View attachment 36849
'Sappho listens to Alcaeus playing the kithara.' - Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema - 1881.
Sotd - Thursday 5th of July and Saturday 7th of July.
5/7/18
Razor - Schick O Type clone
blade - Schick Twin modern
soap - Faena Corinthian tallow
brush - Simpsons Chubby 1 best
post - witch hazel
a/s - Alcolado Glacial
balm - Vifrex gel
scent - Creed Tabarome parfum.
7/7/18
Razor - Schick O Type clone
blade - Schick Twin modern
soap - Tabac cream
brush - Maseto 30mm silver tip
post - witch hazel
a/s - Tabac
balm - Weleda
scent - ADP Mirto de Panarea.
Result - both excellent shaves.
I felt I was in a bit of a rut shaving-wise - so went for a root around the den to see what could be found. Joy unbounded! Two soaps I had never used before. The choir angelic descends. I had been intrigued by the Faena range and was very grateful to have been gifted the Corinthian by
@Barry Giddens - turns out that it had too much lanolin in it for his skin - delicate soul that he is. Hey ho - his loss - my gain. It is really rather good for me. A putty like - croap sort of affair - I don't think the company make this version anymore - I couldn't find a scent description - but there is certainly mint in there and something sweeter - mastic perhaps? Very good indeed - above average slickness and post face feel. That being said - I have yet to meet a tallow and lanolin soap my face doesn't love. Thanks again Barry - this one will stay at the top of the pile. Yesterday - a good rummage in the recesses of the cabinet under the sink resulted in finding an unopened tube of Tabac cream. I have long been a fan of the hard soap version but never used the cream before. It is a different formula from the puck - it is not tallow based for starters - but they share the nice spicy floral notes - it worked just fine. Very slick - another keeper for me. All I have to do is live long enough to get through all the products I own - maybe I should shave more often? Job done - enjoy your shaves one and all - yours - I.
Oh - the picture - I feel I owe you an explanation - Faena soap is made on the Greek island of Lesbos - no tittering at the back Giddens minor - whose most famous export was the poet Sappho. Thus from her name we get the words sapphic and - from the island - lesbian - both alluding to her supposed sexuality. Like many classical figures we really know next to bugger all about her - she probably lived from 630 - 570 bce - or there abouts - initially on Lesbos but was - probably - exiled to Sicily during her life. She was almost certainly high born - the exile being a result of her family ending up on the losing side of some court intrigue. Her contemporary Alcaeus - he with the lyre in the picture - was sent hither also - but for reasons not clear. Sappho's poetry and sexuality have been debated since the early 2nd century bce. Only 650 lines of her lyric poetry survive - in total. Not much to work with - and it is highly risky to recreate a life from her surviving works - poetry is not necessarily auto-biographical. The affection for her girls - a la Miss Jean Brodie - could be understood to be the work of a school mistress or a cult priestess - with care over initiates. We will never really know - the ancient Greek notions of sexuality and ours are a country mile apart. I refer you to the Spartan agogue system for instance - pairing boys from the age of seven with older unmarried mentors to help them prepare for life in the army. Several sources describe these realtionships as becoming physical. From antiquity to now - Sappho is a mirror for the social, cultural and sexual anxieties of her commentators - mostly men.