July 19, 2023
- Brush: My fucking sock?!??
- Razor: Rockwell 6s
- Blade: Wilkinson Sword
- Lather: Taconic Shave – Tequila Lime Shave Cream
- Post Shave: Henri et Victoria – Lime Splash
- Fragrance: Noble Otter - Lone Star EDP
- Music: The Champs - Tequila
Man, I need a shot of Tequila after that shave. Using a sock to lather is a bad idea. Like an awful idea. This is coming from the guy that shaved in a bathtub full of ice. Now, it’s entirely possible (and maybe even likely) that my sock-lathering technique is bad. However, lathering with my sock isn’t something I want to perfect.
Today, I went to the beach for this shave for two reasons (1) I like to feel the sand between my toes in the summer and (2) because u/MrTangerinesky thought he could intimidate me by shaving next to a little river. A little babbling brook in the background is supposed to impress me? Bitch, please. You bring a river and I’ll bring the ocean! As my arch nemesis, u/MrTangerinesky, would say: VIDEO OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!
Despite the piss-poor sock lather, the shave was slick. However, it took way too long to build any sort of lather with a sock and sand was all up in my lather, so I only did 1 pass today.
I really enjoy this cream from Taconic – it smells like a margarita and performs great under normal conditions. I chose Lime aftershave because, well, lime is one of the two scents in the soap. Then for my frag, I picked Long Star, since it opens with a nice lemon scent, and lemons & limes are like best friends. The Lone Star then gets really nice with complex blend of floral and woody notes on an earthy base of oakmoss, leather, and hay. It’s nice to have a shave that starts with a relatively simple scent (margarita) then then the frag builds that into a complex #FOF summer experience.
As with a lot of my shaves this month, I have a few lessons learned:
- Soaking my sock was a good idea, but I should have done a better job at keeping sand off the sock.
- Sand is a good exfoliator, buuuuuuttttt…. Shaving with a mix of sand and sub-par lather is not ideal.
- You need a LOT more cream for a sock shave than you expect. I started with this and had to go back to the tub two more times. These socks EAT lather.
- Socks don’t make good brush replacements.
- If you are going to use your socks to build a lather, bring an extra pair, so you don’t have to go sock-less for the rest of the day.
For the #photocontest: Sports with the baseball, since I asked Taconic who their favorite baseball team is.
For my interview today, I chatted with Nancy from Taconic Shave. Nancy, and her husband Howie have been slinging wetshaving products for 20 years - long before it was cool. Nancy was such a nice, nice person for this series that I feel absolutely awful publicly desecrating her product by using it with my dirty sock…. BUT… If I can get a serviceable lather using one of my socks, imagine the dreamy lather you’ll get using a brush!
10 Questions with… Taconic Shave
1) How did you get started making shaving creams, soaps, aftershaves, etc?
When we started our wet shaving business about 20 years ago, there weren’t very many good shave soaps available. The retail stores that were selling our Parker Safety Razor products were asking for an American made line of shave soaps and creams. The best ideas come from our customers and we were able to offer the right products at the right time. The wet shaving community was expanding rapidly at that time.
2) What was the first product you ever sold?
Our first Taconic product was a mandarin orange shave soap in a cold poured formulation which is much different than we’re offering today. Our products today have been formulated differently over time.
3) I’ve only tried your shave cream, and I will say it performs wonderfully. How do you compare your cream to your shave soaps?
Our shave soaps have very different formulas than the creams. You’ll have to try one! The shave soaps require a mug and a little more work to create a lather, but they deliver unbelievable glide and cushion thanks to some key ingredients like hemp seed oil and bentonite clay. They are also formulated with all naturally derived ingredients like the rest of our line. We are committed to making our products chemical free.
4) You're from New York. Dare I ask: Yankees or Mets?
Yes we’re from New York, and we’re Mets fans (with a high pain tolerance) :)
5) My sister-in-law has a tshirt that says “I love cooking with wine... Sometimes I even add it to food!” Is the recipe for tequila lime soap similar?
In some ways yes - it was always a fun drink and lime is one of our favorite natural scents.
6) Do you have a go-to drink you order at a bar?
Howie loves a good local craft beer. His favorite is Bear Naked Ale from the Adirondack brewery in NY. I always love a good glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
7) You offer 5 different scents of shave creams and 6 options for shave soaps. How did you decide which scents you want to offer in which form?
We asked our customers and our retailers which scents they would prefer. We have a close rapport with our customers and gathered preference feedback. For example, one of our later scents Excalibur started as a solid cologne and our retailers loved it so much they wanted us to grow the use of this scent with our other shaving and beard care products.
8) Of the scents you offer, which one is your favorite?
Mine is Lavender Lime (I just love the citrus balanced with a bit of earthy lavender) and Howie’s is Eucalyptus Mint for its cooling effect.
9) I noticed one of the ingredients of your Creams is honey. I've never made my own soaps or creams, but I have to imagine that's a somewhat unique ingredient. What does the addition of honey do for someone's lather/skin?
Honey is an excellent moisturizer for the skin and has really great antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It can also be helpful with razor bumps and adds additional glide.
10) How do you differentiate Taconic Shave from all the other shaving companies currently out there?
We have consistently stuck by our values to offer a broad line of wet shaving and grooming products, using the healthiest choice of ingredients that we would want to use ourselves (avoiding many common allergens such as nuts). We always choose to go with small batches, using only all natural and many organic ingredients that are locally sourced whenever possible.