Clubman Pinaud's Aftershave Review:

I recently ordered some Clubman Pinaud's afterhsave formulas from my new supplier, www.shavenation.com . I ordered the classic vanilla formula and their regular formula. Both are awesome and really good products. They have a few more formulas I want to try as well. Clubman Pinaud is made in France and has been around for over 200 years. The regular formula seems to be my favorite so far. The initial bite isn't really that bad while you get a nice cooling effect after the bite disipates which isn't very long after you apply the aftershave. The classic vanilla formula seems to be a bit milder in terms of scent. It also is a powder type of a scent. This stuff's scent seems to last roughly around 3 hours give or take a little depending on which formula you use. I recomend that you give Clubman Pinaud's products a try. You will absolutely love the jumbo styptic pencil. It's performance is beyon belief.

Bolzano DE Blade Review:

Well recently I did a DE or double edge blade exchange with someone over on Facebook. I sent him some Gillette Silver Blue DE blades and he sent me some Bolzano DE blades. They are made in Germany by an Italian immigrant. The first thing I noticed was the edge of the blade was alot more refined than most DE blades. Another thing was that these blades are a lot more thinner than other blades are. Now the first shave was a little rougher than I thought it would be, but that's to be expected with any new DE blade. After the first multi pass shave was finished, the smoothness was pretty good. It wasn't quite as smooth as the Gillette Silver Blue DE blades were, but the blade was just a shade sharper than the GSB DE blades are. The second shave was extremely good and at least a 1,000 times better. It was also a lot more smoother and the shaves kept getting better. I decided to call it quits after 5 shaves even though I could get up to 7 multi pass shaves out of it. All in all, it's a really good blade and I do recomend it.

How Water Effects the Shave:

People often blame their water instead of the product itself when they shave which has become problematic. I'll explain why it has become problematic. It causes something called "denial" which basically can be found on 90% of the wet shaving forums out there. They refuse to to acknowledge the fact that the product itself might be the problem rather than the water because each shaving cream or soap has a different formula and will perform differently in either type of water. I learned a lot about the different types of water and how it effects things when I use to be in the hobby distilling and home brew hobbies. Basically I have a medium/soft water here which makes some soaps and creams completely useless for me because they simply won't perform in terms of being able to lather and rinse off cleanly. Even when cooking we've noticed that our water really doesn't have enough backbone to break down things such as vegetable shortening and lard. Some soft soaps and creams do extremely well here, while others that are heavy in tallow and fragrances don't perform too good at all. While water can be a problem yes, but a lot of the soap and cream makers out there usually formulate their stuff to perform in both hard and soft water. So before you belive the hype about a product which is often excessive, do some research about its formula. You'd be surprised at how much better things are when you learn about what type of water that you have and once you learn what works best for the water you have, things get a lot better.

Bowl Lathering vs. Face Lathering:

One question that keeps poping up is which is best bowl lathering or face lathering? It's more of a personal preference than anything else. I like bowl lathering, but I usually end up throwing out more lather if I bowl lather. So I prefer to face lather instead these days. Now this also depends on wether you are a male or female as well and here's why. Women usually have alot more areas to shave than men do, so bowl lathering is recomended due to the fact that you can create more lather by bowl lathering. Men can do bowl lathering if they wish, but usually face lather instead which only creates enough lather that's needed for a good quality shave and clean up is also a lot easier as well. It's more of a personal preference than anything else.

Beginner's Guide for DE Safety Razors:

I ran across someone today that was just staring at the shaving section in Walmart today and he was blown away at the prices and on my way out it hit me. Why hasn't anyone put together a basic guide for beginners on which razor to purchase? So I'll do what I can in terms of what to purchase and how long it will be before you'll need to upgrade and learn this new style of shaving. In my opinion, possibly 2 of the best double edge or DE safety razors you can start off with would be the Edwin Jagger DE89 and/or the Merkur 34C. Both will last a lifetime if they're maintained and cleaned on a regular basis.Now there are a few that have gone mainstream, but these aren't very good in terms off quality and I wouldn't call them the best either. The first is endorsed by Rick Harrison off of the hit TV show called Pawn Stars and that razor is called The Micro Touch One Ultra. This razor is the exact same DE or double edge safety razor that I bought online about 1 day before the commercial for the razor mentioned above and it's called The Weishi 9306 G which is almost a carbon copy of the 1960's Gillette Speed Glide which is why I bought it. They're decent but they're also poor quality in terms of construction and materials. They're both "twist to open" or TTO which is where the problems begin. The butterfly doors tend to be a little on the weak side around the hinge area and tend to come loose. All of the DE or double edge safety razors listed above are mild in terms of blade exposure and angles and can be used daily. I recommend that you use the razors at least 30 days before considering an upgrade because your skin has to get use to this kind of shaving, you'll need a solid technique and after 30 days, you'll have a really good idea of what works for you and go from there. I recommend avoiding the open comb and slant bar styled DE or double edge safety razors until you find the right razor and blade combination. The best double edge blade you can get will vary from razor to razor. To find that blade and razor combo, I recommend getting a Sampler DE Blade pack from a supplier. This will give you multiple choices to find out what works best for you. One of the most popular blades on the market today is the Feather DE blades. Unless you're using a Weishi or Micro Touch One Ultra DE or double edge safety razor, I recommend you avoid these blades because they're excessively sharp and in the Merkur 34C and Edwin Jagger DE 89, they'll do more damage on your face instead of removing your beard. This changes though if you have a extremely coarse beard. One of my personal favorites is the Gillette Silver Blue DE blades. They're currently made in St. Petersburg, Russia. They're sharp enough to get the job done, but they're also a very forgiving blade which is great for beginners or people whom have just returned to this style of shaving. They will also provide one of the smoothest shaves you'll ever have in your life. I've used both Feather and these blades along with a few others, and in my opinion the Gillette Silver Blue blades are the smoothest you can get. Now as for the DE or double egde adjustable safety razors, you can start off with one as a beginner if you want but if you're on a tight budget and really haven't found the right blades just yet, you'll be better off getting one of the safety razors mentioned in the beginning of this post. They usually start around $62 U.S. Dollars and there's only one brand that makes them which is Merkur (it's pronounced as MurKor for those that's wondering). Germany's finest safety razor company has alot to choose from. Wether you are a beginner or seasoned veteran, they'll have something for you. The first adjustable is called the Merkur Progress which has 5 settings and is a 2 piece razor. Setting 5 will have the most blade exposure while setting 1 will have the least amount of blade exposure which is where most of the aggressive characteristics occur in a DE or Double Edge safety razors. The rest will come from the angle of the head on the safety razor. The next adjustable safety razor is called the Merkur Futur which is also a 2 piece razor and also has 5 settings. There's several differences between the Porgess and Futur. The first is the finishes. With the Futur you have a choice in the finish, either a matte chrome finish or a polished chrome finish. The head where you install the blade has a cover that snaps on and off with the Futur while the Progress has to be unscrewed to remove and install the blade. The Futur is also much larger and heavier which does make a difference in terms of shave quality and the number of passes before getting that ultra smooth shave. The next DE or double edge ajustable safety razor is called the Merkur Vision. It has alot of the same characteristics as the Futur in terms of loading the blade and finish, but it has 6 settings instead of 5 because it uses the word "Vision" as its settings. It's also the largest DE or double edge safety razor on the market and one of the most expensive at around $180 U.S. Dollars.

Artisan Vs. Mass Produced Shaving Products:

One of the questions that often get asked is about the differences between artisan shaving products versus the mass produced products. It's somewhat tough to answer because there's good and bad stuff out there and with everyone being different, not everything will be a superstar in terms of performance, costs, as well as your own personal tastes. While one product could be extremely good for me, it may not be too good at all for you and you might even consider it to be down right evil because of those specific reasons. I tend to lean toward the artisan side of things to an extent because a lot of those product makers have a passion for what they do and if they do claim something, they usually can back it up in the form of sales, video reviews and verified buyers. Now there is another side to this as well and it's not pretty at all. I have seen some artisan product makers go out of business because of ridiculous claims that just simply couldn't be verified and often wasn't very good in terms of performance, too high of a price point, and just didn't quite live up to the hype that the product received. So choose wisely, pay close attention to the details of reviews and you should be fine. The only real answer I can give to someone about the difference between the 2 in terms of a product is what ever works for you.