My Kairos Chypre Peach arrived in Friday's mail, a day ahead of schedule. The Chicago are USPS sorting center does a great job. I used it to shave this afternoon.
I was a little concerned that the "citrus accord" used for the scent might irritate my face. I am pleased to report that it did not. The scent notes are: Citruses, Maillette Lavender, Rose, Peach, Osmanthus, Spices, Amber, Oakmoss, Leather, Labdanum, Vetiver, and Patchouli . It is a complex scent of medium scent strength. You can smell the peach, but this is not the sweet scent of peach pie. It is more of a cologne scent.
Some folks have complained about some of the Grooming Dept soaps being too soft and shrinking over time. Mohammad has fixed this issue. The soap is quite firm, not like a triple milled tallow, but firm enough that your finger does not sink into the tub without a lot of pressure.
The soap loaded and lathered easily providing a low-structure lather.
When properly hydrated, the primary slickness is elite.
The residual slickness is also elite. That means that the blade is fully lubricated even after all visible lather has been removed. Those of you who follow my posts know that I have sensitive skin, easily irritated. However, Kairos is so good that I lathered up for my WTG, XTG and ATG passes, but when performing my final clean-up pass, I did not relather my face. I shaved my entire face with a BIC blade without the benefit of added lather. There are very few soaps in my extensive collection that are good enough for me to even attempt this.
When I rinsed off the residual soap and applied witch hazel as usual, there was no irritation. The shave was near-BBS. That is about as good a shave as I can get.
As soon as the witch hazel evaporated, I could feel the post-shave moisturizing and conditioning of the soap kicking in. Unlike some soaps, the feeling is not "heavy" or greasy. It has now been 16 hours since my shave and I can still feel the post-shave conditoining of Kairos. I do not plan to shave again until Sunday morning to see if the post-shave will last 42 hours.
Once again Grooming Dept soap did not disappoint. It continues to be one of the "best of the best" soaps in my den.
For those of you who were unable to purchase a Kairos soap during the recent release, stay tuned for additional releases. Mohammad will be releasing improved versions of Mallard and Fortis in the coming weeks. I have tested both. Although Mallard is quite different in composition than Kairos, the performance is similarly superb. Fortis is a more affordable line of soaps with fewer ingredients and less complex scents. It is an excellent soap, but it does not rise to the performance level of Nai, Fortis, and Mallard. For those who balk at paying for the premium luxury soaps, Fortis is a great alternative.
Also check West Coast Shaving in the USA and Italian Barber in Canada for upcoming releases. Grooming Dept has also added The Razor Company in Michigan as a stockist.
Although I have developed a good working relationship with Mohammad, I paid full retail price plus shipping for the Chypre Peach I evaluated.
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I didn't realize that I don' have enough jar caps. I placed an order yesterday. They won't ship until next Monday/Tuesday. They'll take 8 days to get to CA.
