• Pre-Shave : Shower
• Brush : PAA Peregrino
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Soap : Southern Witchcrafts Druantia
• Razor : Blackland Vector w/Feather Pro Blade
• Post Shave : Southern Witchcrafts Druantia Aftershave splash

#ForgottenSoapsWeek

Another of one of my purchases that essentially is buried under my more often used accouterments.
Unfortunately so, as it is really not a bad soap, just not as good as many others I have. Though I am not sure if they have reformulated and upgraded the base, they do have a much nicer looking label now.

Scent is actually quite good :
Cedar, Oakmoss, Rosewood, Moss, Cypress, Tobacco, Fungus, Sandalwood, Mitsutake, Myrrh, Amber, Orange, Ginger.
That comes across as very woody with a tang of spice and “something else” that almost is almondish but not quite.

Lather also explodes, and you can very easily make thick lather whether you bowl or face lather.
So why don’t I reach for it more?
Performance.
Its more akin to Proraso, that is to say, lather is somewhat slick, not much in way in residual slickness and without post shave, doesn’t have much in way of post shave feel.

Aftershave is the non-alcohol skinfood type scented witchhazel.
All in all it was a pleasant shave. Just not one that stood out.

If they have formulated, and made the lather a little slicker, with a just little more residual slickness, even with the lack of post shave feel it would have been fantastic given the scent. Hopefully that is the case with the new label offerings.

Reached for the Vector again.
Easy Perfect BBS.

Stay Safe
Stay Healthy

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Oumo SHD Silvertip Badger
• Soap : Lucky Tiger Shave Cream
• Razor : Blackland Vector w/Feather Pro Blade
• Post Shave : Nivea Men Two Phase Aftershave lotion

#ForgottenSoapsWeek

Lucky Tiger was amongst the oldest and first creams I bought even before I went back to Traditional Wet Shaving from Cartridges.
Amazon is such a great service.
Easy to lather up with a brush or brushless, whichever way works, though using a brush is just more satisfying and less messy.

Vector and the Feather blade just destroyed any stubble I had. I have to give it props as it is by no means a “mild” razor, it just feels mild. You do feel the blade and you are very aware of the edge but there is so much control with it that unless you go full retard, its not very likely you will nick or cut yourself.
Straight blade with added protection of a Safety razor shaving perfection.

Stay Safe
Stay Healthy

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : PAA Peregrino
• Soap : Razorock Blue Fougere
• Razor : Tatara Masamune Base + Nodachi Cap + Rockwell 6S Handle w/Feather Blade
• Post Shave : Razorock Blue Fougere Aftershave Splash, Thayers Gentlemen Aftershave Balm

#ForgottenSoapsWeek

Time to dig up my stash of stuff that I haven’t used on rotation for a while.
Starting with Razorock Blue Fougere.
Soap is a middling in performance, it does the job.

Lather was thick, is relatively slick, has some residual slickness and doesn’t leave your face feeling dried out. It’s by no means a top end soap but for the price you pay, its good value.
The scent though is very pleasant. A mix of “Blue” with florals and fern. Almost Dior-like.

Picked up my Assassin again, this time putting a feather blade in her.
I actually realized after putting the razor together that I forgot to cork the blade as I would when using Feathers.
But, here is where that engineering in the Tatara reminded me that there is a difference in a good well made razor.

That first shave with the Feather wasn’t harsh at all. Smooth, clean and I would definitely not have felt the blade if it was in its Original Configuration, but with the Nodachi Cap and Masamune combo, with the blade exposure set at neutral, you do have the tinniest of blade feel as you bring the razor to bear. Almost zero resistance from the whiskers though. Hot knife on butter.

Perfect BBS.
Feeling great, smelling good.

Stay safe
Stay healthy

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : PAA Supreme Sandalwood Science
• Razor : Tatara Masamune Plate + Nodachi Cap + Rockwell 6S Handle w/Supermax Diamond Blade
• Post Shave : PAA Supreme Sandalwood Science Star Jelly Aftershave and Aftershave Cologne
• Others : PAA Supreme Sandalwood Science Deodorant and Solid Cologne

Decided to bowl lather today, and this time used a butter knife to scrape off a little of that soft top layer instead of swirling my wet brush in it.

One of my other soaps (not PAA) seems to be going a little “off”, not sure if its because I don’t use my soaps as much (due to the number of stuff I have on rotation) or if its because of the soap getting wet and not being able to dry properly given that it’s super humid in the tropics sometimes.

But I am going to try to dry it out a little by putting it in a dehumidifier box and going forward I’ll want to not use the wet brush in tub.

Reached for the Masamune hybrid and it didn’t disappoint.
Easy perfect BBS.

Smelling great, feeling good.
Stay safe
Stay Healthy

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube, Proraso Green Pre-Shave
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : PAA Peregrino
• Soap : PAA Future Fiction
• Razor : Tatara Masamune Base + Nodachi Top Cap w/ Supermax Diamond blade
• Post Shave : PAA Future Fiction Star Jelly Aftershave and Cologne Aftershave
• Others : PAA Future Fiction Deodorant and Solid Cologne, Menthol Crystals in Salt Grinder

Missed yesterday’s and the day before evening shave so I was quite scraggly in the face.
And the heat has been pretty much full on furnace mode here in the tropics.
So, I decided to go full menthol with a summer scent.
Ground in a good bit of menthol, loaded up with menthol pre-shave and it felt Goooooooooooodddddddd!

Went with my gentler Assassin this time and she didn’t disappoint. While the blade isn’t as sharp as I prefer it did the job quite well, given the Tatara’s shave geometry. Hardly feeling the blade as it takes everything off in quick order can at times feel unsatisfactory.
Its like, damn its just “one pass”. (XTG, ATG combined)
So I just lathered up again for clean up even though I didn’t really needed to.

Perfect, clean, true glass, no irritation BBS.

Stay safe
Stay healthy

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : PAA John Frum
• Razor : Blackland Vector w/Feather Pro Blade
• Post Shave : PAA John Frum Star Jelly Aftershave and Cologne Aftershave
• Others : PAA John Frum Deodorant and Solid Cologne

Aromatic Sandalwood Musk done right!
Definitely at the moment one of my Top 5 PAA scents.
Being CK-6, performance is just fantastic.

Reached for the Vector again.
This time I have the regular Feather Professional Blade in and it was smooth and easy. I’ll need to drop in the Schick again to compare but I don’t think there’s much of a difference. YMMV of course.

Stay Safe
Stay Healthy

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : PAA Peregrino
• Soap : PAA Al Fin
• Razor : Tatara Nodachi Base + Masamune Cap w/Bic Chrome Platinum Blade
• Post Shave : PAA Al Fin Star Jelly Aftershave and Cologne Aftershave
• Others : PAA Al Fin Deodorant, Solid Cologne and EDP

As Douglas would say , “BOOM!”

One of the earliest PAA offerings that I have bought and I fell in love with the scent the moment I smelled it.
I just had to have the “Full Monty” and as you can see with the level of the EDP and AS, just as often used as my other “Full Monty”.

To be honest, I am not sure now if Cold Spice or Al Fin will take the prize of first PAA tub used up and with the recently and long awaited Solid Cologne (and CK-6 version) added into the Al Fin product family, this is one awesome soap and scent I am going to be very happy to use and keep using.

The Assassin did her job as expected and armed with a Bic Chrome Platinum blade, made it effortlessly smooth and irritation free.
Perfect, true glass BBS shave.

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Stay Healthy

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : Friendship Shaving G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
• Soap : PAA Solstice
• Razor : PAA Copper Ascension Twist Adjustable Double Open Comb w/Bic Chrome Platinum
• Post Shave : PAA Solstice Star Jelly and Cologne Aftershave
• Others : PAA Solstice Deodorant and Solid Cologne

Glorious Sage!
Solstice is a beautiful, herbaceous, earthy yet sweet resinous scent.
It’s definitely one of my favorites.

Still with the CATA-DOC and the Sword of Achilles.
Again it was literally a one pass shave with that single pass combining XTG, ATG and buffing.
Really didn’t need to do any clean up but re-lathered and just went over the “problem areas” to catch any micro-stubble.

I know some do not like the razor, citing it as too mild, or that it needs a sharp blade to work but YMMV.
To me, if I don’t feel the blade, have zero irritation and still get a true glass, perfect BBS shave, there’s not much more you can ask for.

Stay safe
Stay healthy

• Pre-Shave : Shower and PAA Cube
• Brush : PAA Peregrino
• Soap : PAA Doppelganger Grey (Aventus)
• Razor : PAA Copper Ascension w/Bic Chrome Platinum
• Post Shave : PAA Doppelganger Grey Star Jelly Aftershave and Cologne Aftershave
• Others : PAA Doppelganger Grey Deodorant, Al Haramain L’Aventure EDP

Attack of the clones!
Today is Aventus day and no, I no longer buy Creed, but these, especially the Al Haramain smells fantastic and for all intents and purposes will fool noses not used to the real juice and even some who are.
And since the Doppelganger line are all CK-6, shave performance was just epic.

It’s been a long time since I used this combo, pairing my CATA-DOC with the Sword of Achilles.
And its FANFRACKINGTASTIC!
Was essentially a “One pass shave” combining WTG, XTG and ATG all in one go, while buffing my usual trouble spots.
I didn’t really even need to do any clean up pass, but just re-lathered up just because I wanted to.

True glass, clean perfect no irritation BBS shave.
For the most part, I didn’t even feel the blade.
EPIC!

Stay Safe.
Stay Healthy.

• Pre-Shave : Shower
• Brush : PAA Perigrino
• Soap : Ginger’s Garden Floid Blue Type
• Razor : Tatara Nodachi Base + Masamune Cap w/Supermax Diamond
• Post Shave : Epsilon Blue Aftershave (Floid Blue type) and Nivea Men Post Shave Balm

I usually don’t post my evening shaves as I would just be spamming the groups.
But had a mail call the other day from Ginger’s Garden and today some other stuff I was waiting for arrived.

Now, how does the scent compare?
Irena’s Floid type is “close enough” but I would have preferred more Mint with a dash more citrus and menthol included as default formula along with that beautiful oceanic “blue” scent.

Which brings me to Epsilon.
Now this is what I am talking about!
While its its weak and not as strong as I remember Floid Blue to be, the Mint and Citrus notes are stronger sitting on top of that blue note with that dash of menthol!
PERFECT!

Feeling Fresh, cleaned up and now its dinner with the wife.