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Perfect!
great review @Draco Noir!![]()
Face Wash : Shower
Pre-Shave : Myrsol Pre-Shave Emulsion
Brush : Shavemac
Soap : Il Coloniali
Razor : Fine Superlite Slant
After Shave : Alum, Lipikar Balm, Tom Ford Grey Vetiver
Wednesday surprise...
Yesterday's mail delivery brought me a new toy - the Fine Slant in the photo above. It was a bit of an impulse buy, but all my past experience with Fine has been of a smart company producing a really good product at a really good price. And added to that was the appeal of trying an identical copy of a vintage Merkur Bakelite Slant, which seems to attract some reverence in some DE circles.
So, for the princely sum of U$30 I pre-ordered one. Taking it out of the box was the first surprise - it is so unbelievably light that it feels like an escapee from the kids' Lego collection. Taking the plastic handle off the plastic top plate reveals that the threaded stud on the top cap is actually made of metal, as is the threaded collar in the top of the handle. I don't know exactly what plastic they made the razor from - they only say "Polymer". But it's a fair bet with modern plastics technology that the plastic parts of the razor are very robust. Fitting the blade is easy enough, but the razor really torques that blade - so much that there was a lot of creaking from the blade when I tightened the handle after fitting it. Looking at the loaded razor, I was surprised at the amount of blade gap and blade reveal. It suggested that it might be a slightly rough ride. I lathered up with the I Coloniali. A very slick lather, but a little lacking in body and volume. I must get some tips from @Lifes a Peach, who absolutely swears by I Coloniali.
Time to shave. I picked the Slant up, and dived into the unknown. I adopted the "zero positive pressure" approach and took the first stroke. Wow - totally smooth and drag free on the face, and plenty of audible feedback, but no sign of aggression yet. I continued to shave, and this proved to be the pattern for the entire first pass - smooth, really efficient, pleasantly noisy and seemingly well behaved. I followed up with another two passes (XTG and ATG) and found that the razor did a really comfortable job with everything. I shaved parts of my neck ATG which I never risk with most of my other razors, and with some help from the very slick I Coloniali, even managed to buff a couple of trouble spots. Buffing with a brand new Polsilver is definitely cool in my book. I ended up with what may well be the smoothest all over shave I've ever given myself with any razor.
Sorry, this has turned into a mini-review. My enthusiasm button has been well and truly pushed. Well, I think Fine have hit it out of the park with this razor. It's an amazing shaver, and I think U$30 is incredible value. I'm not all sure I'd recommend this to beginners though - it really needs some good technique, particularly as far as pressure control is concerned. However for a seasoned shaver, it looks like you can run the sharpest of sharp blades in it happily and get amazing results and enjoyment.
I finished up with a couple of the usual culprits and the Tom Ford Grey Vetiver which I think such a great shave deserved.
Footnote : I was going to say "they'll have to snatch the Fine Slant out of my cold, dead hand", but @Lifes a Peach has already pounced and snatched it from my warm, living handLook for his comments on the Fine Superlite Slant tomorrow
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Pre-Shave: Occams pre-shave soap, cold water
Razor: Wolfman SB-P WRH2
Blade: Ladas (2)
Brush: Paladin Chief
Lather: Vintage Yardley (kindly donated by @Mark1966)
Post-shave: Alum, Barrister & Man Kyovu Original, South Australian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
How can you not have a superb and happy shave with this line-up? You can't. Absolutely blissful, wonderful and silky smooth result!
The Yardley soap was kindly donated by @Mark1966 and I wanted to give it the best possible circumstances: Paladin and distilled water. The soap loaded dead easy - and shows, that a tallow soap can be very easy to load. I then went on to load like I love it (I'd say more than half of the super generous sample is gone now - and that surprised me, because it was a really big sample) and then started to slowly add water and build the lather.
The soap can take a lot of water, but not as much as my top tier soaps. For me it is very comparable to Barrister & Man, both in the ease of loading and in the amount of water it can take. The lather looked and felt great (as can be seen in the lather pics) - but I definitely went to the edge of how much water it can take...
The biggest let down for me was a tingling sensation on my face, as soon as it came in contact with the lather - and even worse a slight burning on my lips...
The biggest positive: a truly stellar post-shave feel - in this department the Yardley can compete will all may favourites.
So thanks again to @Mark1966 for letting me try this one out - I can really understand, why it must have been such a great soap in the past and even today, if it was still in production. Why people would sell their kidneys to get an old puck, when you can get stellar Artisan soaps for ~10US$...well that's a different question.
I keep telling myself I will use something other than the straight. Maybe tomorrow night.