This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
https://gem.wetshaving.social/ - a nice modern interface
https://old.wetshaving.social/ - designed to look like old.reddit.com
Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social/.
Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Mar 14, 2024 - Awakening
Excellent shave with a new Trotter brush! Love this dupe of Tom Ford's Bitter Peach.
Rating: 4/5
Amazing brush!! And I love the precision of the arrangement in that photo!
Thank you. You may be giving me more credit than I deserve for this photo, but I'll take it anyway. 😗
March 14, 2024
Brush: Chisel & Hound Classic 26mm V23 Fanchurian
Lather: Faena - Taurus - Soap
Toner: Thayers - Rose - Toner
Aftershave: Combe Inc. - Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue - Aftershave
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
I almost forgot to post this shave, but it was a very nice one. I enjoy this Faena soap base.
A particularly old-school shave today with only classics.
Mostly a great shave, but unfortunately, the unbleached Zenith is redeveloping his boar funk, in a massive, Texas Pig Stink Massacre-evoking, porta-pottyesque way. I had concluded a few days ago that something most be alive in it, and that I should attempt to kill it.
A little bit of googling and scrolling past the "hand lather a few times and it'll be fine" comments showed that a typical approach is to... bleach it with oxiclean. Now supposedly it's colour safe, but I still wasn't about to bleach my unbleached knot before having exhausted other remedies. So I soaked it in alcohol-based hand disinfectant (i.e., 70% rubbing alcohol, 30% water) for two days, rinsed it, did a long and thorough hand lather yesterday and let it dry overnight. This morning, I was rather optimistic sniffing the result. However, the second water touched that brush was like opening a cesspool hatch.
So now I'm back to square one, considering bleaching that knot with oxiclean. I'm very much open to other suggestions.
Other than that, great shave as mentioned. This firm boar knot is perfect for making The Fat lather without excessive foam, the Fine India Steel W&B is one of my treasured possessions and never fails to feel great, and Pitralon and 4711 are always pleasant (albeit short lived).
I'm very much open to other suggestions
I've successfully used baking soda dissolved in water to eliminate the smell in stinking t-shirts - and which I thought I would have to throw away.
I also used boric acid powder years ago to make a shoe deodorizer that worked rather well - but this isn't available in France anymore.
That being said, these might ruin your knot - but hey, at least it's not bleaching 😎
Huh. I think baking soda is a bleach, ackchually,
I should be brushing up (hihi) on my undergrad chemistry classes, but I'm starting to think that the main risk of baking soda and sodium percarbonate (oxiclean ond other brand names) isn't to the knot but to the aluminium handle. Luckily the knot is hot-glued, so I should be able to extract it, play breaking bad with it, and reset it.
My plan, a ratchet of destinkification as it were, goes as follows:
Huh. I think baking soda is a bleach, ackchually, I should be brushing up (hihi) on my undergrad chemistry
You had undergrad chemistry, so I'll take your word over mine 😁
In my lay man's mind, bleach was something that removes.color, and I don't believe that this happened to my clothes when treated with baking soda.
Good luck with your destinkification!
Thanks! I'm really hoping it'll work, this brush was one of my best boars pre restankening
I have very little patience with stinkiness. Bon chance!
Fine India Steel++;
merci!
That sounds unpleasant
And smells worse 😅
March 14, 2024
Gonna use this soap again tomorrow