Today's Shave... the virtues of Speick Shave Stick

~ Today's Shave, September 29th, 2010 ~

Cream/Soap: Speick Stick for Men
Brush: iKon, three band Silvertip Badger
Razor: Merkur Futur adjustable, at setting 2.5
Blade: Wilkinson, day one
Balm: Kiehl's

Today's shave was much the same as yesterday's, but with a Merkur Futur in place of the Gillette Fat Boy.  Holy smokes.. what a difference a razor can make..  The result was a much closer shave today than yesterday, but my impression is that the Futur requires a much more cautious approach..  though it might just be my mental baggage.

That said, the common thread woven through the past few days of shaves is the Speick Shave Stick.  This is an absolutely wonderful soap-in-stick-form for which I have not spared praise.  It is easy to work with, explodes into volumes of slippery lather on my face regardless of which brush I use and it is cheap as dirt.  The scent is light and clean and it provides a dense layer of protection that can be felt on the skin even after a pass.. so much so that you can whip up enough of a lather for another pass simply by finger lathering the residue on you face with a little bit of water...  Slick and sweet.

With a stick, soap is applied directly to the face relying on the scritchy beard to scrape off and hold the soap.  Add a slightly wet brush and some muscle and watch the nearly invisible soap deposits billow up into a luxurious lather.  It's almost fool-proof and I highly recommend it as a beginner soap.. though sticks rely on a firm beard to scratch off enough of the product to produce lather, so new shavers with thin or soft whiskers might struggle with it.