Razor: Rockwell 6s on 2
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Copper Hat Silvertip
Soap: Jilek’s Peach and Sandalwood
Aftershave: Like Grandpa Wild Rose splash
It has been a while since I last tried a soap from Jilek’s so when I saw this particular offering I wanted to give it a try. Patrick is a small batch artisan that does very small runs of natural fragrance shave soaps. Lately he was been packaging them in pottery created by Pottery Works, a “Collective of Artist that overcome disability through art”. When I ordered, 1/3 of this price (an all in price including shipping) went to the collective. If you factor in shipping and product costs, he is practically giving it away. Speaking of giving it away, he also threw in 4 bars of the matching bath soap bars. This particular offering is made with natural peach and sandalwood oils.
I am really happy with the performance of this soap base. It loads very easily and lathering was dead simple. A bit thirsty, but not overly thirsty. It is a tallow base so it has that luxurious feel. Resulting lather was medium structure with a slight gloss. Cushion, Slickness (lathered and residual) and post shave were all quite good. Where it falls apart for me is scent strength. This is very light, it could pass as unscented. You get just the slightest essence of peach and natural sandalwood, slightly sweet and woodsy. This was my problem with Patrick’s soaps in the past, performance excellent, but scent wise, a let down. If this scent was dialled up several notches, I’d really enjoy it. Instead, I’m left longing. If you do like light scents, have scent sensitivities, or just like an unscented base to play nice with frags, you would not be disappointed in the base. It is a great value with a huge volume of soap and some $$$ going to a great cause. Hard to argue with that.
Being the scent was so light, I could go any direction I wanted with scent. I opted to use the Like Grandpa Wild Rose aftershave. I’ve used this a few times already and I’m really happy with it. My first run was using the aftershave and balm together and I found it a bit too much. Now that I’m running just the splash, I’m really happy with how it is performing. There is still a slight tackiness initially but my skin is left feeling really nice after that quickly absorbs. Scent strength is alright as well, It won’t knock your socks off, but it is there, noticeable and people in the room with you will pick it up. I like the scent a lot but I can say my wife digs it more than I do. She kind of lights up when I use it.
A nice smooth shave for the day. All for now – J
