Razor: Soviet ZTV Extra 1960 5/8
Brush: Ever-Ready Silvertip Badger
Soap: Wild West Shaving Snake Oil
Aftershave: Geo F Trumper Spanish Leather
Other: Old Spice Mug
About a month ago, I was gifted this Old Spice Mug from a family friend. He knew I was into tradition wet shaving and had particular interest in items from the past. This Old Spice mug was his own from the days he used to shave with a mug and brush. Little did he know that I had been on the hunt for a mug such as this for quite some time. I was truly thankful for it to join my den.
I’ve never been much of an Old Spice guy itself. It was one traditional aftershave that my dad never used and by the time I was old enough to be shopping for my own after shaves, I found it to be dated. I can honestly say I didn’t appreciate the classics at the time. I have since come around to a lot of vintage classics (I’ve done a complete 180 on Brut) and while Old Spice still doesn’t particularly resonate with me, I can appreciate how it has become the classic that it is.
I was pretty darn happy when I discovered in the lot of Wild West Shaving soaps I picked up, it an Old Spice dupe in it. Snake Oil, while having no mention of Old Spice, is a pretty good match as per my recollection. My biggest knock on Wild West Shaving products is the packaging. Coming in small tobacco tin style plastic containers, they are almost impossible to adequately load a brush on. Luckily I had a trusty new shave mug I could press this soap into. I also grabbed a Thingiverse plan for an old spice mug lid and printed a nice matching blue top. I now have a perfect Old Spice set up.
While the packaging is sub par on the Wild West Shaving products, the stuff that counts is not. I really enjoy their soap base. This tallow based soap loads and lathers easily. I find it has good cushion and slickness (both lathered and residual) and performed very well for my straight razor shave. The post shave is a bit of a step down, there isn’t much in the way of rich skin butters/fats in there, but I wasn’t left dried out either. It does the job. Scent strength is on the stronger side too. They have a huge assortment of unique scents and all of them I’ve smelled are all strong, unique and wonderful. Given the price point, this is a soap product people really need to check out.
I used this 1960 Soviet straight today, another free shipping Tuesday trade. I liked the look of it, it had really nice packaging, had a size and grind that was appealing and was in really nice shape. I figured I should take a chance. I’m glad I did. The razor has nice heft and a really smooth edge on it. I’m told it has a charnley forest edge. I’m still learning about straights and edges so I’m making a note of that here for future reference when it is time to re-hone. I would love to know more about the history of this razor if anyone had insight.
I didn’t have the matching Old Spice splash so I opted for this offering from Geo Trumper. This has an old school spice vibe to it and I thought it paired quite well. Scent strength is strong and it has that old distinguished gentleman vibe. What I don’t like is the performance. I found it much like the Taylor of Old Bond street splashes I’ve tried, it goes on dry feeling and tacky. It doesn’t do any harm but I sure don’t like how my skin feels on the initial dry down. Oh well, they can’t all be winners.
