u/IntelligentCattle463

My first shave with the Freyja mild came out a little milder than I'd expected. Still a decent shave, but not as dolphin-squeaky close as I tend to chase after.

When I found out that the standard plate is going to be out of stock for quite a while, I was a little disheartened. Even considering ordering the efficient plate to try for a while, but my neck is pretty contoured and I have been using somewhat milder solutions to avoid weepers from snipping off perifollicular skin peaks.

But I figured...why not try a Feather blade? After all, I dislike using them in most of my razors because they seem a little harsher and unforgiving to my skin. Surely that'll make the Freyja 1-dot a little more efficient.

And I was right. I actually did still get a little bit of blood around the jaw where I pulled my skin a bit too tight and buffed the area a bit too many times, but overall the shave was really pretty good. This is the first shave with a Feather DE that I enjoyed.

* Razor: Nord Freyja Mild

* Blade: Feather

* Cream: Ariana & Evans Sylvan Fog

* Brush: Oumo Climber ST-3

* Bowl: Local supermarket find.

My last SOTD was a rather warm theme, so today it's time to cool down a little.

* Razor: Aluminum Mongoose

* Blade: Kai Captain Titan Mild

* Brush: DSCosmetic FL 24mm

* Soap: Noble Otter Orbit

Haven't used the Mongoose in a while and haven't really seen them around this community.

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* Razor: Gillette English flat-bottom Tech (late-1940s)

* Blade: Gillette Perma-Sharp

* Brush: Yaqi Caramel 26mm

* Soap: Aura LAXO Antique Shop

Got a pretty new bowl and felt like using a warm color scheme. The soap felt appropriate and is one of my new favorites, then the razor is the oldest DE I have (not sure if it is antique enough to match the soap name), and the Yaqi is the only brush that seemed close-ish to the color scheme.

The little walnut razor stand is a bit dark but wood is wood, damnit.

Was going to photo on a bamboo or wood mat but got lazy.

Shave: not bad. The Tech is far from assertive, and is pretty easy on the skin. However, to get a closer shave, I generally need to use a Kai blade, which is a hair wider than most DE blades. I sometimes try a regular blade like the Perma-Sharp just in case it turns out to be a Tech-nique problem (OK OK I'll see myself out...)

After a few days testing new soaps and razors, I decided to go back to one of my favorite modest arrangements. Astra SP is not my sharpest, but it is relatively skin-friendly and works well for me.

The GC76P is one of those razors that I could probably settle down with. The smooth/close balance is really nice. I enjoyed using it with the Timeless Crown, but the RR UFO and Barber Pole handles suit it very well in my opinion.

Haslinger Schafmilch works really well for me and my face. I transferred my smallish puck to a bigger container to brush load easier, but I didn't keep the label. Normally my SOTDs use zero AI, but unfortunately I admit to having used AI to make a label sticker. Sorry.

TGS's Red Evil brush seemed like a nice match and did a nice job. Paired with a red/black bowl and I feel like it's got a nice demonic theme running.

Overall a great shave and temporarily tamed my impulse to look for a new razor.

* Razor: Razorock Game Changer 76P

* Blade: Astra SP

* Soap: Haslinger Schafmilch

* Brush: The Goodfellas Smile Red Evil 26mm

My third SOTD with the newest Aura LAXO soaps. Normally I tend towards sweet scents, so this one took a moment to get used to. Initial whiff from the tub reminded me vaguely of wood furnace and campfire, but I am terrible at actually picking out specific scents.

Actually using it, the scent was much tamer and I had brief memories of grinding up 松煙墨 or pine soot ink, and then some more nebulous fragrances I couldn't identify. Quite mild in my opinion. It's also Mist V2 base, so the lather quality was very good to me.

Vector Lite with a Kai Titan Mild is a quite gentle combination; perhaps a little too gentle, as it encouraged me to do a bit of excess buffing. Still, shave turned out very good.

HD brush by DSCosmetic is super soft and pleasant to use, as usual.

Razor: Blackland Vector Lite

Blade: Kai Titan Mild

Soap: Aura LAXO Midnight Reverie (午夜夢迴)

Brush: DSCosmetic HD 24mm

Sorry, something went wrong with my previous post, so I am resubmitting.

Had no idea about Austere August when I received my new soaps from LAXO here in Taiwan. Ended up getting four tubs as an early birthday present for myself.

Initial sniffs brought out Antique Shop as an initial favorite. My olfactory system is not nearly refined enough to give a solid run-down or review. Had a sweeter, mildly fruity scent which is pleasant to my inexpert nose. I was expecting something quite different, but experience has proved that my intuitions about fragrance are very inaccurate. Will try others when the beard returns.

I pulled out the Aylsworth Atelier and decided to try out some Feather Pro Supers and my newish TGS Red Evil. The brush reminds me a bit of my Yaqi Caramel, but slightly softer and more dense feeling. Been using it a lot recently.

Normally I am not into the Feather blades, but this razor is quite mild to me, and I think the first of my AC safety razors that feel good with the Pro Supers.

I think this photo shows the intermediate finish I applied to my Atelier. Shiny on the smooth parts and the shave plane, blasted satin finish on the grip and the flat part of the top plate (around the "A" logo). In my opinion, the polishing helped a little bit.

The soap is one of the newest releases from Aura and I was lucky to be one of the first to receive them. Three of them use their Mist V2 vegan base, including the Antique Shop. I am not a connoisseur of this stuff, but I got an excellent lather without difficulty, and it performed very well on my skin.

Overall, a really good shave.

Brush: TGS Red Evil

Soap: Aura LAXO Antique Shop

Razor: Aylsworth Atelier

Blade: Feather Professional Super

Had no idea about austere August when I received my new soaps from LAXO here in Taiwan.

Initial sniffs brought out Antique Shop as a favorite. My olfactory system is not nearly refined enough to give a solid run-down. Had a sweeter and more pleasant scent for my inexpert nose. Will try others when the beard returns.

I pulled out the Aylsworth Atelier and decided to try out some Feather Pro Supers and my newish TGS Red Evil.

Overall, a good shave.

Brush: TGS Red Evil

Soap: Aura LAXO Antique Shop

Razor: Aylsworth Atelier

Blade: Feather Professional Super

Ordered an Aylsworth Atelier in satin finish because I couldn't afford the polished version.

Upon receipt, I thought it was fine, but the blasted finish was quite coarse and the pitting quite deep. So deep, in fact, that I couldn't make out the machining marks on the cap and wondered if maybe it was sintered or something. Probably not, but no matter.

A little light polish with 5000 grit trizact softened the finish on the cap a little and made it feel smoother on the skin, but revealed some very shallow finish imperfections that made no functional difference but that annoyed me a little because I get anxious about stupid things.

So I took out some 600-grit paper and went at the cap to smooth it out a bit. Once done with that, I brought it back up to 5000 grit finish and an autosol hand buff. I left the top side of the cap blasted, except the logo which I polished up a little bit too.

Then wondered what ton do with the handle to match. Simplest route was to leave the knurled section and grooves blasted, then polish up the rest.

I think it came out OK overall. Sorry to Aylsworth for the mild sacrilege.

After my success with my stainless Vector, I had been looking at my satin finish Blackbird for a while, wondering if I want to "unfinish" it and bring out a smooth machined look.

The satin BB actually looks fine and isn't a coarse grainy looking blasted finish like my new Aylsworth Atelier. I just wanted to see how it would look and feel.

I didn't remove much material and so the oxide finish on the Titanium is still rather dark. I think it looks pretty handsome.

The second picture is just a crop since i didn't have a macro lens handy. Still shows the tooling marks on the top cap rather well.

Haven't shaved with the new finish yet but I don't really expect much difference. It is a little smoother now, and while the handle could hypothetically be a tiny bit less grippy, I think the geometry is doing most of the work in keeping the razor stable in hand.

I don't know if I'll unfinish the Atelier because I can't really see the underlying finish and don't know if it'll turn out as clean.