Bowl : Van Yulay Silicone
Brush : Phoenix Artisan Accouterments’s Atomic Rocket
Soap : Oaken Lab’s Far Afield
Post Shave : Oaken Lab’s Far Afield (non alcohol), Prep
Razor : Razorock’s MJ-90A w/Zaza Blade

Oaken Lab’s stuff is made in Indonesia, and as such, I believe one of the reasons why its AS is non-alcohol is because Indonesia is a Muslim Majority country by far and thus, their products need to follow certain guidelines if they want to employ local handlers and gain a local following.
That said, this soap is amazingly good with a slight flaw.

The soap:
This is a soft croap.
It is soft with slight firmness so that it doesn’t swish around like liquid cream but soft enough that you can easily use a finger to scoop out a little soap into a bowl.

Scent off the tub is a little lackluster.
I’d rate its scent as 2/10, you smell “soap” and a hint of cedar, maybe the barest hint of vetiver, green tea and I want to say lavender, but I can’t be sure, as the scent is very very light and I can’t pick up the notes precisely, just making wild guesses here based on the scent impression I get.
Cedar though is definitely the anchor.

The scent as described by Oaken Lab :
“Aroma: Mountain Mist, Still Lake, Cedar, 5 am”

Lathered up the scent blooms a little, you’ll definitely make out cedar with a fresh supporting scent that to be honest is there on top of the cedar but I can’t tell with certainty what its a medley of.

Still, it is pleasant, strong enough to mask the “soap” smell that soaps have, but not so much that you’d get a face full like you do with PAA’s soaps.
And this is where you will start to compare this soap to PAA’s stuff, especially PAA’s CK-6 stuff.

This soap explodes with lather, with only about a pinky’s digit sized scoop of soap is more than enough soap to give you about 6 or more passes.
This is the amount of lather left after a full 3 pass and clean up. I could definitely go another 3 pass and cleanup.

The soap is also quite thirsty, and is able to take quite a bit of water, but you want to go slow on the water, once you get it to light yogurt, it’s just right to go onto a wet face that has additional water and will create one of the slickest lather I have used. Again the comparison to PAA’s CK-6 formula for those of you who have used CK-6 will come immediately to mind. Extremely slick lather, extremely slick residual layer and post shave leaves your face feeling “refreshed” not dry and to be honest if I didn’t know better, I could have thought that this was CK-6.
The giveaway of course is that does not have the perfumed scent profile (loud and strong) as a PAA soap.

So even with my face still felling a little abused from the previous night’s bad blade shave, I did say it was a very severe razor burn, the soap performed amazingly well, giving glide, slickness and protection so that I still got a true glass BBS with the Zazas, I am really starting to love these blades, and received zero irritation.

The Afershave Splash:
Scent on the splash is a little stronger compared to the soap and this time you get the cedar notes right off with a the supporting medley of very light notes in the background but again it is barely there, I would rate the strength as 2.5/10, and it fades off quickly after application.
A part of me felt that I would have been better off buying scented Witch Hazel with aloe extract as an aftershave. To be honest, this is what more or less the AS is.
Oaken Lab’s AS does have that little extra to quickly soothe and tone your face’s skin, but with it lacking scent strength, you will feel that it is a lesser product compared to other aftershaves.

Buy the AS if you feel you need to complete the set, otherwise the soap is the star of this scent line. If the scent strength or longevity is boosted up a little, it would have pushed the line into a “great” product but as is, it is still a good line to buy, especially for the soap’s properties.

It is also to the nature of where its made and without alcohol in the AS, it one of the few that certain Muslim DE shavers might feel more comfortable using. The main website sells the soap internationally, but not the AS, which is fine. I’d pair Thayers Lavender or similar herbal scent with it.

All in all, I had a great shave thanks to the soap.

Bowl : Van Yulay Silicone
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Preshave, Soap and Post Shave : Proraso White (for sensitive skin)
Razor : Razorock SLOC w/Zaza Blade

Well, face still feels a little raw from last night’s bad blade.
So going Proraso white to do a soothing shave.
Using the SLOC also means that I am trying take advantage of its milder shave along with the smoother glide and hopefully not irritate the skin further.
And finally going with the Zazas for its sharp and smooth blade work.
All in all, great shave.

It Happened to this evening.
I knew I was pushing it, using the Shark blade for the 4th shave and chasing BBS (nothing else matters!) with my Rockwell 6S with the R5 plate to boot.
I got my BBS but on application of the Alum, my wife would have come running if I had let out the scream I wanted to.

HOLY FRACK!!

You know you royally fucked up when trying to make an “O” face, the skin around your chin and cheeks feel like it is on fire.
What do you do then?
Luckily, I have some things that I keep (and will try to always have on hand) around for such occasions.

The firs and foremost of this is Thayer’s Witch Hazel Medicated. Sometimes also called Thayers Super Witch Hazel, and can be label as “Topical pain relieve” as this one or “Skin Irritation Relief” as labeled on the some other bottles I have.
Trust me on this, if you can get this do so. Applying it after drying off your face brings the kind of relief you get like shade and a pool of cool water to a man who stood in a desert for hours.
Relief is immediate, but unless you follow up with something to re-hydrate and put on a later of protection and give return some suppleness to your skin, this is a temporary relief. Which brings us to the next item.

Prep / PAA’s Mysterium Serum (or both!)
I’d recommend those on a budget or just want that balm for all occasions (pre-shave and post shave) to get Prep.
I have never heard of anyone who has used Prep to say that it doesn’t work, nor have I heard anything bad of this bottle of balm. There are others who even swear its great as a shaving cream itself, which I think is a waste a really good balm.
Its true value, is during times like this.

This also applies to something I got recently, which is PAA’s Mysterium Serum. This balm is on another level of giving your face much needed relieve and returned suppleness to your face. I personally think the serum is much better then Prep, but it cost more and not as versatile as Prep, you won’t use it as a pre-shave that’s for sure. But the version I got (Mentholated), feels like great going on, has that cooling effect that all mentholated balms has, and before I’d wince if I opened my mouth wide stretching the skin, after application, there’s no pain, if only a slight discomfort.
Its fracking amazing stuff.

Either way, I’d apply either one or both after allowing the witch hazel to dry down. I did the Serum first, following up with Prep since there is a slight cactus / prickly pear scent to the Serum and I prefer Preps low eucalyptus.
If you want to use both, don’t over apply and allow each balm to seep into your skin before applying the other.

And finally a moisturizing balm to finish it all. I used Proraso White as it has oat and tea extract to soothe sensitive skin, just the thing for razor burn.
Again, don’t over apply. Just enough to lightly coat and allow to seep into your skin. Too much and you’d have an oily skin or worse, look like a japanese porn star.

What about you guys?
What do you use for when you get severe razor burn?

https://www.amazon.com/Thayers-Witch-Hazel-Formula-Medicated/dp/B001E76B2O/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=thayers+medicated&qid=1561988164&refinements=p_89%3ATHAYERS&refresh=1&rnid=2528832011&s=gateway&sr=8-7

https://www.amazon.com/Original-Formula-Pre-Post-Protective-Cream/dp/B00D3I0CWW/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Prep+preshave&qid=1561988389&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Mysterium Serum

Bowl : Van Yulay Silicone
Brush : Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger
Preshave, Soap and Post Shave : Proraso Green
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R4 w/Shark Blade

Warm as heck, and I wanted something cool to start the day with. Can’t go wrong with a stacked Proraso Green shave.
Really liking the Shark blades, paid bargain basement prices for them, but they are performing beyond expectations.