I have met my "go to" edge today ladies & gentlemen. What an incredible if not phenomenal and blissful shave that I got today. Today I went with the very first artisan soap that I ever got which was Soap Commander and their fabulous "Endurance" scented soap. I have missed the scent on this one which is a "1938 Vintage Old Spice" scent. And to finish off today's shave, I went with a healthy dose of Old Spice aftershave splash followed by Soap Commander's Endurance aftershave balm which adds a touch of menthol to the post shave feel:
The Gold Dollar 207 was perfect for me and my skin type. Frank Misa of Strike Gold Shave put a Belgium Coticule edge on the 207 and I am glad that I requested this kind of edge. The edge was like shaving with a butter knife in terms of comfort which I love and yet my beard disappeared completely in just three passes and I was slick as black ice afterward. I will take this kind of edge over my other stones any day. In terms of sharpness, the ILR does out perform the Coticule however it is no where near close to the Belgium Coticule in terms of comfort. In fact I often get a couple of weepers with the ILR in certain areas while I did not get any at all today. Everyone often screams for a Japanese natural edge and how good of an edge that they are which is some what true depending on who honed the razor but they are often "over hyped". Once I get a Belgium Coticule, I will be done in terms of buying water stones apart from replacing what's left of my Norton 8K. It has seen its better days and is almost gone. The only question I have is should I go ahead and get the full size version of the Norton 8K instead of the combo stone or should I look at a Belgium Blue stone or go with another brand's 8K stone before finishing on a Coticule? Decisions decisions. But the Belgium Coticule wins hands down. You can't beat them in my opinion.
