#ForgottenAmmo : Druantia

I originally had intended to face lather but on loading the soap, the brush literally dried up taking up the soap so I decided to pull out my trusty Van Yulay bowl to build the lather.
Soap’s performance is actually quite good its only flaw, for me, is its scent.
Its a more muted woods scent but where Siliski’s Soaps’ Appalachian Forest takes you right smack into a living forest, Druantia is very much more muted, and reminds me of cut wood.
I still think it smells almost almond-ish.

Again, as with yesterday’s Forgotten Ammo, there is nothing wrong with this soap and is only “forgotten” because I have others that I like so much more.

*****

Switched the Oren’s top cap to the 3 Dot (aggressive) setting and to be honest it really does not feel anything like being aggressive though I can feel the gap on this setting. That means that I’ll have to be careful around edges / chin area but it did improve the quality of the shave immensely.
As usual, perfect no irritation BBS from the oren.

On a side note, used the Tatara for last night’s shave and it’s still top girl. Far more maneuverable, more adaptable due to blade choices and doesn’t have a handle that makes it harder to handle makes the Tatara, still my number 1 girl in the Razor Harem.
The Oren though, does feel more comfortable.

• Pre-Shave : Shower
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin (not pictured)
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Southern Witchcrafts Druantia
• Razor : Occam’s Razor Oren Nano Enhanced w/3 Dot Cap w/Feather Pro Blade (3)
• Post Shave : Southern Witchcrafts Druantia Aftershave Splash, Prep Balm

• 

• 

Decided to do a few days of #ForgottenAmmo and to use soaps that I have but haven’t used in rotation or just left alone after several rounds not even going into my night shave rotations.

The Village Soapsmith’s soaps are one of those, I have a few, they were relatively cheap and are middle road in performance.
Slick enough, but not melted butter on baby’s butt slick, has OK post shave and residual slickness but after using other really good artisan soaps, felt lacking. Scent which could have pushed it up higher in my “to use” list is instead on the low end, you do smell the soap on the initial lather but it quickly becomes “unscented” almost as soon as you paint on the lather or as in today, while making the lather during face lathering. It’s there but very, very light.

Think of Proraso creams without Proraso scent strength.

To be fair, I do have a rather large choice of really good artisan soaps, otherwise I would probably have enjoyed these soaps more and like Proraso (with the exception of Green and Wood and Spice) will phase out of my den.

*****
I have to say that I am very impressed with Zaharoff.
Not only with the scent (I’ll get to that later) but as a company.
Above is a free sample that they sent what over to me here in Singapore. I have received samples before, but never felt the person sending them actually took the time to make it personal.
This speaks far more about the people behind the company and the quality I can come to expect.

Scent notes are :
Top Notes : Black Pepper, Cardamom, Pear, Lavender, Cypress
Mids : Ginger, Cedar, Oud, Iris, Pimento, Fir Balsam
Base : Sandalwood, Patchouli, Black Amber, Myrrh and Frankincense

Initial application out of the shower and the opening comes off as fresh and spicy with the pepper and cardamom notes being chased with ginger bleeding into the top notes giving it a fresh zing.
On the dry down, the notes settles into mainly an oud, sandalwood, spice and amber scent with the other notes popping in and out, chasing the mid and base.
My initial guesstimated assessment of it I think is spot on, this is a modern day scent that marries the complexity of scents of old. Think YSL La Nuit De L’Homme and Creed’s venerable Royal Oud put into a blender and mixed with some notes added, some notes removed and you have Zaharoff’s Signature.

Make no mistake though, the scent is its own uniquely wonderfully masculine yet sensuous beast.
Final Test later, when they wife comes home and I have my evening shave. 😈
Regardless, this will be on my buy list, actually, probably in a day or two.
Thanks Tim, this is definitely a must buy.

*****

Oh yeah. Perfect no irritation BBS….yada yada.. what you’d expect from using the Oren.

• Pre-shave : Shower
• Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
• Soap : The Village Soapsmith Eucalytus and Mint
• Razor : Occam’s Razor Oren Nano Enhanced w/Feather Pro Blades (2)
• Post Shave : Aqua Velva
• Others : Zaharoff Signature Pour Homme Sample

Resinous, sensuous, almost fruity with that dark, woody note that makes this scent very unique.
Love it.

Loving the Oren.
Torn between it and the Tatara.
Both have their pros and cons but the Oren might just pass the Tatara as my favorite.

Off to the doctors.
Yeah. Flu symptoms for several days now.

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : PAA Copalli
• Razor : Occam’s Razor Oren Nano Enhanced w/Feather Pro Blade (1)
• Post Shave : PAA Copalli Cologne and Aftershave, Star Jelly Aftershave
• Others : PAA Copalli Deodorant and Solid Cologne

Lets get fruity!
In the mood for something fruity, so yeah, today’s SOTD happened.
Pineapple fougere, apples, fig, cranberry, blood mandarin, cardamom, cinnamon… oh my!
Yeah, not exactly for office wear, but fuck it.

Skin stretched assisted buffed BBS baby!
Very slick lather, mild but buffing god of a razor, really sharp blade, all came together for that orgasmic perfect shave.

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy Manchurian Dual Band Badger by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Soap Commander Unity
• Razor : PAA Copper Ascension w/Feather Blade (1)
• Post Shave : Floid Black, Soap Commander Unity Balm
• Others : Paco Rabanne 1 Million Intense EDT

• 

• 

Himitsu is probably my favorite scent that’s unique to WTF, sweet lemon and rose baby!
While I didn’t have to use a pre-shave, I just applied the Cube for that extra slick, not that Himitsu needed it, and get zero blade feel!
Really had to resist pressing down and just shaved by audio feedback. I seem to be doing that alot these days.
Love it!

Skin stretched ATG for that true glass BBS, zero feedback from alum application and wonderfully scented.
Perfect start of the day.

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Wet The Face Himitsu
• Razor : Tatara Nodachi-Base Plate + Masamune-Top Cap w/Feather Blade (3)
• Post Shave : Wet The Face Himitsu Aftershave Splash, Prep Balm
• Others : Gucci Guilty EDT

Gotta love going Full Monty on scents you love. 😁

Loading heavy to face lather, gotta burn up that tub up!
(Looking at you CK6 Cold Spices!)

Back to the Tatara after the Oren.
And while I am sure I could still go on with the Pro-Guard blade, probably at least another 4 more shaves, with 12 shaves under its belt I am going to retire the blade and go back to DE razors for a bit before going back to the Oren.

Now I just gotta keep remembering to not press down like I needed to with the Oren. 😂

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : Oumo SHD Sivertip Badger
• Soap : PAA Cold Spices
• Razor : Tatara Nodachi-Base Plate + Masamune-Top Cap w/Feather Blade (1)
• Post Shave : PAA Cold Spices Star Jelly Aftershave, Cold Spices Aftershave Cologne
• Others : PAA Cold Spices Deodorant, Cold Spices EDP

Original Zingari man Lothario, think this has become Unobtainium unless Heather has plans to bring this back in the Sego formula.
It is one of the more pleasant if milder, classier Tobacco scent with Bay and Bergamot.

*****

I am still amazed that at 11 shaves, the Feather Pro-Guard is still going strong for me without any indication of the blade not taking off growth.
Perfect, no irritation BBS shave and I think a huge part of this is the floating blade system.

• Pre-Shave : Shower
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Zingari Man Lothario
• Razor : Occam’s Razor Oren Nano Enhanced w/Feather Pro-Guard (11)
• Post Shave : Clubman Pinaud Brandy Spice, Zingari Man Lothario Balm
• Others : Arabic Oud attar (Oud, Cinnamon, nutmeg, amber), Davidoff Wood Blend EDP

Agharta:
Talc, Ambergris, Amyris, French Vanilla Bean, Japanese Sandalwood, Cedar and Oak Moss.

One of the best smelling shaving soaps I have used finally gets a Solid Cologne and its AWESOME!
Took awhile for me to get back to Agharta as its on rotation, but this time I had more ammo to use.
Unfortunately my Star Jelly bottle had an accident and the bottle was ruptured during transit but I managed to salvage most of it into another pump bottle.
C’est La Vie.

******

The Feather Pro-Guard’s edge is still going strong, don’t really feel that the blade has dulled yet. I have heard that most people get 10 or thereabouts shaves on the Pro-Guard blade but we’ll see.
So far the Oren with the Pro-Guard blade is giving the most comfortable shaves I have had though not the easiest to execute.
The handle does make handling a little more a difficult as it is not as intuitive to hold which would have otherwise made this razor #1.
Results though are still however worth the trouble. Perfect BBS, no irritation shave.

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : PAA Agharta
• Razor : Occam’s Razor Oren Nano Enhanced w/Feather Pro-Guard (9)
• Post Shave : PAA Agharta Star Jelly Aftershave, Aftershave Cologne Aftershave
• Others : PAA Unscented Deodorant, Agharta Solid Cologne

TOB’s fougere Sandalwood’s scent is still one of my favorites.
If they made an EDP of this (or solid cologne) I’d probably own a bottle or two.
The soap’s performance itself is good, though I have heard that some brothers are having issues with it over the cream.

Decided to scent layer for today. Base TOBS sandalwood, then Safran Oud (tamed oud with saffron, and strong crocus flower and frangipani scent) with Peranakan Oud (Tamed oud with Tobacco and Tonka).
Damn but I smell very fougere flowery.

*****

And again squeaky clean BBS without irritation.
The Pro-Guard blade still shows no signs of dulling yet.
Also from all the hype I have read on the Schick Proline blade, I’ve got a box of P-20s incoming. If it’s much better than either of the feathers I have (pro and pro-guard), I’ll probably commit to a box of 300s : )

• Pre-Shave : Shower
• Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
• Soap : TOBS Sandalwood and Herbs hard puck
• Razor : Occam’s Razor Oren Nano Enhanced w/Feather Pro-Guard Blade (7)
• Post Shave : TOBS Sandalwood Aftershave Lotion
• Others : Safran Oud Attar, Peranakan Oud EDT by Singapore Memories

Home from work and late afternoon / evening shave.
Was in the mood for sandalwood, and Proraso caught the eye, so Proraso it is.
Whether you prefer IB or PAA version, get the cube Pre-shave. It will turn any so-so performing soap like the Proraso into a top shelve soap with an extremely slick layer during and post shave that you’d swear it’s an artisan soap.

*****
I can definitely say that I have my technique down with the Oren now. Shave was extremely close, extremely comfortable and skin, including trouble areas are left BBS squeaky clean without any irritation with zero feedback from alum application.
Can’t really get better than that.
One can REALLY get used to this.

• Pre-shave : Shower, PAA’s Cube
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy Manchurian Dual Band Badger by Frank Shaving
• Soap : Proraso Red
• Razor : Occam’s Razor Oren Nano Enhanced w/Feather Pro-Guard Blade (6)
• Post Shave : Proraso Red Aftershave Splash