Perma-Sharp Blades = Awesome Shave:

I recently bought a sampler pack of DE blades and the Perma-Sharp blades were in that pack. They are now my top performing DE blade. I've tried them in both mild and aggressive razors and they've never disappointed me in terms of performance. They are sharper than the Gillette Silver Blue DE blades and they're also smoother than the Gillette Silver Blue DE blades are as well. In my humble opinion, these DE blades are the absolute best that I have used in the past year that I've been shaving:

I've tried hundreds of blades, and nothing performs as good as these blades do.

RazoRock going in Rotation

After trying multiple shaving products under their name, I have decided to add RazoRock to my permanent rotation. I've tried their alum block and multiple shaving soaps and they've all exceeded my expectations. This decision came after using these products for a week and getting top notch performance. Today's shave proved that when a bad DE blade wouldn't perform. RazoRock's classic shaving soap in combination with Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements' ice preshave kept me from getting some serious cuts. So between that kind of performance and a low price point, I see no reason why I shouldn't add them to my permanent rotation.

Acqua Di Parma Ruled Out:

I just got through watching a couple of youtube videos that featured this cream and I have decided that the price of this cream is just too high. $80 USD's for 3 ounces of shaving cream is a trrible price point no matter how good it smells and how well it performs. I can't justify spending $80 dollars on a cream when I can spend that on straight razors and equipment to maintain straight razors. With Xpec and MDC, you get alot of product and a little bit goes a really long way. Another reason that I have ruled it is because I have extremely sensitive skin and I might not be able to use it. So it's best to avoid something that has a high price point because if it disagrees with your skin in a bad way, that $80 dollar price tag will be a heart breaker.

Considering Making Aftershave Splashes:

It's not been decided yet, but I am considering making perfumer's alcohol and custom aftershave splashes. I don't have much to buy in terms of equipment but the packaging, and fragrances will be my biggest costs. I do have a limit on how much I can make. According to federal law, I'm only allowed to make 10,000 gallons of finished product per year. So I would have to keep some records and what not which I don't mind doing. Hobby distilling is like traditional or wet shaving. It's extremely addictive and for the past 9 months, I've been fighting that urge to get back into hobby distilling. I quit due to my mobility issues that were caused by bone/cartilage cancer. So I am thinking about and I'll be talking to the TTB about it and doing a little more research. My main concern is whether or not I have to change my permit and whether or not I have to get a bond.

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.