Head & face shower shave. 2 days growth.
Technique: WTG / XTG / ATG. Only a tiny bit of clean-up.
Prep: Shower. Stirling Soap Company - "Sheep Soap"
Soap: Wholly Kaw - "Jamestown Gentleman"
Brush: Ever-Ready 100T (TGN Finest)
Razor: Above The Tie - Kronos S1Slant
Blade: Astra - Superior Platinum Stainless Steel(1)
Post: Wholly Kaw - "Jamestown Gentleman"
I reviewed Wholly Kaw's "Scent #3 beta" about a month ago. I received the final product, Jamestown Gentleman, recently, and after looking back at my review of the beta, I'm pretty sure that review holds true to the final product as well. Loading was easy, and as I've said before this soap works best if you start a little dry, then gradually add more and more water towards the end. In fact, when you believe you've added enough water, add a little more. It's not as thirsty as Stirling, but you'll kill Stirling if you add more water on the back end. However, Wholly Kaw seems to reach an optimum lather at this point. I recognize this is comparing a tallow to a vegan, but in my experience, vegans hold up to water with a wider range of variability. Such that you can more easily achieve a thin but effective lather just as well as you can have a pillowy effective lather. I find that tallow soaps, while still having a fair amount of range, are more susceptible to breakdown. The fact that there's still a bit of range in tallow soaps, is attributable to the excellent artisans in this hobby. While much of this community already knows this, I owe this observation to Nick Shaves. Taking this one step further, specifically to Wholly Kaw, adding the majority of the water on the back end seems to be a characteristic unique to this soap. When reading other reviews, if I see a complaint about Wholly Kaw, it's usually with regard to lackluster post-shave. This is not my experience at all. I find it quite moisturizing and it's easily within my top 5 soaps for post-shave feel. I suspect this discrepancy is related to the users' neglecting to use a little more water and specifically on the back end.
It's my understanding that Jamestown Gentleman splash was originally Wholly Kaw's attempt at reproducing the popular Alt-Innsbruck. While they didn't achieve that, the result was something I believe is far better. Personally, I like Alt-Innsbruck, but my wife thinks it smells like a cheap air-freshener. She very much shares my enjoyment of Jamestown Gentleman, however. Most fans of Jamestown Gentleman had their first experience with the splash, and for some time they eagerly awaited a soap of the same scent. My first taste was of the soap (beta), and I very much wanted the splash. I'm pleased to say the splash is just as pleasant in scent as the soap. It's a beautiful aroma, and I can't eloquently convey all of what Jamestown Gentleman evokes, but I can say there's a gentle tobacco floral with light powder that's tempered with a masculine musk. While I enjoy floral scents as much as the next guy, after a while, some of them can get old. That's not true for Jamestown Gentleman. The scent is quite addictive, and I believe this is due in large part to its complexity. This will probably quickly ascend high on my list of favorite scents. I'm 2 hours out and it's still going strong. I hope it has all-day staying power. As to the splashes performance, it's right on par with other alcohol/menthol splashes. While I felt the menthol, it probably had the least impact of the splashes I've tried. In order of intensity, I would rate the "menthol effect" as follows: 1. Fine's Snake Bite. 2. Fine's other offerings. 3. Folsom & Company. 4. Wholly Kaw.
This was my second use of the ATT Kronos S1. With the Astra SP, it was a very enjoyable shave with BBS after 3 passes and very minimal clean-up needed. This a very well thought out, crafted shaving tool that I intend to keep in the rotation. However, after 2 outings with the S1, from a performance perspective, I still feel like it's a tie with the iKon ShaveCraft #102. The RazoRock Stealth Slant V4 is still the winner in that category.