24.07.2024 Buena Vista Wetshaving Social Club, First Edition: AYLM Don José 🍌🧊

• Prep: head wash
• Razor: GEM Micromatic Open Comb MMOC
• Blade: Personna GEM
• Brush: AP Shave Co. Snakeskin w/ 26 mm Silksmoke Flattop/Fan hybrid
• Lather: Abbate Y La Mantia - Don José
• Post Shave: Thayer's Original toner; HAGS Apocalypse ASB

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!