Hone Type 15 - Shave #7 - The coldest shave in the world
Ice cold shower - not really. I have my limits.
Stirling original glacial soap
MÜHLE 33K257 brush
Plenty of cold water - with a few handful of ice cubes
Hone Type 15 - head frozen overnight
Feather blade (1)
Alum block
Frozen tap water ice lolly instead of cold water rinse
Alcolado Glacial ASL
Having established that freezing the Hone Type 15 doesn't actually make it more aggressive, I still have to try the coldest shave on earth. The frozen Hone Type 15 head will do a cold water shave paired with a sample of @Nishy's Stirling original glacial soap (the coldest soap on earth, he claims). To give me extra chill I won't do a cold water rinse at the end of the shave, but I'll use a home made tap water ice lolly instead. This is something I like doing when it's really hot. Alcolado Glacial is my favourite cooling ASL in really high temperatures.
I have pressed the sample of the Stirling glacial soap into a small plastic bowl. Then I had a sniff. Fresh! I did have to use one of those steam inhaler things years ago. You put some boiling water in it, then some menthol stuff and inhale. The soap smells just like that. Even without the hot water. This should be fun. I'm not expecting a blocked nose after this shave.
On with the shave!
I decide to face lather the soap for maximum impact. Immediately it reminds me of Vicks Vaporub
I don't manage to get a voluminous lather, but it seems quite workable. I expect my eye to start watering, but there is only a slight sting. Not too bad. I give this soap 10/10 for freezing ability though. This is cold. The shave with the frozen Hone Type 15 is actually quite good. While the lather is quite thin it provides enough glide and cushion. I'm enjoying this, so I do four passes resulting in a very smooth shave. I didn't have a blocked nose when I started the shave, but I needed to blow my nose twice during the shave. They should sell this soap as a cold remedy.
The alum block doesn't sting at all. How could it? My skin is probably numb by now. After cleaning up my tools I remove the alum with a tap water ice lolly straight from the freezer. A trick for the hight of summer I picked up on a German YouTube channel a couple of years ago. This is actually the coldest bit of the shave. Goodness, my face now feels properly frozen. I finish off with Alcolado Glacial ASL. Amazingly this doesn't feel cold at all now, neither can I smell the menthol in it. No sting whatsoever, as my face is still anaesthetised.
I'm now clean shaven, wide awake and I can breathe freely.
Would I do this again? Hell, yes! But I'd wait until the temperature is in the 30s. This was fun and I highly recommended it. What a pity this soap is no longer being produced.
What about a mixture of a good shaving cream with some Vicks Vaporub? Would that work? I think I need to experiment later in the year, when it's really hot.
Thanks
@Nishy, great soap pass around!
¡Ay, caramba!
I'm still waiting for the… errrrm… other razor to compare the brass Hone Type 15 to...
TBC….