Thanks again! I really like my work, even if it’s hard. Especially working with the elderly is often rewarding; there’s much wisdom to be shared by them.
I think mom is on a good way then - yesterday we talked about so many moments we shared with grandma and had a good laugh sometimes. 👍🏻
A heartfelt thank you for your condolences 🙏🏻 Yes, of course - she was 91 years old and her numerous health issues made it a living hell for her. I also have my experience in the field of nursing, so I actually helped a lot of people during their final moments. Just hits a little different and harder when it’s a family member of your own, especially for my mom. Losing a parent is one of the hardest moments in life, I imagine.
Thank you very much, I really appreciate your kind words 🤝🏻
25.07.2024 Grieving SOTD
2-pass head shave. Good shave but a slight burn from the software.
My grandmother died yesterday in the late evening. Around 21:00, my mother called me as my uncle had just returned from the nursing home to inform everyone. In an ironic twist of life, he actually wanted to call everyone from his family to let them know that her health is now rapidly deteriorating and if we want to visit her for a last time, we should do so now. However, shortly after he arrived at home the head nurse called him on his mobile phone and informed him that she passed away. To all of us, it’s as much a relief as it is a burden. Of course, she was either mother or grandmother to us and we hold her dearly in our hearts. On the other hand, her mental and physical state before her passing was atrocious and hard to witness. She stopped eating over a week ago. Could only drink in tiny little sips from a straw and later didn’t even had the strength for that. Tried to communicate with us, but couldn’t articulate anything anymore. I believe she wanted to tell us that we shouldn’t worry and that she wanted her life to end. The refusal of eating (and drinking) is somehow a last effort that people on the deathbed make to accelerate the process. Well, now it’s over and the memories of better days will stay with all of us…
Valley of Ashes is a grieving and somehow dark scent to me. The dark notes of leather, burnt rubber, smoke create this somber atmosphere. But there’s also a tiny spark of hope in form of something citrus-y, perhaps bergamot… I feel it fits my current mood best. Then there’s also Encre Noire À L’Extrême. Also for me personally, a scent for gloomy and dark days. Vetiver, patchouli and incense are the heavy notes here, so I’d argue it’s almost a funeral scent. There’s nothing really happy in it so it’s difficult to wear - but again, quite fitting.
Folks, do me a favour and enjoy your life. And don’t forget to visit your family members regularly - you never you much time you have left, or how much time is left with them… Make the most of it.
Never had a bad experience with it ever + it constantly gives great shaves. I’m certainly a fan 👍🏻
… Now I feel kinda shitty for not mentioning the menthol again in my comment to you. 😂
If it was a slightly chill tingling, almost a soft burn - then yes, that’s definitely the menthol in the soap as it is quite noticeable 😉
Thanks, really nice to read that you enjoy my writeup!
Yeah, I think that’s the unfortunate case here. It was also sent to me in a period where the heat was unbearable, so I guess that contributed to the loss of the fragrance. The coconut scent is still very noticeable thanks to the coconut oil.
Honestly, triple milled hard soaps are even more intriguing compared to the usual soft soap bases we know. I’ll see what I am able to find. Thanks for nominating this soap and subsequently getting us all to experience it! 👍🏻
24.07.2024 Buena Vista Wetshaving Social Club, First Edition: AYLM Don José 🍌🧊
So finally, the time has come for the first edition of our BVWSC shave!
This was a 2-pass head shave with a fresh blade loaded into a MMOC. I chose today’s razor since it’s a community favourite and it was also a gift from @djundjila@wetshaving.social ✌🏻
Don José: AYLMs soaps are often praised, despite getting very few usages in comparison to the largely dominant US-based artisans in the wetshaving hobby. Since I was intrigued how they’ll perform for me, I was really looking forward to this shave. Much thanks to @sahenders@wetshaving.social for providing a generous sample!
On the first sniff, the soap has a rather understated scent: coconut, pencil shavings and menthol is what I get. Wait, pencil shavings?! No offense meant, as I genuinely like the smell of that. But I guess these are the woody notes that AYLM lists in their description. Some tropical, fruity notes in the background that could be the bananas…
Upon lathering the soap, it continues to be a rather mild scent - the banana actually comes out with more water added to the mix, but the coconut stays dominant. As for scent strength though, it stays on the mild side. Perhaps a 5/10, which is not at all bad per se.
Notable thing to mention: we got very soft water in my region of Germany and this soap needs to be loaded a bit longer than your typical american artisan shaving soap. It took a bit longer than usual for me to build a nice slick lather, especially since I have a bit more surface to cover as a head shaver. I still got enough soap left for at least one, if not two more uses.
An MMOC with a fresh GEM PTFE blade is not to be underestimated, but I can report that the soap performed very well in regards to cushion and slickness. The shave was comfortable, the razor glided excellent and provided enough slickness for some cleanup after two passes were done (I need to mention, as a head shaver this is crucial since you’re doing about 50% of your shaving blind for the back of your head & neck and only find the spots you’ve missed by feel).
Unfortunately, even on the second pass the banana wasn’t quite as prominent as I had hoped for. But I need to mention that I stored the sample from sahenders in its original paper wrapping and only in my bathroom cabinet. It was also there for a prolonged period of time, so I’m not going to judge the soap negatively on the minimal scent. What could definitely be felt was the menthol though, and this was a very refreshing head shave. In terms of cooling strength, it is definitely more noticeable than Moon’s Union (low amount of menthol) but not as fierce as the high menthol Stirling Glacial soap I used to own. It’s not a burning sensation at all, but I advise those of you who are not fans of menthol to be careful…
Final verdict: my first impression of Don José is that it’s a nice shaving soap for summer, albeit not very strong in scent. The banana is a bit overshadowed by the coconut and menthol. It takes longer to load and lather up, but once you’ve done that, you’ll be rewarded with a rock solid performance and good glide. If I had to rate it, I’d give it a 6.5 out of 10 based on this first impression alone. I rarely use gourmand scents, so I’d not get a full tub of it - but it has made me curious about other AYLM soaps, especially since european artisans are often overlooked. Thanks for having me on the first edition of hopefully many BVWSC shaves!
Now I found myself an old wooden lid from a rituals shaving cream and will press the soap into that to simulate loading from a puck - the BVWSC shave can commence soon 😉
And yes, Bud Spencer++ 💪🏻
I don’t know whether Bud Spencer is known in the US of A, and whether youngsters such as @DaveWave94@sub.wetshaving.social know who he is […]
Haha! I may only be 30, but I also live in Germany - the country which, arguably, has the biggest cult following of Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill. Reference article here. So yeah, of course I know him. His movies already were cult classics in my childhood and are still shown today in german TV, especially on public holidays.
It’s great that you don’t got any serious allergic reactions to the soap. I still don’t know how I’ll go about lathering the soap, since I usually just load my brush from the tub and begin lathering directly on my head. However, your comment about the soap needing more volume is very helpful in that regard. Cheers and a great Wednesday to you too!
The first association my mind made when I opened a tub of NO Lonestar was, strangely, marzipan. Not the overly sweet ones like it’s with Cella, but the darker kind often found in very expensive candy stores. Similar to how I expected a very masculine scent from B&M Le Grand Chypre and my nose instantly went “yup, that’s cola with lime” . Sadly that’s why I can’t use Lonestar in any other season than winter…
I find this patent particularly funny since much better options for an interchangeable shaving brush exist, like AP Shave’s UBrush . I mean, why the hell a spring loaded mechanism when a simple threaded hole in the handle would be way easier to use?!
Nice to see Meißner Tremonia used here! Mint Ice Menthol is probably the same as the shaving cream they made for Jean & Len here, pretty much smells like a sports cream for sore muscles. I think they also had one called GentleMenthol that was a bit more toned down (in reference to the wordplay).
Yeah I’d imagine it’s a pretty synthetic banana scent. But as long as it’s not as rotten as Boonana (whose putrid smell still lingers in my bathroom 🤢) I guess I’d prefer that. Nevertheless, really looking forward to Don José on Wednesday!
I think that an early preparation is a very good move, thanks! Probably leaves us more time for voting, since if I’m not mistaken, the next installment would only take place in late September?
I plan to stay a permanent addition to the BVWSC and since I’m based in Germany, I could easily send out soap samples to 3 other members:
Personally, I like the democratic voting process a bit more. It also gives us a few options to choose from and the european members can coordinate better with the US members. Shipping to and from the US is an expensive nightmare, so if we choose any soap that one of us four euro folks already owns it’d be better if we help out with sending samples regardless of what model we adapt for BVWSC.
With that being said, I nominate: Moon Soaps Union (barbershop scent with a slight touch of menthol).
Glad to hear. It could’ve been a nice thing… Unfortunately it wasn’t. I’m kinda intrigued to try CF Banana though!
20.07.2024 - Pungent Banana!
Head shave and beard contouring. 1 pass plus cleanup on the dome.
So since our inaugural BVWSC-shave had to be postponed, I thought it’d be a good opportunity to use another banana scent before trying Don José.
Boonana is unfortunately one that I despise. The release was a real hypefest back then and everyone except me seemed to praise the soap… Well, time to find out if my mind has changed. Spoiler alert: no, it hasn’t.
Boonana is the scent equivalent to rotten banana peels. It smells kinda like when you used to be a school kid and forgot to take out a banana from your lunchbox in the summer holidays, then find it again after six weeks. It’s a pungent banana smell. I definitely don’t get the comparison to Samhain, SWs Magnum Opus IMHO. While Samhain is a delightfully wicked take on Pumpkin Spice Latte, this here is just decomposing banana. Ugh! The typical SW properties are thankfully still there, so you have a top notch vegan soap base and a great alcohol free aftershave… But I’d rather use bangers like Samhain, Necromantic, GraveFruit 2, Valley of Ashes or the sadly discontinued Pomona than this organic waste smell. Worst SW scent together with the rightfully discontinued Tres Matres IMHO. I’m just grateful that I’ll catch less flak for my opinion this time than back in the day on Reddit (it’s actually nice that everyone here is mature enough to know that one can respectfully disagree and a negative opinion is not a direct insult to the artisan).
Basically I tried to cover up the pungent banana with coffee smell by an Extro EdT and went grocery shopping smelling like a hipster coffee shop. No wonder I had most of the lanes to myself…
So yeah, after reading this essay of a SOTD you can guess that I am very excited for AYLM Don José and what a kind of write-up I’m capable of. I promise a honest first impression review!
Thank you 🙏🏻
Indeed she was. Cared for me like I was her own child, helped me and mom with whatever she could do.