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I decided I would take the time to write up a quick review of the Plisson’s stuff I got the other day. I had been fortunate enough this year to have a decent bonus and I had promised myself one pure indulgence purchase.
Joris Soap (Pictured above in the black container)
This is a nice soap, I find I have to use a little more water in the mix otherwise it gets quite thick. I can’t find and ingredients list and I am sure Mr Henk will be outraged that they are selling a product without the list which is an EU regulation but I can’t find one on the TSD database or the tin, the Plisson site has nothing but sticking my neck out I think this is possibly a lanolin or tallow soap, it is quite creamy and this is why I think that it must be one of these.
The soap is about 14 Euros for the refill, there a wooden bowl you can get but that is about 80 euros so the refiul was good enough for me. It comes in a cardboard tin which is very nice but you cannot use the tin to lather from so you will need a container. The soap is the same shape as the Penshaligons soap, it has a flat top side and it is dome shaped underneath. I could have taken my cake of EF out of its bowl because that is the same shape but in the end I put it in an ordinary wooden bowl upside down so the dome is sticking up. This allows you to get soap right into the centre of the brush easily but I am sure it will flatten out soon.
In use it really needs a well soaked brush, even with that it uses more water than usual to get the mix right, I had to keep dripping water on it as I mixed it. So far I haven’t face lathered with this, I find it is far easier to get it right in a bowl but when it is right it is a good soap. It has a pleasant “clean smell†not cold clean but a little warmer if that makes any sense at all. I had a few quick swirls and applied a sacrificial layer of soap on my face to keep the skin and hair soft after I had showered. I then went about mixing the “real†soap for shaving, this took longer then anticipated but the layer I had applied to my face was still there when I finished mixing. It hadn’t frazzled away and despite this extra time on the face it did not irritate me. I did have a four pass have and my face was becoming a little annoyed at the end but this could be the soap or it could be the new razor and blade and the stiffer tips of the not broken brush.
Overall is not the “must have soap†I would say if you have the opportunity to get some give it a whirl, it may be just right up your street. It is on par with any of the best English soaps and I think this is actually made in England. I may write to them and ask for an ingredients list as I am now keen to find out what it is made of shaving with it is like a cross between the moisturising effect of MWF and the creamy lather you can easily get from Tabac, but it smells like neither of them, it has its own unique smell which as I mentioned above is clean and warm.
Joris Razor
What can I say….any razor that comes in a wooden box and has a custom made little towelling pocket gets my vote. This is not a value for money purchase but it is sublime to look at, if you think the pictures look good you should see it in the flesh. Even SWMBO was very impressed.
I went for the horn version, I had asked about the weights of the Joris razor range and was hoping for a weight in grams but they replied to say the horn is â€Âmedium weightâ€Â, and the Palladium and metal handled ones were “heavyâ€Â, the horn was “easier to use but of course sir it is a personal preferenceâ€Â. I could have persisted and asked for a weightin grams but I was ordering the horn Plisson brush so for me it had to be the horn handled razor. I weighed it last night and it is 60 grams with a blade in it.
What like is it? It is quite an aggressive razor which is what I had hoped for, I really did not want to spend a lot of money and get wish washy but it is not a monster either. The head profile is quite like the older Muhle R41 in that it puts a good amount of bend on the blade when you tighten it down. I used a brand new Polsilver blade with it and had a four pass shave. Over the four passes I decided it was quite neutral in balance, it is not naturally head or tail heavy but you can make it feel either way because the handle is long and changing your grip alters the balance point. Looking at the handle it seems like they have shaped it then added a cap at both ends to give it weight, I don’t know if the middle is bored right through the length of it or if it is just a cap on the end but whatever it is it works. Without this I think it would be more like Chatsworth which is all Faux horn in the handle and is therefore weighted more towards the head. The shape of it is quite easy to hold and I indeed a joy to look at.
Plisson Horn HMW size 12
As I mentioned above I ordered this and the horn razor to match. I went for size 12 which is a 22 mm knot and 56 mm loft, the one I received is exactly that size, millimeter perfect. This knot and loft size is a known good one for me and one that I like to use as a regular brush, I have a few around this size and while it may seem boring to order another I was not going to take too much of a risk.
I gave it a good soak last night after applying the Renaissance wax and made a test lather with the Joris soap, this worked well and I then gave it a good rinse and left till this morning. Again this morning I gave it a good 15 minute soak before use and the Joris soap seems to drink the water so it took a while to get the soap mix right. Normally I try not to change more than one component in a shave but today I went for broke and had a new razor, soap and brush.
In use the tips of the Plisson HMW are soft but still slightly pricklier than I expected, it has plenty of backbone and although I mixed the soap in the bowl application to the face was quite a pleasurable experience. I am sure the tips will soften slightly over time, as have my 2 band Simpsons so in some ways I am glad I do not attempt to face lather or I would have probably irritated my face. I think it was Fido who described in some of his early attempts with a stiff brush and resultant beetroot face so I avoided that today.
The brush itself feels bigger than the size would have you believe, it make me wonder what like a size 10 would feel like but I am 100% sure that this was the ideal size for to start with, I do favour the larger brushes, don’t get me wrong this is not a CH2 but it is still a good decent size and it feels bigger and denser than my Astor Perhaps I may order a size 8 or 10 in acrylic somewhere in the future but for now I am delighted with the brush and look forward to watching it develop.
Both together
Hope this helps anyone who had been looking at these products, I will see how I get on with them over time but needless to say I am looking forward to tomorrows shave.
Joris Soap (Pictured above in the black container)
This is a nice soap, I find I have to use a little more water in the mix otherwise it gets quite thick. I can’t find and ingredients list and I am sure Mr Henk will be outraged that they are selling a product without the list which is an EU regulation but I can’t find one on the TSD database or the tin, the Plisson site has nothing but sticking my neck out I think this is possibly a lanolin or tallow soap, it is quite creamy and this is why I think that it must be one of these.
The soap is about 14 Euros for the refill, there a wooden bowl you can get but that is about 80 euros so the refiul was good enough for me. It comes in a cardboard tin which is very nice but you cannot use the tin to lather from so you will need a container. The soap is the same shape as the Penshaligons soap, it has a flat top side and it is dome shaped underneath. I could have taken my cake of EF out of its bowl because that is the same shape but in the end I put it in an ordinary wooden bowl upside down so the dome is sticking up. This allows you to get soap right into the centre of the brush easily but I am sure it will flatten out soon.
In use it really needs a well soaked brush, even with that it uses more water than usual to get the mix right, I had to keep dripping water on it as I mixed it. So far I haven’t face lathered with this, I find it is far easier to get it right in a bowl but when it is right it is a good soap. It has a pleasant “clean smell†not cold clean but a little warmer if that makes any sense at all. I had a few quick swirls and applied a sacrificial layer of soap on my face to keep the skin and hair soft after I had showered. I then went about mixing the “real†soap for shaving, this took longer then anticipated but the layer I had applied to my face was still there when I finished mixing. It hadn’t frazzled away and despite this extra time on the face it did not irritate me. I did have a four pass have and my face was becoming a little annoyed at the end but this could be the soap or it could be the new razor and blade and the stiffer tips of the not broken brush.
Overall is not the “must have soap†I would say if you have the opportunity to get some give it a whirl, it may be just right up your street. It is on par with any of the best English soaps and I think this is actually made in England. I may write to them and ask for an ingredients list as I am now keen to find out what it is made of shaving with it is like a cross between the moisturising effect of MWF and the creamy lather you can easily get from Tabac, but it smells like neither of them, it has its own unique smell which as I mentioned above is clean and warm.
Joris Razor
What can I say….any razor that comes in a wooden box and has a custom made little towelling pocket gets my vote. This is not a value for money purchase but it is sublime to look at, if you think the pictures look good you should see it in the flesh. Even SWMBO was very impressed.
I went for the horn version, I had asked about the weights of the Joris razor range and was hoping for a weight in grams but they replied to say the horn is â€Âmedium weightâ€Â, and the Palladium and metal handled ones were “heavyâ€Â, the horn was “easier to use but of course sir it is a personal preferenceâ€Â. I could have persisted and asked for a weightin grams but I was ordering the horn Plisson brush so for me it had to be the horn handled razor. I weighed it last night and it is 60 grams with a blade in it.
What like is it? It is quite an aggressive razor which is what I had hoped for, I really did not want to spend a lot of money and get wish washy but it is not a monster either. The head profile is quite like the older Muhle R41 in that it puts a good amount of bend on the blade when you tighten it down. I used a brand new Polsilver blade with it and had a four pass shave. Over the four passes I decided it was quite neutral in balance, it is not naturally head or tail heavy but you can make it feel either way because the handle is long and changing your grip alters the balance point. Looking at the handle it seems like they have shaped it then added a cap at both ends to give it weight, I don’t know if the middle is bored right through the length of it or if it is just a cap on the end but whatever it is it works. Without this I think it would be more like Chatsworth which is all Faux horn in the handle and is therefore weighted more towards the head. The shape of it is quite easy to hold and I indeed a joy to look at.
Plisson Horn HMW size 12
As I mentioned above I ordered this and the horn razor to match. I went for size 12 which is a 22 mm knot and 56 mm loft, the one I received is exactly that size, millimeter perfect. This knot and loft size is a known good one for me and one that I like to use as a regular brush, I have a few around this size and while it may seem boring to order another I was not going to take too much of a risk.
I gave it a good soak last night after applying the Renaissance wax and made a test lather with the Joris soap, this worked well and I then gave it a good rinse and left till this morning. Again this morning I gave it a good 15 minute soak before use and the Joris soap seems to drink the water so it took a while to get the soap mix right. Normally I try not to change more than one component in a shave but today I went for broke and had a new razor, soap and brush.
In use the tips of the Plisson HMW are soft but still slightly pricklier than I expected, it has plenty of backbone and although I mixed the soap in the bowl application to the face was quite a pleasurable experience. I am sure the tips will soften slightly over time, as have my 2 band Simpsons so in some ways I am glad I do not attempt to face lather or I would have probably irritated my face. I think it was Fido who described in some of his early attempts with a stiff brush and resultant beetroot face so I avoided that today.
The brush itself feels bigger than the size would have you believe, it make me wonder what like a size 10 would feel like but I am 100% sure that this was the ideal size for to start with, I do favour the larger brushes, don’t get me wrong this is not a CH2 but it is still a good decent size and it feels bigger and denser than my Astor Perhaps I may order a size 8 or 10 in acrylic somewhere in the future but for now I am delighted with the brush and look forward to watching it develop.
Both together
Hope this helps anyone who had been looking at these products, I will see how I get on with them over time but needless to say I am looking forward to tomorrows shave.
