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

Thanks once again @Digimonkey!

You are more than welcome mate. The Alvarez has many fans around these parts - it is slightly odd stuff - in that I have found that the consistency varies between batches - the colour of it as well - from pure white to grayish. It seems to thicken with age - but as you say - just use more water. One thing that never varies is the scent - complex and lovely as far as I am concerned. Good call on the Floid - another Spanish classic - if you like the 'mentally vigorous' try the special edition in the bigger bottle - it has even more menthol! Like this - https://connaughtshaving.com/floidse.html. The only Floid aftershave I don't reach for much is the black label version. I'm not fond of the scent - each to their own. The balm is pretty good as well - should you ever run out of Barts - highly unlikely as that is - ha ha.

La Toja Magno Soap

Talking of Spanish classics - @culcreuch - B - what did you think of the Magno soap?
 
Friday AM 2019-01-04

Moss Classic scuttle
Rooney 1/1 Ivory Finest (22/45)
Penhaligon's English Fern shaving soap (tallow)
Wolfman WR1-SB/Stork Aristocrat 2 Titanium
Wilkinson 'Light Brigade' (3)
Penhaligon's English Fern aftershave (vintage)

Wonderful. The small scuttle and brush worked quite well together.
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You are more than welcome mate. The Alvarez has many fans around these parts - it is slightly odd stuff - in that I have found that the consistency varies between batches - the colour of it as well - from pure white to grayish. It seems to thicken with age - but as you say - just use more water. One thing that never varies is the scent - complex and lovely as far as I am concerned. Good call on the Floid - another Spanish classic - if you like the 'mentally vigorous' try the special edition in the bigger bottle - it has even more menthol! Like this - https://connaughtshaving.com/floidse.html. The only Floid aftershave I don't reach for much is the black label version. I'm not fond of the scent - each to their own. The balm is pretty good as well - should you ever run out of Barts - highly unlikely as that is - ha ha.



Talking of Spanish classics - @culcreuch - B - what did you think of the Magno soap?

Alvarez Gomez is cream I've had on my radar for some time.
I already have so many soaps and creams to try to get through already though !
 
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Got a new soap from the BST - Reef Point Espresso. Love coffee so was excited about this one. Whipped up a lovely lather with my Omega boar. Great quality soap, although honestly, ones minor complaint - it's got a strong chocolate note and isn't strictly an espresso scent.

Also got the New Improved out. Such a mild, smooth shave with fantastic results. Honestly feels like you'd have to try hard to cut yourself with it. Just throw it around your face with reckless abandon. 2 passes, BBS, all good.

Paired with a Polsilver, and with Fine Accoutrements Platinum After Shave Lotion for the post shave feels, and all in all a very pleasant shave. Have a great weekend all
 
The other day it was declared that sooner or later we will no longer own any physical music media, so in support of the physical format I theme my SOTD 'The day the music died'

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Vinyl record - The Colonial General
CD - Kai Captain
Cassette tape - Razorock Plissoft 24mm
Reel to Reel - OSP Eucalyptus and Menthol
Edison drum - L'Occitane Cade aftershave

♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♫ and available on vinyl records, magnetic tape and other analogue formats
100110110010011001111 and available on CD, DAT and digital formats

All of these can be owned in a physical format which you can hold and love

And now

www.spotify.com - where you don't actually own anything. Dreadful

Thank God shaving remains in an 'analogue' world, Any takers for digital shaving?

Tonight's shave then was a return to the Colonial General and I find zero to dislike about this razor. Okay it's a dull non shiny object and I do love a bit of glitz and glamour. It is one of those razors where it is hard to get anything wrong while making quite an aggressive stance with how it approaches a shave. Never misses a hair, I will be interested to see what the latest newfangled version has to offer. I just hope they don't lose that side which makes this such a beautiful razor to use. Shiny would be welcome.

To date and as much as other blades may have given a closer edge the Kai Captain is a great partner for the General to do its fancy face shaving dance. A few strokes across the palm certainly help the blade maintain a confident and clean edge, Until I find something else which stirs my SE blade soul I shall remain being a one blade man.

The OSP Eucalyptus and Menthol is a very welcome antidote on these colder evenings and in my small world of shaving I find it as strong a menthol hit as I need. It manages to redden my eyes about as far as I would like to take having reddened eyes, May be on my limits but like any other OSP cream it delivers in every way. OSP deserve a toe dipping by any serious shaver in their lifetime. Shiny tins OSP? To go with shiny razors.

Cade because it is what it is and effing good at being what it is.

No scent today as it has been a long working day and I just can't see any reason to perfume up just before bed. The sheets would not be as appreciative as Mrs Satanfriendly would be. But she ain't here and I don't want loose pillow talk. Another day.

My new Dovo arrives at the house tomorrow and I really look forward to getting home and getting it right. For me I see straights as a natural step up the ladder from SE's. It was a bad straight which got me in to taking this shaving game more seriously and I am ready for the challenge. Bring it on

And to end, a terrible song and brought to you via one of those dreadful formats I started off saying how much I hate, but hey shit....

 
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Friday 4th January

RazoRock 400
Meissner Lavender Deluxe
Rockwell 6C R5
Gillette Silver Blue (1)
Floid Mentolado Vigoroso

The Rockwell on plate 5 makes easier work than on plate 3 by a country mile.
Not at all aggressive feeling, rather smooth and efficient.

The weekend starts here . . . !
 
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.


















Beautiful stuff
 
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A new soap for me. A superlative lather, but I'm not sure about the aroma, although it absolutely is as described. Not unpleasant at all, but I've been used to the in your face-ness of Spitfire for the past few weeks, and this is a totally different thing. I'll give it a few more goes and I might get used to it, but I don't think it will replace Spitfire in my affections.

I took the quest for the perfect shave a bit too far today, or more likely I rushed it a bit and applied pressure, because my neck is pretty sore, and I had an exquisite burn when I applied the A/S...:eek:

Still, no nicks or lasting damage and definitely BBS.

The sample of ADP Fico di Amalfi is a wondrous scent, but being an EDT, not very long lasting unfortunately. If they did it as an EDC or EDP, I'd definitely be up for a bottle.

So, a bit of a curates egg of a shave today.
 
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