Face Wash : Musgo Real Lime Menthol Glycerine Soap
Pre-Shave : Alt Innsbruck Pre-Shave Emulsion
Brush : Simpson's Commodore X1
Soap : Tim's Signature
Razor : Ikon Slant DLC
Blade : Polsilver SI [1]
After Shave : Alum, With Hazel/Aloe Vera, Agua Balsamica, Terre d'Hermes
Friday Let-down...
Things didn't start too well today - some clown was using a jackhammer out in the street, and the noise level in my inner sanctum was seriously unacceptable. In the absence of the new Fine Slant, I decided to give the Ikon Slant a trot, and to conduct an informal comparison of the two slants. Started my face prep as usual, but used the Alt Innsbruck Emulsion instead of the usual Myrsol or Razorock offerings. I finally had to admit to myself that I'm not particularly jazzed with the Alt Innsbruck product : the fragrance verges on unpleasant, nothing like the After Shave from Alt Innsbruck, it's
very expensive for what it is, and its performance is average at best compared with the Myrsol or Razorock offerings. Heck, even my own home-made pre-shave oil does a better job of preparing and conditioning the skin. Verdict : not to be restocked. The Simpson's Commodore X1 did a great job of producing a beautiful lather from the Tim's Signature. The Commodore is a new addition -
@Osman enabled me while they were on sale, and I weakened willingly. I'm glad I did - it's a really capable and comfortable brush, and certainly a great face latherer. The Tim's soap is also excellent - I'm now in "eking it out" mode since they closed the business a few weeks back...
Then shave time. From the get go, I was comparing the Ikon to the recent experience with the Fine Superlite Slant. While it shaved very well indeed, I found that it completely missed the "fun factor" that the Fine razor has in spades. This in turn made me realise that "Fun Factor" is indeed an attribute that razors have, and one that we shavers respond to either consciously or unconsciously. I'd be interested to hear other peoples' thoughts on this : do you favour some shavers over others simply because they're more fun to use? I checked my face after the usual 2 passes and was surprised to find that I still needed to do some more work. So I re-lathered and attended to all of the scruffy spots, but without some of the more adventurous moves I used with the Fine the other day : no buffing and very little ATG on the neck.
So finished the Friday shave - while the final result was excellent, the experience was not, and left me feeling ripped-off. The jackhammer noise may be mainly to blame, but a couple of the products disappointed too. The biggest surprise was that the Fine is most definitely a worthy match for a stainless slant at round 7 times the price. As more of our members take the plunge and get a Fine, it'll be interesting to hear what the collected wisdom of the Paste & Cut community has to say on the matter..
Hope your shaves today are a lot more satisfying than mine turned out
At least I'm presentable enough for Friday Lunch with a couple of other Melbourne Paste'n'Cutters.......
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