June 5, 2024 – Subpar but not horrible

• Brush: The Hands of the Tsar
• Razor: Bic Sensative #rainbow
• Blade: whatever comes in a bic
• Lather: Cremo – Original
• Post Shave: Nivea – Sensitive Post Shave Balm
• Fragrance: Ralph Lauren – Polo Blue

Goop. It’s what we all wanted to leave behind, yet here we are using it for internet fame. I opted for Cremo, which was surprisingly hard to find at Target as they transition to selling Harry’s, DSC, and other advertising heavy products that pay for shelf space. (Indeed, they no longer sell Proraso at my Target to make room for the big Harry’s display). This Nivea balm, also at Target. And did you know you can buy Polo Blue at Target! (Through their partnership with Ulta). This is an entirely Target shave, a Target Trifecta! It’s not exactly a #fof legend here, but Polo Blue is reliable. And easily available. It’s a safe scent. It’s office friendly. The aquatic plays well of what little Cremo citrus is in my memory (and oddly well with the medicinal smell of the Nivea). I don’t get any “wow” factor off it, but I’m sure it’s generally pleasing. And honestly your den needs some scents like that because you can’t be niche 100% of the time. (Disclaimer: This is some sample my wife got in an Ulta or Sephora order).

Ok but truth time: you can’t get everything at Target. I couldn’t find Yellow Bics, they only had off brand. So, I went to Target’s poorer cousin Walmart. Walmart also sells Cremo and Nivea, (but no Polo Blue!). These Bics remind me of my teenage years, because Dad taught me to shave with this exact razor model and dial soap. Yes, we lathered with Dial soap. It was miserable. Just horrible. Took me 20 years to figure out life was wrong. (I broke with him and went for electric shavers not long into my shaving career. I haven’t used a Bic in probably 20+ years.) But you know what, put a pin in that, we’ll come back to it on Father’s Day. The shave was, surprisingly, not bad. Not great, but not awful.

For #photocontest, Cremo doesn’t require a brush, so my hands gotta be in the photo, and so here’s a picture framing my eyes. Picture was taken by my daughter (after several tries that were all blurry.)

Speaking of lathering, today’s challenge was interesting. I hit it since I normally bowl lather (about 80% of the time) and what you do with Cremo counts as face “lathering” (no bowls here!) But, in the spirit of the challenge I decided to flip when I lather! I always shower before I shave, so today I’ll reverse that and shave before I shower. I know some people do that; I don’t get it but in this case I’m glad I did because the Cremo left a film that was hard to get off. Shower helped. Instructions say if you don’t shower first rub warm water on your face for 30 seconds. While I do that, I’m going to contemplate how to up my game because u/priusaurus and others are bringing it.

June 5 - A RAWRing Good Time - Day 13

• Brush: Semogue 610 21mm Boar

• Razor: Gillette Flare Tip Super Speed F1

• Blade: Sharp Star Platinum

• Lather: Noble Otter - RAWR Soap

• Post Shave: Lucky Tiger Splash

• Post Shave: The Club - Vacanza Romana Splash

• Fragrance: Barrister and Mann - Electric Mayhem EdT

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Tomorrow my journey with RAWR will come to an end. I purchased this at my local Tesco in Winnipeg, New Mexico, and it has been a lovely journey indeed.

I had to think hard about today's fragrance selection. Butt ultimately it came down to a lady riding a Vespa which gives me some kinda electric mayhem ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

#FOF

2024-06-05 - Brick, mortar, pestle, artillery...

• Lather: Proraso - Menthol and Eucalyptus
• Razor: Baili BR179 / Rockwell R1 / CVS Goodline Grooming Safety Razor
• Brush: Moar Boar #OLDWORLD #SUBBROOSH
• Post Shave: Stetson - Original, After Shave
• Fragrance: Stetson - Original, Cologne

Drugstore Day:
It's a good thing that Proraso occasionally shows up in those low-end department stores—e.g. TJMaxx, Ross, Marshalls—because I won't deign to use actual canned goop or even the sorry excuse for shave soap that is Badger Balm. I imagine it'll vary by locale, but I don't think I've ever been in one of those stores that isn't just a step away from a bin store. Speaking of, have you been in a bin store? The ones that have literal piles of Amazon returns that people just tear through, haphazardly throwing unwanted items over their shoulder into a sea of unattended children? Well, when I describe it like that, it just sounds like Ross.

But I digress.

Unifying Theme: Drugstore Day

The razor, though I got it as a winter-holiday giveaway from Rockwell, is the same as "Goodline" from CVS, where Stetson may also be found.

#FOF
I'm pretty over Proraso Green. I haven't even used it all that much. I'm sure it's a perfectly fine smell, but I've come to the conclusion that it's not a scent that I would ever want or choose to smell like; rather, it's something I might expect from an industrial solvent.

Stetson is a fougère, whatever that means to you. I won't pretend it evokes imagery of a roping livestock on a Texas savanna or whatever, but I will say that, despite its classification and purported associated floral top notes, I mostly get amber with a slight woodiness out of it.

Reverse Lather Routine:
I have a track-record of maligning face-lathering. I'm not going to beat that dead horse, though, partly because there's not much left of the horse, but also—in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson—because "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds".

You see, I now have considered information that I previously hadn't: At the time that I developed my negative opinion of face-lathering, that opinion was influenced by the brush that I was using at the time, i.e. for the first Raw Hoggin'. Later, when using the Moar Boar, I found that it did a much better job than my first boar, but only when face-lathering. The Moar Boar sucks at bowl-lathering; because it's so huge and lather-hungry, it can't afford to sacrifice any to a bowl's surface. So I went with the Moar Boar today, and it didn't suck.

I am learning, though, that I do not much care for natural brushes in general. Synthetic brushes are analogous to automatic transmissions in cars. Time was when manual transmissions were standard and were referred to as such. Not only that, but the performance of automatics couldn't hold a candle to "standard." Except that stopped being true longer ago than almost anyone reading this has been alive. Today, automatics are better in every way. The same is true of synthetic versus natural brushes.

#photocontest Trash
Man, all the Trash photos have been really... well, trashy. I guess that's the point. Today's photo is kind of a throwaway, anyway (pun intended), so I figured I might as well.

I acknowledge I did a similar thing the other day, and I'm not trying to make a whole thing out of it, but that Badger soap is literally garbage that I've inexplicably been keeping in a drawer for far too long.

Day 5

• Brush: Semogue Owners Club – 24mm Boar #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Schick Injector #RAINBOW
• Blade: Ted Pella Injector Blade
• Lather: Nivea – Sensitive Skin Shave Gel
• Post Shave: Nivea – Sensitive Skin Post Shave Balm
• Fragrance: Lacoste – Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 Bleu

Why do the judges continue to include this theme year after year? Is it their way to make sure we never go back to the store bought goo? Like letting an indoor cat go outside once a year. Knowing full well, the cat absolutely hates everything about the outside, but you do it so the cat never tries to escape again? Giving us this illusion of freedom, knowing full well, after we experience shaving with this, no one is going to be scratching at the door, trying to get out. Is this your way of keeping us in line?? Well – It worked!

I’m a housecat through and through and I’m not trying to leave this artisinally crafted house of shaving tubs I’ve amassed. I like what I have and yet I’m using these Nivea products for points in an internet shaving game. What a time to be alive!

At the end of the day, Canned Goo Lather Games Day is like the Nickelback of The Lather Games – sure, it gets stuck in your head and it’s something we all remember, but for all the wrong reasons. And you know what’s worse than just using canned goo? Bowl Lathering with this stuff! I usually face lather, which means I'm doing a bowl today. Which judge thought this would be good idea??? I want names! This stuff is a challenge to use on its own, then we add in bowl lathering?!??? JEEEEZUS. What the judges want, the judges get. I bowl lathered my Nivea Shave Gel, and shockingly, it didn’t do much to make the shave better. I did experiment by adding a little more water to the lather, but that just made more of a mess everywhere. This stuff sucks. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck. Sucks.

For #FOF All these smells are mostly inoffensive, generic, and forgettable. The shave gel scent actually comes across as artificial, but the balm is lightly scented and fine. And The Lacoste Bleu isn’t bad, but it’s not anything special either. It’s a basic department store fragrance. Certainly not bad and I’ve smelled far, far, far worse scents in this hobby, but as a fragrance, it is as generic as they come. So… It’s perfect for the gel and balm I used!

The #photocontest theme is: DIY, so I included a screwdriver in the picture.

iamhonestlylying’s Daily Top 5:

In honor of “Canned Shave Goop” The Top 5 Best Slimes of All Time:

5.) Double-Dare – Nothing like sliding around in slime with your little brother for a chance to win a new Huffy.

4.) Ghostbuster’s II Pink Slime – Absolutely haunted my childhood ~~dreams~~ nightmares. Was pretty cool it could make a toaster dance though.

3.) TMNT Ooze – The Ninja Turtles wouldn’t exist with the Ooze. Also gave Vanilla Ice a much-appreciated Cameo. Go Ninja! Go Ninja! Go!

2.) Ghostbuster’s Slimer – A fun loving ghost who only wanted to shower his slime on people.

1.) You can’t do that on Television – Ushered in an era of sliming on Nickelodeon, as well as introduced the world to Alanis Morissette. If you say “I don’t know,” you’re gonna get galloons of green oatmeal dumped on your head. I’m convinced without YCDTOTV, none of these other Slimes exist.

June 5, 2024 – 2024.06.05: Lather Games Day 5 – Canned Goop

• Brush: Swollen Hand
• Razor: Schick Xtreme 2-Blade Sensitive Men’s Disposable Razors #RAINBOW
• Lather: NIVEA – Men Sensitive Shave Gel
• Post Shave: Gillette – Aftershave Gel
• Fragrance: Brut – Classic Splash On

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Today's shave is a little later than normal, and you'll see why down below. Trigger warning: >!freaking spiders, man.!<

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Daily Theme: Canned Shave Goop featuring a Canadian pharmacy's intercom music playlist

Theme justification: Nivea Men Sensitive Shave Gel is available at my local Walmart The can I own is old and has a different label. Same stuff, though.

Relevant Post Shave & Frag: Today is a Walmart theme! As a former employee of the largest private employer in the world, I felt it was appropriate. All the items in my shave today can be purchased at Walmart: the razor, aftershave, and the cologne The only thing missing was a blue vest :)

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Scavenger Hunt Justification:

Razor facts: the Schick razor I used is green. See product photo here.

Brush facts: N/A

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Daily/Special Challenge: Reverse Lather Routine

As many of you know, I am a devout bowl latherer. Why? I just like it better than face lathering. Don't really know why, but I just do. My typical routine involves me smushing soap into my large CaYuen bowl, then creating the perfect lather. Well, since I cannot use my bowl today, I just used my (slightly swollen) hand. Messaged the gel into my wet face as instructed on the can, and shaved. Honestly wasn't too bad

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Frag description

Brut Classic Splash On Cologne

Brut. What is there to say about this all-time classic fragrance? I felt like a true man after putting it on this morning.

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Now onto the shave!

So, I have never been more happy to shave with canned goop and a cartridge razor. Tuesday morning, I woke up with a lump on my left hip. Thought it was odd, but I continued on. I took a shower and shaved. When I got back to my room to get dressed for the day, I saw a crushed spider in my bed. Here is a picture of the bastard. Yup. A >!brown recluse!<. Lovely. I felt fine, so I went to work, mainly because I had a public meeting that I had to attend. Throughout the day I felt fine, but my hands really started to cause me issue. They were fine until I tried to touch anything or even close my hand. You know how when your hands are really dry they hurt to close? It was essentially that. Plus, they were itchy. Throughout the evening, my boss kept telling me that I looked flush, but I honestly felt perfectly fine (outside of my hands). I made it back home at about 9pm, and by that time I had a fever, I was sweating, and I was cold. Wonderful.

I ended up going to the Urgent Care this morning. They said there is not too much you can do, but gave me an antibiotic to help out. I'll be fine, it's just super annoying.

Regardless, the games must go on!.

The shave wasn't terrible at all. The shave gel works about as well as can be expected for canned goop, and the schick razor does an adequate job (it is one of the options I use for travel). The Gillette aftershave gel was sub par, but not completely useless.

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Totals:

Razor Hashtags: 6/10
Brush Hashtags: 5/10
Hardware Sponsor Points: 1/2
Software Sponsor Points: 3/16
Number of Lather Brands: 5/30
Number of Lather Scents: 5/30
Number of Post Shaves: 5/30
Number of Frags: 5/30

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Contest Hashtags:

#FOF

#ROTY

June 5, 2024 – LG Day 5 – GOOP

• Brush: AP Shave Co. Synbad Fan
• Razor: Merkur 34C #ZAMAC
• Blade: Gillette Nacet
• Lather: Nature’s Promise – Lime Scent
• Post Shave: Eleven – Lime and Basil
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors – Saint Julep

I am not convinced that this “cream” is meant for shaving. It looks like bad sunscreen. Per my last use of this goop, it was “aggressively marked down.” I recently saw it in the clearance bin at Hannaford again, and it was around $2. Per the challenge, I need to lather/shave in reverse. I typically tub load (or bowl load for samples) and then build a lather on my head, with a lot of scrub and :whipit: action. Today, I added way too much “cream” (read: goop) into the bowl, as seen above, but then remembered the old adage: moar water moar soap. So I added water. And added more. And more. Too much. Remembering that I need to make a serviceable lather in the bowl and that I have to paint it onto my head, I made sure we were drippin’ so we weren’t trippin’. It looked like (shit)[https://i.imgur.com/1hINCS5.jpg]. The shave was fine. Not enjoyable, but no cuts. I really don’t enjoy painting the lather onto my head since I’m so used to building a good lather right on my skin from the protolather I build while loading. But again, fine, whatever. However, the post shave feel was downright greasy. Like, very very gross. A good rinse followed by Eleven splash seemed to do the trick, but I’m still thinking about that icky greasy feeling and how I don’t really want to save this tube of goop even for next year. Quick #FOF today: Straight lime oil smell. Allegedly "persian lime." Followed by a much more pleasant, herbal quality in the splash, evoking memories of the days I worked in a bakery. We had pizza on Sundays, and I would often be the one to go and pick the basil, the most relaxing part of my 3am-11am shift. Finished with a sweet mint julep, herbal, sweet, with smooth bourbon - the perfect drink after a long, hot shift making bagels in the peak heat of August.

Note for the judges: This was purchased at Hannaford, my local grocery chain, from the location nearest to my home, a 4.9 mile drive and equidistant to the nearest pharmacy.

I logged onto Reddit this morning as I often do, to make sure I don’t copy something someone has done. And I saw u/Crossan1983 lather with his foot. I can’t beat that. That’s funny as hell. Also, I can’t even do that as I am large and physically inflexible. So, instead, let me tell you about what the hell “Nature’s Promise”^(1) shaving ~~cream~~ goop is, and more specifically, some unsolicited information about the history of grocery stores and the concept of the store brand, or as it’s called in the biz, private label. The grocery store as we know it was pioneered by Clarence Saunders when he opened the first Piggly Wiggly on September 11, 1916. Before this, you would go up to the clerk and he would grab, weigh, and box/bag everything you needed. Saunders introduced the concept of self-service, which decreased labor costs and gave customers lower prices, which quickly outweighed any skepticism folks had about this major change. The concept of self-service took off, and now we find ourselves in a world of complete grocery store automation.

(CONTINUED IN THE REPLY)

edited because I forgot my #FOF

June 5, 2024

• Brush: My hand
• Razor: Target Brand Disposable Razor #RAINBOW
• Lather: Barbasol – Soothing Aloe Shaving Cream
• Post Shave: Brut – Aftershave Splash
• Fragrance: Calvin Klein – Defy EdT

Would you believe that I forgot all about the Lather Games today?

No?

Well, let’s just say for the sake of this story, I forgot all about the Lather Games. I’m driving to a meeting, rub my face and realize… Oh shit! I completely forgot to shave today!

Yes! That’s EXACTLY what happened today. In my car, driving, not thinking about Lather Games at all! And what is a fellow to do? I guess I have to pull off at the nearest exit to find a store to procure something to shave my face with. And look what I have here: A Target! What are the odds? Right when I realize I need to shave, a Target is right here! It’s a Lather Games Miracle!

I enter Target the exact opposite way that my wife goes to Target: With a purpose. First, I head over to the travel size section because Lord knows I don’t need a big can of foam goo. Picked up a small can of Barbasol with Soothing Aloe. Then I head to the men’s care section and snagged a pack of Target Brand disposable razors and bottle of Brut Aftershave. Perfect. This is everything I need! I go to the front, pay, and do the next logical thing: Head directly into the Target bathroom to shave there.

I’ve always found Target bathrooms to be on the higher end of store bathrooms – I think because of the good lighting. However, but they ALWAYS are right in the front of the store and have a heavy amount of foot traffic. Oh well – I guess everyone else is gonna have to use the other sinks because this one is gonna be occupied!

For the challenge, I’m using my hand to lather, which is the opposite of what I usually do (use a brush). I get lathered up and quickly try to put my phone away as someone walks in to use the bathroom. I don’t want this guy thinking I’m a weirdo photo-documenting my Target shave. Plus, I’m pretty sure taking pictures in the Target bathroom is a worse offense than shaving in one.

The shave itself was…. Fine…. At least in the sense that my whiskers got cut and there was no blood drawn. Barbasol isn’t exactly what one would consider slick and no one is going to mistake this lather for artisanal soaps. If Everett is a brilliant olfactory opera, this was more like a me learning how to play the recorder in elementary school. The lather was thick and foamy, but slickness? About as slick as sandpaper. But hey, it got the job done.

And the splash was… Fine… I mean, it’s Brut Aftershave. This stuff is an old-school classic, and when I splashed it on, I felt like I was being initiated into a secret society of dads and granddads. The scent actually wasn’t too bad if I'm being honest. Very much smelled like my barbershop… Probably because this is the splash my barber uses. The fragrance lingered for far longer than I would have expected and was honestly pleasant and fresh.

But the shave lacked so much. Privacy for one. I’ve done more than my fair share of public shaves, but this was different. In a public bathroom, with people coming in and going out. I didn’t love that. Really takes the #metime out of my shaving ritual with strangers entering and exiting my sacred shaving space. And the products I used had no character, no heart, and no artisanally crafted scents. Oh shit! The SCENTS!! I DON’T HAVE A FRAGRANCE TO WEAR!

Well, lucky for me, there is an Ulta Beauty right next door to Target! I pack up my newly acquired razors, go into Ulta Beauty. Head straight for the fragrance area and look for a fragrance that (1) has a tester and (2) I want it to complement the lather and splash I used today. Perfect! This one says it’s “Fresh”! Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance Points: Unlocked! The nice girl comes over and I ask her to test this one. Smells nice enough. I don’t think CK Defy is going to be winning any Golden Pears anytime soon, but the scent is unoffensive and clean and paired nicely with the Brut Aftershave. As far as #FOF goes, I smell like a basic guy who is trying to smell good. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but nothing stands out today. I thank the nice girl for letting me try the tester and go about day, heading for my meeting. Thankful that there happened to be a Target and an Ulta Beauty right when I realized I forgot to shave on Canned Goop Day! What are the odds??

Soap Theme Justification: And wouldn’t you know, on the day I forgot about The Lather Games, it ends up being Canned Shave Goop Day and I’m perfectly on theme.

Relevant Post Shave & Fragrance: Everything can be found in your neighborhood Target and Ulta, and are scents which could be considered “Fresh”.

Jun. 5, 2024

• Brush: Simpson Trafalgar T1 #SMOLL

• Razor: Harry’s Truman

• Blade: Harry’s Harry’s Blades [1]

• Lather: Harry’s - Shave Cream

• Post Shave: Harry’s - Balm

• Fragrance: Paco Rabanne - Invictus

I call this a shitfecta™️. This was my setup sans bowl and brush when I decided to shave off my beard and shave regularly again. I used it for a few months. I keep it around now because every other month I have to shave my chest after the doctors office only shaves spots for the EKG tabs. I was going to skip today completely but I’m a trooper. I did not like it one bit. I usually face lather so I went with a bowl and it does not lather very well in a bowl. The Harry’s can take a lot of water but it was just terrible.

Soap justification. I bought this tube at Publix back in September of last year.

Daily Challenge: I usually face lather and when I used Harry’s before I knew any better I hand lathered so today bowl and brush

FOF justification. Harry’s really does not have a sent and I honestly needed something to make this bearable.

Photo contest Theme Garbage.

#ROTY #FOF #photocontest

LG 5 - Wednesday

• Brush: Lea 1823 Boar 24mm
• Razor: Gillette King C
• Blade: Gillette King C (2)
• Lather: Wilkinson Sword Shaving Soap
• Post Shave: Brummel after shave lotion
• Fragrance: Brummel EDT

I went shopping at a couple of supermarkets today and noticed a decrease in shaving products (excluding cans) since the last time I went into this section. I only bought Wilkinson's soap out of curiosity, I've never tried it.

Curiosity has been paid, I didn't enjoy the shave, the lather was airy and stinky, and I don't know how to describe the scent, could be watery Arko. The Gillette is too mild and the blade is dull. The best thing is that I didn't have to face lather with this soap and the bald-syndrome-boar-brush, the bowl had the privilege.

.#FOF The soap had an awkward scent not to say stinky, it was annihilated by the childhood memory of a barbershop's scent.

June 5, 2024 - Goop Day

• Brush: Colgate Youth Soft Toothbrush #SMOLL #RUNT
• Razor: King C Gillette #ZAMAC
• Blade: King C Gillette
• Lather: Nivea Men - Sensitive Shave Foam
• Post Shave: Nivea Men - Moisturizing Post Shave Balm (Polo Green?)
• Fragrance: Ralph Lauren Polo - Blue EdT

Today’s Theme:

This is my least favorite challenge for quasi-internet fame, or is it infamy? To make sure I stayed within bounds, I went to the Walgreens that I can see from my kitchen window. I think under 200m qualifies as my local drugstore. While my daughter looked at Squishmallows, I perused the shaving aisle. I still have my old Dorco Pace razor that I sometimes saw at Target a few years ago, but nope Strike 1. There were Walgreens brand cartridge razors that look the same as the Dorco, but not a match according to my strict yet arbitrary standards. Years ago I would use Bic Metal razors sometimes, but Strike 2: not at Walgreens, Walmart, or Target. Then I saw their “premium” section filled with King C Gillette products. I have a match. Didn’t buy a new one since I still have a couple King C blades and the razor. Then I was looking for the goop I used to use before I got in this hobby. That was King of Shaves Gel. It is a water based lubricant that I liked for shower shaving. Strike 3 for KoS. Man I need more strikes, ok t-ball rules, just keep going until I get a hit. Maybe Cremo was there? I bought some at Walgreens for the first Drugstore day I participated in back in 2022. Once again, no luck, no Cremo shave cream at all, Strike 4. There was a Cremo bump cream, but not a match for anything I have. So I saw that Nivea Men was $1.50 off. I picked up the foam and balm. Last I needed a brush, because… reasons. Strike 5, no shave brushes that I could see. Maybe I missed a cheap “badger”. Oh wait, there are lots of brushes for teeth. Walgreens carries Colgate toothbrushes, and my dentist gives us them for free. Last fragrance was the easiest thing there. They carry Polo there, and I had some at home. I headed home with my plan in place.

Today’s Challenge - Put my bowl down, Flip it, and Reverse it:

I bowl lather in a <$0.50 blue plastic bowl from IKEA. I took it on a trip to use and never looked back. It works better or at least as good as any lather bowl or mug I’ve used. Alas, my trusty blue had to take a break today. I had to face lather. As I was getting ready to shave, we got a Tornado Warning. Time to relocate to my tornado shelter room in the house. Luckily, it is the downstairs bathroom. It has no windows, is on the bottom floor, and also isn’t on an outside wall. My daughter freaks out over storm warnings, but she was chatting with her friends on her iPad trying to stay calm. One of her friends said her mom just saw a tornado on her way home. My daughter started freaking out again. I told her the warning is for the next 30 minutes and we are already in the safest part of our house. Ok, the cat wasn’t in the room, a few tuna treats and we got her in with us as well. Well, not to make light of a tornado, but at that point, nothing we could do but wait. I opened the toothbrush from the Dentist. Realised it was my daughter’s and was a really small knot. 10mm high and about 10mm x 20mm. If it were a round knot, it would be at most 16mm in diameter. To me definitely smaller and shorter than my wee Omega. Ok, face was washed and ready to make some lather. Damn, a toothbrush does not hold much of the foam. Took a few applications and time to work it up a bit. If you want a seriously scrubby brush, Colgate soft is right for you. Brushing your teeth after tastes awful. I haven’t used the King C in at least a year. Not going to be my daily razor, but not horrible. An ok razor to take on a trip. If I were to lose it, I wouldn’t miss it. I was happier with it when I bought it for $17, but now I have better options. More Nivea toothpaste to the face for pass two. I’m very exfoliated now.

Fragrance Feats:

FOF

Nivea Men - Sensitive Shave Foam smells like maybe lime, soap, and a bit like my father’s in law’s drugstore cologne. The Nivea balm was a little different. I got cheap dupe of maybe Polo Green with a bit of lime. I thought about switching to Polo Green for the fragrance, but you know Tornado Warning. Not going to sugar coat it, I don’t like the combo of the two Nivea products. Polo Blue was chosen because I’ve been able to find Polo - Green, Black, Red, and Blue at Walgreens in the last few months. I didn’t buy it there, but I could go over right now and pick it up. Also the Nivea logo is blue, King C also has navy blue packaging. It was time for some blue. Now this rescued the mediocre experience. Polo Blue is a nice fresh aquatic scent and a safe choice for me. Not my favorite scent, but just a solid choice. I get a bit of citrus, mineral, and being out on the water from it. Perfect for a fast moving thunderstorm. As I finished the shave, the thunder cell was a couple miles past the house and moving away. We all exited the little bathroom and now my daughter is still chatting with her friends, my wife is watching a movie, and I am writing this up.

As usual, a couple photos will be loaded shortly. For some reason, Imgur on my iPad doesn’t always let me select pictures I loaded from my phone. I have to save the post, and then open Imgur and Reddit on the phone.

June 5 - Canned Shave Goop

• Brush: Farvour Unicorn Puke APShaveCo Silksmoke 26 mm
• Bowl: Captain’s Choice Black Ceramic
• Razor: Merkur 34C #ZAMAC
• Blade: Wizamet (23)
• Lather: Barbasol - Soothing Aloe
• Post Shave: Brut - Classic
• Fragrance: Eau Studio - Noble

Theme: Barbasol is available everywhere that sells toiletries. Brut was purchased at Kroger. Noble was purchased at Lidl.

Challenge: This is a weird day for this challenge considering many of us are using products that are intended to be used without a brush. Nevertheless, I deviated from my normal face lathering routine and used a bowl.

The fragrance of Barbasol is a powder bomb. It’s aggressively powdery. Baby powder isn’t this powdery. Adding water to the foamed goop results in a lather that looks slick. And, it’s slick enough for a passable shave. Although, even when hydrated to the point of being translucent on my face, it still left my skin very dry. The fragrance seems to stick around for a while post-shave. I feel like this is going to give me a head-ache. It’s unwelcome.

I’m trying to come up with words to describe Brut. But, I’m still smelling the strong powder-splosion of Barbasol, which is odd because this aftershave fragrance tends to have good longevity. Time to splash more on. Lavender carries over from Barbasol. Brut has more of a citrusy presentation. I’m getting some heavier notes: oakmoss, patchouli, maybe vetiver. I don't know that is considered to be a fougere. But, the elements are there. The splash is just alcohol. It stings. It’s harsh. I like the fragrance. But, it needs to be paired with a moisturizing product.

Eau Studio is Lidl’s store brand fragrances. There are web pages listing what the dupes are for multiple Eau Studio fragrances. But, none of those pages mention Noble. So, it’s almost certainly a dupe of something. I’m just not sure of what. I get notes of oud, leather, wood, and white musk. There’s a note of sweet grass, possibly vetiver. It smells really good for a cheapie European grocery store dupe. Longevity sucks. But, again, it’s cheap.

#photocontest - Hobbies. I’m a disc golfer. I lurk, and occasionally comment on r/discgolf and buy/sell on r/discexchange. Included in my SOTD pic is my bag, featuring my Barbasol FD3. Barbasol started sponsoring the DGPT (Disc Golf Pro Tour) Championship in 2022. My buddy went to spectate the event and brought back tournament stamped discs for our disc golf friend group.

#FOF

June 5, 2024

• Brush: Omega Penelli White HI-BRUSH Synthetic #fauxfur #oldworld
• Razor: GEM Clog-Prug #rustybuttrusty #fliptop
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Dollar shave club – shave butter
• Post Shave: Zingari – Unscented

My kind wife let me steal a bit of her cream today for those sweet sweet LG points. Unfortunately for me at 11pm, I had to fight for enough to barely make a pass via creative retrieval. For the challenge: I would normally just use my hand and smear on my face with this so the opposite would be a brush application. Worked fine but wasted what precious butter I had in the brush.

This scent evokes…not many memories. It’s basic, non scented, boring. A routine. Going on with the day. But that’s alright, and it’s a good memory. More of a reminder that I’m fortunate to have a routine. I like to appreciate the simplicity of a routine. Don’t get me wrong, I love and crave wild times. But that’s for special occasions. Even the basic and boring should not be thrown by the wayside. This scent is reminiscent of that memory, as I reset my nose and await more special occasions.

FOF

I present to you an onion, in many allium ways. Todays photo feature a white onion, chive flowers, scallions, and a bonus fresh and dried garlic #photocontest

June 5, 2024 – LG 5: Canned Shave Goop

• Brush: Amazon Badger #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS
• Razor: Gillette Mach 3 Turbo
• Lather: Gillette – Soothing Aloe
• Post Shave: Burt’s Bees – Balm
• Fragrance: Giorgio Armani – Acqua di Gio

All drug store/big retail products. Bowl lathering canned cream seems so pointless, but alas, it’s LG. A little water actually helped I think. I don’t get bowl lathering. Why spend money on luxurious brushes (unlike today’s 12+ year old purchase as a foray into wetshaving) to barely use them on your face, just sayin.

Do I really need to do a #FOF for Barbasol? It’s refreshing, I’ll give it that. The burts bees is a bit minty, basically like their standard chapstick. This is a vintage Acqua Di Gio, purchased circa 2004, so you know it’s the good stuff. Ready for that slow dance, confessions and my boo playing back to back to close the evening. A citrusy aquatic, I’m not going to claim the scents stand out much. I feel like the limited mass market frags I’ve smelled are all much more blended than our small artisan counterparts which move and develop through more phases on dry downs.

For our #PHOTOCONTEST cactus seemed fitting not only for canned lather quality, but also cause a cactus is kinda like aloe, though technically the latter is a succulent.

I was praising the bases of today’s sponsor yesterday, but I’ll shout out Spearhead/Ironbeard again. Integral part of the community, killer products, Adventus Calendar (which I was the inaugural winner of) was such a cool idea and seemingly still an ongoing tradition he started.

soap brands 5/30, post shave 5/30, frag 5/30, post/frag linked 5/30, software sponsors 3/16, hardware sponsors 5/2, razor hashtags 3/15, brush hashtags 4/15, photo contest 5/30, daily challenges 4/26, special challenges 1/4