What a week I have planned for you, face! We’re closing out the month by putting a couple of new products to use, seeing how a new recent favorite blade works in the newest razor, and trying out a shaving soap stick that is a favorite of a ton of people on the Wicked Edge subreddit.
The new piece of hardware is the Henson Shaving AL-13 Medium. I’ve already got this razor in mild, and there are times when it feels almost too mild, but I’m happy to use it because it just delivers a nice, comfortable shave. We’ll see where it ends up on the aggressiveness scale, as I’ve tried the Shark blade with plates 3, 4 and 5 on the Rockwell, which should be in the medium to medium-aggressive range. And I really liked it in that range, so I have high hopes for the new Henson.
Also making a debut is the Proraso blue line. Okay, it isn’t new to my shaves, but the full-sized products are new to the collection. I’ve decided that I’ll use the samples when I’m traveling, so they’ll just be stored for the moment, and I’ll use the new products. You’ll see more about those coming up in a bit in a follow up mail call post.
The other new intro to the shaving space here this week is Tuesday’s shave with the Arko soap stick. Every comment and review I’ve seen for this says it lathers better than almost anything out there, but some complain about its fragrance. I smelled it through the foil wrapping and wasn’t offended, as it just smelled like a really sweet and soapy soap, but we’ll see how it works on the face.
The expectation is that these will be very good shaves, perhaps even an almost perfect shave. Let’s see how things turned out.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #177. The Sunday Shave featuring the new Henson Medium, Lord Shark, and Proraso blue.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson Shaving AL-13 Medium
- Blade: Lord Shark Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Protective Blue pre-shave cream
- Brush: Proraso boar brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Protective Blue shaving cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Protective Blue Aftershave balm
There were very brief moments in my head before the shave today that worried about the possibility that the Henson medium just might not work out or work as expected. But the first stroke on my neck completely erased those fears.
The design of the razor is the same as the mild, so it just finds its angle naturally. There obviously was a little more blade feel and blade noise than I usually get with the Henson mild, but the shave was comfortable, fairly close, and satisfying. I hit a couple of extra passes, but they really didn’t contribute any extra irritation, as there was a pretty small amount of sting with the alum block at the end of the shave.
Let’s talk for a moment about the Proraso blue products. Because of my experience with them with the samples, I knew they’d perform well, but it was just nice to work with the full-sized bottles and tube. The lathering shave cream is still relatively new to me, but I think I’ve pretty well mastered it, as just a pea-sized squeezing into the brush delivered a more than adequate supply of lather:
As I’ve mentioned before, I like a good rich and thick lather, but also one that is a little more watery than some consider a perfect lather, so I don’t get a lot of really stiff peaks, but having the extra water in the lather helps its performance.
As a whole, all 3 products performed extremely well–the pre-shave lays down a nice slick foundation, the lather adds moisture and slickness in addition to some cushioning, and the balm just provides great moisture and a very nice mild scent.
This shave wasn’t almost perfect, but it was very comfortable, and earned a spot in the top rank of shaves. I will come back to this–especially after adding a bunch of Shark blades to the collection.
Comfort: 5 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 4.750 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
Tuesday’s Shave, #178. The Arko shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson Shaving AL-13 medium
- Blade: Lord Shark Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Proraso White Sensitive Skin pre-shave
- Brush: Omega 10019 boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Arko Shave Stick
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Soothing Post Shave Balm
First off, let’s acknowledge something big (for me, anyway): For the first time ever, I used a Proraso product not paired with its formulation counterparts. I don’t know why, but it just feels like I should always use the whole Proraso formula line with each other, and not with anything else. But I see it all the time online, and decided to be brave today and break up the band. I chose the white today because I wanted to minimize the cover up of the Arko’s scent…But then I threw in the Nivea aftershave? Life choices, man…
Sunday established that the Henson medium performs as smoothly and comfortably as the mild, and today’s shave reinforces that. There was a fair amount of blade feel, but it wasn’t uncomfortable–there was less sting today than Sunday with the alum, and while I minimized the extra passes I made just to help keep it comfortable, the shave was close and satisfying.
The Arko shave stick is interesting. I did not apply it directly to my face, as it’s intended–I’ll do that at some point, but I wanted to get used to lathering it first–but I put a very small shaving (maybe half the size of a dime and just a thin shaving) into the shave bowl and worked at lathering it. It produced a huge amount of lather–much more than I expected, but it didn’t feel slick or provide much cushioning on my face as I shaved. Yet it did obviously protect my face, so I’m looking forward to future experimentation.
All-in-all, I’m calling this one almost perfect. Very comfortable, very close, and very satisfying.
Comfort: 5.000 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 4.750 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
Thursday’s Shave, #179. Trying to finish a sample shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Henson Shaving AL-13 medium
- Blade: Lord Shark Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave
- Brush: Razor Emporium badger shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Razor Emporium Barbershop shaving soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Barbasol 1919 Aftershave Balm
Before the 17 samples (not all soaps, though) arrived from Maggard’s, I had 6 other soap samples (3 from Razor Emporium and 3 from Stirling Soap Co.), and I’ve decided that I really need to get through them. The Razor Emporium were the first sample soaps that I tried, so they’ve been used most often and should be easier to finish at this point.
They’re good soaps–the base makes a nice rich lather, and the barbershop fragrance is pleasant and traditional and light, so I do like it, but compared to everything else I have and like, I don’t think it’s one I’ll restock. After this shave, I’m down to just one more shave’s worth of that soap.
This shave was similar to Tuesday’s, but not quite to the almost perfect level: very close (after an extra pass), very comfortable, and just pleasant. My one week review of the Henson medium is very positive. It works just as well as its mild counterpart because their design just makes the razor and blade land where they should on your face. It requires little effort and little thought to shave effectively.
I will be coming back to this combo in the future, that’s for certain. I couldn’t do much better.
Comfort: 5.000 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 4.750 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
