Land Ho! - Captains Choice

Company: Captain's Choice

Products: Land Ho! / Cuban Tobacco

Last week an unexpected package arrived at my door. I’ve been getting more of these lately almost like things are starting to get back to normal getting packages for reviews. One of them was from Captain's Choice. Scott has released a new set of Aftershave, Shave Balm, Shaving Cream, and Shaving Soap called Land Ho! and man it's a winner.

I only received the aftershave and when I open the bottle I connected with the scent right away. Like I've said in the past the Captain doesn't' actually like to spell out the notes list to the scents he likes to get the feedback from the users and let them make the list but I'm getting confusing messages from the website. The shaving soap says citrus upon a background of lavender while the description for the aftershave says a classic Fougere scent with customer feedback suggesting citrus clean, fresh, tropical edge with tobacco leaf to grapefruit. I personally agree with the tobacco leaf profile. I found this aftershave pairs well with my Cuban Tobacco so that’s what I used for this shave.

Ozark Alchemy - New From Wet The Face

Company: Wet The Face
Product: Ozark Alchemy

One of my favorite times of year is the fall and what comes to mind is our amazing forest and we have a new shaving soap that captures the essence of the Ozark Forest every time you shave it’s called Ozark Alchemy.

Our story starts deep in the Ozark forest were hidden secrets are only known to a few. Here, the alchemist will practice this ancient branch of natural and Porto-scientific traditions and transforms something through a seemingly magical process.

Mitchell's Wool Fat Shaving Soap & Talk

Company: Mitchell’s Product: Wool Fat Shaving Soap Mitchells Wool Fat Shaving soap has been talked about often in the wet shaving community mostly because of the mystery of how to lather it. When I first got mine it came in a ceramic shaving bowl which I think is part of the allure of the product. You have to love the packaging the box looks like it hasn’t changed since the original soap was made back in the ’30s and changing it now would be a big mistake due to its iconic nature. This soap is lovingly referred to as MWF in the shaving community.

Palmolive Rinfrescante al Menthol

Company: Palmolive
Product: Rinfrescante Shaving Cream

When you think of Palmolive the first thing that comes to my mind is dishwashing liquid. I remember the commercials of the woman soaking her hand in it at the beauty parlor that was back in the 70s. I never really knew about the shaving cream until I started to wet shave and someone sent me a tube of it to try. Just like the commercial I was shocked to find out just how good it was too.

Sometimes companies will make their products slightly differently in other countries. I was sent a tube of Palmolive from Italy called Rinfrescante al Menthol the scent is different and the addition of menthol was the icing on the cake for me the packaging was basically the same, however.

Wet The Face - What's On The Horizon

I wanted to touch base on a few things going forward at Wet The Face. I wanted to let people know of some additions and some returning favorites for the Fall and holiday season this year. 

First up we have FaceBook 1K Returning after a long hiatus. This was released right before covid19 and it was an amazing release with having it sell out within 2 1/2 hours. It was pretty amazing. Both the shaving soap and aftershave will be returning the aftershave balm will be a little later on still waiting on labels for that. If all goes well this will be added to the product line all year round.

Straight Razors & The Art Of Shaving

Products: Art of Shaving / Titan Straight Razor  

When it comes to straight razors they've always had this certain appeal to me. Ever since I found wet shaving I feel the straight razor users are at the top of this hobby. 

It takes skill which has to be learned over time because you can do damage to one's face let's be real here this is a dangerous method of shaving considering the options we have today.

They come in all types and with different Grinds, Points, Notches, Materials like Stainless Steel, Carbon, Swedish Steel the list goes on. You also have to be aware of what comes along with being a straight razor user the caring and maintenance of which is just as involved. 

I plunged into straight razors early in wet shaving and had joined a group on honing. We gathered in the summer where we had some very well known YouTuber’s all at picnic tables trying their hand at creating a sharp edge on Gold Dollar razors. I had my bag of stones like everyone else and we had personal lessons from some of the top straight razor users. I was doing pretty good not great but pretty good and even when we all left I would practice what I learned for a few weeks more. 

Mason Boutique - Vivian A Second Look

I remember back in early 2016 I spoke to Jenny Marting from Mason Boutique. I told her how I loved the artwork on her products and wanted to review one of her shaving soaps. After some emails back and forth she agreed and I wrote that review which still gets plenty of traffic. Her soap gained so much attention it raced right to the top of many wet shavers lists but that was 5 years ago and so much has changed since then.

Today you can’t buy these shaving soaps under Mason Boutique nor can you buy them under the Brushguy Etsy store which was her husband's brush shop that’s because they have become what I think you can say exclusive with two companies. How do I know this well it says it right on the brush guy website under a banner which reads Brushguy is taking a short break Note from Shop Owner Feb 12, 2019 “I am now making brushes for West Coast Shaving and Strike Gold Shave.” which I would assume the shaving soaps would most likely follow suit. Which means you can still buy Mason Boutique its just under a different name.