Wanted a mentholy shave and wanted to use up some of my older stuff so picked up Proraso Blue, ground in about 6-8 turns of ground menthol and whooooooo! Proraso blue never felt so good!

The Model T after that WD-40 soak and cleaning got rid of whatever gunk was jamming the locking mechanism and I have been shaving with it the past few nights. I won’t exactly say that its as comfortable as my Tatara Masamune or even the Rockwell 6S, as you can definitely feel the blade on skin, but because there is not more jittering of the blade, it was comfortable enough.
Easily took off a 2 day growth at setting 3.3 (I didn’t bother to change during the shave) and maybe because I am now more aware of how to angle to play the blade angle with the razor, no irritation.

As suggested by other brother shavers, I am waiting on some gun lubricant (I am so going to laugh explaining why I need gun lubricant in a country that has a gun ban) to be shipped but for now, good old Singer mineral oil will work fine to keep the razor well lubed.

Irritation free Glass BBS shave. Can’t ask for more.

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube (not pictured)
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy Manchurian Dual Band Badger by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Proraso Blue
• Razor : Rockwell Model T Setting 3.3 WTG/XTG/ATG + Clean Up w/Astra Blue Blade
• Post Shave : Proraso Blue Aftershave Balm
• Others : Menthol crystals in salt grinder

Workday shave. 0230hrs.
Face lathered, buffed BBS.
Didn’t have any issues with Derby Extra blades. Go figure.
Agharta smells fantastic. Want the CK-6 version but really should at least get this tub to the ring of death before buying another.
Solid Cologne and Star Jelly though… on its way!

• Pre-shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Manchurian Dual Band Badger by Frank Shaving
• Soap : PAA’s Agharta
• Razor : PAA Copper Ascension DOC w/Derby Extra Blade (1)
• Post Shave : PAA Agharta Aftershave Cologne, Mysterium Serum

Just a simple clean up shave for the evening, shift flipped again so I’ll be shaving later in the early morning for work.
This is just so the wife doesn’t get sandpapered by a bristly face.

• Pre-shave : Shower
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy Dual Band Manchurian Badger by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Williams Mug Soap
• Razor : Merkur 34CHD w/Derby Extra Blade (1)
• Post Shave : Aqua Velva

TLDR : Model T taken apart, cleaned, WD40-ed seems to be working fine now, Vintage Barbershop smells fanfrackingtastically awesome!

Scent notes :
myrrh, a touch of lavender, clove leaf, patchouli, sweet musk. 

This is as old school barbershop scent as it gets. Very earthy with the myrrh and patchouli, chased by lavender, clove and musk.
Hate to say “Manly” by frack yeah, its manly.

I suspected my Model T had some issues as the blades don’t seem to always sit right and there was some “jitter” to the blade when shaving that I know should not be there. I had already had the T-Bar replaced but that didn’t seem to work too well and finally I just went to search for as many videos of people shaving with it to see if there is anything I missed out.
Seems its the most fundamental of things. My Model T’s closing mechanism was sticking and actually “jams” at a point while its still wasn’t truly fully closed. You do have to turn the bottom locking knob till it fully comes to an end.
Mine wasn’t as smooth as I seen in many vids and actually has a very tight resistance before “jamming” locked.
So I removed the T-Bar again, soaked the entire assembly along with the main body in WD40 and moved the rings / locking knob till it spun freely from end to end.

And it seemed to worked.
Shave felt different then the all the past shaves I had. Razor is still blade forward but not as bad and without the jitter.
I did get a relatively comfortable BBS shave. Which is a far cry from the face rape I had with the thing previously.

I stand by my original review of the Razor. Rockwell screwed up here somehow. A customer should not need to have to do so much to get a razor to work out of the box. Not at the price they are charging.

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube (not pictured)
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy Manchurian Dual Band Badger by Frank Shaving
• Soap : WTF Vintage Barbershop with Menthol
• Razor : Rockwell Model T Setting 3.5 WTG, XTG / 2.5 ATG w/Derby Extra Blade (1)
• Post Shave : WTF Vintage Barbershop Aftershave Splash with Menthol

Pine, Cedar, Amber, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Vanilla, Marshmallow, Musk, Brown Sugar and Coconut.
Ginger’s Garden Enigma is one of the best smelling software I have used.

Scent is a good blend gourmand and woods, and is a sweet scent.
If you don’t like sweet, gourmand type scents, this one in particular with vanilla, brown sugar and coconut coming to the fore the most, you might not like this.

Ascension assisted true glass BBS.

• Pre-Shave : Shower
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Ginger’s Garden Enigma
• Razor : PAA’s Copper Ascension DOC w/Astra Blue (2)
• Post Shave : Ginger’s Garden Enigma Aftershave lotion and Balm
• Others : Ginger’s Garden Enigma Cologne

Attack of the clones!
Love that Aventus scent.
Even better when competition brings out more affordable but still equally good quality options.

And back to the Old Dame, the Rockwell 6S. Sometimes when you go chasing the more expansive, “Premium” razors, you forget how good the 6S/Cs are.
Perfect weeper, irritation free, true glass BBS, can’t get better.

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube (not pictured)
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin (not pictured)
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : PAA Doppelganger Grey
• Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Astra Blue
• Post Shave : PAA Doppelganger Grey Star Jelly Aftershave, Aftershave Cologne
• Others : PAA Doppelganger Grey Deodorant, Al Haramain L’Aventure (Aventus Clone)

#OneRazorOneWeek : Tatara Masamune with Nodachi Top Cap
TLDR : Love that sandalwood. PAA’s Cube Pre-Shave solves most performance issues with non top performing soaps.

Still on the Sandalwood trail and it’s Proraso Red this time. Sandalwood on this one, is I believe, Indian Sandalwood, but of the three Sandalwood forward scented soaps I have, TOBs, Proraso and PAA’s offering, Proraso’s scent does have a tad more synthetic feel to it than the rest.
Still the scent is best experienced from the Aftershave as the soap’s scent can come off as a little too sharp, a little too harsh than the creamier, slightly smoky accord of the Aftershave.

Decided to pair it with a locally made perfume called “Peranakan Oud” which doesn’t really have that much oud in it, while you can sort of detect it, it is more a tobacco and tonka scent with the barest hint of oud.

Proraso’s performance is so so to somewhat poor in post shave, but it is probably the most accessible wet shaving soap the world over. I can actually buy this locally rather easily, (the only other wet shaving soap that is easier to buy on a lark is Body Shop’s Maca Root shaving soap)
I do like the scent, so I put up with the somewhat lackluster soap performance.

Which brings us to PAA’s Cube. It is made for situations like this, giving Proraso the much needed slickness and post shave feel.
Highly recommend getting one for use with soaps you have found subpar in performance. It can save a soap that would otherwise be left unused or thrown away.

I now wonder if I hadn’t thrown away that awful, horrible Geo F Trumper Eucris puck if I could have saved it with the Cube. Maybe not but I am sure as hell not going to buy another just to try.

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA’s Cube
• Brush : Oumo SHD Badger silvertips
• Soap : Proraso Red
• Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Nodachi Top Cap w/Astra Blue Blade (1)
• Post Shave : Proraso Red Aftershave Splash
• Others : Singapore Memories Paranakan Oud EDP

#OneRazorOneWeek : Tatara Masamune with Nodachi Top Cap
TLDR : Sandalwood orgasm, I need more sandalwood based body scents

Chose to go with sandalwood today and its either TOBs or ….
Supreme Sandalwood Science!
Gathering my stuff up I was kinda looking around for more since I thought I was short. Turns out, I was looking for the deodorant and solid cologne that doesn’t exist.

Anyways, paired the shave with Guerlain Heritage, one of the last of the old school complex perfume scents before everyone went bonkers with the ambroxan and or going “blue”.
I still need to get that replacement bottle of Santal Royal.

The Masamune and Zaza blade performed outstandingly well but unfortunately, looking up to buy more, it seems to be out of stock and no longer available on Amazon. Also, in a case of YMMV, I found and read that some people hated it citing these blades as not sharp nor smooth. (wait, what, are we even using the same blades?!)
It is a good reminder that in shaving, Your Mileage May Vary, is very true. Test before you buy 1000 of them. (actually saw a dude bought 2k voshkods for his personal use)
Me, I love these blades and luckily still have a little more than 60 left.
Gonna Hoard. 🤣

• Pre-Shave : Shower
• Brush : Oumo SHD Badger Silvertips (Face lather)
• Soap : PAA’s Supreme Sandalwood Science
• Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Nodachi Top Cap w/Zaza Super Stainless Blade (2)
• Post shave : PAA’s Supreme Sandalwood Science Star Jelly Aftershave, Aftershave Cologne
• Others : Guerlain Heritage EDT

• 

• 

#OneRazorOneWeek : Tatara Masamune with Nodachi Top Cap

TLDR : Valyrian Steel is awesome. Recommend giving Zaza blades a try. Faceturbation ensues!

Cue in the theme song!
https://youtu.be/HppOkD89ntQ

The scent on this is very complex :
Top notes : Verbena, Tangerine, Cypress, and Yuzu Zest.
Mids are : Coriander, Clary Sage, Geranium Bourbon, Blue Water Lily, Nutmeg, Saffron, Base : Cinnamon, Amber, Tobacco, Vetiver, Sandalwood, and Musk.

And as usual, while the soap only gives you a taste of the scent, Don’s Aftershave is what really puts the scent on stage, displaying it in all its glory.
Scent last for a while , maybe 2-3 hours and while you do get scent imagery of “cold steel” in the opening, on the dry down it slowly turns into a very nice wood spice accord.
It is a pretty awesome scent.

I haven’t used the Zaza blades for a while and I had forgotten how smooth and sharp they are.
On the first pass, I actually rechecked to see if I loaded a blade as I didn’t feel the usual resistance around areas that I should, (first stroke from temple down, taking off the sideburn). It was amazingly smooth.

Second pass turned into a XTG / ATG pass since there was little growth left to take off and it turned into an ATG clean up.
I did do one more ATG alum assisted skin pulled cleanup for that true glass BBS that you can only get if your skin is stretched tight exposing them pesky mirco-stubbles.

Results were; a perfect, no cuts, no nicks, weeper free, no irritation Masamune assisted BBS shave.
While YMMV, I’d recommend giving Zaza blades a try.
Not even joking that this was a “I keep touching myself faceturbation” shave, as I keep feeling around my usual trouble spots.

Mind : “Look for that micro-stubble you missed!”
Finger : “Nope, not there!”
Mind : “Well keep feeling around, it has to be there!”

Smelling fantastic, feeling awesome.
Hope you had just as good a start for the day.

• Pre-Shave : Shower
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Dual Band Manchurian Badger by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Wet The Face Valyrian Steel
• Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Nodachi Top Cap w/Zaza Super Stainless Blade (1)
• Post Shave : Wet The Face Valyrian Steel Aftershave
• Others : Davidoff Wood Blend EDP (not in SOTD picture)

#OneRazorOneWeek : Tatara Masamune with Nodachi Top Cap

Just wanted something simple and fresh.
And to use up some of the older stuff I have. Proraso green it is.
Masamune assisted perfect no irritation BBS shave.
Hope your day starts out just as awesome.

• Pre-Shave : Shower, Proraso Green Pre-shave
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Manchurian Dual Band Badger by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Proraso Green
• Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Nodachi Top Cap w/Dorco Prime blade (1)
• Post Shave : Proraso Green Splash