Item of the Week 11/18 - Kiss My Face

Hello to all.

This will be the thirty ninth in a series of "item of the week" threads that I am promoting in the general shave discussion forum.
The rules:

1. It is very simple. Use the item of the week for the week that it is scheduled and post your thoughts on that item in its thread.
2. Everything else in your shave line-up may be rotated at will, but keep the featured item of the week as part of each shave.
3. The weeks will start on Monday and end on Saturday. Sunday could be a free day, or an overlap day for the next week or whatever.

The thirty ninth featured item of the week will be Kiss My Face.

KMF lavender is currently my weekend cream - with parabens, thank you. So I used it this morning, with an SOC boar and a NEW.

This is one of the few products that I mix. The KMF lavender scent is on the floral side, so I spike one pump of KMF with a dab of Real Shaving Company cream. The tea tree adds a medicinal base note, which I think is an improvement. The RSC might help the lather a bit too - or maybe it is just that I use more product that way.

ok, gang, let's get the ball rolling!

Sunday afternoon, Nov 18th.
Wrapping up weekend, shave before dinner thing.
Prep with shower + Musgo Glyce
KMF Key Lime + Kent AP4
KMF was nice and lathered fine with the Kent silvertip, just was a bit 'thin' and lacked 'cushion'.
Resulted in just a drop more irritation than norm. Scent was ok, but faded.
Maybe the lavender will be even nicer?!
However, this travel size was priced comfortably and available at a local Wholefoods.
Razor was Feather AC SS + ProGuard (#4)
And, again, cannot praise the Feather shavette and blade enough.
After, cool water rinse + alum swipe + T&H West Indian Limes A/S and Balm
Ready for the outing.

View attachment 385876

I've never tried it but I will be near Whole Foods tomorrow. I may have to get in on this - although the last thing I need is more software

I may join in for a shave or two, got some Pomegranate cream that I bought for the wife to use in the shower.

Used KMF Lavender for my head shave this morning

Wow, great new brand name...Kiss My Scalp! Trademark it right away!

Hmmm... I might be convinced to use some Lavender this evening.

I usually use KMF as an ingredient in a super or uber lather. I don't care much for it on its own. Lathers up fine, but I wind up with irritation on my neck. I shot a squirt of it today (cool mint) into some Rose of Bulgaria cream that I've been using lately. Lathered up well and shaved just fine. Then, I noticed a big red blotch on my neck...

Oh, well.

I used the Pomegranate Grapefruit KMF for this morning's shave. A couple of pumps into my bowl allowed me to whip up enough lather for four passes with some left over afterwards. I have to admit I am very impressed with the performance. The lather was slick, had great cushion and was very stable. The scent, on the other hand, was not my style. I felt like I lathered up some Fruit Stripe gum.

Today's shave, Monday morning, Nov. 18th, 2013
Shave after gym, tried out the KMF Lavender Shea
Prep with Maggards PSO, lathered with Kent AP4 silvertip
Again, two passes with a Feather AC and Proguard (#3)
After, as a balm, some GFT Coral Skin Food
The Lavender seemed to be a stronger scent and a little bit more buttery than the Key Lime.
I'd still like to see some more thickness and protection if I were to use KMF everyday.
Photo drop-in, from my archives, just for fun.

I used the Cool Mint today. Wasn't sure about using the menthol because the last couple of days have been getting cold. Next time I'm near the store that sells KMF I want to get some of the lime. This cream moisturizes very well IMHO. Good product, great price.

I used KMF Lime this morning. I have noticed that the cream is sort of "stringy" until it is hydrated and lathered-up with a brush. Kind of an odd texture, but it is certainly a passable cream. I would prefer for the scent to be more noticeable, but the larger, pump container is a bargain for the quantity of product you get.

Well, I had my shave tonight with the Kiss My Face cool mint. I used one pump onto my brush and whipped it up. Looked nice, smelled nice. Face lathered but the preshave oil I used was immediately knocking it down. So, I washed my face and started over. This time no oil and used three pumps. The lather was much thicker and slicker than before. No knock down.

Shave went fantastically. Through three passes it didn't fall down and remained slick. I can see this getting into my rotation easily.

I uberlathered a tiny piece of an old valobra stick with KMF lavender last night. The lather was incredibly thick and creamy... almost too thick and creamy. I could get used to it for DE shaves though. The lavender scent coupled with the Valobra just helped me make up my mind that I am DEFINITELY buying some Valobra pucks as soon as they're available.

Shave this afternoon before evening photo gig.
showered, used some Musgo and smeared AOS PSO.
I used the KMF lavender half & half with IK cream
That was to get some more protection in the lather.
T&H silvertip and One Pass with the Feather AC DX and ProGuard (#4?)
Very clean. slight buffing. then Agua Lavanda splash.
Gotta run; sorry, no time for a nice photo.

Day two with KMF and I'm enjoying using it. I am finding myself wishing the cool mint had a more menthol feeling to it but other than that it preforms nicely for me. With it being in a bottle with a pump on it I've been experimenting with the amount I use. Tonight I used two pumps and I feel like that's not quite enough. But the amount of water and different brush completely ruins the comparison. I'm going to have to eliminate some variables before I can really come up with an answer here. I'm thinking of weighing the brush before shaving the next three days and only altering the amount of soap. One pump first, two the next day and three of friday. And also use distilled water. We'll see how it goes. Probably a waste of time.

Difficult decision this morning, not made lightly and only on rare occasions.
But there is not much room now on the soap payroll and other workers were being called in to cover for them.
So cuts had to be made. They were good guys and perhaps I was not using them properly.
And their larger, pump versions have additional skills.
Totally based on subjective performance review, and certainly YMMV.

Wow! I saw the picture first and immediately thought "Poor guy! Wait... do they still really issue pink slips?"

I especially like the "supervisor" signature.

Today's KMF shave
Prep: Hot shower, Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap
Lather: KMF Fragrance Free super lather with Mama Bear's Mysore Sandalwood--Face lathered
Brush: Frank's Shaving Pur-Tech
Razor: Pre-war tech
Blade: Feather (1)
Shave: WTG/XTG/ATG
Post: Alum Block, cold rinse
A/S: Nivea Balm, followed by 50/50 Thayer's Witch Hazel and Clubman VIBR

This was my first use of any Bay Rum. I think I dig it.