Warm Lather at Home or on the Go: a New Scuttle from PAA

Do you like warm lather for your shave throughout your shave? Do you like it whether you're at home or traveling?

I, personally, after being a long-time cold-water shaver, have come around to the warm side, so to speak. For a while now I've been having warm-water shaves, which I enjoy for the warmth itself, but also because the warm water softens the bristles of my favored synthetic brush, making it extra soft on my skin.

So if you appreciate lasting warmth in you shaving lather, you might try a scuttle. And if you're going to do that, you might consider this latest on on the market. This new Crown King scuttle from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements (PAA) has several features not commonly found in other scuttles. Most scuttles are made of ceramic or porcelain, which can break. The PAA scuttle is made from a thick, tough, unbreakable plastic. This also makes it lighter in weight. The combination of light weight and being unbreakable makes it ideal for travel use as well as every-day at-home use. It is also microwave safe, meaning that you can heat the water in the scuttle in the microwave oven -- as I do because of the long time it takes for my bathroom tap to run hot.

This scuttle also comes with an insulating sleeve to preserve the warmth during a long shave.

If you're not familiar with a scuttle, it's a combination lathering bowl and hot-water bottle (sort of). Most scuttles including this one from PAA have the open lathering bowl seated within another bowl, which holds hot water. So at the start of one's shave, you fill up the water reservoir with hot water -- or as mentioned above, fill it with cold water and heat in the microwave for a minute or two. Then you stopper the pour-out spout, load your brush with soap, and proceed to make lather in the lathering bowl portion of the scuttle.

The PAA scuttle has an additional feature in its lathering bowl, which is small raised lines in the surface of the bowl to increase friction and thereby facilitating making lather quicker and easier.

If you're already a scuttle user, this new one may be ideal for your traveling needs. If you're not already a scuttle user, then this one may be the only one you need -- maybe ever because of its unbreakability.

Happy warm-lather shaving!

DX Blades and Home-Made After-shave Lotion

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Horns! Confetti! Drunken revelry!)....

Oh.... long gone? Okay, well, I've been preoccupied with shaving, and life (and stuff).

So, anyway, I'm back to the blog, and I've been considering a few things. One thing I've been doing and thinking about is blades and the differences between some brands.

Derby Extra (DX) Means Extra Irritation?

I have a large inventory of several blades including Personna (blue) Comfort Coated, Personna (red) Platinum Chrome, SuperMax Titanium, Lord Platinum Class, Dorco ST-301, Derby Extra (DX) and Astra Superior Platinum. I have smaller quantities on hand of Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Platinum, Super Iridium Extra Stainless, Feather, Bluebird, Dorco ST-300, Gillette Wilkinson Sword, Shark Super Chrome, Feather, RiMei and Ming Shi MP-036 blades.

Though some blades are noteworthy for being a bit too sharp for my taste, there is only one that really, really stands out -- and not in a good way.

Derby Extra. Ugh!

Though opinions vary (I know, I know), it can't be just me that finds DX blades among the worst. I've just finished another stint of two weeks plus using a DX blade, and I found EVERY SINGLE SHAVE, without exception, to have a higher degree of post-shave irritation.

As you may recall, I take good care of my gear including blades, which means that I carefully press dry (not wipe) them after each shave and then give them two palm-strop strokes on each side of each edge. I routinely get double-digit good shaves from each blade. It's not unusual for me to get shaves numbering in the high teens to low twenties from a blade before sliding it into my recycling can. 

Often I find that blades initially too sharp will mellow with use, hitting a sweet spot later in their life cycle before giving up the ghost. But with the DXs, they just keep going and going without that welcome calming of the edge. Shaves one through fourteen-plus left me irritated on my face, and then in my psyche. What was I thinking when I bought a hundred of these little devils?

Home-made After-shave Lotion

I like the feel of generic drug-store-variety witch hazel as an immediate splash after rinsing off the post-shave residual soap. The witch hazel can be soothing, and has a small amount of alcohol in it, which provides a sanitizing effect without the excessive burn and dryness that accompanies most alcohol-based after-shave lotions.

But I don't like the stink of witch hazel. To attenuate this stink, I've experimented with peppermint oil and menthol crystals, both individually and in combination. These are okay, yet the odor of the concoction is still too much straight witch-hazel smell.

So I've taken some witch hazel, heated in some menthol crystals, and then added a bit of an inexpensive store-bought, alcohol-based after-shave lotion in a fragrance that appeals to me. In my case this is Aqua Velva Ice Blue (AVIB).

Used alone, I find the AVIB lotion to be initially burning, then drying on my skin. It also leaves a residual feeling on my skin's surface that is neither smooth nor comforting. In fact, it feels kind of dirty as though I need to wash my face.

But when I use a witch-hazel base with menthol and about 20% AVIB, I seem to get the best from each individual ingredient: soothing, cooling, sanitizing, and smooth feeling. What's not to love?!

That's it for today. Hope you get everything good in the coming year!

Happy shaving!