Razor: Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements DOC
Blade: Wilkinson Swords
Brush: Vie-Long horse hair
Soap: Uncle Jon’s Gravity
Aftershave: Añeja Vetiver
A little late with my SOTD. It was boy’s day, as Mom was working hard today. Father and son had a full day, an epic Lego build, first barbershop visit for the boy, off for a dude’s lunch, and finished up with a movie at the theatre. I did get to start the day off with a shave. The weather has been crummy of late, and I have been fighting an illness, so I’ve been really missing those vacation days recently in the warmth of Mexico. I wanted to do a shave the reminded me of the trip.
I recently picked up this Uncle Jon’s Gravity soap. I had his Lime soap earlier and it wasnt for me, but I wanted to give it another go. The scent on this instantly takes me back to the beach. You know that beach scent your clothes all get when you are on vacation? That is what this smells like to me. Fantastic. It is a bit mild on scent strength off the puck, coming out a bit more as you lather. That just works with this particular scent, too strong and it just wouldn’t fit.
I also recently picked up this Vie-Long brush. I was looking to try a horse hair and I loved the look of this *American Style* brush, reminding me of the Rubberset brushed I see and crave. It is a 50/50 mix of mane and tail. For those that don’t know, horse hair brushes are considered more humane than boar or badger as the animal doesnt need to be harmed during collection of the hair. It has been described to me as similar to boar with a few properties like badger. Vie-Long seemed to get good positive reviews on their horse hairs so I gave this a go. I have to say, so far I’m disappointed. The brush itself is quite scratchy. It appears that the softer hairs are on the outside giving it the softness you would expect and the rougher hair is in the middle providing the backbone. If you are light touch on your brush I guess you wouldnt notice the roughness, but any pressure at all and scratch city. I’m hoping that softens up as it goes. The other issue I have, the finish is already coming off after a few uses. Not cool at all.
Too bad because it looks so good before hand, and other than the scratchiness (which I’m hoping will settle out) it performed quite well for a smaller knot.
The blade I used was a Wilkinson Sword. I recently ordered a big pack of them. I really dig these blades. I find I get the right balance of sharp and smooth with almost any razor. I used my DOC today since, why not, it looks so damn cool 🙂
I finished of with the Añeja Vetiver aftershave I picked up in Mexico. A really nice vetiver scent with a good alcohol burn. The bottle is huge so expect this to appear in the SOTDs quite often. It did cost the same as my 40 of rum though (both were a heck of a bargain)
That’s it for the weekend. Hope the weather clears soon, this illness burns off and we finally get a real taste of Spring. Hope everyone had a great weekend, all for now – J
