SOTD: Saturday 29th December 2018 - Friday 4th January 2019.

Thursday 3rd January 2019 PM

Pre-shave:- Warm rinse / Nivea Sensitive Face Wash / Proraso Red Pre Shave cream
Brush:- Executive Shaving Company Medium Jock Synthetic
Soap/Cream:- Alvarez Gomez Barberia cream
Razor/Blade:- Rockwell 6c R3 / Gillette Green (1)
Post-shave:- Thayers Cucumber / Floid Vigoroso aftershave / Bart's Balm Amber and Moroccan Jasmine


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This is one of the best shaves I've ever had! Words cannot describe it.

After my last shave I gave my face a few days to recover. This gave the razor plenty to attack when the blade touched skin.

I've treated myself to a few new additions and am now going to start trying them out one at a time. No more changing too much at once!

Tonight I followed my usual prep and returned to plate R3 with a Gillette green blade loaded fresh. I don't understand why I veer away from this combination from time to time as I always seem to learn the hard way - if it's not broken, don't try to fix it!

I also returned to the Alvarez Gomez Barberia cream. I've not used this in a while and again I can't explain why not....it is simply one of the best! An absolute joy to use. Thanks once again @Digimonkey! I forgot just how thirsty it is but once you've got the water right it rewards you with a luxurious lather. The scent is sublime.

My 1st pass WTG was like a hot knife through butter. The razor glide was so smooth it almost felt like I was still lathering up rather than shaving. The blade was almost unnoticeable.

Rinsing had me smiling from ear to ear. The slickness was smooth as glass and I was pretty much BBS over my face. My neck still needed a little work, so I couldn't lather up again quick enough.

The 2nd and 3rd passes were equally good with nothing to report. Everything has in harmony.

A rinse and face wash with the remaining lather. Lovely. A good cold rinse then splash of Thayers followed by my new addition - Floid Vigoroso. I splashed this on expecting a good burn....but nothing. I could feel the menthol kick, which seemed to last forever, but nothing else. A good inhale through the nose and job done.

Once the Floid menthol kick had gone I finished off with a small amount of Bart's Balm. Sublime.

This is one of those shave that confirms it was the right choice to move into wet shaving!

May all your shaves be as good as this one!

Have a great night folks and let's hope things continue like this through 2019!
 
Prep: Hot shower with Pears Glycerine soap
Pre: Proraso White pre-shave
Brush: Traditional Shaving Company Pure Badger
Soap: Phoenix & Beau Pall Mall
Razor: Rockwell 6C (R3)
Blade: Gillette Rubie (2)
Post: Cold Water rinse / Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel
EDC: Duru Lemon

I finally succumbed to temptation and, with the aid of some Xmas money, I got a couple of them there posh artisan soaps from a popular on line retailer. The first to be tried was the P&B Pall Mall. I had wondered if the whole artisan soap thing was a bit over hyped....but, no...not a bit. The Pall Mall smells great, lathers very easily and provides a slick, protective cushion. But best of all is the post shave face feel. My skin feels so soft and hydrated that I dont feel the need for a balm. Very happy.

Have a good evening.

Cheers
Steve
 
SOTD 1/1/2018!!

Hi Guys and Gals – I hope that everyone has a prosperous and happy 2019 and a lot of great shaves too. I had my second shave on the Augustini Kamisori and I wanted to show some more photos and my observations about this razor.

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First a health warning:

The Kamisori is a superb blade to master. It is at the pinnacle of Japanese razors and it takes some skill to use. It is NOT for the novice wet shaver and nor is it for the novice straight razor shaver. Wait until you are comfortable with a sharp blade and can almost shave blindfold before you try a Kamisori!!

However, if you do master a Kamisori it will give a superb and comfortable shave – you will be well rewarded. The kami I am using is a blade I bought from Augustini razors in Melbourne Australia. It has a traditional left handed asymmetrical grind as you will see from the photos below. It is beautiful in every way – a true masterpiece of the art. IF you want one like the one I am using then contact Augustini through Instagram HERE.

The line up:

Lets first look at what makes a Kamisori – traditionally the Kamisori is made of a soft iron ‘handle' with a hard steel cutting edge with either three layers or 2 layers (san-mai or ni-mai) this was done in order to keep the price down and is in line with how swords are made – soft body/hard edge. In this case the complete kami is made up of the same hard steel. A Kamisori is ground to be ‘handed' either left or right handed although some modern Kamisoris do have a ‘western grind' more like a traditional straight razor. Kamisoris were originally meant truly ‘for barber use' so I am guessing that the handedness was for the barbers preference not the shavers. I use my Kami in both hands – (lets wait for the thunderbolts from the traditionalists….). The Kamisori I show here is left handed grind. The side with more griding is called the ‘Ura' and the flatter side is called the ‘Omote'. The makers mark would usually be found on the Ura on a Japanese razor however Augustini has not marked the blade – I think he should as it is a superb razor and something to be proud of – mark it Luke!!

So here are my observation on what was a superb shave:-

The heel of the razor – the point at the front – is superb and slightly angled and therefore muted – it will not dig into my face flesh if I lose concentration.

The toe is at almost 90º and is super sharp – beware of this digging in – you CANNOT use the Kamisori like a pencil. The blade needs to be parallel to the face at all times.

The handle us super shiny, just the right weight ann very highly polished – dry hands or alum essential

The shave was superb with even the ATG pass a delight. A tip for a Kamisori shave is to use a very slick soap likw the one I used or something like TOBS Avocado – something that leaves a residual slickness on the face after the pass – why? because the angle at which you shave with the kamisori is very shallow and the Omote will slide against the skin – if there is no residual slickness then it can drag and skip a little. nothing to worry about just one thing to watch out for.

If you are a serious straight razor user then mastering the Kamisori should be on your ‘to do' list and you would be hard pressed to find a finer example than this Augustini Kamisori.

















 
Last edited:
Fri 4th Jan.

RazoRock Plissoft 22mm
P & B Spitfire
PAL Injecto-Matic
Schick Proline [ 3 ]
Myrsol Antesol A/S Lotion

Used one of my favourite single blade Injectors today, and found that the Injecto-Matic/ Proline combo was more aggressive the the Canadian E2/ Japanese Schick I used yesterday. The aggression was particularly noticeable when doing final polishing up works on the upper lip/chin areas, and the cheeks and neck it was quite smooth. However, I completed the Shave without mishap , and was rewarded with a really top quality close finish of the face stroking variety.

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4/1

Warm water shower, Bulldog Original Face Wash, Bulldog Sensitive Face Scrub

Cold water from tap
Proraso White Preshave cream
Musgo Real Shaving Cream
Bodyshop Synthetic Brush

Parker Variant (set at 3)
Astra (1)

Osma Alum Block
Fine Italian Citrus AS
Barts Balm Lime Oil ASB

Parker Variant and Astra seems a good combination.
 
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