Razor: ALE 9/8″ 1/2 hollow
Brush: Tournure de bois 26mm Cashmere Synthetic
Soap: First Canadian Shave Ace of Spades
Aftershave: First Canadian Shave Ace of Spades Splash
It’s the weekend! I made it. This was a bit of a gong show week so I’m looking forward to having a little down time. One of the best parts of the weekend for me is the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the shave just a little bit more. Weekends are usually the time when I bust out a straight razor, so it is a perfect time in #CanadaWeek to highlight this Canadian made ALE razor. If you aren’t familiar with ALE razors I highly suggest you check out his work. For the price I don’t know if you will find a better custom straight razor. This looks boss, has great heft and shaves like a dream. Alejo also has customer service that is second to none.
No #CanadaWeek would be complete without using a set from First Canadian Shave. Randy makes an amazing product, one of my favourite bases out there. His Sandalwood is one of my all time favourite scents. It has been cool to see how far First Canadian has come since Randy took over the company. He now has two elite soap bases, one in Tallow/Goat Milk and the other in Tallow/Buffalo Milk. This soap is in the latter. This buffalo base is easily one of the tops in my den and elite by all metrics. It hangs with the big players no problem but what I really love is just how easy it is to lather and dial in the water. The hydration band is wide and it doesn’t take a lot of water to get it performing like it should, but you can spend some time and push even more water into it if that is how you like it.
Ace of Spades is a wonderful scent offering notes of Cigar, cherry, bourbon, and bergamot. This blend just pops and every time I smell it I get something a bit different. At first sniff I get some creamy bourbon notes of vanilla and some notes of fruit like apple and fig. Then as I lather the cherry cigar really pops. Every now and then I get a bit of an orange citrus punch pop through as well. It really is a great scent experience. Scent strength is mid strong on this one.
The brush today has one of my favourite knots, a cashmere synthetic, from one of my favourite Canadian artisans, Tournure de bois. Francis does a great job with his resin pours but the ones I really love are his wood hybrid handles. They look stunning and are very comfortable to hold. His price point can’t be beat for a brush this good. I guess that’s why I own three of them.
I finished up the shave with the matching splash from FCS. The splash is an excellent match for the soap, reading just a touch more cherry tobacco. Scent strength is mid strong and has a bit of staying power. Performance is nice and with it being a witch hazel base you won’t get any burn. A perfect finish to a kick ass shave.
One last shave in #CanadaWeek tomorrow. I expect that decision to be a tough one. All for now – J
