A Newbie's Wet Shave Journey - Review # 2
Prep: Cold shower (using Wim Hof Method) w/ hot water face scrub
Pre: American Crew Shave Oil
Brush: Omega 10066 Boar
Bowl: Old RazorRock XXX Dish
Razors: Merkur 34G & Merkur 23C Long Handle
After Shave: Alum and Pacific Coast Balm
NEW PRODUCTS:
Blade: Perma-Sharp Super
Soap: Stirling Glacial Lemon Chill Croap
Aftershave: Brute Cologne
Review:
FREEZING!!!! The lather of this croap felt like liquid nitrogen. I am new to menthol, the only experience I have is my aftershave (Pacific Coast) and it isn't nearly as noticeable. I had a very difficult time lathering this, which surprised me because I went into this thinking it would be similar to my XXX (also a croap). With my XXX a thick voluminous lather is effortless no matter what water you are stuck with. I actually got through half of my shave with a pretty terrible lather...and it still was amazing. On top of that I was using a brand new style blade and a very runny lather, that speaks volumes of the quality of these products. I think I found a new dedicated soap company, since I prefer croaps over hard soaps and creams. It's Stirling by the way. I'm very excited to try out the other samples by Stirling; there is quite a few. After some dedicated research I found the issue to my problem with the lather. I was treating it like XXX, which breaks the cardinal shave rule that every soap requires the same approach, live and learn.
My original approach:
soak boar brush in mug for 20 minutes, shake off most of the water, start lathering in bowl until a thick lather fills brush with very microscopic bubbles, add water if necessary, start face lathering with an initial layer of semi pasty soap for a foundation, then get to work hydrating it with some dabs of hot water using swirling motions.
This didn't work out so well for Stirling Lemon Chill. it felt like wet cement and clogged the hell out of my brush to the point I was squeezing out clumps from it like an old expired toothpaste tube. After researching I found that a better approach to a sturdy hydrated lather was a soaking brush (only a few shakes) and a puck that was sprinkled with hot water. This produced a thick, non-dissipating, and slick lather which was enough for 4 passes and then some. I still managed to cut myself though which gave me the worst weeper I've ever had, which I used Alum to clean...ouchy (looked like Michael Myers paid a visit to my modest shave den). These Perma-Sharp Supers were magnificent!!! I noticed a closer shave on my second pass and they cut just as good as my Lab Blues, if not better. Although, the hair on my chiny-chin-chin was a little difficult to cut, took several more passes; however no irritation was caused which shocked me. The Brut Aftershave had a nice clean classic gentleman-like scent to it, although that Pinaud was slightly better feeling on my skin.
The picture below was taken before I had the Stirling lather figured out.