Soap Making is Out:

Here lately, I have been looking for a new hobby and I considered making my own shaving soaps. But after all of the research, talking to various soap makers, and looking at various forms of equipment, I have decided NOT to pursue this hobby. I'm just not set up for it in terms of equipment and I don't have enough capital to buy the necessary equipment to make soap. The costs are far more than what I've spent in the past on distilling equipment. However I am set up to make perfumer's alcohol (AFP-VA-20005). All perfumer's alcohol is alcohol rendered unfit for drinking and filtered to where it has no smell which is really easy to create, but is hard to distill. I'm considering making my own aftershave splashes which I'm told that I would be the only making them completely from scratch. Everyone else usually buys their denatured alcohol and adds their proprietary ingredients. I won't be buying it at all which will be unique. The shipping is already taken care of for me basically. The only way I could ship bulk orders would be UPS and Fedex Ground services. So it wouldn't take much for me to get back into hobby distilling at all. My mom managed to talk me into keeping my boilers so the only pieces of equipment that I'd have to buy would be a distilling tower, some plastic tubing and a submersible pump which is really easy to get.

That's it for Feather DE blades:

Today's shave also told me that I used my last Feather DE blade today. They're just too sharp for my sensitive skin and cause too much razor burn for me. So I have to pull the plug on ordering some more of those blades. Personna gave a pretty good shave in a slant, but unfortunately they simply don't last in a slant so it looks like I'll be trying some new blades here pretty soon. I'm also looking at getting a new razor here pretty soon. So I'm going to try a sample pack of blades to see how things go and which ones work best for me that doesn't cause alot of razor burn and go from there. I'm still pursuing my straight razor hobby and need to have a couple of razors re-honed.

Calling it Quits With Arko:

After much thought, I have decided to call it quits with Arko's shaving cream. This decision came after I recently purchased some artisan made soaps which also influenced my decision. I don't use it much at all and the tubes of Arko has a bit of a weak scent. The shaving stick was horrible and very drying, while the tubes had the opposite effect. The tubes of Arko performed well and all, but the made in the U.S.A. artisan soaps destroys Arko in every way possible in terms of performance and sometimes in price points as well. So once my tube of Arko is gone that I purchased 3 months ago, I will not be getting anymore of it. I also won't be getting anymore mainstream products either.

Maggard's Shaving Soap Review:

All I can say about this brand of soap is oh wow! I ordered their shaving soap along with the other I mentioned in the previous post and I chose the "London Barbershop" scent. It's nice clean masculine type of scent that's not too over powering and yet it lasts. The slickness was good, but the cushioning ability was epic. It would be perfect for a straight razor shave. The post shave feel was also really good. It was nice and clean with a little bit of slickness left behind but not alot. It can use a little bit of extra slickness during the shave so adding a pre-shave oil, cream, or some type of soap may help in the slickness department but it doesn't need much. The container it comes in is amber in color which makes a difference in the scent. By blocking out the light and blooming the soap, the scent actually becomes stronger. The price is also excellent. You get 5 ounces of soap for $12.95. So you are getting your money's worth. I would recomend trying Maggard Razor's brand of soap. It's really good.

Tiki Bar Shaving Soap Review:

This is another soap that I got to try here recently and it was really good and easy to use. I purchased Tiki bar Soap's Peppermint Bark scented shaving soap and it did NOT disappoint me at all. The scent will remind you of a "york peppermint patty" that was made with white or standard chocolate instead of the usual dark chocolate. It was extremely easy to load and even easier to lather. Speaking of lathering capabilities, I call this soap a "volcano" when it comes to lather. The cushion was good and it has a real good level of slickness when it comes to the lather. The post shave feel was great. Not too slick, yet clean and fresh. It also wasn't too dry either which I can't stand at all. In fact it's one of the reasons why I quit using Taylor of Old Bond Street and Proraso's products. The post shave is way too dry on those 2 product lines. I do recomend adding Tiki Bar Soaps to your shaving rotation.

Soap Commander Takes Top Spot:

Happy Thanksgiving ladies and gentlemen. Here recently, I have tried 4 new soaps and all of them are indeed top performers. The first one I tried stood out and has continued to do so. That shaving soap is Soap Commander's "Endurance" scented shaving soap. I have yet to find a shaving soap that equals the post shave feel it has which is beyond belief. It also didn't leave any irritation at all and each time I've used it, I have acheived that elusive B.S.S. or Baby Smooth Shave without even trying to. That's the kind of performance that I love to get out of traditional shaving. The price of Soap Commander's shaving soaps are spot on due to the fact that you get a huge 6 ounce container of soap. The container itself is black and easy to open even with wet hands and last but not least, the label is waterproof. The scent is that classic "old school" version of  a "certain cologne" from the 60's which is awesome. It's not like the molested stuff that's being sold on store shelves today. The post shave feel is epic. It has a moist post shave feel to it that is somewhat slick but you can tell that it's extremely clean. This soap also rinses cleany as well and does not leave hardly any white residue either like I get with some other soaps. Soap Commander is a "must have" in any shave den.

The Feather Blades Surprised Me:

I really didn't know any other way to title this post. The first time I used a Feather DE blade was in my Weishi and it performed like a superstar. So I tried them again in an Edwin Jagger DE 89 safety razor, and horrible is pretty much sugar coating it. So after changing razors again, I decided to try them again with great fear and trepidation, and got a really mild and almost forgiving shave. I never thought I would use the words "forgiving" and "Feather" in the same sentence. The last surprise was the fact that they didn't last past 3 multi pass shaves which is not good because they tend to be a little bit more expensive than other blades are depending on where you purchase them. I have never seen a blade so razor oriented in my life. They good in a razor that has no weight to it and very little blade exposure. That changes when you have more blade exposure and add weight to the equation. The twisted or scewed fasion of the slant bar razor must have changed the aggression level of the blade because it was comfortable in my Merkur 37C slant. I guess it was mainly due to the "slicing guillotine" action instead of the usual "straight chopping" action that you get with other razors. That probably has a lot to do with it. But for now the Feather DE blades are in the 3rd spot behind Voskhod blades.