IanS Soaps - Lanolin Line

I am allergic to wool.  This I learned when I joined the Army as pretty much everything is made of wool.  Socks, blankets, gloves, sweaters, you get the idea, anything meant to keep one warm is pretty much wool.  My drill sergeant was kind enough to let me wear my white cotton socks under my green (steel)wool socks once he saw what the issue ones were doing to me.  My wife loves to knit, especially using any of the many varieties of wool.  She was sad to learn of my allergies, but does make me awesome things using cotton/polyester yarns.

Recently Ian told me he was running a new batch of soap and was adding lanolin for it's emollient properties, moisturizing the skin thus aiding in the protection of the skin during shaving.  It has also been shown to remain on the skin for many hours afterwards continuing to protect long after the shave has ended.  There are some that swear by lanolin and primarily use soaps containing it and others that have noticed no difference between soaps with or without wool fat.  My interest in trying some of the soaps available was quickly quelled when I realized that due to my allergy laying down a layer of lanolin lather on my face would probably not end well.  I passed on my concerns of trying out this new soap to which he replied that it only contained 0.75% lanolin.  We agreed I should test the lather on a less sensitive and noticeable place before applying to the face.

OK, day four of using the new formula and if there is a reaction it is very slight and not visible.  I do feel a slight itch throughout the day, but that may be psychosomatic.   Each one of Ian's soaps I try become my new favorite.  This morning I really did not need to shave due to yesterday's shave being so close.  In the Army I had to shave twice a day most days.  Today, I could have easily passed inspection, from yesterday's shave.  The protection from this new soap protects well enough to allow me to reduce the stubble to the extreme.  My little boy has given up comparing my freshly shorn face to his (did I win??)  

Another thing I have noticed with IanS Soaps, the rinse water becomes extremely slick after a few passes.  Using the rinse water to clean off the lather between passes actually creates an added layer of moisturizing slickness making the skin even more conducive to sliding sharp steel over it.  This is why such close shaves are possible with this product, it actually becomes better throughout the shave by adding protection with each pass.

Arko Shave Soap

Turkish soap. Used the world over for good reason, its solid performance over the years and competitive price.  Upon opening the shipping package, I was immediately reminded of something that I couldn't quite place.  Many comment that it smells like one of the commercial bath soaps, or reminds some of industrial cleaners/toilet pucks, but I'm not sure that's it.  However, even those that don't like the scent agree it does the job pretty darn well.  I don't know why, but it's one of those happy scents for me, definitely not like a urinal cake. And even with my hard water its performance is quite good.  A couple of drops of vegetable glycerin on top of my puck seems to help with the slickness, easy enough to add just before loading the brush.  I have tried other oils but the glycerin seems to do the best job.

The soap itself comes in shave stick form wrapped simply in very recognizable foil.  Some prefer to rub the stick on the face to load the stubble; others hold it in their hand using the forefinger and thumb to form a "bowl" with one end of the stick forming the bottom of the bowl; while still others grate it up and put it in a container from which to load the brush.  Rubbing the stick on my face didn't appeal to me and holding the stick in the bowl fashion seemed messy as the whole stick would get wet and slippery.  Grating seemed like a good choice and was easily done with a food planer "borrowed" from the kitchen, and mashed into my container of choice.  Loading the brush did take awhile, but not quite as long as another well known brand.  The lather has moderate staying power and provided enough cushion to do the job.  And the scent makes me feel like I am getting a clean shave if nothing else.

 

IanS Soaps

I have been meaning to do a review of an order of hand-crafted soaps I had received from IanS Soaps after reading some threads on BadgerAndBlade.com and seeing his contribution regarding making soap.  He sounded very knowledgeable about the interactions of the various oils and lyes used in soap making.  Making shave soap is different in so far as the two soaps have two different purposes, one is used for cleaning and the other used as a lubricating barrier between razor steel and your skin.  He seemed to understand the difference more so than others I had seen on the forum and when I found he was off loading some old stock I decided to try it out.  Turns out to be the best investment in shaving products so far.  I received four different samples, each with a different scent and consistency.  They go from thick, creamy, very soft to hard as a hockey puck.  The scents are faint but still definitely there.  All are tallow based with all natural ingredients.

To do justice to these soaps, I should review each one separately, however I don't think I yet have the words to describe the subtle differences between them.  They are each absolutely amazing!  Each one I've tried gives amazing shaves, my face has never felt so smooth.  I have read reviews of soaps wherein the reviewer states their face felt great all day even without aftershave.  One day family duties caused me to miss the aftershave part and all day my face did feel good.  The lather produced is unlike anything I have experienced, soft and creamy and slick, all without having to add extra products to compensate for my hard water.  

All this lather does come at a small price though, and by that I mean it requires very little soap to create quite a bit of lather.  I haven't yet had the privilege of trying any of the higher end soaps, but I really can not see how there is much room to justify the price difference.  Face lathering today with my well broken in generic boar brush and IanS "Garage" actually felt like the wings from a thousand tiny angels caressing my face.

Astra / Knack Success

Wow.  I got one of the smoothest shaves this morning.  After thinking that I would be having a couple of weeks worth of lackluster shaves ahead of me, I am very satisfied with what I could pull off with that old Knack loaded with a one-shave old Astra SP.  Now, there was a tiny bit of blood involved, but definitely worth the results.
I was up a bit early so I had plenty of time.  Big band music playing in the background, gotta love Pandora.  The boy got my usual hand towel soaked last night and I decided to try it for my towel wrap as it is considerably thicker than my usual face wrap towel.  The extra thickness held in the warmth and steam quite a bit longer, I may be switching towels.  I also boiled up three times the amount of water than my normal routine.  Like I said, I had time, and it was not going to waste this morning.  Total shave time, thirty minutes.
Now I don't know if it was the thicker towel, extra water holding heat longer, the Noxzema "pre-lather"(more on that later), the razor/blade combo, or all of the above, but I can not quit rubbing my face.  This is why I got into wet shaving.
 For the lather, I added three drops of glycerin and two drops of jojoba oil.  I am liking that combo, there was a little bit of chatter at the beginning of the shave, but it was gone after the first few strokes.  I do believe the hard water here is causing me problems that I will find a solution to.  On there B&B forum there was a thread about smearing Noxzema over the beard before apply the lather.  I tried that on the second pass and did notice how much slicker the lather was.  Nothing like the feeling of Noxzema spread on a face that just had a razor run over it.  Try it.

Gillette Knack / Astra SP / Arko

There is nothing like using a piece of equipment made 46 years ago that reminds one of some of the many reasons wet shaving is experiencing a resurgence.  I used a 1967 Gillette Knack this morning with an Astra SP loaded.  Normally I will only use the Knack with a Shark blade to take down a few days growth, but a buddy of mine is trying Astra blades and I thought I'd join him and try out the Astra with the Knack.  Although the shave was not spectacular, it's still pretty cool to be using a razor that was made almost fifty years ago and still works as good as new and looks barely used.  A little back story on the Knack, it seems most of the "cool guys" in the wet shaving community like to get a Birth Year Razor.  Even better if it bears a stamp showing it was manufactured in the same quarter as their birthday.  When I went looking for a vintage razor, I came across this Knack.  It's not the most popular of the vintage razors as the reported results from this guy aren't exactly stellar.  Still, it's mine, albeit slightly newer than me, and we've both been around awhile and are still looking good.  I like the long and thin rubberized handle, maybe because it's closest to what I'd been using for so long before switching to a safety razor.  We'll see how I feel about it by the time I wear this blade out.
For the lather today, I added 3 drops of glycerin and 2 drops of Jojoba oil to my Arko.  Fairly smooth lather, maybe a bit slicker than the lather with coconut oil added.  I think I'll do the same setup tomorrow just to make sure I like it.  One of the things I like about Arko is smell when I do the hot towel wrap.  The scent seems to really come alive under a steamy hot towel.

So all in all, not the closest shave, but comfortable and definitely enjoyable.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Day 6 on the Wilkinson's was not super spectacular, but still very acceptable.  Funny how my standards for a daily shave have changed.  Seems not long ago stubble was a fine shave.  Now, the resistant hairs along the jawline must be conquered in order for me to call it a shave.  I think I can get one more day on the current blade. 
If not, I have loaded my 1967 Gillette Knack with an Astra SP (Superior Platinum) as a friend of mine is currently trying out the Astra.  I didn't have much luck with Astra running in my Merkur 180 Long Handle (23c to those of you on the other side of the other pond).  Since I had it out to take photos of it based on a request by a fellow Badger & Blade member, who also happens to run the West Coast Shaving online site, I figured why not try out the Astra in it.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Today's shave was very very nice.  BBS without a doubt.  Irritation was minimal, the glycerin seemed to make the lather a bit slicker.  The only stutter I noticed was at the beginning, which to be honest the razor head did start off the lather.  Not counting that, the razor head seemed to glide across the skin.  I will definitely be adding glycerin to my soap.  I have a theory that I am losing some slickness to the hard water we have.
Soap was Arko with four drops of glycerin.
Fifth day on the Wilkinson's blade (go blade, go!) left me with very little irritation and only a couple very minor red dots.
I did get to do some blade buffing and spent some time on touch up.  Overall, one damn fine shave!