LGSOTD 04-July

• Brush: AP Shave Co. - Handcraft Lemon Drop 26mm TGN Boar #TEXASPIGSTINKMASSACRE #TOLL
• Razor: Ever Ready - 1912 #TWINS
• Blade: Personna - GEM PTFE
• Lather: Gentleman’s Nod - Juniper
• Post Shave: Gentleman’s Nod – Juniper AS
• Fragrance: Gentleman’s Nod – Juniper EDP

Introduction

The issue attempting to be resolved by the following experiment is the reduction of terminal hair growth, ensuring the use of a sufficiently keen blade loaded into a carefully engineered receptacle utilising a brush comprised of the hair of sus scrofa to create a lather of sufficient density and lubrication from a soap inspired by the vernal equinox to ensure removal of said growth with the absence of dermal irritation.

Equipment and Method

• Brush: 64.11mm Loft, TGN sus scrofa
• Water Hardness: ≤50ppm mineral content
• Water Volume: Absolute volume not recorded, added dropwise^(1)
• Load: 20 seconds
• Rotations: \~15 clockwise, 15 anticlockwise
• Brush Pressure: Minimal
• Lather Building: 60 seconds
• Blade and Receptacle: 3-faceted PTFE coated stainless steel blade held in a spring loaded ever-ready 1912
• Passes: 2
• Direction(s): WTG/ATG

• Pressure: Minimal

• ok I didn’t actually add dropwise as I don’t have a pipette at home

Following the methods above a lather of sufficient density and slickness was created to ensure drag-free movement of the blade and receptacle. Whilst not all presence of terminal hair was removed, a sufficient quantity was removed to obtain a smooth and irritation free outcome.

Discussion

Whilst there are always margins for error within any experiment, with influence both external^(2) and internal^(3), pre-analytical error^(4) and manufacturing tolerances that cannot be accounted for, the outcome was positive and with said methods recorded we are 95% confident that the outcome could be replicated over multiple iterations, however new user influences must be taken into account.

1. Screaming kid

2. Damn Tired

3. Bugger I miss loaded the blade

…load of waffle but kept me amused, I don’t often pay attention to what I am doing but that genuinely made me keep my mind in it, perhaps not quite as relaxing as the norm but certainly interesting. The AP Shave Co. handle picked up from a handcraft drop (a couple of years ago I think) is perfect for a tall boar, fits perfectly in my dinner plate sized hands. Threw in one of my work reference books, which I only just realised is also on theme for the photo scavenger hunt - happy coincidence.

Cracking shave, smelling good and looking forward to the day ahead.

Hope everyone has a grand day.

Cheers

Marc

#ROTY

#PhotoContest

Congratulations your submission has been selected for the Best Photo Competition.

Reason - "love the minimalism of this set up".

July 4, 2023

• Brush: r/wetshaving Zentih MOAR BOAR 31mm #CHONK
• Razor: Stahly – Live Blade
• Blade: Polsilver (6)
• Lather: M & E – Memories
• Post Shave: M & E – Memories
• Fragrance: Lush – Grass

Morning All, Happy Merica Day

So these morning shaves are killing me but its the lesser of two evils as I know from the last few years that the wife will kill me if I spend too long in the evening larking about.

A quick science shave first thing and I thought it would be a good time to roll out the GUTL created by u/merikus

I Have photographed for documentation here

• 6:15am: The GUTL Experiment Begins
• 6:16am: 2 Grams of Soap added to the bowl
• 6:17am: The damp brush which had taken on 6.6 grams of water due to soaking was then swirled in a clockwise rotation until the protolather was formed.
• 6:19am: I moved the brush to my head and continued to created the protolather in an anti-clockwise rotation 17 times
• 6:21am: Moving back to the bowl I added 4ml of room temp water and began a 20 second clockwise rotation, added 3ml more water which was followed by a 15 second anti-clockwise rotation.
• 6:22am: Moving the brush again back to my head a added 4ml of water to the knot and refined the lather getting ready for the first pass before the next crucial step.
• 6:23am: A 25 second clockwise rotation on the brush in the bowl and the lather was ready along with the reserve lather ready for the 2nd pass.
• 6:24am: The Grand Unified Lather stage was completed.

The science part out the way I revved up the Stahly (well turned the handle) and off she went buzzing away like a Love Honey (Google it if not sure) parcel, I'm not sure the vibrating head brings much to the shave but it added a little variety to the shave and as they say that is the Spice Of Life. This base from M&E isn't too shabby but I find can be a tad airy, the scent however is beautiful with notes of sweet freshly cut grass filling the bathroom and this is echoed by the 0.6ml of splash I used in my post shave.

I finished up with Grass by Lush which for obvious reasons compliments this perfectly. Grass starts as the name suggests with a freshly cut grass note which slowly fades down to a musky almost Smokey hay scent, not a scent I wear daily but nice to spritz on a lazy Sunday sometimes.

PHOTOCONTEST

July 4, 2023 – Lather Games day 4 – AKA Why I failed physics class

• Brush: Dogwood Synthetic – Gully G5A #PREMIUMPLASTIC #SHD
• Razor: Blackland Vector
• Blade: Feather Pro (AC) (6)
• Lather: Noble Otter – Rawr
• Post Shave: Declaration Grooming – After the Rain
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth – Shire

April showers bring May flowers, sure. But what about July where it’s been raining pretty much non-stop here? I guess todays theme is perfectly appropriate then.

1 scoop of soap (42 mg), add to bowl and whip up lather for 1 minute, 42 seconds, with 12 drops of water added. Apply lather from bowl to face at the rate of 1 swipe stroke per 21 seconds until there was a healthy layer of foam on the head – the actual density being based on my ρ = m/V calculation, which was 42. Shaved in 2 passes at an exact angle of 42 degrees in short, straight swipes from top to bottom. The density of the AC pro blade was surely also 42, as is the atomic weight of a petrichor molecule. Science is neat!

#PhotoContest

April Showers

• Brush: Djundjila Brushworx – r/Wetshaving exclusive Barber Pole with Maggard G5 knot #FauxFur #PremiumPlastic
• Razor: Wilkinson Sword – Wilkinson Razor #Dial #EightDaysAWeek #SelfSharpening
• Lather: Barrister and Mann – Roam
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Roam
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth – Shire 2

Sometimes, I really need some external nudge to realise things that should be obvious. I've always liked Roam, but I could never find a category in my mind for it. Then, looking through the themes, it jumped at me: Roam is a spring scent. It's the scent of camp site on a spring morning with dewy grass, mud in front of the tent's entrance, and the smell of countless camp fires so deeply infused in the tent and the wool blankets that they never stop smelling of it. To continue this image, I've added Shire: Once you've packed everything up and are back in the saddle, you leave the smoke behind, the morning sun dries the landscape and you get to cleaner grass and tobacco notes.

For the #science part of today, I've kept lab notes: I bowl lathered using precisely 1.02 g of Roam with 11 ml of water, I stropped the #SelfSharpening Wilkinson Sword Tuesday blade for 30 laps on the included strop, and I did three passes with the #Dial on the most open setting. I then forgot about the science during post application (failed to weigh the balm tub before), so I have to report a negative result there (Reminds me of fatigue tests on aluminium frames a friend of my ran. One of the conclusions was that the fatigue failure usually occurred in the research assistant before the frame and that the former needed to be rotated. Alas, I was alone in my bathroom, beside which a rotation of the participant would likely cause me a DQ.) Finally, two spritzes of Shire under the shirt, corresponding to 140 mg of product (2 significant digits only).

Summer Break Soaps has two scent spots dear to my heart: Valedictorian and Teacher's Pet. Both of these reliably put me in a good mood.

I'm shooting for the technology theme in the #photocontest, and I chose close-ups of this fun and ridiculously overengineered razor with explanatory text as medium. In the SOTD picture link, note that there are multiple pictures in the gallery, and that you can hover your mouse of each of them (or long-press on mobile) to see the explanations.

Jul. 4, 2023- Spring has Sprung!

• Prep: CeraVe - Hydrating Facial Cleanser

• Brush: Omega 10049 Boar #HOLLOW

• Razor: CJB GR100B Kamisori #KAMISORI

• Blade: KAI Protouch MG

• Lather: Grooming Dept - Soap

• Post Shave: T.N. Dickinson’s - Witch Hazel

• Post Shave: House Of Mammoth - Z (uncool) Balm

• Fragrance: Sarah Horowitz - The Now EdP

I grew up in the wonderful era of watching Bill Nye while dreaming about taking field trips with Ms Frizzle.I grew up with this thirst for knowledge and suffered through 4 long years of studying engineering in college I then promptly left that all behind to slip the surly bonds of the earth the instant I was offered a pilot slot.

But let’s reignite that curiosity and to quote the greatest scientist on Mars: Mark Watney “Science the shit out of this!”

Djudges disclaimer: this was all conducted with one soap and setup, just did the entire shave twice.

Hypothesis: Warm water is better for lathering than cold water.

Thesis: Due to the hot process that most soaps are created with I believe that warm water in you lather is far superior for building lather with. This is ignoring any personal preference for warm vs cold lather and purely focused on three criteria: time, consistency and water load

We have all thought we had good lather but my scientific process will prove that the most effective method is using warm water.

Deliverables:

1: Warm water creates a quicker lather

2: Warm water creates a thicker, creamier lather

3: Soap will hold more warm water than cold

I start my experiment with my equipment laid out and my trusty Lab Notebook to take notes with. To eliminate any chance of the brush holding any residual heat I start with the cold side of things. While I don’t have any thermocouples I do have a nice meat thermometer to monitor the temperature of each lather.

Process:

Step 1: Soak brush for 5 minutes in the respective temperature water.

Step 2: Spread 1/2 tsp soap in bowl

Step 3: Load brush. Timer started

Step 4: Add water in 1ml increments

Step 5: Analyze lather created

Step 6: ~~Profit~~ Shave

Results: As you can see in my very organized notebook the warm water lather is clearly superior in all aspects of my test. Not only does it take less time to lather but it made a perfect consistency bowl of lather that held more water than the cold water.

Boom! Science Bitch!

My #photocontest entry for today is for the #Literature theme made as scientific as possible.

Edit: Forgot any scent theme justification. This is the 2022 Kairos version. It is clean and floral scent which is perfect for spring time!

July 4, 2023 – Hail Science

• Brush: Omega 40033 24mm #oldworld #hollow
• Razor: Gillette Superspeed
• Blade: Gillette Nacet (2)
• Lather: Talent Soap Factory – Wild Flowers
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Bergamot Lavender
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux – Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli

Ah spring, season of renewal. A time to come out of the doldrums of winter. This is perfect timing actually as I’m still working to come out of the doldrums of my stupid mistakes day two. Perhaps, this theme day will provide the renewal I need to get out of the ~~dog~~ Airbud house.

Wildflowers seems appropriate, did you know wildflowers are the first thing to return after a fire and some flowers require a fire to grow? May I rise from the ashes of stupidity like the flowers. I will keep hashtagging and #FOF the scent progression seems somewhat obvious here, bergamont lavender (playing on lavender being a flower) and Y/R/P. Y/R/P is, per Shawn, based on the Missouri Botantical Garden, a place well known to all St. Lousians. While we may not go every year, we often make it out every few to see the flowers. My earliest memories of it are of going into the “Climatron,” a giant geodesic dome that holds an artificial rain forest. The humidity was a lot even for us Midwesterners and so you’d always get a punch to your breath when you walked in. Then go looking for the banana tree, because who doesn’t live bananas? (Soap to make appearance later.) Back when I was younger it seemed an expansive area, now it seems so small. We’re members now, but mostly for the butterfly house (which is much closer and more my kids style.) But (bringing us full circle) a little known piece of the garden is “Shaw Nature Reserve” out in Grey Summit, a massive property maintained as mostly natural land with…you guessed it! Wildflowers galore. It’s about a 35 minute drive and we go out a few times a year to let the kids run around in the prairies and play on the nature scape playground.

For the challenge: As I told u/merikus on the discord, I cannot go full shit post. It’s not my style. So I’ll be competing as much as possible still by trying to hit every challenge to the best of my abilities. As a former lab jockey, this one was right up my alley. But Beer brewing is where I devote my science skills. As a current research administrator I’m familiar with many aspects of the NIH many people can’t seem to care about. For example: Did you know the NIH has an Office of Alternative Medicine?. It changes names every few years to make sure it stays up to date with the most current technology (and out of the reach of people who may criticize it.) But to me it will always be OAM, shelling out millions a year test the boundaries of traditional ways of healing. And in the vein of a study designed to test “energy Chelation" on rabbits I present a study to test my ability to transfer my negative emotions to my stubble, ultimately to my soap, and down the drain.

Step 1: Find a quartz crystal. I am to understand quartz is essential for this project. However I have no quartz. Until I realize my bathroom counter is “artificial granite” which is basically ground up quartz held together by epoxy. I now have a 6 foot long emotional resonator.

Step 2: Choose brush. The Omega will do, the hollow handle provides a place for the negative emotions to build up and transfer to my lather. But wait you say, transfer to the lather? That goes on your face! Yes, but the emotions are inside me, so to the lather and ultimately down the drain. Step 3: Choose a lathering method known for attracting powerful emotions. GUTL it is.

Step 4: Build lather, during this process as I add water I imagine my emotions being poured into the lather.

Step 5: Shave, while shaving push your emotions into the stubble, causing them to be severed from the body.

Step 6: Rise away emotions. Repeat 5 and 6 for 2 more passes.

Based upon initial results I can report that I feel significantly better. I’m now only 30% pissed at myself. More importantly, this experiment can serve as preliminary data that, based upon my fairly substantial knowledge of the NIH granting process and OAM’s thresholds, would provide a serious chance an R01 devoted to the study of the mediative practice of shaving. I believe there’s enough here to propose the ApplIcation, appRopriateness and Benefits of Using Dedicated grooming thinking to help emotional wellness (AIRBUD) trial. I’ll have to see if u/cowzilla3 feels up to being Co-Investigator. R01 grants run about 700k/year plus F&A (Overhead).

On to #photocontest: Listen, I was serious about being able to only hold that schtick for so long, so here’s a picture that hits the SPACE theme, with our solar observing telescope. There’s a partial eclipse in October, and a full eclipse in April, and we’re preparing. Later we’re going outside to continue documenting sunspots, so my daughter can see how the sun changes over time. (The reflector scope was too damned big for the picture.) But also, please stop funding the OAM.

Am I DQ’d from #ROTY Unsure. But I’ll keep putting the hash all month long just to be safe.

Edited: Fixed some markdown. I hope this worked this time.

Edited again: effing hashtags. This isn't a bit I'm doing I just fuck up this much. Which is why being caught in the spam filter killed me.

2023-07-04 — It's July

• Brush: West Coast Shaving - Lantern Brush, Silvertip, Ivory
• Razor: QShave Adjustable #DIAL
• Lather: Extro Cosmesi - Liquirizia e Magnolia
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Obsidian (Glacial)
• Fragrance: Lulu & Bee - Magnolia & Orchid

Challenge Accepted: Science again! I said science again!
(I feel like I should disclaim that I am 100% pro-science. If at any point it sounds like I'm denigrating science, I am not. I also realize I'm very unlikely to be the only one to talk about this.)

Science is one of those things that people everywhere have very strong opinions about, though many—regardless of their stance—may not really be aware of what it is. So what is science?
"Why, surely it's the field of study that deals with hard facts and such, like physics and chemistry, yeah? That's why come our challenge today is all about precise measurements and such!"
Those are sciences, sure, but that's not what science is.

Science is a philosophy, a framework by which one can seek to better understand the nature of... nature. At its core is the Scientific Method, by which one forms hypotheses from observations, tests these hypotheses' predictions, thereby generating more observations, rinse and repeat. Ad infinitum (this part is pretty important).

Put another way, science says that, in order to best understand nature, we must first try to explain what we see, and then try to show that that explanation is wrong. In order for this to be possible, the explanation (theory) must be falsifiable. All scientific theories, by definition, can conceivably be shown to be false.

Enter pseudoscience, which is anything that purports to be science, but does not adhere to the scientific method. A common (but not exclusive) way that pseudosciences deviate from science is with regard to falsifiability.
It is common for pseudosciences to claim to be able to explain anything under their purview, but done in a "just-so" way. These explanations come after the fact; i.e. phenomena are shown to be explainable under the theory as those phenomena arise.
No predictions are made or tested. Why would they be? If the theory can explain everything, then there's nothing that can prove it wrong. If it can't be proven wrong, then it's not science.

Can you believe I actually pared that little rant down by at least 50%?
Oh shit, I'm actually supposed to do something sciency...

Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance: The lather's featured notes unite the distinct prominent scents of the otherwise disparate post-shave and fragrance.

Brush: I'm supposed to disclaim here that I paid $0.00 for this brush. Same story as yesterday: I was buying other stuff, saw that this brush was $0.00, and so I added it to my cart and paid $0.00. If they were trying to clear inventory, that's an effective way to do it.

Razor: This knockoff Futur not only checks off a hardware box, but I'm not convinced that the adjustments really do anything, so this also seems like a decent enough place to pretend to to some science. Hypothesis: if the adjustment settings do anything more than fuck-all, then I will be compelled to avoid a certain range of settings in favor of another. Not super precise, but I'm comfortable enough with the sciency-ness of it.

I'm relying on my subjective assessment of the shave, so I chose to start by going back and forth between extremes before moving to an intermediate setting, checking on those subjective assessments along the way.

Starting off with the lowest setting, it was immediately clear that that was awful. Hypothesis confirmed! The highest setting made for a bit too much blade, so I moved it around a bit from time to time and settled in around 3.5. Side note: I do not care for how much wider wider the head of the razor is beyond the length of the blade; it makes precision under the nostrils difficult.

Lather: I also went ahead and measured my soap usage, because why not. I've seen you guys with your little scales, so I followed suit: by comparing the weight of the jar before and after loading, I was able to determine that I used exactly 0.0 lbs of soap. Huh, I guess the jar's almost empty!

I love anise and licorice; in fact, Stirling's Obsidian was one of my first shave soaps. Fast forward to last year, when I saw this post by u/Marquis90, I knew I had to try Liquirizia e Magnolia.

#FOF

With both licorice and magnolia sharing the spotlight, this soap would be right at home on either Floral Day or Spice Day! I opted for the former, because I thought it best to err on the side of caution, just in case someone decided that licorice wasn't the right kind of spice (not that I'd expect that, especially if they'd tried the Amarelli licorice used in this soap; that is spicy and, speaking from experience, not unlike just chewing on licorice root).

The magnolia accord in this scent seems to envelop the licorice, serving to mellow out its spiciness. They interplay in a way that gives me the impression of an uneasy balance, like a cease-fire in which either one could easily overcome the other if it so chose. Either the magnolia smothers and suffocates the licorice, or the licorice breaks through and overwhelms the magnolia. But the balance rests in this uncertain push-and-pull.

Post Shave: Enter Obsidian, on the spicy side of the battle. Licorice and anise are not quite the same, and they seem interchangeable in my mind, but their subtle differences start to seem more apparent when side-by-side.
I find that Stirling's Obsidian tends to be a bit on the sweeter side (as determined by their supplier's harvest, as I understand), especially when faced with the bold spice of the Amarelli licorice. But they are on the same side of this war. (It's a war now)

Fragrance: Enter, uh... Grandma.

I don't know what I expected with this perfume (and it is a women's perfume), but all I get from it is "Grandma." It is the essence of a crocheted doily draped over a coffee table that is adjacent to a mauve recliner with... yup, some kind of crocheted doily thing on each arm. And the back. That's also where the bland colors of the brush fit in.

Now that I've put both of these on my skin, these two representative armies—the aftershave fighting for the glory of the spice vs the...knitting—continue to fight on my very person. I am really glad I don't have to be near people today; the anise is not winning.

#photocontest

Photo: Fruit
I was about to call this vegetable, considering that, botanically speaking, a vegetable is any edible part of a plant. And then I realized and confirmed that the star anise pods are the fruit of that plant. Science!

I'm compelled to science things up a bit more. The razor thing was in the interest of following the letter of the challenge, but this was my first idea. Forgive me for not formalizing a hypothesis here, but I am going to try to replicate the Ouzo Effect! If you're unfamiliar, anise-flavored liquors like ouzo, pastis, sambuca, and absinthe, when water is added, change from transparent to cloudy; this has to do with something from the anise being soluble in alcohol, but insoluble in water, so it separates from the alcohol when water is added.

First, I'm guessing I'm probably going to need some kind of anise extract, so under the assumption that I make that in the same way as vanilla extract, I'm going to need some of the purest vodka. I don't drink, so I'm just going to use non-alcoholic vodka. And to save time, I'm going to heat that up to boiling before adding the anise and letting it... extract for 5-10 minutes or so.

Behold our anise extract! As expected, it is transparent and non-cloudy. Now, when we add the water...
Horse shit! There you have it, people: I have disproven the Ouzo Effect! Yeah science!

Is it going to win? no? Does it annoy semaj3000 that I'm the most generous photo judge? yes.

nice picture.

July 4, 2023

• Brush: Thäter Faux Ivory 29mm 2-band Silvertip
• Razor: Tatara Muramasa (setting: 3) #DIAL
• Blade: Feather Hi-Stainless (1)
• Lather: Declaration Grooming - After the Rain - Soap
• Post Shave: Thayers - Cucumber - Toner
• Post Shave: Unilever - Brut - Aftershave

2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.

---

The Declaration Grooming description of this scent is "Like a walk through a forest after a spring shower". So, I've got that going for me -- which is nice.

After the Rain was among the first soaps I purchased when I became interested in the hobby side of wetshaving. There's a tiny bit of sentiment attached to each use. A very nice shave today.

I'd say that Brut goes well with today's soap scent but, if you're of a certain age, Brut goes well with everything :)

I'm skipping today's challenge. It's too much like real work for me, and I'm (sort of) retired.

Theme: Water #photocontest [Yes, I finally realized there are photo themes]

nice use of water

July 4, 2023

• Brush: Muninn Woodworks purple burl AP Shave Co. 24mm MiG
• Razor: Karve CB SB-D
• Blade: Gillette Nacet
• Lather: Southern Witchcrafts – Tres Matres
• Post Shave: Australian Private Reserve – Coeur de Vert

TLDR: Abstract to my manuscript on my addition to the shaving literature below which concludes that more studies are needed for variable control in shaving. Tres Matres is the perfect choice for floral and petrichor accords, fitting for this rainy New England ~~day~~ month. I followed up with APR Coeur de Vert which has floral notes in violets and lavender, but also grassy notes which I associate with Spring. From decay to life. Happy 4th of July for those who celebrate it. Edit: pets for #PHOTOCONTEST

Background: Shaving is an activity that is commonly associated with the “Your mileage may vary” though process. However, with careful control of variable, it may be a notion that is overdue for a new thought process. This is the first study of its kind to describe shaving at our institution with carefully controlled variables which aims to propose a model for a larger, multi-institutional, double blind, placebo controlled study. With this model, we compared careful measurements of soap and water with nothing to determine a better shave. It was approved by our institutional review board, protocol #1.

Methods: The study population was all face shavers at our institution from July 4th, 2023 through July 4th, 2023. There were no exclusion criteria to represent the general population as best as possible. Each shave was carefully controlled for variables. Soap was measured with 1/4th teaspoon then adjudicated with weight to confirm accuracy. Water was measured in a likewise manner. All water was carefully sourced from a bottle, to remove any inconsistencies that faucets may introduce. Bowl lathering was preformed to avoid unnecessary, non-measured water additions. Shave was performed in the usual two pass manner according to facial hair orientation, with face splashes only from bottled water^1. The primary outcome was shave satisfaction on a 1/10 scale with consideration only to efficacy. Scent, post-shave feel, and safety outcomes were also collected. The use of mean, chi-squared, fishers exact test, and multivariate regression analysis will be performed where appropriate.

Results: There was 1 patient included in this study. The shave satisfaction was rate a 9/10 with a mean of 9/10. Scent was rated an overall 7.5/10 on soap and 8.5/10 on aftershave. The safety outcome showed 1 weeper, on the neck.

Discussion: Our study was successful in demonstrating a pilot for a large study. It also showed that satisfaction is possible with control of variables. Additionally, it showed that bottle water may be better than faucet water in regards to control. Although this study was successful, there are several limitations. It was underpowered to do any statistical analysis so only descriptive statistics were used. There also was the unweighed water face splashes, although type of water was controlled. Lastly, a new blade was not used which would control for variability with razor sharpness as best is possible.

Conclusion: This study is a valuable addition to the literature as it showed that compared to nothing else, you can shave in a controlled manner. This sets up the opportunity for a a model for a larger, multi-institutional, double blind, placebo controlled study.

Disclosures: /u/nathlam15 provided the aftershave for this experiment in a extremely generous pa y it forward (thank you!!!)

References: 1. /u/merikus. Copy Pasta how to shave. Journal of /r/wetshaving. Revised 2023.

July 4, 2023

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts X John Butcher 24mm "Mark" Brush with Tuxedo Synth Knot
• Razor: Gillette SuperSpeed #REGUS
• Blade: Wilkinson Sword
• Lather: Grooming Dept – Soap (Kairos 2022)
• Post Shave: Lather Bros – Flora Colussus Balm
• Fragrance: Jimmy Choo – Flash
• Music: Dream Theater – Another Day

Happy 4th of July to everyone out there and a Happy Independence Day to my fellow American Shavers & Shavettes. For Americans, today is a day to celebrate declaring our independence from England by eating hot dogs, lighting off fireworks, and hopefully ending the weekend with the same number of fingers as we started with. And for r/wetshaving, we celebrate by shaving with spring-time scents! Today, we have florals, grasses, and petrichors. Oh my!

Today, I shaved with Soap soap by Grooming Dept, in the Kairos 2022 base. I specify that, because this Soap soap’s scent notes are white florals, rose, and fresh air, HOWEVER Grooming Dept has released a few different soaps called Soap, so things can get a little confusing. The good news, however, is that white florals and rose are spot on for a spring-time theme. When I smell this soap, the first adjectives that come to mind are fresh flowers and clean. I’m immediately hit with floral characteristics as soon as I open the tub and it continues on as I give it a good lather. It’s like I’m walking down a path of a botanical garden. I literally contemplated taking a Claritin thanks to the abundance of florals in this soap (note: I did note ACTUALLY consider taking medication because of the soap’s scent. By “literally” I meant “figuratively”). The soap smells great and performed wonderfully.

My commitment to #ridewithItchy and not dickhole for every day of the Lather Games continues, as I finished the shave with Flora Colussus, because what is the best way to finish a floral shave? With the COLUSSUS OF FLORALS! I actually don’t love this balm. I bought it randomly because it was on sale and it smells good, however, it is mentholated and it makes no mention of that on that front of the package or in the product description. The first time I used it, I thought my face was about to burn off. Seriously, I actually thought I was having an allergic reaction, but nope. I checked the ingredients and sure enough: Just menthol. The product description says “Besides healing and nourishing your skin after a shave, it also offers great relaxing and calming feeling for those stressful days.” Ummmm… It wasn’t calming or relaxing when my face was unexpectedly melting off! So, a note to all the artisans out there: Please make it abundantly clear if/when you add menthol to your products. I need to mentally prepare myself for that sort of thing.

For today’s fragrance, Jimmy Choo’s Flash was the perfect #FOF pairing. It was like Soap’s better-looking twin. It’s floral and perfect for Spring Day (in the Summer). If I had to literally (figuratively) take Claritin for Soap’s lather, then I’d definitely literally (figuratively) take Flonase after spraying this one on. Smells wonderful, like I’m walking in a field of flowers. It’s Spring in a bottle and you don’t need allergy medicine to enjoy it.

I was very fortunate my white roses are currently in bloom, because it made for a pretty good #photocontest pic. At first, I tried to perch the soap, razor, brush, balm, and frag in the bush and take a pic like that, but the branches couldn’t hold it, and I kept pricking myself on the thorns, so I cut off a few roses, and sprinkled on a few petals for good measure. Made for a better pic plus far less pain for me. #winwin

DISCLAIMER: I won this soap, “Soap”, through this PIF by u/GroomingDept. It has in no way influenced my opinion of the soap, “Soap”.

For today, we have a science challenge. And who doesn’t love science?? We’re here, discussing shaving on the internet thanks to science. You know the expression that “baking is a science and cooking is an art”? Well, yeah, I’ve always been better at cooking than baking. When I bake, it drives my wife crazy because I’m not the best a measuring things. If I have a 12 ounce bag of sugar and a recipe calls for 4 ounces, I’ll just eyeball out a third of the bag. And apparently that’s frowned upon. And like my cooking style, my shaving style also goes more by feel. So, a challenge like this is somewhat of a… Well…. Challenge. But, no one said the Lather Games was going to be easy! So, let’s cook I start of the shave by soaking my brush in warm water while I take a shower (about 10 minutes). After the shower, I go immediately to the sink and turn on the hot water, I replace the brush soaking water with fresh hot water again and fill up the sink while loading from the tub (approx. 30 seconds). Take the brush and swirl it in the soap tub until a decent lather starts up, then bring it to your face, and start to build a nice lather into your skin. Continue doing this until the lather has a nice sheen and the bathroom sink, counter, and mirror are covered with lather that went flying off the brush. The bigger the mess, the better you’re doing. When all is said and done, loading from the bowl will use a little less than a gram of shave soap. As far as the shave itself goes, the sharpness of the blade will decrease by approximately 7% after each pass. Upon completion of the shave, wipe everything down and tally up how much water you used. My sink faucet operates at 2.2 GPM, and I let the sink fill up for approximately 30 seconds while lathering. Fortunately, the water is already hot, so we don’t need to account for losses from getting the water hot, so I’m confident I used less than 1.5 gallons of water for my shave. Then, of course, I needed another 3 gallons for clean-up. All things considered, the shave took 13 minutes, 26 seconds. Yes, this is all standard, and no, I didn’t measure a damn thing, but who says science needs to be exact or accurate??

For today’s interview, I have the dude who made the shaving brush I used today – Stephen Joiner of Dogwood Handcrafts. I feel so fortunate that I just recently acquired one of his brushes and I really need to have him create a custom one for me at some point in the very near future. So, r/wetshaving’s favorite brushmaker was such an amazing sport with this request. I sent every artisan 10 typed out questions and u/Phteven_j asked if it would be okay to record a video instead. Ummmm… Hell yes it would! Originally, I thought maybe I’d type out his answers, then I watched his video. So, Stephen answered all of my questions and more in this 27 minute video. Thank you so much Stephen! You have no idea how much I appreciate you doing this. Since this is video format, I’m going to include the questions I sent him below with timestamps to his answers, but honestly, watch the whole thing. It’s insightful as all get-out and Stephen goes on a great tangent or two. Such a great dude to do this. And Fuck Mojo Handcrafts (you’ll get this once you watch the interview).

Ten Questions with… Dogwood Handcrafts

1) Have you always had a knack for creating? Whether it be art, or things that are functional, or the functional art that you’re known for today?

:50

(INTERVIEW CONTINUES IN THE REPLY)

2023-07-04 Lather Games SOTD

• Brush: Yaqi Ferrari 26mm
• Razor: Gillette Slim
• Lather: Southern Witchcrafts - Lycanthropy

The scent reminds me of a summer garden full of flowers after the rain and I tried to show it on the photo

Tags: #ROTY #photocontest flowers

July 4, 2023 – LG 4: April Showers Bring May Flowers

• Brush: Summer Break Soaps DG B9A #SHD
• Razor: Maggard V3 on MR11 Handle #RAINBOW
• Blade: Personna Stainless (3)
• Lather: Australian Private Reserve – Lavioletta
• Post Shave: Noble Otter – Rawr
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth – Sonder

Lovely spring bouquet and scents today starting with the lovely APR lavioletta. A very floral, lavender and violet forward scent to match its namesake. It reminds me a lot of BM Just Right for a Tuesday, but perhaps a bit more crisp and herbaceous. While the soap was flower forward, the AS rawr is the ground in spring, ripe with green grass and dandelion notes, and the plethora of white florals one might find in meadows and fields (the body powder actually went to my painfully sunburned feet due to some extensive time at the lake). Sonder layers on top beautifully, more white florals but much creamier and woody underneath, with hints of citrus. #FOF #PHOTOCONTEST (vegetables, what is more spring than planting ones spring garden?!)

As for today’s challenge, if reading is not your forte, here’s the pictures. I’d say I’m halfway between Walter White and Jessie Pinkman on my approach. Opted for 2g of soap, as my old APR is quite firm. Added 8mL of water, but that was almost nearly all drank up by the dry SBS (oh hey, today’s sponsor, that was intentional! The beauty of leaving parts of the calendar open to wiggle) B9A brush. Got a new container tared, and added 12mL of water to it, and figured that should suffice. It gave me a nice 10:1 water to soap ratio. In hindsight, I should have used more soap, but the ratio was actually pretty spot on for my preference of hydration. I wonder how it would scale up though. I’d have to guess an additional 2-3mL of water were added to my face pre shave and between 1st and 2nd pass.

I will say I’m guilty of buying the rainbow shiny V3 head for this years LG, but I already had the blue MR11 handle (twas my 2nd razor purchase on my wetshaving journey). It completed my Maggard head collection which was nice, as I’d purchased, traded, and been gifted the others over the years.

soap brands 4/30, post shave 4/30, frag 4/30, post/frag linked 4/30, software sponsors 1/15, hardware sponsors 1/2, razor hashtags 3/15, brush hashtags 1/15, photo contest 4/30, daily challenges 3/25, special challenges 1/5

July 04, 2023 * Brush: Prometheus Handcrafts w/ 28mm Cashmere Synthetic * Razor: Razorock Gamechanger .84 * Blade: Gillette Nacet * Lather: Declaration Grooming - Vernal - Soap * Post Shave: Declaration Grooming - Vernal - Aftershave * Fragrance: Declaration Grooming - Albizia - EdP

Happy 4th! Vernal is the best non-Shawn Maher scent of 2022. The tomato leaf note is chef's kiss. I absolutely owe it to myself to get the fragrance, but since I don't have it, I paired the shave with another one of Scott's spring fragrances, Albizia.

Started today's experiment with a 30 second brush soak in 120 degree water. I proceeded to tub load 30 seconds clockwise, 30 seconds counterclockwise. Used approx 2 grams of soap. Razor blade had exactly 1 use prior. 25 individual razor pulls in the first pass. 27 in the second pass. 4 dashes of aftershave applied to damp face. 2 sprays of fragrance.