Razor: Haward Safety Razor
Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Platinum Blacks
Brush: Simpsons Trafalgar T3 26mm Synthetic
Soap: The Club Black
Aftershave: The Club Black Splash
Other: John Varvatos Dark Rebel
The theme of the week at bbs.live is #blackandwhiteweek. The goal is to theme and post your SOTDs in black and white. A quick look through my shave den and it was a no-brainer what to base this shave around, The Club’s Black. It also seemed fitting to do my first post with the Simpsons Trafalgar T3 26mm Synthetic brush, which I won from Melly Mel of bbs.live fame. Mel is also a frag head so I had to drop a frag in with the shave as well.
Black is another fantastic offering from Peter at The Club/A&E. This particular release was in their pre-Kaizen formula but no worries there, it still holds up. In fact, in some ways, I still prefer it to K and K2. You don’t get the super-rich/buttery/creamy lather as the Kaizen bases but I do still find it so much easier to dial in, I can autopilot the perfect lather with this base. Still plenty slick and top marks on all levels. It still holds up with any base out there. The scent on this one is a home run for me, especially this time of year. Black Pepper, Tobacco, Oud, Amber, Dark Chocolate, Rum. You get a subtle spice of the pepper, the familiar oud note pretty prominent in several releases from Peter & Co, all over this backbone of a rich sweet Chocolate and Rum. If are you familiar with Peter’s lineup, I’d say this fits in perfectly with his releases The City and Wake the F*up, both of which I have. They really feel like flankers of each other all based around that central Oud accord. Each plays off that with another central note, coffee (Wake the F*up), Sandalwood (The City) or Dark Chocolate (Black). None are redundant but they all fit together and honestly, could be mixed and matched for soap/splash. If you like any of that lineup, you will like all of them.
The Simpsons T3 has been getting a fair amount of use in my den since I won that item. I typically gravitate to artisan brushes over these commercial brands but I do like the simplicity of this. The knot is a pretty nice synthetic, although it doesn’t live up to the hype for me. I’d still take a cashmere over this one, I don’t need the extra backbone and little bit of scritch this offers. I do appreciate the density here. It works great for bowl and face lathering for sure. It will probably move to be my travel brush when we start doing that again. No complaints but I still prefer the artisan-turned handles to this.
I finished up with the blackest fragrance I own, John Varvatos Dark Rebel. This isn’t really a match but it is a powerhouse man’s fragrance. There is some Boozy sweetness and Oud in this but the leather really changes the direction here. It is bold and masculine and I love it. Perfect for a cold fall or winter day. Heading into the weekend smelling like a boss. All for now – J
