This morning's shave was phenomenal. I went with Barrister & Mann's Le Petit Chypre which is cypress wood scented soap and I paired it with the matching aftershave which is very soothing. It's also alcohol free so there's no burn from the aftershave:
The DE 89 was excellent. I got a squeaky clean post shave in just 3 passes. Up until yesterday, I've been getting better shaves with a DE than I have been with my straight razor. I also changed my honing technique as well which tells me a lot. I'm pretty much guaranteed to a either a 2 pass shave with a fresh blade in the DE 89 or a 3 pass shave with a fresh ultra sharp blade in the doc which will result in an ice rink if I stretch the skin in 2 spots. The straight razor fresh off the stones is a 3 pass shave with my current honing set up which I'm hoping to change here pretty soon. I can no longer get my razors keen enough to my liking off a Norton 8K stone. So it's time to up my game so to speak and go with a 12k or higher stone along with a .5 chromium oxide pasted strop which is equal to 30K grit and will deliver an excellent edge.
