November 2021

Received this special request Ever-Ready 150 with a new 24mm Oumo boar knot. Got it on the 'Bay from timotabern, a seller who does a LOT of brush rehabs. This is my first purchase from him.

Already set it to soak in the fridge for the next 12-24 hours, then it's break-in time.

Very excited about this one, it looks great. There's a little crack along the base of the handle but it seems quite shallow and would have to grow about 3" to do anything. Highly unlikely.

Pictures are horrible, as my bathroom is dark and my camera isn't good enough to make up for it. I'll get some during the day when it's more broken in.

Love the look of that one Paul

Cantu Shea Butter Pre-Shave Scrub. I'm not completely sure that it actually does much to soften my beard prior to the shave, but it feels good anyway. And by ordering 3 of them from Amazon, along with some other stuff to make shipping free, I got them for $4.66 each, not bad for an 8-ounce tub.

A batch of G5 Fans arrived today. Can’t wait to load one and test it. If these knots perform as well as they look, I plan to offer them in my handles.

A batch of G5 Fans arrived today. Can’t wait to load one and test it. If these knots perform as well as they look, I plan to offer them in my handles.

Ooooooooooo, The private handle stash picture

A batch of G5 Fans arrived today. Can’t wait to load one and test it. If these knots perform as well as they look, I plan to offer them in my handles.

Ooooooooooo, The private handle stash picture

Yep, handles and a some other cool stuff snuck it’s way into those pics…

A batch of G5 Fans arrived today. Can’t wait to load one and test it. If these knots perform as well as they look, I plan to offer them in my handles.

Get a chance to test drive one of these? Looking forward to what your experience is, as you also have the G5As. I am in the process of setting some knots into some new Trotter handles. If something doesn't work out, I will be looking hard at these.

A batch of G5 Fans arrived today. Can’t wait to load one and test it. If these knots perform as well as they look, I plan to offer them in my handles.

Get a chance to test drive one of these? Looking forward to what your experience is, as you also have the G5As. I am in the process of setting some knots into some new Trotter handles. If something doesn't work out, I will be looking hard at these.

Eric, I’ll have a full report tomorrow

So today we took a day trip to NYC. Time got away from us but I still managed a quick stop into Pasteur's.

The first soap I sniffed was Chicago (Oleo) Grooming Classic clean. I opened it expecting something not in my wheelhouse, but I was surprised at how nice it smelled.

I smelled a few Blue soaps (Furbo and Fine) and explained to my wife they didn't smell like I expected. I grabbed a tub of the Razorock Blue so she could see what I was expecting and she really liked that one (which I had many moons ago). I decided to grab the soap.

Finally, when I turned around my wife was looking at the A&E soaps on the shelf behind us. I started to explain the new base, and opened Kaizen (scent) as I said this is the first they released in It. Again, she really liked the scent of that one so I decided I'd grab that.

I also got to smell a few others, including Haverford. I'm surprised it is NOT much like Mick's Grooming Tomas scent. I have and prefer Tomas, so I gave that a pass.

Time was short so this is the sum of what I got.

I do have to say, anyone who likes a nice mild barbershop scent that isn't crazy would probably like Central Texas / Pasteur's collaboration 'Texas Spice'. It's nice, safe, and non-offensive.

Have a good evening DFS!

I’m jealous! I’d love to go there someday.

Nice haul Paul!

I’m jealous! I’d love to go there someday.

Nice haul Paul!

Thanks Paul.

I like to go in with the mindset that my biggest takeaway for any visit needs to be the smelling of soaps, not the purchases.

To that end, I went through quite a few in my short short trip. I found many that would have disappointed or just been so-so , based on what I thought from their descriptions.

If I sniffed 20 soaps, at an average of $20 each... only bought three... I saved $340 in future 'failed' purchases. Not bad, IMO.