Razor: Karve CB on C
Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock SharpEdge Yellows
Brush: Paragon 28mm Plisson Synthetic
Soap: Entre Bulles et Moi Filslade
Other: Thirsty Badger lather bowl
Man, what a crazy night. We had another crazy Saskatchewan winter swing yesterday evening. Second week of January typically is one of the coldest days of the year dropping into major frigid temps. It is quite rare for us to see temperatures above zero for the entire winter. Yesterday it jumped above freezing, it rained and then we had huge winds and snow to follow it up. That made for a natural skating rink, roads were an absolute disaster and we were without power for about 13 hours. The backyard is filled with the beginnings of snow men as the wind actually rolled up a bunch of snowballs from the snow in the yard. When the dust (or snow) settled, I had a few electronic devices that died in the power disruptions and a satellite dish hanging off the side of my house. Yeesh. Made it a bit tough to work from home today but at least I didn’t have to venture out either. With the power back on, I had just enough time to get in a beauty #CanadaWeek shave, put in a few hours of work and type out this quick SOTD.
Today I went for a lesser known Canadian artisan out of Quebec, Entre Bulles et Moi. I don’t speak a lot of French but I can decipher on her Etsy page that she sells several skin care products and a few assorted shave items. This particular shave soap was made up special for the YouTuber Filslade. This tallow based soap is an homage to Drakkar Noir. I was never a Drakkar guy, I only faintly remember smelling it back in high school and giving it a big nope. I have never revisited it so I don’t know how well this compares. What I can say for this is that I get a distinct powdery barbershop vibe with some herbaceous and woodsy notes. Honestly I’m going to have to revisit this classic as the scent was really nice.
Along with scent, another thing I really liked was the performance. This soap was very easy to work with. It loaded and lathered very easily in the bowl (toot toot, look at that beauty). It was able to take a lot of water but wasn’t inherently thirsty having a wide hydration band. I love soaps that perform like that because they are so easy to use. Performance wise this had good cushion and slickness, with the residual being a bit of a step down. Post shave my skin felt great. I really enjoyed the soap. If I only had the frag to pair it with.
The brush today is the first Canadian made brush I ever acquired, a 28mm Plisson Synthetic from Paragon Shaving. While this doesn’t have bright coloured resin or fancy resin/wood hybrid, it does have a wonderful natural wood finish and is one of the most comfortable brushes I own. That handle combined with the large 28mm Plisson style knot gives a brush is an absolute joy to use. After picking this up, I never look at smaller sized synthetic knots the same. It is a great brush and Rodrigo is an absolute joy to deal with.
A bit of a gong show day but at least I was able to fit in a stellar shave. All for now – J
