areffasoap from Ukraine

Wednesday November 30, 2022
Razor: Asylum 17-4
Blade: Wizamet
Brush: Sorentino Orange Crush/Cashmere
Soap: Areffa Soaps Time Dragon
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: CFG Ghost Town Barber
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,485

When a member posted getting 4 sets of this soapmaker in I was curious and after some googling decided to get a couple to try. The Company is in Kiev, Ukraine. My order was placed on Nov 1st and in a day or so (Time Difference) I was contacted with a shipping quote and Total which I paid by PayPal. I recieved the soaps on the 29th due to customs hold up in Ukraine as well as the US. Areffa was VERY fast to respond to each email inquiry during the process and I could not be happier with the transaction. I purchased Time Dragon and Discoverer for a Total of about $38 which included shipping and chose Time Dragon for today's shave:

The main notes of the fragrance are leather and smoked wood.

Type of aroma: leathery, woody
Top note: bergamot, saffron
Heart note: pine, balsam, white flowers, sandalwood
Base note: leather, oud, patchouli

Scent strength was in the medium range and enough to pick it up but not enough to be distracting. I enjoyed it very much and think leather and smoked wood sums upthe overall scent perfectly. Looking forward to further uses and will do a video shave with one of these soaps with further thoughts after more uses. Have a great day everyone !

Sunday Decem*boar* 4, 2022
Razor: "The King" Clark Razor
Relief Pitcher Razor: The Clark Silver King
Blade: Gem SS
Brush: Fluffy Industries #86/Oumo Boar
Soap: Areffa Soaps Discoverer
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: Nivea 2 into 1
Fragrance: Tom Ford Grey Vetiver
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,490

I was happy to get the Original "The King" razor by Clark when I saw it pop up for the 1st time ever.................until I shaved with it. The design had me fileted in 3 places with 2 strokes. Not due to technigue or an aggressive razor but the design and now I see why it was redesigned quickly an had a few iterations. The method for securing the blade was changed completely after the first. The original bellied the blade up in the center area of the cutting edge and hence my 2 slices. I switched to the Silver King to finish the first pass and passes 2 & 3 as well to finish the shave which was an uneventful smooth shave after the relief razor entered the game. Still happy to have the Original as I have NEVER seen another "The King" before for sale or in a SOTD picture. Not saying they aren't out there but I'd love to see another if anyone has one. Have a great day everyone !

Monday December 5, 2022
Razor: Rockwell 6S Plate 5
Blade: Wizamet
Brush: Graydog Quilt/Synthetic
Soap: Areffa Soaps Discoverer
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: Nivea 2 into 1
Fragrance: Tom Ford Grey Vetiver
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,491
https://youtu.be/e4-3gkcWNRk

Monday December 26, 2022
Razor: Blackbird Ti
Blade: Wizamet
Brush: Semogue/Boar
Soap: Areffa Soaps Time Dragon
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: DCCS Winter Reserve
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,512

Wednesday February 8, 2023
Razor: Gem Junior/Baton Handle
Blade: Gem SS
Brush: Trotter Handcraft/Badger
Soap: Arrefa Kentucky Bourbon Shaving Cream
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: Small Batch Shave Tonic
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,556



First shave with this shave cream and a pleasant one. I wasn't sure how much to use as I'm not a big user of creams and HATE bowl lathering but we all have our struggles in life. Placed a small amount but hopefully enough in the turkish copper bowl and off we go. At first as the Badger swallowed up the cream, I was thinking it was going to require more product. Kept swirling and adding water and it in time exploded wih lather. I may have went to fast and with too much water as it was a little airy for me but still a nice creamy feel. Protection and glide was certainly acceptable and while not "WOW and AMAZING" it was a very good shave and my face feels soft and supple afterwards.....HEY keep your hands to yourself !!


Something I never worried about is the quality of the container. This container feels cheaply made but guess what ? It holds the product and will be pitched no doubt after it's empty since I don't have a shortage of empties. It did it's job. While not an elite top drawer artisan product this is a good shaving cream and at basically $10 for 3.5 ounces it's a bargain . The cream has an interesting ingredient....Badger Tallow and Beer !

Soap ingredients: stearic acid, coconut oil, water, beer, KOH, badger tallow, palm oil, glycerin, sorbitol, shea butter, lanolin, mango oil, avocado oil, NaOH, perfume composition, kaolin clay, sodium lactate, sodium citrate, jojoba oil

Scent notes from the site shows:

Notes :

Top: orange, bergamot

Middle: clove, midnight orchid

Base: oak cask, musk, leather, patchouli.

Not sure how to describe the scent other than it is nice but more sweet to me than a good Bourbon. Must be the mix of everything together. It reminded me of something and then I checked my tub and yep, VERY similar to Henri Et Victoria's Cognac and Cuban Cigars. So a nice shave was had and whie cleaning up everything and the TON of lather that was left AFTER the shave was sitting there it began drawing a crowd......I'll use less product next time and try the smear on the face and face lather instead of the bowl method. Have a great day everyone !

Friday February 10, 2023
Razor: Shake Sharp
Blade: Wizamet
Brush: Stuart/Timberwolf
Soap: Arrefa Kentucky Bourbon Shaving Cream
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: Small Batch Shave Tonic
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,558

So today was the smear cream on the face and lather method (I may do the palm lather method another time as it was recommended) I got a similar but better lather and think it may be due to the combinaton of using the synthetic brush and using less water than when I bowl lathered. A nice shave was had with a favorite vintage razor. I'm still not a big Shaving Cream fan but will keep this around for awhile. I do see this getting pif'd along at some point as I will be grabbing 1 of the 4 Arrefa soaps I have when Arrefa is reached for. The scent is too similar to a soap I have from another maker that was a gift. Crazy winds blew thru yesterday that knocked some trees down at a friends so off to there today to do some storm cleanup for him. Have a great day everyone !

Saturday February 11, 2023
Razor: La Faulx AC SE
Blade: Schick Proline
Brush: Lutin Lightning/Badger
Soap: Areffa Steel Credo
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: Ethos Blood Orange SFS
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,559

This soap base with the bear tallow was why I placed another order and this is a nice bright scent. It's light but there to enjoy. It came with a slight animalistic note I've heard about with other artisans in the past and so left it sit lid off for a couple nights which cleared it out and left the pleasant scent it is fter the base scent wifted off. Nice easy lather that had everything needed to have a great shave. I especially like how cleanly it seems to rinse off when done.

1st run with the La Faux with a Schick Proline installed. Loading the blade was easy and no issues with it accepting a proline blade as some AC SE's do. I don't think the issue lies with the blades manufacturing stamps changing as some have eluded to and glad to see an SE razor that accepts these as many have it as a preferred blade. Drop onto the pins of the top cap and set the baseplate down onto it and thread the handle on. The titanium has a nice weight to it and comfortable on the skin. I found the shave to be mild feeling but got the job done. Looking forward to some more shaves with this new to the market razor now available made to order in a number of metals. Have a great day everyone !

Sunday February 19, 2023
Razor: FIRMblade
Blade: Shark
Brush: Sorrentino Orange Crush/Cashmere
Soap: Areffa Golden Sunrise
AS 1: Witch Hazel
AS 2: CFG Ghost Town Barber
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,567

Thursday October 19, 2023
Razor: Schick Type "O" Clone
Blade: Schick Twin
Brush: Sorrentino "Clown Puke"/Synthetic
Soap: Areffa Steel Credo
AS : Proraso Green
Fragrance:
Consecutive Daily Shaves - # 1,808