Razor: DS Cosmetic DS-D8 w/ RazoRock Barberpole
Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock SharpEdge Yellows
Brush: Maritime Brush Co 26mm SHD Fan Badger
Soap: House of Mammoth Mood Indigo
Aftershave: House of Mammoth Mood Indigo Balm
This shave has been a long time coming. I’ve had this Mood Indigo set for a while now but I was waiting on this brush to feature the shave. I really wanted to use this purple brush handle with the photo but I’ve tried several knots in it and hadn’t found one that seemed right. I ended up setting this 26mm SHD Fan knot from Oumo in it and after SEVERAL washings to get the funk out, it was ready to go. Maritime Brush Co did amazing work on this handle, so I wanted a knot that looked the part. I love how it came out.
In the time waiting to post, I took the opportunity to get to know this soap base from House of Mammoth. It was my first time using this Duck Fat/Tallow base when I picked it up. I have to say this soap/balm is close to awesome but it does fall down a bit in a couple of areas. Let me explain. There is a lot to love about this offering from the House of Mammoth. Ben donates a bit of each sale to charity. The soap packaging is top-notch with professional and clean labels and the best-looking wide/round tubs. The base is excellent, it loads and lathers very easily and can hang with the tops in metrics like slickness, cushion and post-shave. The scent is excellent, Ben does all his own original scents and it offers a professional level of perfuming. Where it does fall down for me in the soap is scent strength. I’d say this is about a 2.5/10. I don’t always need powerhouse scents but I feel I’m just getting a hint of how good this scent is. Notes are black pepper, blueberry, rum, vetiver and night sky. To my nose, I get that fruity blueberry, a bit of the sweet boozy rum and a bit of restained and pleasant oud. It is subtle and I’m sure it is excellent but being so light I only have a hint of how good this would be were it a bit more robust.
And then on to the balm. I’m not a huge balm guy, but there wasn’t a splash option at the time of this writing. The description said this was to be a runny balm, that it is not. The packaging looks cool but I had instant frustration, it was too thick to come of a glass bottle. It was like trying to get the last bit of ketchup out of a glass ketchup bottle. But it has a pump you say? Ya, I added that at my own expense, ordering it from a soap supplier here in Canada. Incredibly frustrating. I think others must have had the same as I understand now the balm has been made a bit thinner and comes with a pump. Too late to help me though. The scent is also on the lighter side but it is a touch stronger than the soap, maybe a 3 or a 3.5 / 10 for me. I can pick out a bit more of the scent nuances in the balm with the vetiver and the black pepper a bit more prominent for me. I can say once I got the balm out by adding the pump, it performed extremely well. It has a silkiness to it and while a bit thicker than runny, it absorbs very well and leaves your skin feeling excellent.
So having said all that, even with the few frustrations, you can’t argue with the quality of the product. They both performed excellently. I have been getting fantastic shaves out of it and today was no exception. If you like complex yet ligher scents, this could be a home run for you and If there are stronger scents in the future I could totally see adding more to the den.
All for now – J
