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October 6, 2024
Brush: Chisel & Hound Gulf Short 26mm V22 Fanchurian
Razor: River Razors 6/8 3/4 Hollow
Lather: Wholly Kaw - PasteurVision - Soap
Toner: Thayers - Lavender - Toner
Aftershave: Gentleman's Nod - Tusitala - Aftershave
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
06.10.2024 - Sunday Shaman
-> 2 pass head shave; 1 pass neck cleanup. A rather comfortable shave.
Like a weirdo, I'm listing the fragrance I've worn all day too. I really like it, so I wanted a soap that comes close to it. Shaman does it, somehow. This E&S soap mandates a really heavy loading, seriously - you gotta load like the devil taught you to play the fiddle! The proto-lather is rather dry, but once you add enough water to it, it'll really foam up like a marshmallow. Glide and skin feeling are good enough.
My Perun has, for some weird reason, caught some specks of rust. I didn't even know this was possible for stainless steel razors. Oh well...
Tomorrow it's back to my usual work place after 5 weeks of external internships. Thankfully, I finally have all required internships behind me and now it's just periodically alternating between working at my nursing home and visiting nursing school. During my absence, I was put into a new station - very clever. I'll see how everything will turn out tomorrow...
October 6, 2024
Incredible shave. I think I finally cracked the code on this soap. I used to think it was garbage - difficult to lather, bubbly and no protection no matter how much soap I loaded, but now I know how to do it. Start with a barely damp brush - really dry relatively - and load a bunch of soap. It'll be super dry looking proto-lather, different than anything else I own. If you start with that really dry stuff, then the resulting lather is much more dense and offers a good shave. This scent is great which makes it worth fiddling around with.
These V12 blades are super smooth. They're worth trying. I also recommend trying Zorrik.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
I honed today my Russian Bear on Synthetics, and also my Parker on the La Lune. I was more curious about the Parker, since last time, I had not gotten a really keen edge with the natural stone. This time, it's very sharp, though not the most comfortable (for some reason, I didn't use the strop with the green paste), but it also might be related to the fact that my skin is just generally very irritated and dry these days.
Have a good end of the weekend!
the fact that my skin is just generally very irritated and dry these days
May I ask about your skincare routine? If it's not just weather related, I might be able to recommend some products depending on your skin type.
I don't have much of a routine - I have generally dry skin, and had issues of atopic dermatitis as a child. I generally only use soap that is 'surgras'. From time to time, I use my wife's moistening cream, but I guess that I should be more regular. Autumn before heating is generally hard on my skin.
[...] I guess that I should be more regular.
Your guess is correct. I'm glad you've provided so much info, as unfortunately skincare is still something that has the stigma of being "unmanly" and just for females while actually anyone can profit from it.
Since you have very dry skin which probably ranks high on sensitivity (reasons being: past troubles with dermatitis, possible contact allergy with menthol judging from one of our past conversations), you're doing really good with the moisturising soap. For cleaning, I'd recommend something mild with moisturising ingredients like glycerine, squalane and urea, but it sounds like you already got that in check 👍🏻
As for moisturizer: dry skin can really benefit from it the most. I'd suggest a product with little to no alcohol as it further dries out your skin (the further down any alcohol is in the INCI, the better for your skin type). Avoid menthol and essential oils too due to your past history of dermatitis. I'd recommend something with jojoba oil, glycerine, hyaluronic acid, ceramides. These ingredients work well with dry skin. Unfortunately, since your skin is very dry, this also means that you should avoid aftershaves with alcohol in the dry months (autumn and winter). I'd recommend a witch hazel toner, perhaps with aloe vera too if you can find one.
Due to my research, I found out that the concept of a drugstore is completely foreign to France and you basically have to rely on supermarkets for cheaper creams or apothecaries/pharmacies for the €xpensive+ stuff (Avené, La Roche-Posay, etc.). Since your skin seems to be very prone to irritation, I'd also recommend a repair balm for patches that struggle with redness and itching. Comptoirs et Compagnies has balms with manuka honey, which helps with inflammation due to its antibacterial and regenerative abilities. Of course, any product with low or no alcohol and perfume would work well. I'd also recommend a broad-spectrum SPF product for skin cancer prevention and anti-aging, due to your dry skin you can actually take one of the "richer" products (not in price, but those rich in skin food oils like jojoba, argan, castor or almond oil).
I hope I can help you with these tips in any way; don't be afraid to ask further questions! 😉
I personally still test different products for the needs of my skin, but I already have made some sizable progress. You've inspired me to write more about skincare, as I personally feel it goes well with traditional wetshaving and its self-care aspect.
Thanks for the detailed response 🙏 - that's much more than I bargained for! It's a hitty that there's nothing like a DM in France - but we have hyherøarkets, and these tend to have a good selection of cosmetics.
You're welcome. As someone with combination skin and atopic skin inflammation myself, I had to educate myself way more on skincare than I originally planned - turns out it's a rabbit hole equally as deep as wetshaving. Stay tuned, as I plan to write a little essay on skincare that should be out around the end of October 😉
Yeah, I wasn't even aware that stores like Müller, Rossmann or DM aren't existing in France since so many big brands in the cosmetic business hail from there. There's always something new to learn. However, I hope you'll find products that are a good fit for your skin somewhere - as I said, I'm happy to help since it's something I became really passionate about. ✌🏻
I wasn't even aware that stores like Müller, Rossmann or DM aren't existing in France
There is Yves Rocher, but they only sell products from Yves Rocher (and AFAIK, that's exclusively for women), and l'Occitane - who also just sell their own stuff.
I think there would be a market for something like DM, but contrary to Lidl and Aldi, they don't seem to have crossed the border yet
Yves Rocher (and AFAIK, that's exclusively for women)
Actually not only for women, they have a small pour homme section ... But IMHO, Yves Rocher is not as eco-friendly as they try to market themself as. They often use cheap ingredients like dimethicone and propylene glycol, their peelings also used to contain microplastics (I know since their presence in Germany is huge too and my mom used to be a fan, until we found out about their questionable ingredients).
DM has stated clearly in a message that they don't consider expanding to the french market as they fear it'd be too risky financially. At least that's what I found out in my quick research of german-speaking resources. Weird, since Aldi & Lidl are doing pretty well in FRA and I'd definitely see a market for them there.
Continuing my run through my 14s with this vintage TI. The razor hasn't been stored properly by a previous owner and has specks of surface rust as a result. The rust is purely a cosmetic issue though, and none of the edge is affected. Coincidentally, this TI 14 Médaille d'Or 1921 Exposition d'Algier actually came to me from a Moroccan seller.
This one feels a bit different than most 14s I've tried in that it's much less loud. Even though visually, the grinds look similar, this TI certainly sounds like a thicker grind. It feels more like a 17 than a 14 IMO, but that's just saying that it feels like a different fantastic razor.
Happy Sunday to you all!
Nice find!
