• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : PA Peregrino
• Soap : PAA Agharta
• Razor : Parker 22R w/Personna Platinum Blade
• Post Shave : PAA Agharta Star Jelly Aftershave and Aftershave Cologne

When you haven’t used a PAA product for a while and that moment when you unscrew the lid of a soap.
Holy crap, I miss you guys!
Agharta’s scent just wafted up and reminded me why my bathroom has so much of PAA’s stuff.

Went with the Parker 22R today along with the Personna.
I think its a shame that Parker Razors don’t get as much love and are seen as “Cheapies” but they are rather good performers, if a little on the aggressive side.
Shave with the 22R was more on the mid aggressive side, definitely not mild, but just bordering on being aggressive.
What you really notice is how much audio feedback these razors give.
You’d know when you are BBS / DFS.

While there was a little more resistance from the blade than I like, coming off the Super Max and Feathers, it was still a relatively good shave.
I think I’ll start using the Personnas as a one shave blade for my “home from work” shaves and probably won’t get these anymore once they are gone.

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• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : PAA Peregrino
• Soap : Mitchell’s Wool Fat
• Razor : Tatara Nodachi w/RR Stainless Steel Handle w/Super-Max Diamond Edge Super Platinum Blade
• Post Shave : Lustray Blue Spice

Still want that “Blue-Spice” scent and went with “The Fat” today. Its scent is very reminiscent of Palmolive’s Fern scent only slightly milder, you can layer on any Aftershave and it won’t interfere.
Lustray’s take on the “Blue Spice” scent is actually quite good and is a pleasant surprise for those looking for something similar to the now defunct Floid Blue.

As for The Fat, I think grating it into a bowl, blooming it with just enough water to form a thin layer on top and then using that bloom water along with a damp brush to lather up, is probably the best thing I have done to get The Fat to give me that thick cream lather.
Had to load heavy, and face lathered but, whoa!
Thick, very slick lather indeed. Its however, not perfect as it still dissipates somewhat. But it has been the creamiest I have made with The Fat so far.

Went with the default Nodachi today to see how the Super-Max Diamond Edge performs in it.
What I looking for is if the blade, with the positive blade exposure, will feel less smooth, drag or peel off more skin layers than I’d like.

Blade didn’t disappoint.
Still very little resistance when it comes to taking growth off, you barely feel the blade slow as it shears off bristles and as far as I can tell, it is as smooth as a corked Feather. I’d still think the Bic still holds a smoother shave for me but these blades are definitely in the “very sharp and smooth” bracket of blades.

True glass, “I keep touching myself” BBS shave.
Finished with the Lustray AS and am really happy with how it smells.

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• Pre-Shave : Shower
• Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Manchurian Badger
• Soap : Ginger’s Garden Floid Blue Type
• Razor : Tatara Masamune Base + Nodachi Cap w/Supermax Diamond Edge Super Platinum Blade
• Post Shave : Epsilon Blue After Shave

Julio’s SOTD got me into the mood of a Floid Blue shave, but I went with Ginger’s Garden take (I might need to give RR’s take a go) along with Epsilon Blue to complete the experience.
Irena’s tallow soaps are fantastic and I just love how slick the soap is with its great post shave feel.
Scent is “in the ball park” of each but of course the AS smells fantastic, though it doesn’t last much longer after the shave. Feels great though.

Went with the Zero Zero Masamune along with Super Max’s Diamond’s edge.
Man this blade feels great. Almost zero resistance and really smooth. Definitely a contender as a Feather alternative.
Made in India, so I have to wonder how it stacks with its Eastern European counterpart.

All in all, it was a fantastic shave!
Definitely Faceturbation worthy.

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• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Manchurian Badger
• Soap : WSP Rustic Shaving Soap Gaelic Tweed
• Razor : Tatara Nodachi Base + Masamune Cap w/Feather Blade
• Post Shave : WSP Gaelic Tweed Aftersave Tonic w/Menthol

Oh man! I haven’t used this one in a while and I’m reminded why I wanted to get more WSP stuff the moment I opened the tin. Scent on this soap and especially the AS is awesome and so spot on.

Creed’s Green Irish Tweed was my first niche scent that I bought as a young man, looking to impress and wore the heck out of it.
Now, decades later, while I no longer buy GIT, or at least Creed’s GIT, I still love that beautiful, elegant mix of fresh and green notes that GIT brings to the table.

I might have loaded a little heavier than I needed though, I forgot that WSP’s soaps generates a huge amount of thick, slick, heavy bodied lather with just a few swirls, and I think I went with a 25-30 swirl load. Probably only needed 12 or so.
Soap is really thirsty, and I had to add water about 4 times ( about 4 teaspoons worth) to the face lather before the lather went from thick paste to yogurt cream.
Like I said, I think I loaded a little too heavy. 🙂

Chose to go with the Tatara Gentle Nodachi today, along with a Feather Blade (4) that is starting to feel a little near the end of its life. I could extend it if I chose to strop it but I think I’ll recycle it after this shave.

I am always torn between the two Tatara configurations. The Gentle Nodachi is far smoother than the default but retains its extremely efficient shave characteristics while the Zero Zero Masamune offers the perfect balance of smooth, mild yet efficient shaves.
Both are fantastic and even months of using both I don’t think I can choose which is the better.
I guess the whichever one that I have the mood for at that point of time.

Perfect, true glass “I keep touching myself” zero irritation BBS shave.

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• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Manchurian Badger
• Soap : Van Yulay Smoking Hot Pineapple
• Razor : Tatara Masamune Base + Nodachi Cap w/Feather Blade
• Post Shave : Floid Black

Pineapples!
Well, with Vetiver and Vodka thrown into the mix as well.
Scent is a very dark smoky pineapple with that hint of booze, the vetiver note in this soap is more woody, less hemp / grass so its almost like birch.
Lather’s up well, though loading heavier helps.
Really loving the hard puck version, which generates a lather that has a more body than the croap version.

Went with Zero Zero Masamune with a Feather.
Now we’re talking!
Smooth with very little resistance from the growth mowed down.
Easy, damn comfortable, zero irritation true glass BBS shave.

I am not sure if my bristles has toughened, but once, where the Personna Platinum blades were good, and I rated them just below the Feathers, its now like these very same blades dropped two or so notches in shearing power compared to the Feathers. Goes to show, how blades can change in feel due to changes from your own body.

Finished up with Floid Black for more of that Pineapple and I smell fruity. In a good way.

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• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Manchurian Badger
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Soap : HC&C non-scented w/Southern Comfort Scent Drops
• Razor : Tatara Nodachi w/Personna Platinum
• Post Shave : Clubman Whiskey Woods

Many of us wet shavers are fragheads, meaning we chase scents as much as the hardware experience with blades and razor. Which is why I find HC&C’s offerings very intriguing. What Pete has done is instead of selling to the shaver tubs and tubs of soap, his take is buy one tub of unscented, add in your scent of choice via scent drops.

This also addresses personal preferences of whether you like it lightly scented, just add one to three drops of the scent, or if you prefer your soaps more aromatic by adding more drops and finding your own preferred amount of scent you want in your soap.

And then, there is of course, the value factor since, it is easier and far cheaper to try a lower cost bottle or several bottles of scents then to buy tubs of soap and find that you do not like them. Of course the flip side is that it is usually easier to sell a tub of soap then a bottle of scent drops.

So far though, with the two scents I have used so far, its been a good experience. Today’s scent was tobacco, light woods and florals, and thus I paired the shave with Clubman’s Whiskey Woods.
Lather was superb, with good initial and residual slickness and a good post shave feel.

Hardware wise, I went with the Nodachi today, and while the blade did perform, it still required skin stretching and several go overs / buffing to get that BBS.
Zero irritation but I think going for DFS with this blade would be the wiser choice.

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• 

• 

• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Bowl : $2 Stainless Steel mixing bowl
• Brush : Oumo 24mm ACE SHD Dual Band Manchurian Badger
• Soap : WTF Vintage Barbershop (with menthol)
• Razor : OREN-Occam Razor Enhanced Nano-3Dot Plate w/Feather Pro Blades
• Post Shave : WTF Vintage Barbershop Aftershave (with menthol)
• Others : Menthol in salt grinder

It’s been a while since I had this one back in rotation, and man do I miss it!
Its scent of cloves, myrrh, lavender, patchouli, and musk is pretty unique and very aromatic.
Though I understand that some people are more sensitive to the cloves and may experience discomfort.
Sample before you buy a full tub.
The light menthol is just icing on the cake.
I did add more menthol though. It was a goddamn warm and humid tropical night.

Lathering up a WTF soap is always fun, and easy, though I’d recommend using a little more soap (about a thumb nail worth, generates about 4 to 6 pass worth of lather) and always start with less water to get that thick creamy yogurt foam, you can always slowly add in more, than have too much water at the start.
Lather Porn included.

And today I went with the OREN, can’t call it a WTF shave without using the OREN.
It still gives one of the most comfortable shaves, even with a 3 DOT plate. The best I can describe how this razor feels is “single blade Cartridge Razor”, as the Floating Blade design of the razor lends to a “soft” shave.

Make no mistake though, them Feather Blades will bite if you disrespect the blade but for the most part, while you do need to use a little more pressure than with a regular DE / SE razor, it’s one of those razors that usually won’t bite unless you aren’t paying attention, press down too hard because you aren’t feeling the blade or just do something weird like moving the razor sideways while shaving.

Very easy, comfortable, true glass “I keep touching myself” BBS shave.

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• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
• Brush : Friendship Shaving Macy Dual Band Manchurian
• Soap : Pinnacle Shaving The One
• Razor : PAA Copper Ascension w/Personna Platinum Blade
• Post Shave : Pinnacle Shaving The One Aftershave
• Ohers : Dolce and Gabbana The One EDP

I do wish that I could get my hands of Artisanal Shave Soaps the world over, from the UK, EU, Eastern Euro, Africa, US, Australia … anywhere where they make good, great selling shaving soaps.

Though, finding them is one thing, getting them to ship to Singapore, that’s a challenge.

I have to give it to UK’s Pinnacle Grooming, they have some of the most kickass labels found.
That and the scents are pretty awesome as well.
Soaps are mid-mid high in scent strength but their Aftershaves are the real deal.
Non-Alcoholic skin food splashes with a really long lasting scent.
Strength is mid-high to strong.
Good stuff.

As for “The One”, this one has notes of :

Birch, Leather, Musk, Nutmeg, Oak moss, Sandalwood, Tonka Bean, Vanilla, Bergamot, Lemon, Jasmine, Rose, Ylang-Ylang, Oud and Ambrette.

Nice list of notes, and for me at least, it comes across as an Oud and woods blend.
Floral, spice and citruses notes are blended well and in the background, and they comes across very lightly, though you can pick up that vanilla on top of Oud note.
This is not a sweet scent.
Instead it comes across as a deep, dark and blended Oud scent.

For those who like Oud, this is something you might want to look at, and if you are new to Oud, this might give you an idea of how a tamed oud scent would smell like, as its not funky nor animalic but is clean and aromatic.
Scents are very YMMV, what I smell might not be what you smell though.

Of course, with that name, I had thought of Dolce and Gabbana’s The One.
They are however, not even anything alike but, they do pair up and do compliment each other quite well.

Went with the CATA-DOC and Personna combo again, (morning and now for the evening shaves) and while I did get a BBS, its just barely.

Personna Platinums aren’t my favorites but they get the job done.
Probably this time, its not a perfect pairing of blade and razor for me (YMMV!), which, with the CATA-DOC, sharper blades such as Feathers / Bic Chrome Platinums / Gillette Nacets / Corco Primes are preferred.

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• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Soap : JS Sloane Shave Cream
• Razor : PAA Copper Ascension w/Personna Platinum
• Post Shave : JS Sloane Aftershave Lotion

Another Brushless, latherless shave cream, this time JS Sloane’s Shave Cream.
This is also available locally here in Singapore, via Amazon and boutique barbers.

Scent is a mild but very refreshing with notes of lavender, eucalyptus/mint, a dash of rose and the barest hint of lime (YMMV, no notes are given, this is just off my nose) and its mentholated!

Seriously though, while they did say you could use a brush, to apply the cream, I found that using my hands to massage the cream into the face and skin feels and seems to spread the cream much better.
It doesn’t lather up regardless.

FYI, the menthol is mid to mid-high strength and you will feel it well after the shave.

I am finding these non lathering creams to be really interesting as even though it’s a little weird visually, because you just don’t see that heavy cushioning / lather that you are used to, but the layer on the face is very slick as well as having enough cushioning that for this shave, I was buffing away without any issue.
I did have to reapply a little moisture with a wet hand as a part of my face kinda dried off a little, due to the tropical heat but, a little moisture and its slick as butter on glass.

Went with the CATA-DOC this time.
No issues riding on that layer, and buffed away to an easy, glass smooth BBS.

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• Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA Cube
• Soap : Thayer’s Gentlemen Shave Cream
• Razor : Blackland Vector w/Feather Pro Guard
• Post shave : Thayer’s Lavender Witch Hazel, Thayer’s Gentlemen Aftershave Balm

This was a rather quick and easy shave.
Face washed with the Cube, used about a fingernail sized amount of the brushless, latherless cream and just worked it on the prepped and wet face, leaving a thin layer of slickness to shave with.
My guess is that if you have more growth you’ll need a little more cream but since I only have the night’s stubble, a fingernail’s dollop was more than enough.

The Vector just made it even easier. One application, WTG, XTG, ATG and clean up all done without any rinsing out. Just a wet hand to keep areas you want to go over rehydrated and slick.

Finished up with witch hazel toning and balm, thought that balm is really more lotion and went on easy, absorbed fast leaving the skin feeling very refreshed and hydrated.

Quickest, easiest BBS shave ever.

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