Gillette (the all things Shaving Thread)

[Steinmetzify]

Oh goddamit Ajax, that looks cool as shit.

EDIT: $70 and I’m out and safe. Maybe next razor.

[ajaxlepinski]

I still have half of my tax refund to spend!

[andvari7]

My bottle of Stupefacente came in. What is this stuff, and why am I equally lured and repelled by it?

[Steinmetzify]

My bottle of Stupefacente came in. What is this stuff, and why am I equally lured and repelled by it?

Right?! It’s a weird scent; soap makes your face feel amazing tho.

[Steinmetzify]

Interesting shave today. Dude made his own soap; shit actually worked really well. Creamy like yogurt but thicker, great cushion, dug it. The Cap'n Crunch smell was fuckin great. It's going into rotation.

Dude that owns a soap/aftershave/accoutrement company was asking for volunteers to try their new take on Floid Blue. Dug that too! Menthol is the shit after a shave, that's so nice and cooling.

Fatip, 4th shave on the Derby Extra, damn good shave.

9/10, no complaints.

[BroSlinger]

SOTD: Final battle between the "fake" Israeli Red Personna and the Real Israeli Red Personna.
Used two identical Baby Smooths.
Uncle Walter soap
Uncle Walter Splash
Blades shaved identically, which surprised me, since i had a wretched shave with the fake one the other week. That makes me feel better, since I bought 200 in the new packaging with no mention of Israel.

That said, the Baby Smooth kind of sucks for my face. It's inefficient and aggressive. Massive blade exposure with tiny blade gap. I'm really just tolerating it most of the time. I never get stellar shaves from it.

8/10 just because Uncle Walter is a monster latherer, and a fantastic scent.

[Steinmetzify]

Interesting. I remember liking the BS ok, was before the OCs I’m using now. Might do a week with it after I finish out the month with the Piccolo just to see. Itching to get back to the SLOC tho...

[ajaxlepinski]

Uncle Walter is the shit!!!

[BroSlinger]

Uncle Walter is the shit!!!

Yes, it is. It almost made TOO much lather. smells SO good.

[Steinmetzify]

sotd



MM again....I'm trying to decide how much I like the scent of this stuff. I'll think it's growing on me and then get a whiff and think I smell like a dirty hippie/treehugger type person.

Shaves GREAT tho....Piccolo and Derby Extra on FIFTH shave; one weeper cause I thought I had superpowers and could hurry to go get a burger and not pay for it.

[BroSlinger]

^must have a lot of patchouli.


Check out this soap: smells gorgeous.



Lather looks bubbly, but it’s not. I was making this with my son in his bath, so it might have too much water. I was just using my hand as a lather bowl.

[Steinmetzify]

Noice, what is it?

[BroSlinger]

Noice, what is it?

Barrister and Mann soap. Classic, strong, masculine scent.

I’m a big barrister fan.

[Steinmetzify]

Never tried em.

Have enough to last me a good while, but what would you recommend? Also, did you grab the Diamond one? If so how was it?

[BroSlinger]

Never tried em.

Have enough to last me a good while, but what would you recommend? Also, did you grab the Diamond one? If so how was it?

Ahhhhh, this could take a while.

There are currently 3 bases.

Glissant: The original. Being phased out eventually and These flavors will eventually be Excelsior based. That said, it works great. Some of my favorites are in this base. This includes anything with an animal on it, plus, old stock of seasonal stuff.

Reserve: This is a very soft base that takes tons of water. These are extinct fragrance based. REALLY cool.

Excelsior: The new seasonals have used this base, and the glissants will all eventually be excelsior. I've used this in my behold the whatsis. Seems to be best of both worlds of the other two. Seems firm, but lathers super fast and creamy.

So, my faves:
Glissant faves:
Lavanille: This stuff is RICH. it's brown too. The lather looks like a root beer float. Smells AWESOME.
Cologne Russe: Kind of like Lavanille, but more citrusy. Not as dark.
Promises: Winter Seasonal that is supposed to smell like snow and snow mobiles. Kind of smells like Absinthe to me.
Bay Rum: Haven't shaved with it yet, but boy does it smell nice.

Reserve Faves:
Classic: just awesome! based on Gillette Sun Up from the 60's.
Cool: Based on Floid Blue
Spice: Based on vintage Shelton Old Spice

Excelsior:
Behold the Whatsis: My wife actually likes the smell of this. Like cotton Candy and Laundry.

So, about Diamond. I got one of the 74 "errors". Will forgot to add the beer, grass, caramel, and pine. Mine smells like one big pretzel. He is sending a new one at no charge. He had to have taken quite a loss on that mistake. Sucks for them.

Here are some misses for me from B&M:
1. They use a natural Oak Moss that lights my face up nasty. So, I can't use Valencia or Reserve Fern.
2. Nocturne is supposed to smell like a Cider Mill. It smells like straight up Skoal Cherry Dip Spit. Makes me want to hurl.
3. I didn't like Reserve Lavander or Glissant Cheshire. Whatever lavender he uses isn't my bag.
4. Le Grande Chypre is super weird. not bad, just strange. Peachey. Expensive too.

So, overall...............The Barrister and Mann container makes every other soap container feel cheap and generic. The scent strength never makes me feel cheated. The lather/performance is as good as anything. In general, the prices are reasonable. Especially compared to Grooming Dept and Wholly Kaw.

BTW, there are a few really good ones available on Amazon for $17.99 shipped. Plus, I get 5% back on my Amazon Chase Visa, and I get 2.77% back on my iBotta account.

I just have an affinity for this brand because it feels and smells very expensive.

[BroSlinger]

SOTD:

Awesome awesome shave. Hadn't used the Game Changer in a while. Aggressive, but felt very smooth with these brand new Shark Platinum blades.

The Barrister Cologne Russe soap was awesome. Very fancy feeling experience.

The TFS Bergamot Neroli LI aftershave really paired well with the B&M soap.
9/10. solid.

[BroSlinger]

GREAT SOTD:

I really love Fougeres. They smell like a combo of clubman and citrus musk. I love it.
The Mamba is pretty sweet. So is the Polsilver Iridium.
This soap is incredible. This aftershave actually burned a bit today in a good way.
My wife said I smell like her grandpa, and I don't think she meant it in a super negative way.

BTW, My son and I made some Barrister & Mann First Snow lather last night. It was great.

[Steinmetzify]

sotd



Kind of pissed at myself right now.....I resolved to use/learn this razor until the end of the month, but I started jonesing for the OC shave, so I switched the plate back to that....I was 5 into the Derby extra so figured it was time to get rid of it. Switched out to a Personna Platinum that you sent me Gene.....

This was stupid. I didn't love the shave, and it's not one thing, it's one of TWO things that I have to wonder about now. I'm pretty sure it was the blade; just didn't feel as aggro as the Derby, but I would have thought the OC would have made up for that.

Give it a couple days and see if it gets any sharper or more aggressive. Buffing with an OC again was fun tho.

7/10

[BroSlinger]

What personna platinum did I send you???

[Steinmetzify]

Says Platinum Chrome on it...good or shit?

[BroSlinger]

A ha!!!! These are the ones I think are fake or from a new factory. The ones that didn’t say Israel anywhere on the packaging. They should be aces in a piccolo open comb.

I think I got bamboozled. Now, looks like you did too!

[Steinmetzify]

Fuck all that then, I figured it should be a decent combo; they go in the trash.

[Steinmetzify]

Chucked another Derby in there; have the day off, decided to do some small touch ups that I guess I missed.

Combo of OC Piccolo and Derby is AWESOME.

EDIT: signed up for the B&B May restraint. I actually need nothing but more Derby blades, I'll order those tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I could go the rest of the year using just this stuff.

[BroSlinger]

Cool pic!
SOTD:


Boy, these Soap Commander soaps are the very best. Man. I don't know how they aren't mentioned in the same top tier as Wholly Kaw, Declaration Grooming, Grooming Dept., etc. The performance, lather, scent, and post shave is just unmatched, IMO. This one smells just like my old TGQ Blackberry Sage that Colleen used to make at B&B. Except, it lathers and shaves better.

Second shave on Shark Platinum. It's alright. I have a feeling it would suck with mediocre soap.

Chatillon Lux Unconditional Surrender. I think my wife liked this one. Very nice. Formal.

RR Game Changer 84 with Weber handle. Nice razor. no complaints.

9/10

[BroSlinger]

BTW, I just have too many damn soaps coming in the door. I should do a sabbatical too. Shit.

this isn't even all of them.