Razor: Yaqi Mellon
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Yaqi Silvertip Badger
Soap: Talbot Shaving Cole’s Pond
Aftershave: Talbot Shaving Cole’s Pond
This offering from Talbot Shaving has been on my radar for a while. Luckily a friendly member of the CWS group was able to hook me up.
First, my son’s name is Cole, I thought it would be kind of cool to have a shaving set with his namesake. Second, the scent description really resonated with me. The scent notes on this are fir, pine, balsam, camphor, eucalyptus, amber and cedar. The way it is described, it brought back a specific memory of my dad ad I back in the bush near “Chris’s Pond” cutting down a small Christmas tree for our family Christmas at the cabin. To this day it is still my favourite ‘Dad & I’ memory. It is a very green scent with that crisp eucalyptus/camphor backing. This isn’t Vick’s vapour rub, rather it gives that impression of crisp winter air. I really enjoyed the scent and it speaks perfectly to the winters in Northern Saskatchewan.
For the brush today I thought the colour of this Yaqi Silvertip would fit the photo perfectly. This brush is comfortable to hold and has a nice balance of scritch and softness. What I don’t like about it is how much of a lather hog it is. This thing eats lather like no ones business and getting it to release the lather is a bit of work. Luckily this soap base worked well with the brush. I gave it a pretty heavy load and with a little patience, I was able to get a fantastic face lather with more than enough lather for 3 passes. This soap base is excellent. It loads very easily and lathers that way too. In no time I was able to get a shiny, lower volume lather that was very slick. I don’t find the lather as rich and buttery as some of the newer high end bases but it also lathers so easily that isn’t missed. I’m starting to find some of the new bases a bit over the deep end on the richness and sacrificing a bit too much in the ease of use department. This soap doesn’t fall into that category at all.
The matching splash smelled great and performed well enough but it doesn’t compare to the new Talbot/Maol Grooming aftershave base. Honestly if I hadn’t already experienced the new Talbot aftershaves done by Maol Grooming I think this would hold up fine in the performance department. Unfortunately now the Talbot/Maol splash base I want when I think Talbot. Scent does carry in a subtle way for a little while, a couple hours later and I still get that subtle scent peaking through.
A fantastic shave to start the day. Have a good one folks! – J
