Razor: Schick Injector
Blade: Schick Injector Blades
Brush: Sloyd Synthetic
Soap: Zingari Man The Soloist (West Coast Shaving exclusive)
Aftershave: Crown Shaving Aftershave Tonic
Other: Oil Can Grooming Grease Pomade
Ah, Friday off, just what I needed to recharge the batteries after a long stressful week at work. What better way to kick it off then a relaxing shave.
Today I reached for Jazz Club by Zingari Man, an exclusive offering from West Coast Shaving in her Sego formula tallow base. I enjoyed her previous vegan formula and I had this on my list to try, both from a base and a scent standpoint. First, the scent is an homage to Jazz Club by Maison Martin Margiela. Scent notes are listed as pink pepper, rum and tobacco. This is a rich and masculine scent. You get a subtle sweet and booziness with the rum and a bit of the spice all over a rich tobacco. I really enjoyed the scent. I’m unsure if it hits all the same marks as Jazz Club because I’ve never smelled the OG. I do wish the scent strength was dialed up, it is definitely on the lighter side of medium. I know that is a purposeful choice Heather makes to keep her soap skin safe for all but for me, it does hold this offering back. The type of scent just screams to have a bit more boldness to it.
As for the base, I’ve now worked with this for several lathers and shaves. I really wanted to understand what she was going for before I made comment. This is one of the new bases I’m just not 100% sold on. Don’t get me wrong, performance is great…. better than great. It is extremely slick, has very good cushion and a fantastic post shave. What I struggle with is the learning curve on this new base. If used several knots and each time I found it tricky to load. I felt like I was struggling to pick up soap because when any water hits it, the slickness makes it tough to pull soap. Then it takes a lot of water and some patience to properly hydrate and dial the lather in. You are definitely rewarded for putting in the time, I had a fantastic 3 pass BBS shave today with a razor that is a bit on the aggressive side. A seasoned wet shaver that really loved the lathering experience will really love this base. But I’d struggle recommending this to a new wet shaver as I think this wouldn’t work for them off the hop.
This is something I’m keeping my eye on with new bases out there. I think artisans are doing a great job of playing to their market and fans, but I’m hoping more start adding ease of load/lather/use to their formulation plans. More approachable, easy to use products that perform at a high level in my mind is the gateway to getting more into the hobby and in turn, more sales. But I digress…..
Not having a matching splash, today I opted to pull one of my newer favourites, Crown Shaving’s Aftershave Tonic. This masculine barbershop has that powder and anise up front and centre, and works well with so many different shaving soap scents. Performance is really good my skin is left feeling nice and hydrated and the scent carries well for a while.
I also wanted to highlight another product that recently hit my den from Oil Can Grooming. This is their grease pomade. I’m no connoisseur of pomades but I was recently picking up a few things from Stonefield Shaving and decided to give it a shot. I was low on whatever generic stuff I normally run. I was really surprised at how much I’m enjoying this. It doesn’t feel super heavy, works in quick and easily and has great hold. Scent is a nice Amber/Vanilla. It is subtle enough to not clash with any scent but strong enough to enjoy while applying. I hope this isn’t a new gateway drug for me. lol
All for now – J
