West Coast Canadian Pass-around Box

Hey all, finally got the time to sit down and get these threads going and started, which means the boxes will begin officially moving by December 3rd. From the feedback I saw on the original thread about the rules, we will not be adding more people to the list until it has made its way to the end of its destination. The Rules will be included in this post, along with a list of the current items and pictures for you all to enjoy. The list of members will be at the bottom of the thread.

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The Great Canadian Pass Around Box Rules and Regulations

Time with Box:
- The Box, will be passed down the preset list we have determined which will be included in the first post of each coasts respected thread.
- Each member will have a week, full 7 days, with the box starting when it first arrives by post. It is each member�s duty as part of the team to report on the coast thread the box belongs to when it arrives and its contents along with a picture of everything inside.
- During your week with the box, it is strongly encouraged to review the items you use day by day on the coast thread. Tell us what you liked and disliked half the fun is hearing about your experience.
- When your week is up, you can swap out any item you enjoyed for one from your own den. Whatever items you decide to take you must make the utmost attempt to replace them with items of equivalent value so we don�t end up with a box full of stuff nobody wants.
- When you send the box, it is your responsibility to contact the next in line to receive their shipping information. We understand life is busy and you may need a day or two to get it shipped out but PLEASE try to get it done ASAP.
- When you send the box out, you MUST post the tracking number on the coast thread so we can all keep track of its progress.
- When you receive the box, immediately PM the next in line for there mailing address to facilitate and streamline the process.

Using Items in the Box:
- This is a disclaimer; if you decide to use any of the included items do so at your own risk. You are responsible for cleaning any hardware used, any soaps/software you decide to use do so in a sanitary manner. With soaps or creams, scrape or chip content out as too preserve and maintain its viability for the hypochondriacs out there.
- If you do decide to take a soap/cream you must, as with hardware, replace it with a software (New would be preferable).
- All items will be leaving each respective coast cleaned and disinfected, it becomes your responsibility from there on out to keep it that way.
- Feel free to add anything you want to the box when you get it. Although you do not have to swap out anything you can contribute to the box if you feel like being generous.


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On to the goods!

Note: all quantities refer to sample size unless otherwise indicated

First Canadian Shave Soap
Bay Run 6
Lavender 10
Sandalwood 9
Lime + Rosemary 11
Naked Truth 4 large

Stirling
Texas on Fire ** full puck
Jasmine Sambac 2
Nag Champa 1
Earl Grey 1
Earl Grey Stick 1
Glacial - Wintergreen ** 1
Glacial - Spearmint ** 1
Rose 1
** Very strong scents, will transfer to other products so please keep wrapped up separately

Yeti Snot 1

Queen Charlotte Soaps
Esquire 1
Caymen 1

EJ Limes + Pomegranite 1
AOS Ocean Kelp 1
eShave Orange Sandalwood 1
Petrichor (B&M?) 1
Arko Sticks 3
Williams 1 puck, 1 container
Elora 1
Wilkinson Sword (Blue) full puck

Taylor of Old Bond Street
Coconut 1
Grapefruit 1
Jermyn Street 1

Castle Forbes Lime 1
GF Trumper Lime 1
Pre de Provence 1

HTGAM
Lavender Cedar full puck
Synergy 2.0 Eh+ full puck

Razorock P.160 full puck

Tiki
Salty Air full puck
Surf's Up full puck
Nivea Men Sensitive Cream tube
Park Avenue Cool Blue Cream tube
Axe Denim Cream tube
Dettol Fresh Cream tube

Barrister & Mann
Solstice 1
Leviathan 1
Adiago 1
Lime/Lavender/Cedar 1
Vetiver/Heather/Cleary Sage 1
Roam 1
Seville 1
Cheshire 1
Bay Rum 1

After Shaves:
Aqua Velva Ice Sport bottle
Pinaud Clubman large sample
Pinaud Lilac Vegetal "The Veg" small sample

Harware
Gillette Tech triangle slot 1
Gillette Tech rectangular slot 1
Wilkinson Sword Brush 1
Omega Boar Brush 1

Bolzano superinox 1
Astra SP 4
Feather 2
Gillette Wilkinson Sword 1
Treet 1
Gillette Nacet Stainless 1
Bic Chrome Platinum 1
Gillette 7 O'Clock Black 1
Derby 2
Shark Super Chrome 2
Assorted singles


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And now for the list:

Purplemonkey -Vancouver, BC
well_nuc -Vancouver, BC
jefhunter -Vancouver, BC
NRAM -Maple Ridge, BC
pbnj -Victoria, BC
eljedo -Victoria, BC
Nick_O Fort St. John, BC
Roderick -Grande Prairie, AB
Roughneck12 -AB
arekkusu -Edmonton, AB
alexmc545 -Edmonton, AB
dewbler -Sk
stovepipe699 -MB
skip -Toronto, ON
i_dont_bite - Toronto, ON
imcndn -Hamilton, ON
Pepin -Niagara Falls, ON
SteveTheCanuck -Oshawa, ON
royal52 -Ottawa, ON
Snidely -Ottawa, ON
canphan -Ottawa, ON
Ulricus -ON
Comet -Montreal QC
Luc -Montreal, QC
Winchester38 -NS
Khory93 -Dartmouth, NS

(NOTE: I did not include anyone who did not, to my knowledge, contribute. If you did and I did not include you please PM me and I will address the issue. If you are on the list and you did not contribute, well it would be one of those moments where you don't speak out I suppose.)


That will be the order we will be following for the West Coast Box. I spoke with Purplemonkey and we will be only have the box for three days from now which will be mainly time to get the boxes packed up and shipped out. During the three days, we will do as everyone else will and give our review of the products sampled.


I'm happy you all entrusted me to get this going, this place has been a joy to be a part of and I've experienced nothing but the most kind and warm-hearted interactions with every person I've dealt with.

Let's get some klicks going on these boxes.

Jeremy

Thanks mate, looking forward to it. I strongly suggest that anyone participating to this thread subscribe to it in order to see any update.

Looking Good! 👍

I see a sensory overload in my near future!!!!!

I can't wait to get into some of those soaps!

Good job getting this going !!

It's easy to see where the oil is located in Canada!

Glad to see this rolling! Eh?

WooHoo!!!!

Thank you, nice to see it coming around. Good way to try new products.

That's a gonna be a big a box!

I did my best to keep it in a small box... I'll try to get my shave notes from last night up later today.

Have fun, gentlemen and enjoy the products!

Some background: I've been wetshaving since 2005, and started using a DE in 2010 (thanks to my then GF, now wife). Since then I've suffered many AD's, not just limited to the shaving side (scroll past the BST and join us!). I've managed to pick a favourite blade, develop a stable of brushes, select a few favourite razors and I continue to find new soap and aftershave that I like. When I tend to try out a new product, I only change one aspect of my shaving routine, in an attempt to be able to tell how the performance was affected.

My usual setup:
Gillette NEW LC with a Weber SS wave handle, Treet platinum blade
Brush: when testing I tend to stick to my custom designed Wolf Whiskers with a 1st batch TGN Finest F2 (24mm x 48mm)

My preshave prep is shower, Bulldog exfoliating face wash, then load and face lather.

My first shave - Barrister and Mann Lime, Lavender & Cedar Soap

I smeared a chunk of the sample into a salsa bowl to help with loading and loaded for about 30ish sec. I moved to my face and the lather building began. I found the soap to be have a fairly wide tolerable zone for water, and once I had enough water in the mix the lather exploded. I worked the lather into a more thick cream type consistency and I found it to have excellent cushion and slickness. I found the scent to be mild but pleasant and complex. Note: the strength of the scent may be due to it being a sample as I find that actual pucks of items tend to have better scenting. I did a 2 pass shave (WTG and XTG above jawline, WTG and ATG below), no need for touch ups. There was enough lather left in my brush for another pass. Post shave, skin felt good, not oily but not dry either. I followed up with some Every Man Jack Aftershave balm.

TLR - smelt mild, performed well, will add to rotation

Shave 2 - Synergy 2.0 Eh+

I was on the fence about trying this as it was too sweet scented for me, but my wife smelt it and asked me to try it ... so I did.
I followed the same routine as with the B&M. I found the lather to build fairly easily but it required more effort to get the same cushion and slickness I like. Once I had dialed in the lather as much as I could, I found that I could still feel the blade scraping my skin. Needless to say, I had some irritation post shave so I am unable to comment on this soaps post-shave feel. I also found the scent to dissipate by the second pass, but when it was there, it smelt like breakfast pancakes. In the end, I found the soap to be mediocre performer, and I will not be considering adding this soap to my rotation. There are other products with better performance at the same/similar price point IMO (see above soap for example). As always, YMMV.


I'll wrap this up with a preview. Recently, another shaver has convinced me to revisit Astra SP blades. I tried them before and I couldn't complete the shave and had to switch to another blade mid shave. I haven't tried them since. Well, just to humour this gentleman, I gave them another go and not nearly as bad as I thought they would be. Since then, I have decided to revisit some other blades because hey, I could use something else to spend all my money on. Anyways, tomorrow I plan on test driving the Gillette Nacet blade from the box...

Superb review, PurpleMonkey!

Great review. Thanks very much!

For today's shave, I decided to try out the Gillette Nacet blade. My setup for today:

Strop Shoppe Russian Tea Soap (great scent and performance, nice post shave feel)
Rudy Vey Burl handle with 26mm WSP Superfine (1st gen knot)
Gillette NEW LC, Weber wave handle.

Right after the first few strokes I could tell it was very smooth. I did my usual 2 pass above the jawline (WTG then XTG ear to nose) and 2 pass below (WTG then ATG). I had no irritation and the blade felt smoother than the Astra, and sharper as there was less tugging. It was feeling soo good I decided to tempt the shave gods and do an additional pass above the jawline (not happening below the jawline as my neck is too sensitive). I went XTG nose to ear. The Nacet held its own, with very little chatter/hopping as it encounter the follicle dense areas towards the ear. I followed up with my alum block and got minimal feedback. It was such a nice shave, I decided to bust out my unobtainium a/s - Fine Savon Lavande (man I love this stuff... and so does the wife). Seeing as it is a bit chilly over here and the air is dry, I will apply some Every Man Jack or Nivea Sensitive balm in an hour or two. Overall, I'm very pleased with the blade and will be seeing what the 2nd shave with it will feel like on Thursday.

TLR - smooth, I likey, 2nd shave will be Thursday.

On a side note, I have PM'd well_nuc and am awaiting his response. Just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped make this pass-around possible!

Great Reviews, Happy to hear positive comments about the Nacet blade as I bought 400 of them (very cheap....how could I not?) and haven't tried them yet. Looking forward to more great reviews

Where did you get them from Alex? If it's still a great shave tomorrow I'll grab 100.

Just saw them posted on Italian Barber.

So today is the big day for us on the West Coast. well_nuc is out of town for a week so he switched spots with Jefhunter. I will be going to meet Jeff and pass off the box.

On a follow up to my Gillette Nacet journey, I had my second shave on the blade.
Setup:
Wolf Whiskers custom handle w/ TGN Finest F2 first gen knot 24x48mm
Cold River Shave Soap Select Vetiver (great non-traditional vetiver scent - soo worth checking out)
Clubman Musk A/S
Crabtree and Evelyn Aftershave Balm (Sandalwood)

Shave was great. Blade still plowed through my whiskers and was smooth. I'm going to compare the experience to my Treet platinums on my next shave before I commit but so far so good.

Jeff, we await your shaves.