Wanted the full monty with Soap Commander so had to substitute what I don’t have and using the old original Shulton Juice. Would I smell like my grandfather? Probably. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Dual Band Manchurian Badger by Frank Shaving
Enjoyable shave with Van Yulay’s software and the Masamune and Astra Blue combo. Smooth as silk, true Glass BBS, ending with the myrrh bomb that is Dior’s Eau Sauvage 2012 EDP.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower
Soap : Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage
Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Astra Blue (1)
Post Shave : Van Yulay’s Gentle Sauvage Aftershave and Balm
The Ring of death is getting wider… Really liking Clubman’s Whiskey woods. Whiskey, Bergamot, Tobacco, a hint of birch along with a nice short burn easily made it a quick favourite I need to be sure is kept in stock.
Pre-Shave : Shower, Bloom Water
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Such a great scent and Monica’s soaps as always is enjoyable to use. The Ascension gave a perfect glass BBS. Smelling great, feeling great. Off to another midnight shift.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA’s The Cube
Soap : Van Yulay’s Black Dragon
Razor : PAA’s Copper Ascension w/Treet Black Beauty blade (1)
Post Shave : Van Yulay’s Black Dragon’s Aftershave Splash and Balm
Others : Ginger’s Garden Dragon Spice Roll On(not pictured)
Pulling overnight shifts the next few days so night shaves are my “daily” shaves now. Don, I hope that Himitsu will never go away, amazingly beautiful lemon and rose scent. Off to work!
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA’s The Cube
Soap : WTF’s Himitsu
Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Treet Black Beauty (2)
Post Shave : WTF’s Himitsu Aftershave splash , Prep
After last night’s shave I had to wonder if my experience was really as good as it is or if I was just in a “Honeymoon” mood and giving the new formula more credit then I should. So this evening I decided to shave with both soaps, Col Conk’s Original Bay Rum for the first two pass, and New Formula for third pass and clean up.
Pass 1 – 2 Slight blooming of the soap and loading it heavy on the brush, then into Monica’s bowl to whip up a lather brought out the scent that we know so well. Light Bay Rum with a hint of floral. Lather Porn 101, Monica’s bowls make damn fracking good looking and functional lather.
Going through the first and second pass, I immediately picked up on the issues that the original Col. Conk soap puck has. That is, it had very decent slickness, some residual slickness after the blade rides past, immediately seem to dry off and on wash off, almost zero post shave feel. Skin feels “squeaky”. For the price that you pay though, this was a fair trade off. No one expects artisan levels of slickness and post shave from a $6 (well, $5.90 for a 3 & 3/4oz) bar of soap.
Pass 3 + Clean Up Cleaning and rinsing out the brush and then medium soap loading the brush with the new Reformulated Bay Rum, this time I face lathered and you immediately notice two differences.
The first is that the new formula seems to be a little more thirsty, and the scent.
Scent is slightly stronger and this time you can tell that the floral note is clearly that of Rose, very similar to British Rose riding on top of bay rum.
Soap performance once you give it enough water is outstanding. Very slick to start, good residual slickness that still will dry out if left on the face for a time after the blade has passed. The wash off and the post shave feel is where you see a huge spike in improvement. No longer tight and squeaky, your skin now feels a little slick requiring a longer wash off to take it all off, and that rubbery skin feel is no longer there with the skin feeling smooth with fingers able to easily glide across the surface of your skin.
Conclusion All in all, the new formula on this second shave is a definite marked improvement over the old Original. Scent while improved is still light. 3/10
I’ll bowl lather with the new formula next time to see if there is any degradation in performance over face lathering. And $6 for a three and a quarter ounce of soap this good, that is really good value.
As far as I know the only way to be sure that you get the new Formula is to get it from Colonel Conk’s official online store. I’d recommend anyone who likes the Bay Rum scent to give it a try and see for yourself, while the rule YMMV still holds true, I am pretty confident you’d come to the same conclusion as I did. If not you can always use the puck in the bath.
Bowl and lather : Van Yulay Resin (Col Conk’s Original Bay Rum -its almost gone! – Two Passes)
Bowl and Soap : Col Conk’s Santa Fe (Col Conk’s New Formula Bay Rum – Third Pass and Clean Up)
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Dualband Manchurian Badger by Frank Shaving
Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Feather Blade (3)
Post Shave : Col Conk’s Bay Rum Aftershave Cologne
Yes! Finally went with a forwarder that I had used a long time ago but back then, they had quite a few restrictions which they seemed to have worked out.
And I have finally have stuff that I can’t normally get where I am, at least not without paying exorbitant prices for and I mean loco crazy prices, eg; someone quoted me US$66 for Col Conk’s Bay rum aftershave, I gave them the 🖕.
You don’t want to know how much they were asking for Pinauds.
And now that I have a direct way to ship any aftershave that has alcohol in it. I’m going to get everything that wanted to get but can’t because of shipping restrictions. Hello Soap Commander Aftershave splashes!
Rockwell’s R1
The Rockwell R1 is a TTO razor, meaning its a Twist To Open, also known as a butterfly or silo razor. TTOs are generally marketed to new users as they have almost zero assembly required. You open it up, drop a razor blade in, close it back and you are good to go.
However, many TTOs aren’t really designed for the new user, especially the ones made in India and China with aggressive blade gaps, sometimes positive blade exposure and worse, shoddy manufacturing.
The R1 looks a lot like the Weishi Classic or the Vikings Blade Chieftain so they might be the same, or at the very least from the same OEM. Or Rockwell got the parts from said OEM. I don’t own either of the above, so I cannot compare. There is zero branding and the razor itself is devoid of any brand markings.
The R1 while feeling a little “Cheap” (it is after all only $15.00) is actually well built. There is no wiggle, no blade chatter and as you can see from the above pictures, the blade alignment along both X and Y axis are perfect.
Do note that, at the time of posting, I believe you cannot buy the R1 separately as a stand alone razor from Rockwell anymore (they will only sell it to you as a gift set of R1 Razor, Brush, Shaving Cream and 5 Blades).
Rockwell also claims that the R1 is similar to the R1 plate on the 6C/S but it is not. It is more closer to the R2 or falling somewhere in between. This is a very mild razor and not as “nick proof” as the R1 plate on a 6C/S.
As you can see from the picture, there is a substantial blade gap. It will handle heavy growth and not clog up.
What is interesting though is that while there is quite a blade gap, the curvature of the blade and blade exposure on this razor puts it somewhere between a R1 and R2 plate on a 6C/S in aggression.
I would recommend this to a new user, someone who needs a gentler shave or for the more advanced user when you need a razor to tame extremely sharp or harsh blades.
I have to say that the new formulation is quite different from the old puck. (I did play with the old formulation soap before this shave) Scent strength is just a tad up but there is a marked difference in slickness. Its very slick now, if thirsty, has good residual slickness too and the post shave is extremely good for the price I paid for the soap. Its actually well beyond what I expected. I’ll be using this for my night shaves for a while to really get a feel for it but my honest first impression is that it’s artisan soap good.
The aftershave though, scent strength and longevity are a little lacking. Perfect for the evening shave though. Light and last “just enough”, but price point is a little on the high side considering its performance when compared to other aftershaves at the same price point. I do like that this is a Rose forward Bay Rum.
And yes, Feathers + a mild razor = Perfect BBS.
Bowl : Colonel Conk Santa Fe bowl for large pucks
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-shave : Shower
Soap : Colonel Conk’s Bay Rum (new formulation)
Razor : Rockwell R1 w/Feather blade (1)
Post Shave : Colonel Conk’s Bay Rum, Nivea Men Post shave Balm
Decided to go full PAA today, well except for the bowl, you have to admit it though, Monica’s bowls are just too awesome. With the Cube and CK-6, you know your face is well protected and can buff to your heart’s content.
Results : True Glass “I keep touching myself” BBS shave, even on my trouble spots that sometimes still have that one or two pesky micro whisker to not give you that 100% perfect shave.
I still think that the easiest way to describe the scent is Oud, Sage and smoky blackcurrants made a baby and called it “Copalli”. A little fruity, very herbaceous, and that dark resinous wood note makes it very unique for those frag-heads (like me) who likes to wear stuff that smells great but still be able to stand out in the crowd of designer scents.
Steve's Wet Shaving in Singapore 