Custom scent done by Ginger’s Garden. One of my favourites, being a mix of Dragon’s Blood and Spice Bomb, though that scent mix might not be for everyone given that it’s heart notes is high on orange and spice.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower
Soap : Ginger’s Garden Dragon Spice
Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Rockwell blade (3)
Post Shave : Ginger’s Garden Dragon Spice Aftershave Splash and Balm
Off day shave and its Soap Commander today. Really good soap, good scent, extremely good slickness, residual slickness, good post shave and extremely great value.
Really loving the Masamune more now that I have its measure. It is by far the smoothest shaver I have used and that includes Rockwell 6S and PAA’s Copper Ascension and several Razorock stuff, which is very impressive.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower
Soap : Soap Commander Refinement
Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Rockwell Blade (2)
Post Shave : Nivea Deep Aftershave Splash, Soap Commander’s Refinement Aftershave Balm
Opted for something simple today and went with Zingari Man’s Lothario. Lightly scented, straight forward scents and a very enjoyable base. Good soaps.
Decided to use the adjustable today and I don’t know if it’s just me but I usually just set the razor to the efficiency I want and don’t really change it too much if at all. Case in point, today’s shave was set at 3, and I choose to use the scalloped side for the entire shave. Didn’t change the setting, just used the scalloped bar shaving side and that was that. No fuss, no complications.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower
Soap : Zingari Man Lothario
Razor : Vikings Blade The Emperor Augustus w/Derby Extra blade (1)
Something I read about why is it that we tend to get “better” shaves with really aggressive and blade positive razors while gentler, blade neutral razors tend to nick or cause irritation, and the answer was that we tend to be more aware of the razors that would bite and less so with razors that we know are safe. Hence, we done frack it up when we use “safer” razors and tend to put too much pressure or rush.
With that in mind I went back to the Masamune and Dorco Prime Blade combo. Previously, this combo will give me that perfect shave but I thought it still took a layer of skin off as alum application feedback indicates slight irritation was indeed caused.
So this time along with PAA’s Cube, CK-6 formula soap and a very light touch on the razor I was rewarded with that perfect shave, the kind you just knew you had the moment you did the final rinse off and applied alum and the aftershave. When fingers met with glass smooth skin and no feedback from the alum. Lesson learned.
Bowl : PAA’s Travel Scuttle
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower, PAA’s Cube
Soap : PAA’s Doppelganger Black (2015 Sauvage)
Razor : Tatara Masamune w/Dorco Prime Blade (1)
Post shave : PAA’s Doppelganger Black Aftershave Cologne, Mysterium Serum
Back to basics and I wanted that wonderful eucalyptus rush. Proraso is one of the few shaving stuff that’s rather easily available locally here in Singapore and relatively cheap so it’s going to be a staple.
Went back to the R2 plate with the Dorco Prime blades. I actually for the first time in months had a mirco-nick a shave or two back on the R3 plate. The blades are ultra thin making them really sharp and if you aren’t careful, it’ll draw blood. I just happen to tap the face with with the razor while setting for stroke and it drew blood. So for those looking for an alternative Feathers or are looking for something as sharp as, you might want to give these a try. I suspect that it might actually edge ahead of Feathers in terms of how sharp its edge is.
Dua’s Fragrance now seems to perform well (I’ll know how well later in the day) now that its allowed to rest and age more. I suspect that they are rushing barely aged parfums out due to demand as this one is always sold out. Understandable since no one is going to buy Creed’s even at discounters (upwards of $450 for a 2.5oz bottle) And yes, it does smell great.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush Friendship Shaving Macy Dual Band Manchurian Badger by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower, Proraso Green
Soap : Proraso Green
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R2 w/Dorco Prime Blades (3)
Post Shave : Proraso Green Aftershave Splash, Prep
Others : Bois Précieux et Épices by Dua (Creed’s Spice and Wood)
One of the reasons why I really dislike Proctor and Gamble as a company is that they can’t leave well alone and have to destroy great products in the name of profit. Shulton’s Old Spice for example. My memory is a little fuzzy on this but, initially, they didn’t messed with the original Shulton formula till around the late 199s or early 2000s.
That is when you started seeing “Old Spice Original” along with a other Old Spice “flavors” that were more and more using synthetic fragrance base to make facsimiles and variants of the old Shulton scent that many will come to say “Smells like the old Shulton, but no where near enough.” even when comparing P&G’s “Orininal”
New and the old. Notice they took out “Shulton” and its just “Proctor and Gamble” now.
My last remaining bottle of the old stuff was bought at around the year 2000 or late 1990s when you could still get Old Spice EDTs. I don’t remember when they took those off the shelves. And it was a shame that they removed the Shulton reference altogether.
Luckily for us, we do have artisans who still remember or I hope, still have samples of the old stuff and was able to recreate the old Shulton scent.
Soap Commander, Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements are those that I have tried and can say that they are as close to the real thing as they can get (I think Soap Commander edges PAA out in accuracy by just a hairline (it’s the nutmeg / cinnamon / Star Anise scent notes mix) but they are both really good and thankfully so close that it doesn’t really matter.
I might try other artisans that I learn of whose products are said to be close and hopefully true to the Shulton scent while I still have my EDT to compare their scent to.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthethic by Frank Shaving
I love this scent! Love Al Haramain’s L’Aventure’s clone too as they substituted rose and jasmine over Creed’s original green tea which to me, made it a more enjoyable scent, toning down that to some, slightly harsh green note with more gentle florals. YMMV of course.
Bowl : Van Yulay Resin
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy G4 Synthetic by Frank Shaving
Pre-Shave : Shower, Proraso Green (not pictured)
Soap : Wet Shaving Products’ Matterhorn
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Dorco Prime Blade (1)
Post Shave : WSP’s Matterhorn Aftershave Splash and Balm
Others : Al Haramain’s L’Aventure Blanche (Creed Silver Mountain Water clone)
Using up my Proraso pre-shaves, have a ton of it, since its being outperformed by PAA’s Cube by a landslide. And damn does the aftershave smells good. Good stuff.
The Dorco Prime blade behaved on the R3 plate as well and gave a very, very close shave. True glass BBS without too much clean up needed. Alum application had almost no feedback, only the barest hint. Need run on the R3 for a few more days with the Dorco Prime blade but so far, its looking really good that the R3 will give the best performance balance between smoothness and blade gap.
Brush : Friendship Shaving’s Macy Dual Band Manchurian by Frank Shaving (Face Lathered)
Pre-Shave : Shower, Proraso Green Pre-Shave
Soap : Wet The Face’s Grey’s Vetiver Tallow Puck in Frank Shaving Apothecary Mug
Razor : Rockwell 6S-R3 w/Dorco Prime (3)
Post Shave : WTF’s Grey’s Vetiver Aftershave Splash, Prep
Steve's Wet Shaving in Singapore 