Razor: Yaqi Melon
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Sloyd Synthetic
Soap: Talbot Shaving Marlogue Wood
Aftershave: Maol Grooming Marlogue Wood
I’ve always been a sucker for a matching set. Maol Grooming has always had a reputation for an elite level aftershave product but I was always left longing for a matching soap. That is until this matching soap from Talbot Shaving was released. Talbot has a reputation as having a great base and for being fairly difficult to acquire with their limited release quantities. They also don’t have any vendors North of the border so I didn’t think acquiring one would be a possibility. Luckily a CWS member was able to assist me in getting one, now I have the matching set.
Marlogue Wood is a coniferous scent offering notes of Balsam Fir Needle, Cedarwood, Atlas Cedarwood, Ho Wood, Pine, Patchouli, Cypress, Vetiver, Myrrh, Juniper Berry. Maol Grooming describes it as “a pure wood scent that takes you to the middle of a forest then surprises you with a clean vetiver note”. That description is bang on. You get the robust up from woodsy-ness with a subtle grassy vetiver and a bit of earthy patchouli. This scent just screams Northern Saskatchewan forest and reminds me of home.
The Talbot soap takes this scent perfectly. I’d say it is on the stronger side of medium. I do have to say upon opening the tub, my first thought was “Is that it?”. The 3oz soap in the larger container does make it seem like a light pour. However it is a fairly firm soap and after using it I realize I won’t be in danger of running out soon (although I do think the splash will outlast it by a bunch). Given the size of the tub and the cost of soap vs packaging, I would have liked a bit more soap in the tub, especially given the price it takes to acquire one of these North of the border. But I digress.
I was very impressed with the soap base. The soap loaded and lathered like a dream. It took very little effort to get a great soap load and with a bit of water I was able to get a fantastic lather. I don’t think I had it 100% dialed in as this was first use, but it still performed like a champ. I can’t say enough about how easy this was to work with. Lather had a nice richness, slightly lower volume with a nice sheen, plenty of cushion. Slickness both lathered and residual were excellent. Post shave was excellent as well. I can see why Talbot is so highly sought after.
The brush I used today had to be a pure wood handle, it just seemed fitting. This Sloyd walnut handle looks fantastic and is quite comfortable. I really like his different take on handle shapes. Given that he is just starting to do shave brushes, there isn’t any preconceived notions about what a shave brush should look like. I do wish the knot was bigger, but that is my fault, I gave him the knots to use from some I had on hand. Pretty much all I had on hand at the time was smaller diameter synthetics.
The matching post is the Marlogue Wood offering from Maol Grooming. They created the scent and collaborated with Talbot to bring the matching soap to market. This isn’t a one off collaboration as they will be continuing this relationship on future pairings. I know of a few others already in the wild. The scent on this is a medium, it will carry for a while but in a fairly subtle way. The real performance on this splash comes from the post shave qualities. The Maol Grooming aftershave splashes are elite level good. Your skin is left feeling hydrated and healed after dryness or rough shaves. This is a product line everyone should have in their den, and now I’m happy to say I do.
