SOTD : Saturday 11th August - Friday 17th August 2018.

Boru62 said:

p.s. a bit of tartare on the swooping manta please.

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• Safety Razor: MÜHLE - 89
• Blade: Gillette - Silver Blue
• Shaving Brush: Epsilon - Horse
• Shaving Soap: PannaCrema - Ebano
• After Shave - ACO

Digimonkey said:

Sotd's - Saturday 11th and today the 14th of August

Saturday -

Razor - ATT Calypso - Maria
blade - Schick Proline (3)
soap - P&B Citra Royale
brush - Simpsons Chubby One best
post - witch hazel
a/s - Myrsol Agua de Limon
balm - Alvarez Gomez Barberia
scent - Gotas Frescas concentrada colonia
edt - Dior Eau Sauvage.

Today -

Razor - Maria
blade - Schick Proline (4)
soap - La Pere Lucien Abricot
brush - Yaqi High Mountain White
post - witch hazel
a/s - La Pere Lucien Abricot
balm - none
scent - Gotas Frescas concentrada colonia.

Results - all good.

The main point of Saturday's shave was don't cut yourself - I had to go out for dinner - no time for a proper bleeder - it might have seemed like an act of supreme folly to reach for a razor on only its third use for me - that's how good Maria is - even this quickly - totally intuitive in use. I don't need to think what I am doing with her - effortless. I was reminiscing to when I shifted over to proper shaving - initially it was a bit nerve racking - obsessing about the angle of every stroke - if you are at this stage - don't worry about that - keep at it - it will drop into place soon enough - you'll develop muscle memory - so you don't really need to pay that much attention to what you are doing. The properly relaxing shaving ritual will be yours. The best three bits of advice I was given - 1) learn the way your beard grows - the grain of it - 2) don't use pressure and - 3) don't use pressure.

First use of a LPL soap - and I found it to be really top class - I had read that some had problems getting a stable lather from it - the general idea seemed the brush was being under-loaded - so I made sure this wasn't the case - I had no issues - god bless the Scottish water - it's a lot easier to lather any soap up here. I was attracted to this particular one because of the scent - apricot - and it is lovely in use for me. They pull off the trick that the best citrus soaps do - it smells like fresh cut fruit - not a cloying or sweet take on it. It is middling in strength - you are definitely aware of it as soon as you take the lid off the tin - and it builds with lathering and is noticeable throughout the shave. Others may find it stronger - I smoke. A word on the tin - I have the 200 gr size - a lovely bit of packaging - heavy and shaped so that it sits safely in the hand as you load - very ergonomic - mind you at this price point you wouldn't be expecting a plastic tub. The matching splash is excellent too - reminds me of OSP tonics - that's a compliment incidentally - good longevity for an aftershave. The scent is faithful to the soap. Excellent - as I say. I didn't use balm to get a judge of the post-feel and it is really really good for me. Top end. My skin still feels supple and moisturised.

One thing I'm curious about is - it came from @Shaving Station - and the picture on their site of the ingredients label is identical to the one I have but for the missing two words 'potassium tallowate' from the list. Does anyone know why this is the case? Has it been reformulated? - is it just a printing error with this batch? Personally I don't care - but it might put off someone buying it if they only used vegetarian or vegan soaps - if in fact it doesn't have animal products in it - or might disappoint a hardened tallow user - I'm thinking of you P. - @Blademonkey - when it arrived. Any ideas? As I say - doesn't bother me in the slightest - just interested.

There you go - a straight sotd post - not a giant screeching bat nor a huge swooping manta ray in sight - apart from anything else - they wouldn't fit in the den - it is quite small. Enjoy your shaves - one and all - regards - I.

@Barry Giddens - thank you mate.

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