Proraso Green Pre Shave
Rockwell Shave Cream
Thayers and Nivea Post Shave
Frank Shaving Silvertip badger brush
Rockwell 6S with Feather Blade

 

Going to try to clear up / use some of my older soaps to make way for newer Artisan soaps that will be incoming in the mail in the next few weeks. Sticking with Rockwell cream for the next few days or week as its one that I kinda like but don’t mind clearing out of the rotation.
And shaving with the 6S on R4 with Feathers, yeah, I just want that glass BBS. 

Proraso White Pre Shave
Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Al Fin Soap and Aftershave
Viking’s Blade The Emperor Augustus
Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger brush
Personna Blue Blades

Was going to go Body Shop’s Maca Root and Aloe for a few days but a new Razor came in the mail and I had to break out the really good stuff to welcome it properly.

I was looking for an adjustable and of course the usual suspects were considered till this caught my eye. It looked awesome!
But if you go on youtube, search around online on forums and such, its presence is mostly overshadowed by Merkur and Parker.
Almost no one is talking about this shaver or the company.
The first and only one at the time, on Youtube :

and the other stuff is more or less the company’s run in and controversy with the Chinese company Baili which I will not get into.
Intrigued, and really attracted to the the features of this shaver I pulled the trigger.

Vikings Blade : The Emperor, Augustus Edition

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The packaging is on par with something I’d expect when spending a pretty penny on (Looking at you Merkur…everything you sell comes in a goddamn throw away paper packet), functional and looks good and at least they try to give the buyer a sense of having something of value.
But what about the shaver itself?

The Emperor Augustus

The Emperor is a Twist to open adjustable. Knob is at the bottom and you use it just like any other butterfly razor.
It was actually because it is a TTO adjustable, that I was leaning towards this over the Merkur Progress, Futur and Parker Variant (closest 3 contenders).

The first thing you notice when handling it is that its heavy and has a good balanced heft in your hands. Handle is fat and with great texture, I probably could handle this with soapy hands.

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Being a TTO razor, this means use is simplified. You don’t have to align top cap with base indicator, no pulling or snapping to assemble parts before or after a shave. Just pop in a blade, set the blade aggression you want and boom! Shave!

To say that the razor itself looks really good is kinda obvious. They do have your standard chrome version but this one, well part of the reason why we buy razors we don’t really need is because they look sexy right?

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What is often glossed over by others and even on the Official website is how the head has two different safety bars. A regular straight bar and a scalloped bar.
This is an interesting concept since it is meant to give the razor a little flexibility when shaving more sensitive areas or if you want the blade to be a little closer to the skin to chase that BBS.
This mean that you will most likely favor one side over the other throughout the shave and only utilize on side of the the blade. This however can be looked as a plus if you mark which side of the blade you use and swap sides per shave extending the blade’s use life if that is important to you.
Me, blades are cheap.

Adjustments

The other interesting thing is that this adjustable doesn’t “click” to a number. It’s aggressiveness is precision based so you can set it at 3.5, 4.8 …whatever.
Essentially you can set it at a level to shave test to find a baseline and then dial it to something you prefer with precision, based on your own experience with the razor and blade feedback. Dialing down from 5.5 to 3.8 when using a Feather Blade for example.
Or of course, you use the numbers and treat it like it had other adjustable with a click dial.

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CONCLUSION
All in all, I really enjoyed this razor and it will definitely compete with my Rockwell 6S for face time. Shaves were smooth, more so then I expected with a TTO, having used Parkers and Gillettes.
Clearing and going over problem areas and getting a BBS is easy.
The razor itself looks and feels like its very well constructed so with TLC, I don’t expect to call on the one year warranty it comes with.

Sharp blades, slick lather! Have a great day!

Proraso Green Pre Shave
Body Shop’s Maca and Aloe Cream and Post Shave
Rockwell 6S

Face finally not feeling as raw, going to give it some skin food to help it recover some more. Proraso Pre Shave and Body Shop’s line is actually pretty good in this regards and skin feels moisturized after use so going to stick with this for the next few days.

To say that I was pissed off, after yesterday’s fiasco, is an understatement.
Not only did GFT’s Eucris under-performed, it severely under-performed to the point that I had severe razor burns, from using the Razorine for one pass and completing the other passes with a Rockwell 2C on R3 using Personna Blues, which were by no means harsh blades.

And because GFT’s Eucris didn’t give the Razorine a proper chance to shine, this time round I went with Proraso’s Professional line for Straight Razor use.
And I loved it.
Had to be really careful, with as light a touch as I can manage given that I could still feel the razor burn from the day before. But today’s shave didn’t pile on any additional hurt so to speak.
That’s the difference between a fucked up soap and one designed to give the user a good layer of protection and glide.

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Face broke out a few days before due to some shave oil I used. Hate using shaving oil, I’ll stick with Proraso pre shaves, they work and they don’t cause break outs. But the Razorine was relatively easy to control I and got a BBS without any major accidents over the “challenging terrain”.
Did give myself a minor nick or two though, but that was due to technique as I was still learning how to handle the Razorine.

Finished the shave with Proraso’s Cypress and Vytever balm and Tom Ford’s Grey Vetiver.
Love that Vetiver.

So.
What did I do with GFT’s Eucris?
A huge part of me didn’t want to throw it away, because after all, it did cost quite a penny.
So I tried to re-purposed it by reconstituting GFT’s Eucris with a stick of Derby’s Shaving Stick

by grating both GFT’s Eucris and the Derby Stick into a melting bowl, added some water and turned the combination into a sloppy gluey mess which went into the previously occupied Tupperware bowl storage bowl that originally held Fine Accouterments’s Fresh Vetiver.
And thus, yes, I switched the container containing which soap as befitting of my experience with them.

I’ll note that when grating GFT’s Eucris the puck felt like hard dried cheese or a hard wax puck as opposed to the other soaps I have handled which is usually slick to the touch, oily moist or slightly soft.
It is definitely GFT’s formula or bad QC.

At least now though, the GFT Eucris – Derby Stick hybrid actually lathers.
Unfortunately Derby’s strong “disinfectant” scent ran rough shod over the GFT, but meh, if I could not get this to work I would have thrown it out, so at least this soap was salvaged in a way.

Needless to say, GFT’s Eucris will be taken out of rotation and I’ll use it for …stuff.

Sharp blades, slick lather, have a great day!

No pre shave as first time using this soap, want to see how it performs.
Frank Shaving Silver Tip
Soap : Geo F Trumper Eucris (Hard Puck)
Post Shave : Body Shop’s Maca Root and Aloe
The Razorine
Personna Blue Blade

Stuff come in the mail last night and this is the first use for both Geo F Trumper’s Eucris and the Razorine.
Lets see how it goes!

GEO F TRUMPER’S EUCRIS (HARD PUCK)

This soap is proof that just because something “cost more” and people might spout about how great it smells doesn’t necessarily makes it a good soap. Maybe the cream version might have performed better but the puck, at least the first use, is disappointing at best, at worst, its going to be relegated to armpit shaving.

What’s the problem?
Lathering, to be exact lather dissipating faster then people at a party after being told “No beer, food or music allowed.”
Seriously, I wanted to like this soap. From its description, to packaging to people saying how good it is, its difficult when expectations are let down this hard.

Initially I thought that I didn’t load enough soap onto the brush.
Fine. So I went at the soap with the brush for several minutes till my hands, bowl and brush were filled with nothing but soap.

Lathering into the mug, didn’t gave me much hope as the lather, especially lather pushed up to the top were dissipating into thin air as I watched.
Adding a little more water made it worse so I took the brush to soap again and this time tried to load a little more and went straight to a face lather.
A little better but lather was still dissipating and after a while there’s hardly any sign that you painted on a “Santa”.

Touching your face, you can feel residual slickness and to be honest, I think it should be fine … maybe with a DE safety, but I definitely didn’t feel safe with a shavette .

You could also lather in sections and shave, its sort of ok, but that is a poor shaving experience and worst considering that this soap isn’t exactly cheap.
I’ll give it another go some other time, but if it continues to disappoint, I’ll use it for armpit shaving.

And oh, how does it smell?
Ok.
Its not great.
Not even close to Taylor’s Sandalwood, Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Bay Rum, or even the S$2.90 tube of “new” Old spice shaving cream in terms of bringing out the “Mmmmnnnnnssss! This smells guuuuuuudddddd” vibe.

For those went gaga over this scent, good for you.
Our mileage differed.

THE RAZORINE
Sadly because of the issue with the soap I wasn’t able to fully enjoy nor bring this razor to full use. I did one pass and after that with no confidence with the soap used, I went to my trusty Rockwell 2C on R3 to finish up the job.
The first pass was still telling however. This razor is a hybrid between a safety razor and a straight edge shavette and the safety bar makes all the difference. Oddly enough, you shave by the feel of the blade on your skin, its hard to describe it.
There is no set angle you have to use, not 30° just tilt till you feel the blade’s kiss and shave. Light touch, glide and slice hair off, and boy does this thing slice hair off. Anyone who has shaved with a shavette will know what it’s like.
I’ll need to give this guy another go another time with proper, good performing shaving soap.

Finished off with Body Shop’s Maca Root and Aloe post shave.
Really like this thing, feels good going on your face, face feels “refreshed” post application.
Alum and post shave indicated razor burn and yeah, I can really feel the sting. Haven’t had that in a while. Going to skip tonight’s evening cleaning shave.

Sharp blades and slick lather.
Have a great day!

Still a little under the weather and again was asleep when the delivery came in the afternoon. Only got my mitts on it in the evening when I got up for dinner.

First off, thank you @geofatboy https://shavenation.com/ for the handwritten thank you note on the invoice and the little extra. Small gestures, but its people like you who make coming back to wet shaving a joy.

This was one of the package I was really waiting for.
Ordered : 20th Mar 2019
Arrived : 02nd Apr 2019
Just about 2 weeks. I actually arrived much earlier in the week, but was stuck in customs and the mail was slow. Still, this is more than acceptable considering its shipped halfway round the world.

Soaps were refill pucks so I had to re-purpose some of my old soap bowls or use a tuple-ware container for easy storage.

For the Eucris I had a spare wood soap bowl (yeah, it looks like the one you get from Taylor of old Bond Street) and for Fine’s soap I had to grate it down into the bowl to reshape / repack it nicely.

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And the Gorilla in the room the Razorine!
This was what I was waiting for.

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Its a beautiful razor and will replace my Parker SR1 as the shavette of choice.
Will have to do a few dry runs to get a feel of how to handle it but should intuitive.
It’s too bad that I have already done my evening shave, so contents will have to wait till tomorrow morning for my Shave of the day.

Sharp blades and slick lather!
Have a great day!

Proraso Green Pre Shave, Cream, and Post Shave … Menthol Face Bomb!
Rockwell 6S
New actors : Frank Shaving’s Shaving mug and Silvertip Badger Brush.

The brush is awesome! Soooooooo soft and holds a butt-load of lather. More then worth the price!
Always love Proraso green, its a damn good wake up call and your face feels fresh as mountain dew on grass.

Smell great, feel great, have a great shave, have a great day!

Was feeling sick today, was asleep so missed the delivery but was woken up for dinner and I saw this waiting from me from China.

Yeah, many are weary of ordering from China as for the most part it is buyer beware. But I have heard a lot about this company and from multiple sources, on Youtube, forums and other places where wetshavers talk and aren’t too worried about being out of line for advertising dollars.

Amazon Link : https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=frank+shaving&ref=nb_sb_noss

Frank Shaving’s own online store (they’ll use China Post) : https://ishaving.co/
But they did a great job with packing with lots of bubble wrap and air pillows (as opposed to just newspaper / paper cushions form some China site stores), so this is a huge indication of their pride and quality.

If you do a Google search, you’ll see that google will redirect you to Trendhim.com, which will redirect you to trendhim.sg.
My advice at the moment is not to buy from that store. “Online store” looks good, well designed but I still have a package from them that is approaching 2 months and no sign of it. Buy from Amazon or from their own China based store. Prices are better, Amazon has better tracking and the China store while a little more basic does a great job of getting you to what you want.

So, I choose to buy from the China store and gave them a trial purchase since I already know how reliable Amazon is.

Purchase Date : 17th Mar 2019
Arrived : 01 Apr 2019
Three items. Brush, Razor stand and mug (as per to picture on top)

BRUSH :
Silvetip Badger Brush
Cost : S$38.00

Brush is beautiful.
There is no other way to say it. Even though I bought the smaller brush, it still feels weighty, the faux horn handle has a nice heft avoiding the “cheap” feel of many brushes of its price range has. This brush after treatment and when it was ready to use (I did do one shave … can’t help myself!) has great water and lather retention, and going onto your face, feels really, really good. If you didn’t know it’s price, you’d easily mistaken it for something costing $100.00 or more.

Brush comes with its own stand which is nice but I would recommend buying one of their stands (trust me, you can’t beat the price) which we’ll get to in a moment.

Being a badger hair brush, it will smell of wet dog out of the box. There is no escaping this. So you need to treat it before using it for the first time. A good soak, lather it up with one of your favorite shaving soaps (BAY RUM!) let it sit for a bit, then use hair conditioner, yeah, the same stuff your wife (or you) use and let that sit for 30 mins or so before rinsing it clean. And waaaalaaaah! A brush that doesn’t smell too much like wet dog. 🙂

You’ll need to use it everyday for at least a few days, usually up to a week, before the smell is completely gone and it’ll start to smell like your soap.
From feel alone, the brush feels great, I’ll need to use it over the week to know for sure but as it stands, just from the feel of the bristles on my fingers and palm, this brush is going to be my favorite, taking over from the Rockwell Synthetic, because being a true animal bristle brush, it’ll hold water and lather better then a synthetic.

RAZOR STAND :
Cost : S$11.00

I got the “Charcoal” (Gunmetal) version and it looks good and is actually hefty.
DOES NOT feel cheap even though it cost S$11.00.
That’s right folks, it’s an S$11.00 item that looks damn good, has a good heavy and stable base (unlike some other China made dinky, wobbly POS stands that cost more!) The one big plus is the upturned “hook” at the end of each prong, this keeps both your razor and brush secured and not slipping off.

MUG :
Cost S$15

What can I say, I wanted something more attas then my S$2 Japanese soup bowl when taking Shave of the Day photos. 🙂

Yeah, had to treat the brush anyway, so lathering up!
I do wish that it was a little larger, I might get a scuttle next time but this was good enough to make and hold enough lather for 5 passes.
That’s the other reason why I bought the smaller brush, it’ll fit in and can work up a lather in any shaving cup / bowl / scuttle.

CONCLUSION :
All in all I am very pleased with the price, the packing, and while delivery could be faster if I paid for it, it’s fine and I will definitely buy more from them. It’s too bad they don’t have larger shaving bowls or scuttles but ….

Frank Shaving’s items are definitely high on quality, low on price and they are both functional and good looking.

Have a great shave, smell great, feel great, have a great day!