First, about the elephant in the room. Yes, I scheduled the Proraso blue for the second week in a row. I didn’t notice until I’d already taken the picture of the shaves for the week, and I’m not going to change it. So just live with it, okay?
This week’s shaves were born from a need to get the Goodfellas’ Smile Syntesi back into action. I’ve only used it for 3 shaves (1 week), and that was a little more than 3 months ago. So I need to get it back into action and try it with some more blades. Last time was with the Astra greens, but instead of going straight to the Astra blues, I opted instead to go with the Gillette Silver Blue, a blade I’ve used 7 times, but that was in the early days, and it’s time to revisit it. It did come out to play on Christmas Eve 2025, but that was the special one-off, and otherwise, I haven’t touched it since last March.
You’ll recall that a few weeks ago, I used the Gillette Platinum, and that I reported that the shaves were generally aggressive feeling. Well, the Silver Blue, which shares a similar packaging look with the Platinum, is the milder sibling to the Platinum, so I’m looking forward to some milder feeling shaves than with the Platinum.
So I’m giving some love to a couple of fairly solid names in my collection that haven’t seen attention in too long. What else went into this week’s shave planning? Read on.
What makes this round of shaves with the Syntesi multiple Goodfellas’ Smiles? This guy:
I picked this up recently after finding out that it’s a relatively new release, and as I’m loving the pre-shave gels, this felt like an option that was right up my alley. It is, however, a late sub-in, after I realized right before gathering everything up for the picture that having two Goodfellas’ Smile items in the shave this week would be aprapos.
Beyond that, two other new pieces of software make their appearance this week: The Tcheon Fung Sing Crema Purissima, and the Rasozero Pelli Delicate Shaving Soap.
The TFS is one of those surprising things. On the surface, it sounds like a Chinese brand, but no. It’s made in Torino, Italy, and is a long standing Italian brand. It’s earned pretty wide-ranging raves from shavers online, so I’m looking forward to it. It is an almond-forward scent, which is interesting since Cella also likes the almond scent in their red line.
The Rasozero soap is, oddly enough, also made by TFS. Also in Torino. And while I haven’t seen them posted much, the reviews I was able to find are generally very positive. So we’ll see how the two compare this week.
The aftershaves (except for the Proraso blue) are fairly pedestrian, representing the bigger online shaving product suppliers in the US: Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s. They’re widely available in stores, and offer online subscriptions. (Full disclosure, I’d been subscribing to Dollar Shave Club’s blades for several years before getting sick of the cartridge game and jumping into the safety razor bit.)
So let’s get into the shaves and see how things go.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #285. The Proraso Sunday Blue Syntesi shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Goodfellas’ Smile Syntesi
- Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Protective pre-shave cream (blue)
- Brush: Proraso boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Protective shaving cream (blue)
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Protective after shave balm (blue)
- Stats:
- 4th shave with the Syntesi
- 8th shave with the Gillette Silver Blue blade
- 2nd blade used with the Syntesi
- 19th shave with the Proraso blue line
- 101st almost perfect shave
- 34th shave with an overall rating of 24 (15.5% of all logged shaves
It’s been a while since I shaved with the Syntesi, but I quickly recalled what I liked and didn’t like about it.
Objectively, this was an outstanding shave–almost no irritation, very close, mostly smooth–but there’s something about the Syntesi that just feels flimsy. Light razors can feel solid–the Hensons are a case in point. But whether it’s the design of the top cap or the plate or what, there’s something about the shave experience of the Syntesi that feels less than.
That being said, though, I do appreciate the size of the head, because it’s very easy to maneuver, and if I shaved my upper lip, I know I’d like the small size of the head to easily fit into that space. But because of the texture on the top cap, it doesn’t glide smoothly as the lather is removed from the skin. So there are pros and cons.
But again, this was an excellent shave. Very close, comfortable and enjoyable. And this just continues to reinforce that I really love and enjoy the performance of Italian shaving products.
Comfort: 24 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 of 25
Overall: 24 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #286. The First Tcheon Fung Sing shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Goodfellas’ Smile Syntesi
- Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
- Pre-Shave: Carden Farms Clear & Clean Shaving Soap Stick
- Brush: Yaqi Rainbow Synthetic
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Tcheon Fung Sing Crema Purissima shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Dollar Shave Club Post Shave Cream
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the Tcheon Fung Sing lather
- 51st lather used in my shaves
- 2nd shave with the Carden Farms Clear & Clean shaving stick as a pre-shave
- 40th shave with the Dollar Shave Club after shave
- 102nd almost perfect shave
- 35th shave with an overall rating of 24 (15.8% of all logged shaves)
When I first saw the TFS lather in an SOTD, I really thought it was Chinese. But it’s Italian. Mostly. It’s made in Italy, at least. But TFS was founded by a Chinese immigrant who came to Italy in 1930, eventually married an Italian woman, and started up a soap making business in 1945.
And, well, I seem to have a deeply intense very much like of Italian shaving products. This one is no exception. The TFS lathers quickly and makes a very thick, rich lather. It smells intensely of almond at the start, but that fades very quickly. Coupled with the Yaqi Rainbow synthetic brush, it goes on as a nice thick layer, protecting and lubricating throughout the shave.
The second use of the Carden Farms lather as a pre-shave was wonderful here, again providing a great, slick base for the lather. So while I wasn’t thrilled with it as a shaving soap, I’m very happy with it as a pre-shave.
One thing I’m noting with the Syntesi razor is that while there’s a lot of blade noise (likely due to the thinness of the base plate), there isn’t nearly as much blade feel as I’d expect with the noise. So far this week, I’m very happy with the combo of the Silver Blue and the Syntesi as the shaves have been wonderfully close and comfortable.
Comfort: 24 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #287. The Goodfellas’ Smiles shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Goodfellas’ Smile Syntesi
- Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
- Pre-Shave: Goodfellas’ Smile Dawn of Glory pre-shave gel
- Brush: Omega 10019 boar
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Rasozero Pelli Delicate Shaving Soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Harry’s Post Shave Balm
- Stats:
- 52nd lather used
- 1st shave with the Rasozero Pelli Delicate soap
- 13th pre-shave used
- 1st shave with the Goodfellas’ Smile Dawn of Glory pre-shave gel
- 2nd shave with Harry’s post shave balm
- 6th shave with the Syntesi
- 10th shave with the Silver Blue blade
- 103rd almost perfect shave
- 36th shave with an overall rating of 24 (16.2% of all logged shaves
As noted above, the Rasozero lather is made by TFS, so you’d expect a similar performance, and even though they’re priced similarly, the lather today was definitely not the same as Tuesday’s. It wasn’t as thick or rich, had some slickness, but the Dawn of Glory pre-shave provided plenty of slickness.
Speaking of the Goodfellas’ Smile pre-shave, for a gel, it was a lot thinner than I expected, and didn’t seem to cling quite the same way as the Cella or other gel-based pre-shaves. But it provided excellent slickness that worked well on my skin.
The Syntesi-Silver Blue combo worked very well this week, and was pretty consistent all the way through. I will note this one as a shave to come back to, for sure.
In it’s second use in a shave, the Harry’s post shave balm proved its quality with excellent moisture and calming feel, and I’m happy I decided to finally pick it up and try it out.
So, overall a great week of shaves, and some new products to like. Next week: something different.
Comfort: 24 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25