Razor: Yaqi Mellon
Blade: Gillette Nacet
Brush: Rubberset Silvertip
Soap: Martin De Candre Fougere
Aftershave: Faberge Brut
Today I’m going to toot my own horn a little bit. A bit of a backstory…. I’ve always been a fan of vintage shaving brushes. I am really drawn to the old Rubberset and Ever-Ready designs. I can’t stop in an antique or thrift store without going on the hunt for one. With the rise of wet shaving and antiquing these days, I usually find stores quite picked over, charging way too much or having brushes in very rough shape. A little over a month ago, when I was in an antique store in Crossfield, AB (go find it, they have an awesome selection) I found several shave brushes I really liked. This one in particular I was drawn to. It had a fat stubby handle, a dark burgundy/cream colour and was in decent physical shape with only a minor crack. I’m not sure the model number of this Rubberset (if you have insight, please let me know) but it was going to be mine. The price was right and it was worth a try. I did a bunch of research and with the help of @reyes_restores i sources a few tools and went to work. I removed the knot (cut off and drilled out), widened the knot hole (forstner bit), hit with several progressions of sanding and buffing, printed a 3D spacer to bring the knot hole to proper height and installed this Silvertip knot I got from Yaqi. I’m very proud of the results. The knot itself is a small diameter, but the way I set it with a slightly wider hole allows it to open right up. The splay is fantastic and it still has more than enough backbone. I love how this (and a few others) turned out.
I felt in a fougere mood today so why not go with the one that got me started, MDC. I’ve been on a real fougere kick lately, picking up several, but this scent is still the bar that all other fougere scents are graded against. It has that bright green fern quality that immediately jumps out as fougere. I know MDC can be a bit divisive amongst wet shavers. They charge a high end price for what some say isn’t a high end product. To me, I’m on the pro side. While the lather isn’t the slickest and the post shave isn’t better than average, the scent quality and strength is on point, it is very easy to get a great lather and the soap will last FOREVER. It is a triple milled hard puck packed to the brim of this 200ml (6+ oz) tub and it will outlast several soft soaps in similar sized containers. Those that find it dries during the shave, hit it with a bit more water. When you have it really dialled in, that shouldn’t be an issue. Slickness wise, it is slick enough for a straight shave and residual is good enough for DE buffing. Post shave may leave you a bit dry, but personally, I always get great shaves with MDC.
My only knock against the soap is the lack of a matching aftershave in that scent. I’d love to carry this one all day, but today, I opted for a great fougere pairing in the classic OG formula Faberge Brut. Paired together, I’ll be carrying that fougere vibe with me all day. How can you go wrong with that?
