I’ll get to the first title up there in a moment. But wow, three full-sized tubs of soap take up a lot of space.
So yeah, to the name of this week’s shaves. You’ll notice that I’m using the Astra Superior Stainless (blue) blade this week. Blue. Harry’s balm. Blue. Razor Emporium pre-shave. Blue. The Proraso protective pre-shave and after shave balm. Blue. Their packaging or marketing is blue. And all of the lathers are Italian–Proraso and Saponificio Varesino. Cella’s Italian, so it counts. The Proraso/Omega brush is Italian. It’s all just something I’m going with here.
I planned this shave quite a while ago after seeing how great the KCG and GameChanger worked with the Astra blue blades. It proved that they have their place with more aggressive razors, and should provide a great shave both in terms of closeness but also feel. So I’d pair it with the Henson medium, which doesan’t get the love it deserves. I just needed to slot it in with the rest of the shaves that I wanted to do.
Oddly, I had a gap right before the week of shaves celebrating shave 300 (which comes next week, BTW). So I decided I’d fill this week in with those Astra blue/Henson mild shaves. With it came some strong choices. I wanted to get the SV 80th Anniversary lather into the mix, and figured it would be fun to use it back-to-back with the 70th Anniversary soap. So that was set. Add the Proraso azur lime cream in its second appearance, and this week pretty much just made up itself after that.
Wait, I hear you saying, you just said the azur lime is a cream. Why’s it in a tub? Well, first, I had a tub free. I really like these metal tubs, and I can get them from a couple of places online. But the form factor of the pouch(?) for the azur lime is just unwieldy and frankly, hard to squeeze. This stuff borders on croap territory (cream & soap–not hard like a soap, but also not as fluid as a cream). So I just squeezed it all (with some difficulty) into the tin. Lathering should be easier and no squeezing will be necessary. The label maker printout on the can will be replaced, trust me.
Back to the SV pair for a moment: I don’t expect a lot of difference between the two. They use the same base, should generally be the same basic formula, but with different fragrances. But you never know. Soapmakers like to tweak things, especially when it’s a special product like these are.
Of note for this week, the SV 80th anniversary is the only item being used for the first time. But the 70th anniversary and the Proraso Azur Lime lathers are being used for the second time, so you can look for a full write up on them in the future and a rating in the Lather Ratings page.
On another note, what was it about post-war Italy where you had so many soap makers start up? SV and Tcheon Fung Sing from my collection, at least. Did someone say “Hey, now that Mussolini is dead, let’s make shaving better!”
Anyway, back to the task at hand, the shaves. I’m fully expecting a great week of shaves. I suppose they could be disappointing, but there’s no way to find out unless you try, so how’d they go?
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #297. The Proraso Sunday Azur Lime Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13++ medium
- Blade: Astra Superior Stainless (blue)
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Protective pre-shave cream (blue)
- Brush: Proraso boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Azur Lime shaving cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Protective after shave balm (blue)
- Stats:
- 8th shave with the Astra blue blade (compared to 10 with the Astra green)
- 8th blade used with the Henson medium
- 22nd shave with the Henson medium (3rd most after the Henson mild and KCG, ahead of Rockwell 6C plate 2)
- 2nd shave with the Proraso Azur Lime lather
- 21st shave with the Proraso Protective pre-shave and aftershave balm
- 112th almost perfect shave
- 9th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 76th shave with an overall rating of 23 (32.8% of all logged shaves)
Let me just say to start out that because the Azur Lime croap is primarily a cream, it lathers quickly and efficiently. And I really like the fragrance. I’ve got beard oil and beard balm from Proraso in the same scent. It’s pleasant, light, fresh, and just something that I really enjoy.
To the rest of the shave, the Astra blue pairing with the Henson medium seems to be a good one, though I did probably go one extra pass too many and produced a little more irritation than I’d like. But it went away quickly with the alum and the balm is doing its job to help it fade as well.
All-in-all, about what I expected, and I’m anxious to use the SV 70th and 80th Anniversary lathers this week.
Comfort: 23 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 of 25
Overall: 23 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #298. The Penultimate 200s Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13++ medium
- Blade: Astra Superior Stainless (blue)
- Pre-Shave: Cella Organic pre-shave gel (green)
- Brush: Parker Blue Storm Synthetic
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Saponificio Varesino 70th Anniversary shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Cool Post Shave Balm
- Stats:
- 3rd shave with the Parker Blue Storm synthetic
- 2nd shave with the SV 70th anniversary soap
- 2nd shave with the Nivea Sensitive Cool post shave balm
- 10th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 113th almost perfect shave
- 37th shave with an overall rating of 24 (15.9% of all logged shaves)
What a difference a day makes, right? This shave wasn’t truly that much better than Sunday’s shave, but with little to no irritation, and the closeness I want, it feels so much better.
So what’s the difference? Really, I just stopped when I should have stopped instead of pressing on to get closer. That’s all there is to it. This combo has a very nice efficiency that I probably didn’t acknowledge on Sunday. And by stopping after the standard 3 passes, I prevented myself from going too far and invoking that extra irritation.
The Cella pre-shave laid down a nice slick base, and the SV 70th Anniversary produced an outstanding lather with the Parker Blue Storm brush and also by following instructions from SV that I’d found online: put warm water on the soap in the tin just to cover and let sit for several minutes to let it “bloom.” I dumped out the water after my shower, wet the brush, and got to making an wonderful, rich lather which seemed somewhat thirsty today–that is, it seemed like I needed to add more water than normal.
The SV 70th Anniversary soap is a solid performer with great lather and very nice slickness with a very pleasant, understated, slightly floral scent. But you can look for the full review and the ratings elsewhere.
My second use of the Nivea Men Sensitive Cool post shave balm confirms what I’d found with the first use: I get no cooling effect with it, nor a menthol smell. In fact, it just seems very similar to the standard Sensitive Soothing balm.
But all told, this was a great shave that confirms my expectations of the razor/blade combo and the lather.
Comfort: 24 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #299. The Last Shave Before #300.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13++ medium
- Blade: Astra Superior Stainless (blue)
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave
- Brush: Razor Emporium badger brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Saponificio Varesino 80th Anniversary shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Harry’s Post Shave balm
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the SV 80th Anniversary soap
- 3rd shave with Harry’s Post Shave Balm
- 10th shave with the Astra blue blades (tied with Astra Green & Gillette Silver Blue)
- 27th shave with the Razor Emporium badger brush
- 114th almost perfect shave
- 11th consecutive almost perfect shave
- 77th shave with an overall rating of 23 (32.9% of all logged shaves)
This week illustrates why you need to try a shaving combo instead of just assuming you know how it will turn out. Yes, arguably, the shaves were excellent, but they weren’t as good as the three shaves with the Astra blue and the KCG. My gut feeling is that the KCG is milder than the Henson medium, but I can’t say that for sure because mildness and aggressiveness of a razor is such an individual measure.
That being said, this was a solid combo, and one that I need to make sure not to overdo in terms of extra cleanup passes. I limited them on Tuesday and was very conscious about limiting them again this morning, and the result was what I thought would be a very comfortable result. But when the alum was applied, I had some stronger but instantaneous sting that went away quickly, along with some lingering redness on my neck. There isn’t a lingering irritation, but just that scraped skin feel that is fading thanks to the balm.
The initial outing with the SV 80th Anniversary soap was great. Unlike the 70th Anniversary, the 80th’s fragrance is a little more masculine, but still has floral and fruity notes. But the scent is mild and not overwhelming. The lather was great and slick and performed well, so it was enjoyable to use.
The 3rd use of the Harry’s balm was good. I really like it–it’s unscented, but has the same balm qualities I like in the Nivea and Proraso products–a wonderfully moisturizing, thinner fluid that soaks into the skin easily.
Next week, the 300th shave with a special treat for the week.
Comfort: 22 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 23 out of 25