Adopted Acres' Stillhouse Spice, a Coticule Edge, and a Surprise DE Razor
Good morning. Welcome back to CMW, Chad Makes Wet Shaving.
Before I even got the water running, Shucky butted in. That’s my shrimp, if you’re new here. He informed me he’d eaten the soap I had planned for this one. I checked the tub. Sure enough, gone. Almost the whole thing.
So we’re pivoting. Luckily I’ve got this sitting right here: a brand new release from Doug over at Adopted Acres. It’s called Stillhouse Spice, a collaboration between Adopted Acres and 10SC Whiskey Shaving.
I try not to look up scent notes before I shave with something new, but this one I couldn’t avoid. People had been talking about it enough that I already knew the shape of it going in. It’s an homage to the original Shulton’s Old Spice, folded in with a little bourbon. The whiff off the tub is fantastic. Doug’s 2.0 base, the Grand Champion, is good stuff, full stop.
I got curious enough to pause the shave and dig out my original Shulton’s Old Spice tin from the 1950s for a side by side sniff. It’s lost some of its punch over the decades, but the family resemblance is there. Not exact, but close enough that I’m glad I trusted my nose on this one going in.
The Gear
I’m using my Bobby Moffett special, a 28mm boar knot, to work this soap up. And for the shave itself I’m running my usual two part lineup: an HMC 11/16 straight razor out of Brockton, Mass, the one I use as my practice razor for testing new edges, plus a DE razor I’m keeping under wraps until later in the shave.
That HMC has seen a dozen edges by now. My first attempt at finishing this one straight off the coticule didn’t go great, so this time I simplified. Honed up to 8k on a synthetic, then used the coticule strictly as a finisher instead of trying to run a full progression on it. Honing is a lot like anything else worth doing. You fail, you get back up, and you try a simpler version of the thing that beat you.
Building the Lather
This soap builds fast. A few dips off the tub, a little water, and it’s already turning into something thick. The scent comes through loud and clear while I’m working it: that Shulton’s backbone with bourbon riding underneath, not fighting for control, just filling in the edges.
I used to bowl lather everything because it was quicker. Somewhere along the way I went back to face lathering and grew to actually enjoy taking my time with it. Funny how that happens. You think you know what you like until you sit with it long enough to find out.
By the time I’m done loading the brush, the lather is thick, glossy, and holding more water than I’m even giving it credit for. Between the lather and the scent, Doug and the 10SC folks did right by this one.
First Pass, Straight Razor
Wet blade, first pass with the HMC. The edge is comfortable, and comfortable is what coticules are known for. They’re not always the cleanest edge you can get unless you push the stone harder, but they’re consistently kind to your face. I’ve got two days of growth on me and it’s handling that fine. Not my best edge ever. My honing still has room to grow. But it’s better than my last attempt, and honing is one of those disciplines where you’re never actually finished learning it, twenty years in or two.
The Surprise: A Second Razor Comes Out
Here’s the part I was holding back. One of my regular viewers asked for more DE content, so I pulled out a razor I don’t reach for often: the RazoRock SLOC, an open comb head you can pick up affordably if you just want the head on its own. It’s a lot of razor for not a lot of money.
I loaded a Gillette Nacet blade into it and went in for a second pass with no re-lathering. That’s how slick this soap still was after a full pass. I got the whole second pass off the lather already sitting on my face. Made a mess doing it, but it worked.
The SLOC held up. Nothing dramatic to report. No burn, no tug. Just a clean second pass off a soap that had already done its job once.
Splash and Wrap-Up
I finished it off with the Stillhouse Spice splash. That Shulton’s-and-bourbon combo comes back one more time going on, and it’s a good note to end this one on.
That’s the shave. Thanks for watching, and I’ll catch you next time.