SOTD "Favorite Brushes Theme Week" July 27th - August 2nd, 2015

SOTD July 29

Christopher Johnson Near Wedge with Quilt Maple Scales
Semogue 1470
Williams Mug Soap
Aqua Velva Ice Blue

Head & face shower shave. days growth.

Technique: WTG / XTG / ATG
Prep: Shower.
Soap: Saponificio Varesino 70th Anniversary SE
Brush: Ever-Ready 100T (TGN Finest)
Razor: Mongoose B3
Blade: Kai Captain Titan Mild (3)
Post: Saponificio Varesino 70th Anniversary SE After Shave

My prior experience with Saponificio Varesino has been with Manna di Sicilia and Flying Mango, both of which are exceptional soaps. Thus far MdS has beat out Flying Mango by a slight but quantifiable margin. Flying Mango, while still a top tier luxury soap, didn't have quite the post shave properties of that of MdS. I also noted less cushion from Flying Mango. Scent is so subjective, I hesitate to even expound upon it, but I found the scent of MdS preferable to Flying Mango. I also found the Flying Mango scent to be faint and somewhat short-lived. Based on my first experience with SV's 70th Anniversary Special Edition, I can say with some confidence that it will at least tie MdS in all aspects, and edging it out in the aroma department. I'm pretty sure this will be my new reference soap.

The packaging of the 70th Anniversary SE is beautiful, but the tin is quite thin and flimsy. I want to preserve it's appearance, so I transferred the puck to a stoneware bowl just for loading purposes. The absence of a taper at the top lip of the tin means the puck isn't trapped in the it like the Flying Mango soap. I bloom almost all my soaps, so I let some warm tap water soak on the firm puck while I showered. The dry puck feels like any other triple-milled soap. However, care should be taken when blooming the 70th Anniversary SE. It softened up quite a bit with a surprisingly thick layer of white paste where it had been exposed to the water. It made the load easy, but maybe a little too easy. I don't want to over-state it, though. The stamped logo was still present after the shave, but you need to keep in mind it softens up a bit easier than any other hard soap I've used.

The rest of the shave was just plain luxury. This is an extremely dense and slick soap with a beautiful sheen. The Mongoose glided perfectly though the 2-day stubble that had been noticeably softened by the soap. Three head and face passes went by almost too quickly. The touch up to my stubborn patches only required a wet hand for lubrication due to the nourishing soap's properties. The scent wasn't quite as robust as MdS, but it makes a presence nonetheless. Much like MdS, I just can't describe the scent profile due to my lack of vocabulary on the subject and the complexity of the notes. I think I recall some faint citrus notes that are on the sharper side. Think lemon instead of orange. There are certainly some woodsy late notes, but it's not your typical pungent cedar. It's probably still in the fir family, though. I can't speak to the longevity of the soap's scent, because I was compelled to use the paired aftershave.

The after shave wasn't required in light of the superior protective and moisturizing properties of the soap. It felt great anyway. The thick, squatty bottle has a vintage, retro style, and the label is essentially a badge that shares the same pewter-like design of the soap tin. The ingredients label for both the soap and the after shave are affixed to the throw-away plastic sleeves in which they were shipped. This lends to a very clean aesthetic for both the soap tin and the after shave bottle. SV recommends you shake the bottle before use and dispense a small amount. The consistency is like that of milk or a very thin balm, and the flow limiter in the bottle is quite effective. It doesn't allow free flow at all. In fact, I had to actually shake out a few drops into my palm. It's hard to speak to the performance, because, again, my scalp and face already felt great before I every applied it. The scent duplicates the soap almost exactly, but I did notice some very light eucalyptus notes. The citrus and wood notes eventually won out, and I still note a very light remnants of the after shave lingering some two hours later.

I'm on day three of the Kai Captain Titan Mild blade. I've noticed no degradation in performance. It's just as smooth and comfortable as it's maiden voyage. I have several other blades to try in the tryablade.com Mongoose Sampler, but I can't see how any blade could offer anything more than what I'm getting from the Kai. I've gotten the hang of the Mongoose. It will certainly be in the rotation. It will enjoy longer stretches than my DEs since I get a lot more mileage out the SE blades.

This was a top-shelf shave courtesy of some high-end products that live up to their names. It's a good time to be in the wetshave hobby!

^ Very nice! Thx!

SOTD 30 July 2015


Let's start this week with some challenges: going for fresh if it's possible and also going with our favorite brushes. Let's see my personal chart.




#2 in my personal chart. The Muhle Silvertip Fibre.
Nothing else to say that I received as a trade and I loved it since the first shave. It's my benchmark for the synthetic brushes.
It's everything but complicated: it's soft but still has enough bone fur my tastes. It's a terrific lather machine and it's very balanced.
It's just excellent! No other words!.




Pre: A good shower, Menthol Dope Oil and Proraso White Preshave
Brush: Muhle Silvertip Fibre
Razor: Rockwell 6S Razor @2
Blades: Ladas Supersteel (1)
Soap: Muhle Sanddorn
AS: Floid the Original / Collistar Balm Sensitive


Moisturizer: My home made cream "Skin Bomb"with shea butter, lanolin, wheat germ oil, avocado oil and argan oil.


Music: Soul With A Capital "S" - The Best Of Tower Of Power


EDT: 4711







Have a wonderful shave and a fresh day to all gents!

sarimento1 said:

^ Very nice! Thx!

Click to expand...

+1
I'm looking forward to this soap and as, should be here Friday.
Great write up...thanks.

skypsyd said:

Very nice Post and Photos today gents, The brush AD is quite apparent. Gorgeous Stuff!

...
alfredus - must have a paladin (NICE!)
...
Well it looks as if you folks are going to re-enable my brush AD . Very nice stuff!

Have a great day!

Click to expand...

Thank you very much Dave, my first high-end badger and I love it! I actually have a second one in the post

celestino said:

Wonderful photos, everyone! Enjoy your Wednesday!

...
alfredus
...

Click to expand...

Thank you Celestino!

Thursday:

Semogue OC 2-B
Proraso white in tub (old school)
Gillette Goodwill 162
Bolzano
Santa Maria Novella Colonia Russa ***

Santa Maria Novella « Colonia Russa » & Proraso white « old school » are perfect companions.

30.vii.2015

Thursday, 30 JULY 2015

Another favorite brush, and it happens to be my favorite boar brush:

Semogue 1250

Wacker "Allround Blonde" 13/16 full hollow
Cella (kilo brick)
Pinaud Clubman Classic Vanilla

Simpson Chubby 1 Super
Proraso Green Pre Shave and Shaving Cream
Tiffany Shaving Bowl
Feather AS-D2
Personna Lab Blue
Myrsol Antesol

Thursday
Prep: Warm Shower-Stirling Bath Soap-Executive Man
Soap: Speick Cream
Razor: Gillette NEW Short Comb
Blade: Personna Med Prep (4)
Brush: Canadian House of Fuller w/Pur-Tech Gen 4 Synthetic-24mmx52mm-GD Carrington
Aftershave: Fine Platinum

WTG-XTG-ATG (adjusted angles for my beard)

Speick today. 5 seconds to load the Fuller Synthetic. Great easy, thick, lather. Personna Med Prep still in the NEW SC. Great smooth, close, shave. I finished with Speick.

Bob

Razor and blade: Wolfman WR1 with WRH2 handle/Crystal blade
Brush: Old no-name boar that works surprisingly well
Soap: Ogallala BR, Sage and Cedar
AS: Pinaud Clubman classic, and it is a classic!