Even almost a full year in to this experience, I’m still learning. Not only is the experimentation and learning about what products work for me, it’s also about developing skills to help ensure the best shave possible.
I’m working through the samples that I bought recently from Maggard’s Razors. Today, I used the Edwin Jagger combo: the hydrating pre shave cream, aloe vera shaving cream, and aloe vera moisturizing aftershave lotion.
The pre shave cream is basically a lotion, which is fine, but a little strange compared to the other pre shaves I’ve used. And I was surprised after applying it as I immediately got the cooling effect and smell of menthol. It wasn’t unpleasant, just unexpected. Otherwise, the pre shave worked as expected.
Then came the aloe vera shaving cream. This was the second time I’ve used a lathering cream with a brush. It had a strong fragrance that I can’t fully place: I think it’s close to Old Spice–that kind of spicy, not sweet and not a Bay Rum fragrance. It’s fading fairly quickly, but is still noticeable about an hour after shaving, so I’ll monitor that.
But here is the learning part: I’ve been using the Razor Emporium Shaving Brush with badger bristles more lately. I’ve been a little frustrated by this brush, where it always seemed to require more work to produce a good lather. But I had a breakthrough last week, where I discovered that I needed to use a little more water and almost no pressure to produce a great lather. So this was the result today:
After about the same time spent lathering any other soap with my boar brushes, I got a great, satisfying lather. Which makes me happy.
The Edwin Jagger aloe vera moisturizing aftershave lotion is indeed a lotion, and with more rubbing into my skin, it formed more of a white film on my skin. I let it sit for a bit and that subsided, but it was a little strange initially. But it worked well, and my face feels well moisturized.
This was exactly what I want my shaves to be many days: an experiment to develop my skills and try out new things and see what works well and what doesn’t. So I’m very happy with that aspect, and I’m extremely happy with the shave results as well.
The Rating
Shave #152. The Edwin Jagger Experiment.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson AL-13 mild
- Blade: Dorco Platinum HQ Red
- Pre-Shave: Edwin Jagger Hydrating Pre Shave Cream
- Brush: Razor Emporium Badger Shaving Brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Edwin Jagger Aloe Vera Shaving Cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Edwin Jagger Aloe Vera Moisturizing Aftershave Lotion
This week with the Henson and the Dorco has been outstanding, and I will be coming back to this often in the future. Every shave has been very comfortable and remarkably close–close enough for me, in fact, to call almost perfect. There has been very little sting with the alum on every shave, so this seems to hit that combo mark where I’m getting a close shave with a little blade-feel and minimal irritation.
This was the first use of the Edwin Jagger products, and it was not what I was expecting, so I’ll have to try them again to help decide if I want to make them a permanent part of the collection or not.
Comfort: 5 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 4.750 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
