The Shave Den – Egyptian Spice shaving soap

Tags

6/10, frankincense, myrrh, shaving soap, spice, the shave den

The next soap up on the chopping block is a sample from The Shave Den. The Egyptian spice is a mostly sweet scent with a bit of spiciness to it. They describe it as a “spicy fragrance with notes of frankincense and myrrh”. I can’t really say I know what either smells like, but it’s fairly pleasant.

It definitely could have used a bit more oomph to it; it’s easy enough to smell when sniffing the puck, but only a little of the scent seems to carry over to the lather.

For the lather, I’m not sure if I’m just getting better at lathering this stuff, if this sample is better, or maybe it just performs better after it aged, but it worked better than I remember. I used to have problems overshooting the sweet spot for water content, but not so much the last few tries with this particular sample; it didn’t seem easy to accidentally overwater. Managed a decent balance of glide and thickness each time without much difficulty.

• 8/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 5/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

So, overall, an underwhelming 6/10. Still not enough kick to the scent to really make it an interesting shave, IMHO.

• Cost: A one ounce sample goes for $2.50, or $6.99 for a full 4 ounce puck (an extra $2 if you want a tub with it).

Gear used:

• Brush: Mühle HJM Black Fibre
• Razor: 1966 Solid Nickel Gillette Tech
• Blade: Treet Dura Sharp
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: Glycerin, Aqua, Olive Oil, Bentonite Clay, Sodium Borate, Sweet Almond Oil, Sodium Palmate, Sorbitol, Sodium Cocoate, Palm Acid, Coconut Acid, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, and fragrance.

J. Peterman 1903 Concentrated Shaving Cream

Tags

bergamot, cardamom, citrus, clary sage, cologne, elemi, fougère, frankincense, J. Peterman, labdanum, leather, shaving cream, smoke, tobacco, wood

To kick off the week, we’ve got J. Peterman’s 1903 Concentrated Shaving Cream.

True to its name, it’s a rather dense cream, which whips up quite easily; a bit thirstier than most creams out there, it did need a bit of fiddling with the right amount of water to get just right. It turned into a fairly thick lather, with some rather good glide. I did notice a bit of a lack of lather stability; there was some breaking down happening by the time I got near the end of each pass. After the shave, it left the face feeling rather nice.

The scent is akin to a rather spicy cologne. J. Peterman’s website makes up some story about “finding” it in a shop in Paris, but describes it as follows:

an “old woody fougère.” Clean citrus notes, bergamot, “green notes.” The middle notes: clary sage…cardamom. The dry-down: leather notes, smoky labdanum…elemi, tabac, frankincense.

I guess that sounds like a reasonable description to me. I found it to be a rather subdued spicy and smokey scent. Not too strong, but nice and steady nonetheless.

• 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
• 7/10 Scent Strength
• 8/10 Lather Quality

Overall? A solid 7/10. Decent enough all-around, nothing outstanding; I think I might like to try the cologne though.

• Cost: This sample was received from a kindly fellow redditor who wanted to know what I thought. If you’re looking to purchase some, it’ll run you $28 for a 7 oz tub. Unfortunately, they don’t ship internationally for some bloody reason, so offer valid for US residents only.

Gear used:

• Brush: The Colonel
• Razor: Vintage Bakelite Slant
• Blade: Asco Super Stainless
• Scuttle: Robert’s Feats of Clay #4

Ingredients: No clue. Can’t find a listing anywhere.