Razor: Yaqi Knight Helmet
Blade: Gillette Wilkinson Sword
Brush: Simms with 21.5mm Frank Shaving best badger
Soap: Lather Bros Flora Colossus
Aftershave: Lather Bros Flora Colossus Splash
After the deep and rich scent yesterday from WSP, I decided to switch things up and go with a light and refreshing today with this offering from Lather Bros. The scent on Flora Colossus is a blend of Lavender, Asian Pear and Cedar. This definitely hits that fresh and refreshing vibe. Off the puck I find this to be on the lighter side. The Asian Pear gives a subtle sweetness and softens the herbaceousness of the lavender. This overlays a subtle cedar note. It is quite nice, even though it isn’t really in my wheelhouse scent wise. Once lathered, it strengthens up a touch but I’d still say it remains on the lighter side.
Today was my first use of this recently re-knotted Simms handle with a 21.5 best badger from Frank Shaving. I have lathered with it several times to get the funk out and break it in a touch, but it still needs a bit of work. It is still shedding a bit more than I would like. The knot also seems like it was oddly shaped, missing some of the symmetry I long for. Performance wise it had a good balance of backbone and softness and was quite comfortable. I did have a bit of trouble dialing in the lather today but I blame the brush and not the soap. I’ve used Lather Bros several times and have had no issues. I just need to figure this guy out. Once the knot has bloomed out I am quite happy with how it looks. My tip for those restoring vintage brushes, go with a badger over synthetic, they bloom out and perform much better in the smaller knot sizes than a synthetic.
The razor today was the Yaqi Knight Helmet head on their new style handle. I love the handle design, it has nice weight, deep knurling and the colours available are really nice. The razor head, not so much. This razor head is hella aggressive. I was riding the blade the entire shave. Not comfortable at all. I used the lightest touch and got thru 2 passes and didn’t dare try a third. Given the aggressiveness, I was able to get a very close and efficient 2 pass shave, but it sure wasn’t a luxury experience.
Surprisingly, no irritation from the shave. The after shave had a bit more strength, but I’d still say it was on the lighter side. This is definitely one of those scents I’m a touch nose blind to, as my wife has already commented on the scent from the other room. I do wish this splash had a little more skin food in it, but it did the job today. Considering the aggressiveness of the razor, that is more than fine by me.
