Items by Seraphim

You gotta love an aftershave that comes with a mission statement propaganda leaflet inside! Yet another super-cool, high quality Japanese AS bottle. White opaque glass with a screw top and shaker applicator so you don't waste any of the precious AS nectar....also came packaed in a box FWIW. Had a nice AOS Sandalwood and KAI Excella shave, and followed it up with my new Tactics AS. Result? Gives a nice, super intense, "whoa...whoa....WHOA...." AI sort of burn that...

Let's take a look at the GD, shall we? The QC from the factory is a bit lax, so the outline will vary from piece to piece, all are about 13/16 to 7/8 width: Tip outline, and edge outline vary. The biggest issue is usually that the heel of the razor is difficult to make contact with the hone due to that extremely large heel stabilizer and thick shoulder on the spine bevel. Some bulk removal of material is usually required to get that sorted out. Outline is one thing, the next is...

3M aluminum oxide lapping films. I've long been a fan of lapping film, as it was the first "hone" I ever used. They can be mounted on a thick piece of glass or a precision granite plate. the flatter and smoother the substrate, the better the results you will get. The films are available in a variety of grits. from heavy-duty 12um, 5um (black), 3um (grayish), 1um (green, my favorite finisher), to super-fine finishing 0.3um (white). It comes in 9x13" sheets, which I can then...

Move over Williams.... (just kidding, guys!:001_tongu) This, is the WORST stuff imaginable. I was travelling the other weekend,and figured I'd just use the wife's Alba Sea Mist moisturizing foam shave...... My mistake:eek: The key phrase here is "mist", it comes in a pump foaming dispenser top, and as you apply it to your face it dissapears into vapors... It provides about as much glide as a strip of flypaper.:mad: About as much cushion as a fold out couch bed at your...

OK, so I'm on business travel in Japan and my aftershave balm runs out, what's a guy to do? Off to the local department store and see if I can get some local stuff (I don't speak a word of Japanese, mind you....). I come across a likely looking candidate. In English it says "Lucido" with "skin conditioner" below, sounds about right, the rest of the label is in Japanese, except on the back where it says "made in Japan". Cool, I'm sold, a product crafted in a foreign land, and only about $6...

OK, so after mistakenly recieving a 23mm brush instead of the 21mm, I finally have the correct brush (Bernd was fantastic in customer response!). So, I can heartily recommend both the 23mm and the 21mm Shavemacs! Really, they are very nice brushes. Extremely soft on your face, and they whip lather quite nicely. See my other thread for action pics of the 23mm brush. The 21mm performs exactly the same, but fits my face better, as it is about 15% smaller brush area. The 23mm was great as...