06.07.2024

• Prep: warm water
• Razor: Leaf Thorn
• Blade: Derby Premium half DE
• Brush: TGS Galaxy 26 mm
• Lather: Barrister and Mann - The Full Measure of Man
• Post Shave: Moon Soaps Old School balm; moisturiser

2 pass head shave. A totally comfortable one I might add.

FMoM is, by far, a soap very deserving of its own hype. The scent is just chef's kiss throughout... perhaps not best suited to summer, but do I care? Nope. Plus in the Omnibus base it lathers like something otherworldly and leaves great slickness for head shaving.

Using the Thorn again was also a pleasure. I'm now firmly believing that SE razors are prime head shavers - every single one I've used works either really well or even amazing like this one. I could probably sell all my DEs and just invest in more modern and vintage SEs and be happy. Sad but true...

I still struggle a bit with my new Lemmy app so please don't be scared about some hiccups; I try to remedy mistakes as soon as I notice them.

Thank you very much, I appreciate it 🙏🏻 I also wanted to let you know that your sample has arrived safely at my address but forgot to send a PM after switching clients.

03.07.2024

• Prep: warm water
• Razor: RazoRock Hawk V2
• Blade: KAI Captain Protouch MG
• Brush: RazoRock Beehive 28 mm
• Lather: Moon Soaps - Union
• Post Shave: Moon Soaps Old School balm; moisturiser

Back into head shaving with a 1 pass shave. I also switched my Lemmy client/app from Eternity to Thunder and now enjoy a bit of a nicer interface after getting more familiar with it...

Shaving my head with the Hawk is very nice, I did this before my late shift and it gave me a good result. Union is lightly mentholated (quite nice for a not so warm day here) and over time, the very fluid old school "balm" has grown on me. I like the pump mechanism. I hope to shave more often now that I'm back at my regular workplace and my home.

Unfortunately I don't feel very well since my grandmother is probably going to die soon and the whole situation has me torn. She wants it and due to her age of 91 and her various ailments, it's the best for her. But it's still my grandma and the process hurts. I'm glad to have my work to distract me a bit.

26.06.2024

• Prep: cold water
• Razor: Feather Popular
• Blade: Feather
• Brush: hands
• Lather: Hawkins & Brimble - Elemi & Ginseng shaving cream
• Post Shave: Natura Siberica ASB gel

1 pass head shave. This one wasn't so good. A lot of tiny weepers on my scalp.

Thing is, Feathers are again deceptively smooth. Usually I feel when a shave is bad: tugging, an awful tight skin feeling, burn... There was none of that, but I immediately saw the little bleeding dots appear in the mirror! As I took the blade out to bin it, I saw a few tiny burrs on it. Maybe this was a rare manufacturing defect...

The end of the internship is near and I am so happy about that. Really, this place sucks ass. I'll never complain about my nursing home working conditions again if I remember this place.

24.06.2024

• Prep: warm water
• Razor: Feather Popular TTO
• Blade: Feather
• Brush: Omega Roma Colosseo 31 mm
• Lather: Hawkins & Brimble - Elemi & Ginseng shaving cream
• Post Shave: Natura Siberica ASB gel

1 pass head shave plus neck contours. Except for one weeper due to the careless comfortable feeling the Popular evokes, a good shave.

As already said, the Feather Popular is a very mild and comfortable razor. It even makes Feather blades somehow more tolerable for me, but as usual they're deceptively smooth - I only realised that I got a little weeper on my scalp when I rinsed the remaining lather off. It used to be my first safety razor ever back when I tried to get into traditional wetshaving at 18. So 12 years ago, it was a nice first experience and still continues to be a good shaver nowadays. If I don't let it drop again (cause of death of my first one) it should be a reliable travel bag razor.

Today my classmate and I have our final week at the internship at the neurological rehabilitation centre. Finally! We can't wait to leave this place behind us, and only now people seem to remember that we still need some stuff for our documents. So we actually had lots of interesting things shown to us and could do a few things with instructions. Actually, if most days would've been like this we'd be far more satisfied with the internship as a whole. Unfortunately, it now marks a low point in our retraining even if the last week should probably be our best...

23.06.2024

• Prep: warm water
• Razor: GEM Micromatic Bullet Tip/Flying Wing, gold
• Blade: GEM PTFE
• Brush: AP Shave Co. 30 mm Tuxedo Fan w/ black & clear handle
• Lather: Jean & Len - Fresh Menthol Rasierpaste (shaving cream)
• Post Shave: Thayer's Cucumber facial spray; Jean & Len moisturizer

A short head shave I did before departing for a final time to my internship place. One pass and done.

This shaving cream in a glass jar arrived together with the Feather Popular I could finally get yesterday, so today was a first experience. Jean & Len make interesting skincare products that I really dig, although this shaving cream is not available on their website anymore. It still was there on Amazon, so I grabbed one. They advertised it as "made in Germany"; so I believe it's made for them by Meißner Tremonia. MT also uses glass jars and also has a scent of the same name in their line-up. Actually, the smell is pretty much all eucalyptus and rosemary - kinda like a sports cream. It is nice to spread around and easy to lather though, no complaints here. The glide is pretty good, not as great as for example the WK Siero base, but still very useful for shaving...

Using a GEM again after a long time, at first I thought it'd turn out bad. To my pleasant surprise, it was a very good and comfortable shave!

Sounds great, congrats on the new mountain bike! It surely helps to have one hobby that's physically demanding to stay active. Having great bike trails near you helps too. My bicycle is older than me (so over thirty years!) but still ok to ride around shorter tracks for conditioning.

Reading your post made me want to get back into something more active/"sporty" again; jogging isn't my strong suit thanks to joint issues but hiking might be a contender. Due to my knee problems I fear that my old love for strength sports will be solely limited to a spectator role.

20.06.2024

• Prep: warm water
• Razor: Gillette Sensor (modern version)
• Blade: Gillette Sensor 3
• Brush: my hands
• Lather: Hawkins & Brimble - Elemi & Ginseng shaving cream
• Post Shave: Natura Siberica ASB gel

This was, in comparison to yesterday, a freaking awesome head shave!

I did it before my late shift. 1 pass and done. For this modern version of the Sensor, they actually put one 3-blade cartridge with it and it's quite enjoyable (although already kinda overkill for my skin). It did a way better job than the awful KCG.

Today I also tested my theory and just used my wet hands to hydrate the lather from the H&B shaving cream. It also works well! So in a pinch, this cream is also a good travel option if you forgot to take a brush with you. I still really like the scent and my scalp also agrees with it. So that one was truly a bargain!

Yes, I stand by that offer 100%.
Truth be told, the reason why I don't use it anymore is because it hurts to be reminded of the Reddit experiences that were great before everything went downhill with the API changes. Seeing the Reddit mascot on it pisses me off since it reminds me of a greedy asshole company, even though our subreddit used to be so cool. I know it's a bit absurd, but it's like continuing to use something your horrible Ex gifted you. 😅 You won't even need to part ways with one of your synths for it, tbh I'd be really glad to get rid of it and find a happy new owner for it.

You could. I'd gladly send you mine since I only use synthetic brushes nowadays.

I'm really sorry that I missed your comment!

PM is on the way, I'd gladly partake 👍🏻

19.06.2024

• Prep: warm water
• Razor: Gillette King C. Gillette
• Blade: BIC Chrome Platinum
• Brush: Omega Roma Colosseo 31 mm
• Lather: Hawkins & Brimble - Elemi & Ginseng shaving cream
• Post Shave: Natura Siberica ASB gel

Awful AF shit head shave.

So my Feather Popular didn't arrive on time to take with me. Bummed, I bought a KCG yesterday... Worst decision ever. I don't know why Gillette thought it would be a great idea to release such a safety razor with a head geometry that's so extremely mild that it's actually inefficient as hell. I know, their target audience was probably the people who always used their cartridge razors and judging by some reviews out there, people actually managed to cut themselves. I mean, never rule out accidents due to inexperience. But the thing is, I am very experienced with lots of safety razors. I know how to shave my head with them, I know how to hold a good angle. I even used one of my own blades... Yet I still have "rows" on my head where it barely even shaved. Truth be told, I'd prefer my Remington dry shaver over this and that's not good! Imagine this is someone's first experience with safety razors due to these being widely available. I would've been appalled and immediately returned to cartridge razors. And well, perhaps that's Gillette's strategy with this product. I'm glad that I didn't try it on my harder neck hair. The result is as bad as the horrible Parker Injector and that's quite something.

Anyways, this shaving cream by Hawkins and Brimble had a high discount (2.50€ instead of 15.99€) and for such a bargain, it's really nice. I could probably even lather it without a brush and it'd work nicely while smelling great.

As for me personally: just this afternoon I got back home from my internship place after a week of early shifts. The early shift is as usual wearing me down more than late shifts due to me being a "night owl". Tried to stay awake but ended up sleeping for 3 hours...

Anyways, this weekend I plan a bit of clothes shopping. Realised that since my weight loss in 2022, I bought new jeans but never really upgraded (or in this case downgraded) my jogging pants - looking like I could play an act with MC Hammer is not always cool. My order of a Feather Popular is also scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so I hope I can take it with me in my travel bag for next week. Used to be the razor that started my first journey with wetshaving, so it's also nice on a sentimental note to own one again.

Thanks, I hope with a weekend thread we can make it a bit more welcoming for new members as well as give long-time members more time for participating 😉

Sorry to hear about the bot, RIP auto post. It's great that you jump in to post the SOTD thread every day though! 👍🏻 I'll try my best with weekly posting of this thread, but hope someone else will jump in for me in case I forget.

Hope you'll have fun on your fishing trip and RC airplane event and that your son gets well soon.

12.06.2024

• Prep: head wash
• Razor: Gillette Sensor (modern version)
• Blade: Gillette Sensor 2-blade cartridge
• Brush: Omega Roma Colosseo 31 mm
• Lather: HAGS Apocalypse soap stick
• Post Shave: Natura Siberica ASB gel

The electric head shaver I brought with me was simply getting too irritating for my skin so I bought a cheap re-launch of the Gillette Sensor yesterday (with a flimsy plastic handle instead of metal, but whatever - it's a pure travel option anyway)

This shave was rather nice. 2-blade cartridges give me the least irritation and despite no fancy pivot mechanisms or flexballs, it was a solid head shave. It's rather funny that HAGS just pressed the soft soap into a stick format. I use it by smearing it a bit on top of my dome, then spread it all over with wet hands before lathering it up with the brush. I really wish soap sticks would still be available in drugstores around here, but no such luck. I really miss the option of a safety razor though, so I think about getting a Feather Popular for my travel bag again.

I've got zero reservations about that. Soap is antibacterial by itself and since most in the hobby care better for their soap than anything else - I wouldn't be afraid about any germs.

Yep, this old school way definitely saves money compared to the modern cartridge razors and their exorbitant prices. 1 razor, 1 soap, 1 brush plus a reliable aftershave option and a few blades. You're set.

I personally got into the hobby side of it way too fast, but still - it's fun and that's what matters to me.

I personally think it'd be unfair if I only received something but never returned the favour. Plus, since customs officials grew increasingly suspicious of all foreign parcels from non-EU countries it'd be disappointing if someone scrapes out a few chunks of soap only for one of them to be destroyed. Hell, they even searched a parcel by Djundjila of various Catie's Bubbles soap samples he sent me and he's just from Switzerland! It got delayed for over 3 weeks.

Yeah, wetshaving is definitely not the most expensive hobby. The "entry fee" (so to say) isn't that high compared to others - Photography is very expensive to get into, for example. Golf is a sport for rich people and you realise why when you see the prizes for the equipment and memberships. A lot of hobbies are, simply put, a luxury. You get what you pay for and quality has its price. But that one spending spree was kinda a wake up call for me - never did I want to go so crazy again, most of all since a lot of stuff was just for LG and I didn't even really enjoy it.

As a wetshaver from the EU, I can give another view regarding samples: You can consider yourself lucky that in this hobby, where most top-notch artisans are US-based, they often offer samples. Over here in Europe, almost every soap tub is a blind buy, just judging by scent notes and other wetshavers' reviews - unless it's a european artisan like E&S Rasage, who offer nice little samples of their soaps and aftershaves. But unfortunately, "try before you buy" is simply not happening over here in most instances. If you want to buy samples, a british or american vendor is your best choice and even then you might end up paying a lot more than you hoped for thanks to duty fees.

Perfume or the fragrance community in general is comparable to our hobby, but there you have the luxury of trying out scents in brick and mortar stores or getting 2 ml sample spray bottles. A lot of scents are just expensive for the luxury factor and the brand name, others are more fairly priced but it's still "you get what you pay for". I don't expect extreme longevity from a 20€ perfume, but one for 150€ should better have some staying power to justify that price tag. I think a lot of this goes for every hobby: well established brand names can charge more than newcomers, popular brands often cater to a more mainstream audience, there are some "hidden gems" here and there and also some things were the hype was simply unjustified.

But overall, I sincerely agree with your take that this hobby won't save any money. Sure, if you do it like my grandpa's generation and just always use the same soap until it's empty, just own one razor where you only need to replace the blades and use only one brush until the bristles fall apart - then it's a money saver. But despite our best efforts to comfort ourselves with that "traditional" wetshaving will save so much money, it won't when you get seriously crazy into this hobby. I openly admit that one year I spent close to 700€ in soaps, aftershaves and razors and it's something I'm definitely not proud of...