Razor: The Goodfellas’ Smile Gladio Open Comb Safety Razor
Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock SharpEdge Yellows
Brush: Some Making Required 26mm Cashmere Synthetic
Soap: First Canadian Shave Notorious
Aftershave: First Canadian Shave Notorious Splash
It was so nice…. I ran it twice. Notorious is the newest release from First Canadian Shave Company. I was excited when it arrived on Friday and I knew exactly what I wanted to use for my shave Saturday morning live shave on the Lather & Blade Facebook group. The scent was so good, I ran it again today.
Notorious is an homage to Ralph Lauren Polo Double Black. Scent notes on this are Mango, Pepper, Roasted Coffee Beans, Indonesian Nutmeg, Woodsy Notes, Cardamom and Juniper Berries. This is a fantastic cologne scent that reads spicey and woodsy. It is very familiar but I can’t quite put my finger on what to. I’ve never owned the original frag but I think I will be remedying that as this scent is just awesome. The cardamom is a note that stands out which is probably why I love it so much. Scent strength is mid strong on this one, perfect for this scent profile. This release is in the buffalo milk base which is top shelf, one of my personal favs. It lathers very easily and performs as good as anything.
For the razor today, I’m using another loaner from Kal Shaves, the Goodfellas’ Smile Gladio. While this gave me the best shave of the three that were loaned (Henson, PAA Stainless Ascension) it still has some inherent flaws that would make it a pass for me. First, it has an aluminium handle with vertical fluting for the knurling pattern. Both don’t work for me. Aluminium is too light for this head and it throws the balance off and the vertical pattern doesn’t do much when you get a bit of soap on the hands. I also think the QA is pretty poor on this razor. The post doesn’t seem to have the proper threading as this handle (and others I tried) seem a bit wobbly until really torqued down. The cap also has a bit of wobble so blade alignment could be an issue. It just doesn’t feel like a well built razor. Having said all that, I did get a surprisingly decent shave with it given all the deficiencies, but there are way better razors given that price-point.
I finished up the shave with the matching post shave splash. Scent on this is also on the stronger side of medium and will carry for a little while. Randy has a really good non-alcohol formula that does tick all the boxes for what I need in a post shave. I highly recommend grabbing this set when it is back in stock.
A great shave today, the big question now is….. will I run it thrice?
All for now – J
