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.
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Jan. 4, 2024
Good shave. These blades seem to perform well I have no complaints about them in this razor. Good scent and lather.
Today's theme invites some of the oily classics like The Stag, VoA, or Gearhead. Or maybe some of those nature-themed scents like Terror, Eigengrau, Petrichor, or Madagascar? A stanky fougère like Fougère Gothique/Classique or Varen? However, when I looked through my den to find the least edible scent, I knew it had to be Abschaum. Not only does it have the least edible name ("Grease Scum"), but the scent is straight up laundry detergent. It's really pleasant, fresh, and clean, but you'd never want a bite of this.
The last few days with the Wolfie WR4 were interesting: It's a terrific razor which have me easy, mindless BBS shaves almost from the start, but it didn't spark joy like an MMOC, a straight, a Rolls or an R41. I've speculated with u/VisceralWatch and @gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social that this might be because it's too good to be fun? Like, by being such a mindless good shaver, it lets you forget about the act of shaving instead of enjoying it? I realised that I have a few razors like that: This G1 Schick, the Hydro-Magic, the Mühle Rocca, the Blutt BR-1, and various Techs (and probably more which don't come to mind this early morning) all give me great shaves while making me forget about the razor.
Mountain Man and Craftsman carry the same freshness as Abschaum. Nice shave.
I understand what you and VisceralWatch mean by not fun. I would probably say that the razor provides a great shave on autopilot; where I only need to be minimally mindful of technique. But I think this is a consequence of having focused on technique while using safety razors. None of my straight razors are this way and I very much enjoy the mindfulness that technique with a straight requires. At this point in my shaving journey my use of all safety razors (including the MMOC) is more on autopilot than on mindful attention. To me, they're still fun, though; where I'm defining fun as receiving enjoyment from them, broadening the definition beyond the attention I need to shave with them.
At this point in my shaving journey my use of all safety razors (including the MMOC) is more on autopilot than on mindful attention.
I totally agree with this sentiment, but it's not necessarily linked to fun IMO. As an analogy, I have multiple bicycles. One is a 1980 road bike with a fantastic lugged steel frame with just enough flex to let you feel it's doing something but not enough to be soft. Another one is 60 kg of cargo bike with a Dutch Omafiets seat geometry. When I'm riding them, they are both autopilot bikes for me, because, well, they're both bikes and riding a bike isn't hard. The light road bike is a lot more fun, though!
I realise that it's unfair to compare a cargo bike to the WR4, and the WR4 is definitely more "fun" than a Henson or a cartridge. Maybe I should have used different wording.
defining fun as receiving enjoyment from them,
exactly: I don't think I get as much enjoyment out if this kind of shaving as I do from other safety razors. And I feel a bit silly because it's actually a fantastic shaver 😅
Your bike analogy is a great one.
Interesting part about razors being not fun due to being too comfortable/mindless/autopilot. I'd disagree to a certain part: all the razors you've listed need some amount of skill to use them. Plus the vintage razors like the Schick or Gillette Techs automatically have a bit more mojo/soul/whatever buzzwords you fancy due to being vintage items.
A totally boring and soulless razor would be something like the Henson razor, various Leaf razors and of course gimmick systems like the Headblades to me. Overhyped marketing, lots of fancy language around them, almost too easy to use.
automatically have a bit more mojo/soul
I agree :)
A totally boring and soulless razor would be something like the Henson razor
totally! Onion said the same thing over on the sub, BTW
January 4, 2024
This tub of soap is in a 2oz form factor. Did he sell these as samples? I've heard talk about 2oz tubs being a good size for consumers (allows us to kill them faster!) but the economics doesn't work out.
but the economics doesn't work out.
I heard this from multiple artisans, and I trust their entrepreneurial expertise, but I do find this surprising. It suggests that they make the bulk of their revenue from reasonable consumers and not from... enthusiasts like us.
January 4, 2024
Brush: AP Shave Co Lemondrop 28mm SynBad
Lather: Saponificio Varesino - Opuntia - Soap
Toner: Thayers - Lemon - Toner
Aftershave: Saponificio Varesino - Opuntia - Aftershave
Fragrance: Creed Aventus
Talc: Pinaud Clubman
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
I remembered that Opuntia's fragrance is adjacent to Aventus. Terrific pairing I think. I really enjoyed this shave. After four days of Aventus I am really wondering why I just don't use it and complementary soap and splash everyday. I don't think I've used the fragrance for multiple days in a row before. My experience is that the fragrance is great on the first day and then its appeal grows on you. And I know that this is an extremely popular scent but where I live most of us smell like Old Bay Seasoning. Aventus is pretty unique in these parts. I wouldn't smell like everyone else.
Pinaud Clubman talc seems to morph into whatever fragrance you apply. It has finer particles than the Yardley talcs I have and is more likely to bomb you (talc everywhere) if applied with a soft badger brush. Nonetheless, for me, this can be a one-size-fits-all solution.
Pinaud Clubman
My talc bomb (apparently) landed today. Looking forward to trying it tomorrow
I still consider it an experiment and will be very interested in your impressions as you become accustomed to it.
I still need some accustoming (Booooom!) 😅
Theme Thursday: Least Edible
Since the theme today is least edible scent, I started with a list of my gourmand scents. The cactus blossom of Stirling's Saguaro Blossom stuck out since the scent description does list it as "a somewhat gourmand scent." After reading up on them, the Saguaro blossoms smell like melons, and the resulting fruit is eaten by people indigenous to the area. The next scent that came to mind for the theme, while not exactly a gourmand, was GF2.
I was in a hurry this morning, so I used the Slurry Lather Method. All it took was five brush swirls on the Stirling puck to make a surprisingly usable lather. I used a hybrid XTG and ATG pass where it was comfortable, with some quick touch-ups afterwards. The shave took less than five minutes, and the results were better than I expected.
Rating: 3.5/5