No, no, no, not my shaving anniversary. That comes next month. I’ve still got about three weeks to get through first before the crazy anniversary shave month comes, and you’ll have to wait to see what’s coming.
Instead, this is a bonus shave because I’m heading to dinner with my wife, sister, her husband, and my parents, who just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago. And yes, you can gauge my age based on this, as I was born just a few years after they were married. So yeah.
For some reason, it didn’t dawn on me until just a few days ago that I’d have a bonus shave this week, so I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it, but what time I have had to think about it has produced a ton of ideas: Ooh! I really want to use the Cella green line with the soap! Or get the SV 80th anniversary soap in! Or maybe one of the new Martin de Candre soaps! Or pull a list of the all-time favorites! Which razor and blade combo? A new one, or one I’ve used before? Try new things or stick with the old favorites?
It was kind of all over the place. And I think I changed the plan in the spreadsheet three times. But this one feels right.
I ended up settling on the Merkur adjustable fairly early on because I haven’t touched it since April and I’m not slated to use it much through September. I’d say I’m disappointed with it, and I probably am, but I don’t know that I’ve used it enough to be that disappointed with it. I just need to use it more to figure out if it is for me or not.
I’ve gone around and around with which blade to pair with the Merkur, though. Do I go with the Personna Gem? Or try out the Personna Comfort Coated with it instead? Or go with one of the Astras? Or a 7 O’Clock variant? I ended up discarding the Personna Comfort Coated idea because I didn’t want to try a new blade on a one-off shave, and didn’t want that first try to be with the Merkur. And the Astras were ditched because ultimately, I’ve gone to them quite a bit so far this year, and I need to let the other kids play. So I ended up deciding on the Gillette Super Blue. It worked well in it’s week with the mild razors, and I think setting 1 or 2 on the Merkur (or somewhere in-between) should be good for a bonus shave the day after a normal shave.
On to the soap. I’ve been excited to give the Razorock Mudder Focker soap a go since I got it. I’ve seen it a lot in the SOTD posts, and it seems to be a favorite, if not for its performance and scent then definitely for its label or name. It’s a soft soap (so a croap–cream/soap combination) with what some people refer to as a polarizing scent. I find it only slightly unique and completely inoffensive. But a couple of key features that make it a favorite are that it’s tallow-based, and features Fuller’s Earth clay, which helps with a moisturized post-shave feel. I’m excited to see how it performs, and it should lather and apply very well with the Yaqi Rainbow brush.
The only questions remaining are around the pre- and post shave products. I initially was set to use the Carden Farms stick for the pre-shave, but ended up subbing in the Goodfellas’ Smile gel. I’ve used it twice within about 10 days of getting it, but it’s sat untouched for a month since then, and I somehow don’t have it penciled in until next month.
For the post shave, I ended up calling on the Barbasol 1919. I decided I wanted that classic scent to hang with me for the day, and it does a fine job of moisturizing and helping the skin calm down after a shave. So it should be good for a second-day-in-a-row shave. Moreover, I haven’t used it since last month when I paired it with the Barbasol 1919 cream in the Cremo comparison shaves. So again, it’s due for some time.
So there you go: the whys and wherefores of today’s bonus shave. And here’s how it turned out:
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #306. The Not That Anniversary Bonus Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Merkur Progress 500 adjustable (setting 1)
- Blade: Gillette Super Blue
- Pre-Shave: Goodfellas’ Smile Dawn of Glory pre-shave gel
- Brush: Yaqi Rainbow synthetic
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Razorock Mudder Focker shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Barbasol 1919 aftershave balm
- Stats:
- 1st shave with the Razorock Mudder Focker soap
- 59th lather used in my shaves
- 4th shave with the Gillette Silver Blue blade
- 3rd blade used with the Merkur
- 23rd shave using the Barbasol 1919 balm
- 3rd shave with the Goodfellas’ Smile pre-shave gel
- 39th shave with an overall rating of 22 (16.2% of all logged shaves)
I think I’ve said it before about the Merkur, that it tends toward the aggressive end, even on its most mild setting. And paired with the Gillette Super Blue blade, which also tends toward the aggressive end, the result was a slightly more aggressive than preferred shave.
But it wasn’t bad at all. It just left me with more neck irritation than I want, and that pulled down the comfort rating.
So, how’d the Mudder Focker lather do? It was good–not great, but good. I think I overloaded the brush with water, as there was a lot of lather, but it was thinner and more watery than I want. But that being said, it provided a very nice, slick base that had a pleasant fragrance. Obviously, I need one more shave with it to deliver my final rating, but at the moment, it’s solidly above the median.
Overall, this was a good bonus shave–not as great as I’d like, but still exciting and fun to try new things to see how it goes. That’s always worthwhile.
Comfort: 21 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 23 of 25
Overall: 22 of 25