Confirming that spinach juice can counteract unfavorable osmotic balance in soap, I wet the surface of my Coconut Stirling with it, dripping it from my palm like I used to do pumpkin juice. Much more water was added to load the brush and finish the lather in my palm. What couldn't be loaded back into the brush was smeared on as a lather pre-shave. It didn't feel like glycerin. Didn't feel like low-glycerin, either -- still plenty of "moisturizing" going on. But I can usually detect irritation before the blade hits.
Pumpkin juice was applied direct-to-face before the lather of the first pass. The blade progressed smoothly, but hair didn't "pop" against its own resistance. The edge on the Baili blade didn't look much different from a well-worn Personna, and is known to be on the dull side. UPDATE: With Arko/pumpkin juice prep, this blade leaves hairs similarly to the 19-day mark with Personna. So the hair was seemingly softened, but meeting less than ideal conditions on either end: mushy skin, and a dullish blade.
My first Stirling soap was Bonaparte, which had clay in it, and this reminded me a lot of that. Maybe their formula didn't change significantly, after all. Maybe clay just does the same thing as oxalate. I only got two passes out of the Semogue 620, then had to squeeze for crema, much like how I shaved all during my Stirling year, when it was my favorite.
My new trick of the day was to skip astringent and finish by oil cleansing, just a drop of shaving oil, wiped off with a cold, damp cloth. With no injury to my skin at all, I felt this was the best option for soap residue removal. Since learning about oil cleansing, I've come to understand that it is the oily quality of soap that accounts for its cleansing ability, as well. The fact that it dissolves in water makes it convenient to rinse, and able to perform the magic we call lather... but it dissolves in oil, too.
A couple of patches weren't completely shaven: contralateral neck hollow, ipsilateral jaw corner. I had to do some dry touch-ups to get it up to snuff. Nothing wrong with the shave, still DFS... just a notch below the ultimate for me. Oh, well. So much for that streak. :(
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