A Soap Haul

My neighbor gave me this package of soaps.  It is TCD, The Coastal Design, made in China. I did a test lather with it, and it does lather. It has a light black pepper scent. I gave one puck to a fellow shaver from TSD who came for a visit, and I am sending out one with a brush adoption. The other will be used next week. I will report back on the results.

This is a Fine Soap

I got this Fine soap with birthday money from my son, Tim. It is made by Fine and is called Snake Bite. I also got their Fine Shave Bowl to keep it in. Yesterday, I made a lid for the bowl so I can stack on it. I painted it to match the bowl and put a label on it.

Colgate Mug Shaving Soap

I am going to be using the CMS all next week to the end of OCtober, so, I thought I would give it a test lathering today. I used the brush I will be using next week, the JR#229 synthetic. I only bowl lather for the fun of it. I normally just face lather, but this lathered up pretty good. I don't know how old this soap is, but it has no scent at all, or my smeller isn't working. Anyhow, here it is.

The PIF Arrived Today

I won this PIF last Sunday, it was mailed out Monday, and today, Wednesday, it arrived. In addition to the originally advertised offering, there are fourteen soap samples, a baggie full of aftershave samples, and a great stainless steel fat handle.

These are before and after pictures of the MMOC and Old Type.

Old Type on the fat stainless steel handle

MMOC and Old Type all cleaned and shined.

Samples from across the Pond

I just received samples of Geo. F. Trumper shaving creams and Skin Food along with some Pre Shave Oil from The Executive Shaving Co.in Glasgow, Scotland. I will be trying these creams out starting on Friday. I will start the Pre Shave Oil tomorrow. It has a delightful lime scent. 

Ingredients: Almond Shaving Cream

Ingredients: Eucris Shaving Cream

Ingredients: Limes Shaving Cream

Ingredients: Roses Shaving Cream

These products are available from: Executive-Shaving Co.

Dr. Shave's Book of Shaving

New Soap Samples

A big thanks to Ed Kennedy in Virginia for the three soap samples. They just arrived today. I have put them in some plastic containers I got at The Dollar Tree. I will be sampling them during December since I am doing No Variation November this month.

The soaps are 3P, Semogue's new Lavender, and Jabonman Pepperilla.

Col. Conk Almond

I had two unused Col. Conk Bay Rum Shave Soaps: one in the travel container and one in regular packaging. I had asked the clerk at Mast General if I could exchanged an unopened CCBR for the Almond scent and she said, "Certainly." Today, while we were out and about I took along my CCBR and dropped by Mast General. It was a simple exchange. Now, I have all four scents.

In order of aquisition:

• Bay Rum
• Lime
• Amber
• Almond

I currently have nineteen soaps/creams in my rotation, so, I am going to set this aside and slide it into rotation when I run out of one. I am looking forward to that because it does have a pleasant scent.

The Making of a Shave Stick

In December of 2013 I got some Col. Conk Amber Shaving Soap. I wanted to get it in a form that would be easy to use. I converted the soap to a stick form. It was easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. I used up a stick of Arm & Hammer Ultra Max Unscented deodorant.
2. I cleaned out the container and removed the labels.
3. I melted the Col. Conk Amber Shaving Soap (10 seconds in the microwave) and poured it into the container.

To finish it all off, I found a label on the Internet, printed it, and taped it to the new shave stick.

I find it easy to use, as I just rub it all over my beard and begin face-lathering with a wet brush.  It is also a handy form to pack for travel.

This can be done with any Col. Conk or Van Der Hagen glycerine shave soap. I even mad a stick with some Arko. With it, I just pressed it into the container. Arko is a soft malleable soap and works easily. With the Arko, I cut the label and taped it onto the container.

Lathering with Williams

A friend from TSD wrote me and said that he noticed that I used Williams. He said:

I noticed in your SOTD you use Williams? How on earth do you get that thing to work? It was my first soap and I could never get any lather out of it. Ended up using it as hand soap.

I wrote back and gave him my method.

It is a hard soap, and I just load for 30 seconds. I do the same thing for all my hard soaps, and it works fine. I soak my brush while I wash my face and then give it a gentle squeeze.

Start with a dry puck

 I then load it for 30 seconds. I then go straight to the face.

After 30 seconds of loading

I swirl and pump building the lather on my face.

First face lather

  I end up with enough on the brush to do a second pass and touch ups if necessary.

Second face lather

Soap Commander Renewal

Today, I received this Soap Commander Renewal Shaving Soap as a gift from David of Central Florida. David is the one that admired my #7 brush handle and we made a deal. I knotted it with a Whipped Dog High Mountain Badger knot for him. He supplied me with a nice High Mountain Badger knot for another of my brushes and then sends me this nice soap. It is a 6 oz. tub of vegan soap. It has a very pleasant scent, and I look forward to using it. Thanks again, David.

PIF Received Today

I received this nice soap pif from Ed, AKA Redrock, at TSD. He was cleaning out his den. I was one of three winners. I got the Cella, an Italian soap, and Taylor of Old Bond Street The St. James Collection Luxury Shaving Cream, from London.

Cella

Imported from Italy, this classic Italian shave creme soap has been family made since 1899. With an amazingly crisp almond oil fragrance this lather-rich shave soap cream gives a super-clean shave, leaving skin as soft as a bambino's.

From the TOBS Website:

Fresh and masculine, our St. James Shaving Cream creates a smooth and creamy lather for a close shave, leaving your skin moisturised and nourished. 

• Fragrance Notes: A fresh masculine fougere opening with bergamot and mandarin intertwined with citrus ozone notes supported by a fruity floral heart resting on a woody amber base. Contains Coriander oil, Geranium oil, Lavandin Grosso, Lemon oil, Patchouli oil, Pine oil and Spearmint oil.

The Patrick PIF

I received a package in the mail today from my friend Patrick. He said he had a few single edge blades to send m, so I was expecting an envelope with the blades in it. He sure surprised me.

I opened it and said, "Wow! This is more than a few blades!"

There was a puck of Williams Shaving Soap and a puck of Van Der Hagen Deluxe Shave Soap. And blades? A mass of blades.

• 10 Treet Single Edge blades
• 9 other unmarked single edge blades
• 10 Wilkinson Sword Classic DE blades
• 46 assorted DE blades

That is two soaps and 85 blades. Thanks, Patrick, for a great PIF.

Double Edge Blade Assortment

6  Gillette 7 O'Clock Permasharp Stainless

2 Lord Platinum Class

2 Gillette Nacet Stainless

2 Gillette 7 O'Clock SharpEdge

5 Feather

1 Dorco Stainless Platinum ST300

1 Croma Diamat Stainless

2 Super Max Titanium

2 Super-Max Super Stainless

3 Super Iridium Extra Stainless

1 Ladas Super Stainless

1 Personna Platinum Super Stainless Red

2 Perma-Sharp Stainless

1 Perma-Sharp Super

1 Treet Platinum Super Stainless

1 Rapira Stainless

1 Voskhod Teflon Coated

5 Shark Super Stainless

1 Gillette Silver Blue

6 Wilkinson Sword (singles)

5 Wilkinson Sword Classic (white box)

5 Wilkinson Sword Classic (black box)

Happy Birthday to Me

For my birthday, I used some birthday money and ordered three items I have been wanting for a while. I am about to run out of my Taylor of old Bond Street Lavender Shaving Cream, so I am replacing it with TOBS Grapefruit SC. I am anticipating the wonderful citrusy scent.

Next is the Merkur 15C open comb razor. It is a mild open comb razor that weigh in at about 2.5 ounces. The three inch handle should be interchangeable with some of my other 3 piece razors, or not. It is a German made razor of high quality.

Then, I am getting a Vie-Long horse hair brush. I have been wanting to try a good horse hair brush for a long time. I did get a Turkish #6 horse hair, but that is a very low cost brush. It is a good one, but not very dense. This brush is set in an acrylic handle.

arrived 10/21

arrived 10/21

arrived 10/21

arrived 10/21

arrived 10/21