Razor: Karve Bison
Blade: Wizamet – Super Iridium Stainless
Brush: Maritime Brush Co 26mm SHD 2 Band Badger
Soap: Ariana & Evans Lavender Noir
Aftershave: Ariana & Evans Lavender Noir
Today’s shave is dedicated to my friend Matt (aka Foxy Matt). I had the pleasure of meeting Matt for the first time at the Maggard’s meetup last summer. In fact, he was the first person I met at Maggards. We were standing in line to get into the building, and I turned and recognized him and introduced myself. Matt is a soft-spoken gentleman in the truest sense of the word. Very recently, Matt found out his wife has Glioblastoma—an aggressive form of brain cancer. The family has a tough road ahead of them and likely not much time left together. Currently, the wet shaving community has started a GoFundMe campaign to help out in any way possible. Any little something you can donate or places you can share the campaign would be appreciated. Matt and family, you are certainly in our thoughts.
Since this was one of the standout sets I picked up from the Maggards meetup, it felt like a great shave in honour of my friend and his family. Lavender Noir is a fantastic scent from Ariana & Evans and was a must-buy at first sniff. This scent offers notes of bergamot, mandarin, lavender, geranium, sambac jasmine, oud, patchouli, amber, pink pepper, vanilla, coffee, amber, patchouli, and benzoin. If you are a lover of Lavender scents, this will be a win for sure, but even if you are not, it is a very approachable lavender. It opens with a sweet brightness that pops from the citrus. The oud/patchouli/coffee/benzoin combo gives it a masculine cologne-style vibe. The entire scent is wrapped in this subtle lavender undertone that brings it together. This is one of those scents I would really appreciate in EDP form. The scent strength is about medium, which is just right for me.
This soap was my first exposure to the Ultima base. Soap bases don’t really stand out for me anymore. I tend to get great shaves with all my soaps. What I can say is that I got a great lather, slick and comfortable, and it was very easy to dial in. Essentially, it has everything I like in a soap base. The splash is also wonderful and has just the right balance of scent strength.
The razor is a recent addition to the den, the Karve Bison. This was Karve’s newest release around Black Friday. It is a 100% aluminum razor, which is generally a non-starter for me. Since this is a Karve, I wanted to give it a go. If any aluminum razor was going to win me over, this would be it. I’ve been getting really good shaves with the Bison, and today’s shave was no exception. I’m still getting used to the light weight, but it has a really good balance of mildness and efficiency. Finishing is the top-notch quality you expect from Karve. My only knock on the razor is the colour, black. This razor shall never be clean again, haha. My bad. Luckily, Karve has this in a few other colour options.
A great shave to end the weekend. We finally had our first dump of snow, at least the first of any consequence. I should probably go do one last shovelling before I call it a night.
All for now – J
