, the difference is so minute that I can't imagine it affects anything.
So, did they feel the same? No they didn't. I can't explain why, but I did prefer the Gen 2, but only ever so slightly. It met the status quo of being "smoother". Both sides of my face are equally close, equally comfortable, but during the shave I couldn't help but give the win to Gen 2.
Typical disclaimer that this is just my opinion, and it's based on an unscientific data set of "1 shave".
Maybe next I'll do a showdown between the MMOC Gen 2 and the Clog-Pruf?
If I find the time to prepare a parcel with a few MMOCs loaded each with a fresh GEM blade so you don't have to look under the top cap, would you do a blind test to see whether you can tell gen 1 from 2 by shave feel alone?
That sounds like a fun experiment. I'd be down.
Ok, I'll get on that when I'm back in the city 😊
I recently talked with @infernalinternal about his incoming Red Imp, and now I'm thinking of Fougère Gothique as Red Imp Soap. This is the last open blade shave for a few days before I switch to a toddler-safe travel setup and I enjoyed the big 14 and the chonky boar.