Jeeves of Hudson Street "Turkish Bath"
Island Bladeworks "Bullwinkle" | TGN Finest
Star 1912 | Gem PTFE (1)
Bryon Postlethwait, proprietor of Jeeves of Hudson Street, reached out to me requesting that I test aftershave splash he's working on. It turns out I'd never used Jeeves of Hudson Street products, so I decided to purchase a soap to go with the splash sample. There are just so many very talented artisans to wade through, Jeeves just wasn't on my radar. It's a shame, really, that I've been missing out on this outstanding soap.
I found Jeeves to be one of the easiest soaps to dial-in, promptly providing dense paintable lather. The glide was superb with residual slickness that rivals my benchmark favorites. In fact, the clean-up pass was easily achieved using only damp finger tips due to the slickness. When trying a soap for the first time, I try to smear the lather pulled from the knot onto my freshly-shaved scalp and face, leaving it while I clean up my gear. In my experience, this prolonged exposure is a good, albeit non-scientific, way to determine if there's going to be any irritation from the fragrances. I have such sensitive skin, there are many of my favorite soaps that I simply cannot do this with due to eventual irritation. With Jeeves--specifically Turkish Bath---there was zero irritation or discomfort. After rinsing and drying, my skin felt the way it feels after applying whipped shea butter---extremely soft, supple, and an almost silky powdered feel. There was truly no need to use a post-shave product, but that was the whole purpose of this shave, so I couldn't skip it.
Ultimately, I'm glad I didn't omit the splash, because it added a pleasant aspect to the overall shave. There's enough bite to make no mistake it's an alcohol splash, but I found it to be milder than most. This could be attributed to the preceding optimal shave, however. I'd forgotten this was mentholated, but I was soon reminded. The cooling was a step above that of Folsom & Co. or Wholly Kaw, but less than Fine's Snake Bite. It was a very comfortable cool without the associated numbing effect experienced with more intense menthol splashes. The use of glycerin in the splash was done quite well, allowing me to distribute the product all over my scalp and face without it evaporating immediately. Less than a minute after application, I could no longer detect any residual wetness, but my skin felt even softer and silky. I've already contacted Bryon, telling him the splash is a winner in my book, and I hope he doesn't change a thing about it.
Turkish Bath is their barbershop fragrance. It's a powdery citrus that, at first, is a little more powder than I would normally choose for myself, but it did grow on me. The splash sustained the fragrance, and after about an hour it sharpened up quite a bit and became more complementary to my chemistry. This shave actually happened last night, but I intentionally held off on finalizing my impressions so I could have a better idea as to the longevity of the splash fragrance. I was still getting a pleasant, full complement, scent 4 hours later, but then I went to bed. I would say the longevity is what one should expect from a scented aftershave splash.
This was a serendipitous opportunity for me because if not for testing the splash, who knows how long it would have been before I'd have been exposed to Jeeves of Husdon Street soaps.