There are moments in this hobby when I come to the painful realization that I just can’t get to some of my favorites as often as I want to. On the one hand, that’s a nice problem to have. On the other, I kind of mourn for what I’m missing.
In this case, the Henson AL-13+ mild razor. My beautiful blue aluminum delight. I realized I missed it, since I haven’t used it since the two-week comparison shaves in January with the Astra blue and green. And because it just seems to be one of the best razors I have to initiate a blade into the collection, this feels like a great pairing with the Wizamet Super Iridium blade.
The Super Iridium is rated as aggressive, and that tends to pair fairly well with the Henson mild. But after a week of blade-feel with the Gamechanger and the Astra green, my face might just be looking forward to a week off with something nice and mild. They are compared favorably with the Astra greens and Nacets, which may just bode well here. I see them often in SOTD posts and the like, and people seem to speak well of them, so I figured they were worth a try.
Sunday’s shave will be the second with the Proraso green soap, so that will let me formally rate it in the Lather Ratings. I was pretty pleased with it last time, but that was about 6 weeks ago (which shows you what kind of rotation my Proraso lathers are on).
But besides the Proraso soap and the Wizamet blades, I’ve got a handful of other new things going this week: First, the Saoonificio Varesino 70th Anniversary Special Edition soap. Saponificio Varesino’s 70th anniversary was 11 years ago, and they’re still making this Italian special edition soap. I picked it up because I’ve been reading a lot of posts saying that they make outstanding soap, and, quite frankly, the 80th anniversary special edition is sold out everywhere. And it’s spendy–this is the most I’ve spent on a single soap ($41 after discount) and yet, I was excited to do it. We’ll see how I get on with it.
Another new lather this week is the Henri et Victoria Bay Rum soap, along with it’s matching aftershave balm. I haven’t used a specifically named Bay Rum fragranced lather or aftershave yet, and that feels like a missed opportunity. So we’ll see how I get on with that this week.
And finally I decided to fill out the order from Razor Emporium that brought me the Saponificio soap with a refill of the unscented pre-shave soap stick and a soap stick of their menthol pre-shave. I’ve liked the unscented pre-shave stick a lot as it’s easy to apply, pretty inexpensive, and works well as a slick base to a good lather. There isn’t a strong menthol scent, but I’m expecting it to be nice and cooling on my face.
Yes, I know, I need to clear the last of some things out, and that will be happening soon…ish. But in the meantime, I’m excited to try some new stuff and to get to this week’s shaves.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #261. The Wizamet Proraso Green Sunday Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13+ mild
- Blade: Wizamet Iridium
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Refreshing pre-shave cream (green)
- Brush: Proraso boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Refreshing shave soap (green)
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Refreshing after shave balm (green)
- Stats:
- 55th shave with the Henson mild
- 18th different blade used with the Henson mild
- 23rd lather used with the Henson mild
- 2nd shave with the Proraso Refreshing Shaving Soap (green)
- 12th shave with the Proraso green family
- 25th blade used in all shaves
- 80th almost perfect shave (overall rating of 23 or 24)
- 21st shave with an overall rating of 24 (10.7% of all logged shaves)
Let me begin by saying that I really love my Henson mild razor. It brings me joy with every shave, even when that shave isn’t quite perfect. It’s just pleasant to use and I think it brings out the best in most blades.
And this shave was certainly a reflection of that. I could feel that the blade was on the aggressive side, but the Henson made that comfortable and in control, with enough blade feel to make me aware of where the blade was on my face, but not enough to scrape the skin too harshly. In fact, the shave was so comfortable that there was no irritation at all, and I gave the comfort rating a perfect score.
The closeness was amazing too, though not quite perfect, with some very limited stubble at the corners of my throat. But that doesn’t detract from the overall excellence of this shave. Yes, it isn’t perfect, but it’s about as close as I could get, and I’ll have to remember this combo down the road.
This shave was also the second with the Proraso green soap. I’ve been using the cream for a while now, and it works very well, but I was a little underwhelmed after the first shave with the soap–it seemed to struggle to lather, especially when compared to the Proraso white soap. But today’s lather was excellent–thick, rich, slick, and with a pleasant mild fragrance that nicely complimented the menthol scent and feel of the pre-shave. And now that there are two shaves with the Proraso green soap, I can give it a rating in the Lather Ratings page.
In all, this was a fabulous shave and a great way to start my shave week. I’m looking forward to the other shaves this week to see what those new products bring to the table.
Comfort: 25 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 of 25
Overall: 24 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #262. The Saponificio 70th Anniversary Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13+ mild
- Blade: Wizamet Iridium
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Menthol pre-shave
- Brush: Omega 10019 Boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Saponificio Varesino 70th Anniversary shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Soothing Post Shave balm
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the S.V. 70th Anniversary shaving soap
- 46th shave with the Omega 10019 brush
- 24th lather used with the Henson mild
- 81st almost perfect shave
- 22nd shave with an overall rating of 24 (11.2% of all logged shaves)
It’s always a good morning when you can start the day with a couple of new shaving products. The second shave with the Wizamet Iridium blade was my first with both the Razor Emporium menthol pre-shave soap stick and the Saponificio Varesino 70th anniversary shave soap.
Let’s briefly mention the blade–it performed well again, and I think the Henson mild is a good pairing for it, but it just seems to struggle a little bit at the final cleanup stage of the shave, where it doesn’t seem able to really get all of the really short stubble that’s been left behind. But this combo is comfortable and works well enough, so I’ll live with it.
The pre-shave was a little weird. The existing unscented pre-shave stick I have from Razor Emporium has no signs of the charcoal that’s part of the formula, but this one seemed to have a slight grittiness to it. It didn’t cause any noticeable problems with the shave, but it was a bit weird to feel the grit on my face as I applied it. But there was a nice, moderate cooling feel after applying, and it worked about as well as the unscented formula.
Now to the star of the show: the S.V. soap. I chose a boar brush with it to get a nice efficient lathering experience, and for a soap that’s pretty renowned for its lather, I was not disappointed. I quickly had a very nice, rich, thick lather that had a very pleasant, subtle scent. It provided a smooth and slick shave, even after sitting a bit and being reapplied for a third pass on my neck. In short, the first impression of this soap is extremely positive.
On the whole, this was another great shave, and one I’d come back to. The Henson mild always seems to deliver, and the Wizamet blade is aggressive, but not overly so. And the Saponificio Varesino soap is just a pleasure to use.
Coming up Thursday, another shave with some firsts.
Comfort: 24 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #263. The First Bay Rum Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13+ mild
- Blade: Wizamet Iridium
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave
- Brush: Razor Emporium Badger shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Henri et Victoria Bay Rum shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Henri et Victoria Bay Rum aftershave balm
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the Henri et Victoria Bay Rum soap (and balm)
- 25th lather used with the Henson mild
- 12 unused lathers left to try
- 57th shave with the Henson mild
- 82nd almost perfect shave (23 or 24 overall rating)
- 23rd shave with a 24 overall rating (11.6% of all logged shaves)
The third and final (for now) shave with the Wizamet Iridium blade was another outstanding one, proving that the pairing with the Henson mild is the way to go for me. All three shaves were pretty consistent, close, comfortable and enjoyable, so I’ll have to come back to these in the future. This, of course, opens up the question of whether I’ll restock the blade when the time comes.
Let’s talk about the new software, though: the Henri et Victoria Bay Rum soap and aftershave balm. The soap lathered wonderfully, just like its unscented sibling. It was rich, thick, smooth, slick, and wonderful, but the scent was a little strong for me, and it had a spicy scent with a slightly sweet undertone.
The balm, though, has an extremely strong fragrance which is slightly different from the soap. The spiciness isn’t there, though it’s definitely a masculine scent. But I’ll wait to see how long it takes to fade. In the meantime, though, I may not use it again because frankly, it’s just a little overwhelming.
So, closing out the week, I can highly recommend the Wizamet Iridium (or as their full title is, the Super Iridium) blades. At least for me, when paired with a mild razor, it’s delivering an excellent, close and comfortable shave.
Comfort: 25 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25