Mail Calls Coming:

Now that I'm sticking with my Gillette Fusion & Shield razors on a permanent basis and not buying new DE safety razors and/or blades, I can now invest into my shaving soap arsenal once more. Last night, I ordered a soap & matching aftershave from Wet The Face & KShave Worx. I went with Don Yougner's Cuban Tobacco scented soap & matching aftershave which is a deep & rich fresh cut Cuban tobacco scent with a little hint of sweetness to it. The first time I tried it was in a sample pack that I ordered before & I've been wanting it ever since. The 2nd soap & matching aftershave I ordered was Grapelicious which is supposed to be a really strong grape soda scent. I was told that it's stronger than Catie's Bubbles Knee High To A Grape which was pretty dang strong when I first go it and ran out of it. Catie's Bubbles version was so strong, that I could smell it through out the entire house when I bloomed when at that time I was not suppose to. I could even smell it through the Priority Mail envelope that it arrived it so I'm really looking forward to this one. Plus there's a matching aftershave to go along with it:

I also invested into some hardware last night. As much as I enjoy using my face lathering shave scuttle, it is a bit of a pain to use & I don't really get the full effect of a hot lather shave. I have to build the lather first then allow the scuttle to heat up my lather on my shaving brush which takes a few minutes and my scuttle has already cooled off significantly. Now I don't have to worry about that anymore because I purchased Crown King's shatter proof scuttle from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. I can build a hot lather with it & apply it before it cools off. So my next shave will probably be my last face lather before my scuttle arrives. The only thing I'm waiting on now is shipping confirmation from all 3 artisans which are pretty quick to ship.

TTFC Mixed & The Shield:

This morning's shave was great. Today I went with Through The Fire Fine Craft by Maria Arman. This is my mixed soap container & since she has changed the names, I can't remember which one was the dominating scent nor can I remember what all scents are in it. And to finish off this morning's shave, I went Aqua Velva aftershave balm:

The Gillette Shield was great. I was squeaky clean in just 2 passes. I'm considering adding the chilled version of the shield razor back into my collection. I haven't really decided just yet but I will continue to think about it though. That's if I don't get Phoenix Shaving's new scuttle first.

Turkish Bath & The Fusion:

This morning's shave was great. Sorry for the delay guys, I had some things to take care of today and didn't have time to post this up earlier. This morning I was craving a tobacco scented soap so I grabbed Jeeves of Hudson Street and their fantastic Turkish Bath now renamed barbershop scent. The top note is a deep rich pipe tobacco scent which I really enjoy. And to finish off this shave, I went with a really nice healthy dose of Old Spice followed by a nice dose of Soap Commander's Endurance which is the 1938 Shulton version of Old Spice:

The Gillette Fusion with a fresh blade is the cat's meow. I was slick as black ice in just 2 passes and I had almost no burn from the aftershave splash either. My skin has also cleared up as a result of switching back to the cartridges as well. This pretty much tells me that I made the right decision for my skin. I will miss using the DE safety razors & straight razors.

Vision & The Shield:

Today's shave was epic. Today I went with my all time favorite brand Soap Commander and my personal favorite scent "Vision" which has an Aqua, Amber & Mint scent to it. I also put this shave over the top by using Cremo's mint shave cream as a preshave which made this already epic shave even better. And to finish off today's shave I went a nice healthy dose of Aqua Velva ice blue splash followed by a nice healthy dose of Soap Commander's matching aftershave balm:

The Gillette Shield was phenomenal. Starting with a fresh blade on turned out to be an excellent decision. Between that & using an excellent preshave, I got one of my best shaves I've ever gotten. I was slick as black ice after just 2 passes which is perfect. More than enough to get rid of the old barbed wire stubble but not enough to set my sensitive skin issues off.

Proraso Styptic Gel Review:

Earlier today, I got laid wide open with my Gillette slim. Blood was literally squirting from my ear lobe after my Gillette slim slipped and sliced it open during my across the grain pass. My clubman styptic pencil was completely useless and I couldn't quit bleeding. So I grabbed my Proraso Styptic gel and what do you know I quit bleeding after applying it in 10 seconds & folks I bleed very badly. This styptic gel should be in every ones shave arsenal along with a styptic pencil. I get the Jumbo Clubman styptic pencil at Walmart for around $3 dollars but this Proraso styptic gel is awesome and a much better product especially on extremely deep cuts:

This gel pretty much kept me from going to the ER today & after this incident along with a few stinging moments with the styptic pencil, I've decided to call it quits with DE safety razors & straight razors. I can't afford to keep getting cut like I did today especially with all of this sickness going around. So to minimize my risks, I will be returning to cartridge razors permanently.

Gillette Nacet Blade Review:

This will be my last DE blade review. I bought these some time back in late 2017 & I'm glad that I did. They're excellent blades but I personally only have one issue with them and this is just me & my humble opinion. My issue is longevity. For me, these aren't too good in that area. 3 shaves at the most in a standard style safety razor such as a Merkur 34C or an Edwin Jagger DE 89 safety razor and if I was to put these into a slant or an open comb style razor, it's even less. In my German 37 these are only good for 1 shave for me. Others will more than likely get more but if you have a really tough beard like I do, don't look to get more than 2 shaves at the most :

In adjustable razors these are really comfortable & pretty smooth until you get to the 3rd or 4th shave. Then they start to tug & pull a tiny bit which you can fix by stropping but please replace this blade right after you finish that specific shave because if you strop it again like I did, you will not get a comfortable shave at all just like I did today in my Gillette Slim:

In terms of ratings, I would give these blades a 4 out of 5 star rating mainly due to the longevity issue that I have with them but other than that, they're good blades. I've got one more product review coming then that will be it in terms of reviews.

Mountain Man & The Slim:

Today's shave was okay at best and this will be my last use of a DE safety razor. More on that in a bit. Today I went with Stirling Soaps and one of my personal favorite scents, Mountain Man which is their take on & much more affordable than Creed's Silver Mountain Water cologne. Since the shave was a bit rough & the fact that I have alligator skin that resembles mummy dust, I finished off today's shave with Aqua Velva aftershave balm which was very soothing:

As I mentioned before, this will be my last shave with a DE safety razor & a straight razor. The slim tugged & pulled awful and it got me pretty good when it slipped and got my ear on my 3rd pass. The first 2 passes were okay at best. I would love to keep using DE's & straight razors but when you keep getting cut no matter what you try and/or do, you have to do something about it. The soap & brush will never go away from my shave routine. I have to do what's best for my skin.