June 9, 2024
- Brush: Commonwealth ‘CW’ Badger, purchased for cheap on Ebay
- Razor: Fatip Piccolo Slant Closed Comb
- Blade: Schick Stainless
- Lather: Chiseled Face - Ghost Town Barber
- Post Shave: Murphy and McNeil - Nantahala
- Fragrance: Geo. F. Trumper - Eucris EdP
Oakmoss. It’s not a moss, it’s a species of lichen. It’s also hard to describe what it smells like. For some reason it reminds me of antique wood. It has a dry, kind of varnish-y quality to it. I have trouble associating the smell with anything fresh or youthful. It’s distinguished, not playful or spontaneous.
Some “barbershop” scents incorporate oakmoss (or something meant to approximate it—real oakmoss can cause skin irritation). But in most barbershop scents oakmoss is mixed with other notes to create complex, layered fragrances. So along with the intensity of oakmoss you get brighter notes such as fruits and florals, as well as green notes and spices. One commonality among barbershop scents I’ve tried is that they tend to have a lot of notes listed.
Ghost Town Barber, of course, is marketed as a barbershop scent. Chiseled Face says it contains oakmoss, along with other intense notes such as smoke and gunpower. The soap produced a good lather and overall I like how it smells.
Murphy and McNeil Nantahala is not marketed as a barbershop scent. It does have a backcountry theme (referencing the mountains of Western North Carolina) which complements the ‘Old West’ imagery associated with Ghost Town Barber. And it has a lot going on (14 or more notes, according to the artisan), from fruits and florals to pepper and patchouli to wood and water. I can’t claim to have picked up on every single one of the notes in the aftershave, but I like it and think it could be classified (if one cares to do so) as a barbershop-adjacent scent. It gives off a fresher, airier richness than contrasts with the dusty, smokey old-timeiness of Ghost Town Barber.
And that brings us to the first ‘barbershop’ fragrance I ever tried: Geo. F. Trumper Eucris Eau de Parfum. This one definitely contains oakmoss (rumors online claim that they still use genuine oakmoss despite the health warnings), along with other rich and potent notes such as sandalwood, musk, and cumin. So yeah, the vibe would be a serious, old-school barbershop of perhaps a century ago. Dream of the 1890s.
On the pop quiz I got 2 of 37 (the first two). I couldn’t figure out how to type in the answers or skip ahead.
There are a lot of paintings of barbershops. There are moody, reflective barbershop paintings by Edward Hopper and Norman Rockwell, as well as cartoonish ones with cats, dogs, or other human and animal caricatures. Many of the examples online, however, showcase the convivial, communal aspect of barbershops that's traditionally (not to say exclusively) been associated with Black America. The example I chose for today’s edition of Brush Strokes is a drawing made in 1946 by the great, prolific artist Jacob Lawrence.
#ROTY