This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
While this server is funded by personal contributions, we'd like to thank Zulip for giving us a Community subscription to their chat software (available at https://chat.wetshav.ing/).
https://gem.wetshaving.social/ - a nice modern interface
Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social/.
https://uptime.selfhost.ing/status/wetshaving
Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Have a good day!
The Rinfrescante was € 4,90 (cheaper than Proraso on that particular online store). It's got coconut, sweet almond and castor oil, amongst other ingredients. Vegan. The shave was pretty good all in all, I loaded lots of product as is my wont, so I definitely had enough. However, the residual slickness just wasn't there. I suppose they have to sacrifice something, and it seems to be slickness. The lather itself was okay, and thick enough. For the last pass, I added some extra water into my cheeks and neck, which seemed to make it a tiny bit slicker. It has a citrusy smell, I imagine that's more or less what Arko smells like (never used it and probably never will). An okay shave, but not great. Face feels smooth, but felt dry after the shave.
Enjoy your [enter time of day], ladies and gents!
Arko is worth trying at least once, imo. It’s relatively good cheap soap with pretty great slickness.
I know Arko is highly praised for its bang for the buck ratio and for its performance, but I only use vegan products. Yeah, I know, I know. But consider this: SV (Saponificio Varesino) is vegan and it's considered one of the best soaps out there. So I'm thinking I'll treat myself to some SV either this Christmas or some other time. 😃 Wishing you great shaves!
Very nice! SV makes great soap as well.
There really is no shortage of great shave soap. :)
Using the Tusk base with B3 knots feels exactly right, and I'm happy I got that small (less gigantic?) Washington BoK in addition to the massive 28mm Dogclaration B3.
Mindigo, Crangère, and LegenBerry are a nice warmish combo for what is forecast to be our first snow day of the season, and the broadsword is super satisfying.
There’s a part of me that misses living in a place that gets snow. Though there are benefits to the year-round mostly mild California weather.
Is this early for you all to get a first snow, or fairly typical?
I definitely enjoy living in a place with strong seasons, and being close to the mountains makes snow a highlight of the year 😊
This is fairly typical for a first snow day, although it also happens some years that we don't get snow all the way down to lake Geneva at all.
I'm with you. Moving back north 4 years ago has improved my mood considerably compared to living in a warmer climate.
November 20, 2025
3 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
I took this razor to my new Vermont Purple slate and pushed the edge as far as I could take it, stropped it, then went directly to this shave. I am really getting spoiled with fresh edges, especially when paired with something like TNeV.
I guess this was un thé du jeudi après-midi but in reality I'd probably order a café or alongé at this time of day. As a fragrance, though, TNeV is way up in my top-tier category. So great. The combination of this trifecta and a fresh edge made for a fully enjoyable, ultra-close, comfortable shave.
November 20th, 2025: Nice
Incredible turn-around. The first pass sort of stunk -- the razor didn't feel sharp at all. Sort of a tuggy mess. I added more water for the subsequent passes and it made all the difference. The razor cut much better with no irritation. Nice and smooth! Just what we like.
Zing aftershave serum is great stuff. Maybe even better than Nivea Sensitive Balm!
This great shave was topped off with Minneapolis 5.3. Such a wonderful, rich scent.
Zing aftershave serum is great stuff. Maybe even better than Nivea Sensitive Balm!
If the new "aftershave serum" is like the "recovery splash", it should be leagues ahead of Nivea balms. Together with a few other aftershave toners, the Zingari post-shave products are the cream of the crop for skincare after shaving. At least in my experience. I never understood the hype for Nivea, probably just Beiersdorf being good at marketing. Even for german options available in our supermarkets or drugstores, it doesn't hold a candle to Sebamed ASB or Speick products.
Nivea works great with my skin. We don't have many commercial products to pick from here in the US. I've never tried Speick balm, but it's available on Amazon for $17USD... Nivea is $10 cheaper.
Still, I'm a hobbyist so I should try more things. A bottle of balm lasts so long it's hard to work my way through them!
Apologies, I tend to forget that you're rather limited with commercial products in the US. Even though my original reply came off rather snobbish towards Nivea balms, I want to say that IMHO the Men sensitive ASB is indeed their best product. Since skincare is one of my hyperfixations, I just found the comparison to ZM artisan products a bit weird. But no ill intent on my side, honestly.
I can relate to that though. A lot of artisan balms smell great, but - well - they go bad very fast and that's just not justifying the high price for me personally. I mostly go for alcohol-free toners nowadays, as both lower face and my scalp are very dry skin areas for me and combine them with more commercial/readily available balms. Unfortunately, artisan balms in big 100 ml bottles will go bad for me; case in point, I probably need to pour most of my old artisan balms/lotions down the gutter and that's not really appreciative of the great quality they have.
I do wish we had more commercial products here, but oh well. Between Nivea, Stirling, and Zing, there are certainly plenty of options that work well for me.
November 20th, 2025
A really nice shave this morning with some pleasant scents. FdF was a little tingly on my face this morning, I hope I'm not developing a sensitivity to it.
Almost to the weekend!
November 20th, 2025: SLS
Close, comfortable shave. I could probably push this blade further, but there's no need.
Steady is another fragrance that gives my face a bit of a tingle, especially the splash. I think it might be the cedar. I'm a big fan of the scent, so I'm very much on the fence as to whether I should move this one along.