June 11, 2024 – 2024.06.11: Lather Games Day 11 – April Showers Bring May Flowers

• Brush: Stirling 31mm Zenith Boar #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Henson AL13+ #STAINLESSLESS
• Blade: Treet Falcon (1)
• Lather: Noble Otter – Rawr
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Unscented with Menthol Witch Hazel & Aloe
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Sea Spice Lime

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Daily Theme: April Showers Bring May Flowers

Theme justification: Noble Otter Rawr has been classified as a Spring Scent in the past. Plus, Dandelions are classic spring-time.

Relevant Post Shave & Frag: Green. Everything in my setup has green. The Stirling Witch Hazel, the brush, and the SSL frag. In case there is any debate, witch hazel is an aftershave.

Side note with this theme: April showers did not bring May flowers for my area. Just more storms and tornadoes. Two massive tornadoes hit cities close by me. Thankfully there weren't many casualties, but there was a lot of damage. They're still recovering. May was rougher than normal.

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Scavenger Hunt Justification:

Razor facts: Treet Falcon is a Carbon Steel blade. Thanks to /u/onionmiasma for the blade.

Brush facts: The brush was made my Zenith, who make their brushes in Italy.

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Daily/Special Challenge: Color Coordinated

My pic was my SOTD Pic listed above, but I'll include it here for posterity: photo

I'm the first one to admit that I'm not great at color coordination (or any coordination, really). That's why I reached out to my boss for confirmation. She has a degree in interior design, and she stated that the items in today's shave (save for the brush that I forgot) are color coordinated.. I took the photo in front of a bush in my garden, and it even matched the theme. I'm not a good photographer, but I think it looks pretty decent.

I know she's not reading this, but I'm very for my boss. She's the reason I haven't left my current role. If she wasn't there I would've taken a job in NC about a year and a half ago.

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Fragrance description

Rawr caught me off guard. It's the first time I've used it, and it was extremely pleasant. It's a light scent, grassy scent to my nose.

Sea Spice Lime is one of my favorites. I'm very grateful that the scent does not attract bees to me. The scent description of ocean water with lime is spot on. I went to Curacao this past spring and if I had added lime to the ocean water it would've been like wading in a giant vat of SSL.

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Now onto the shave!

I'll be honest, I was worried about the Treet blade. So I decided to use my Henson. I have to say, it was actually quite nice. It won't replace my Wizamets, but it is far superior to Treet Black Beauty blades. I got a nice shave with no issues whatsoever.

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Sponsor Spotlight

Yates manufactured my favorite razor: Aylsworth Drakkant. That makes them a winner in my books.

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Totals:

• Razor Hashtags: 9/10
• Brush Hashtags: 8/10
• Hardware Sponsor Points: 2/2
• Software Sponsor Points: 8/16
• Number of Lather Brands: 11/30
• Number of Lather Scents: 11/30
• Number of Post Shaves: 11/30
• Number of Frags: 11/30

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Contest Hashtags:

#FOF

#ROTY

June 11, 2024

• Prep: Hot shower
• Brush: Badger brush I've had forever with the maker's mark rubbed off
• Razor: Muhle Companion
• Blade: Astra Green (Indian)
• Lather: Talent Soap Factory - Peony and Violet

This soap has a light floral scent with grassy notes. I'm not sure if it's in accordance with any petrichors. (Fires up Google) No, I don't think I'm detecting any of that.

ROTY

• Brush: Stirling - Synthetic 2 band.
• Razor: Henson AL13 Mild - Blue.
• Blade: Personna- Med Prep.
• Lather: Martin de Candre - Rose.
• Post: Geo F Trumpers - Coral Skin Food.

SOTD I am green with envy over the wetshaving exclusive brush (green) that I’ve seen in several photos today. Is it available anywhere? It’s hard as a F leg shaver to justify a lot of hardware- though I have at least 4 (razors/brushes, etc.) which I thought was more than enough until I followed you enablers. 😂 Also, this theme had me going down the rabbit hole of searching for a pink brush. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a pink brush? I don’t know why some brushes are $400, but they are beauts. 🤩 I even looked at how to mold (?) my own on YouTube . Alas I did not succeed in acquiring a pink brush (the color pink of MDC!). It could have been color adjacent, but once I have something in my brain it’s hard to let go. I did find wine colored ones, a pink makeup brush on eBay, etc. but that’s not what I had in mind.

For today’s Spring scent I used my favorite Rose scent, MDC Rose, followed by GFT Coral skin food which pairs nicely and the smell of both is lovely.

As for Yates, I love the shaving bowl- I have the small orange one which makes quick lather of samples in particular.

I did listen to the podcast, and found it entertaining and informative! There are some solid competitors. I hope my formatting is correct🤞

ROTY

Jun. 11, 2024
Prep: Cremo - Coconut Mango Shave Cream - Preshave
Brush: Yaqi Bluish Violet Synthetic
Razor: W.C.S. Multi Titanium Collection Razor, 84M
Blade: Gillette Nacet [4]
Lather: RazoRock - For Chicago - Soap
Post Shave: RazoRock - For Chicago - Aftershave
Fragrance:* Jimmy Choo Man - Aqua

I really like using For Chicago and it fit today’s theme well. Italian Barber describes it as “masculine floral” with jasmine and gardenia. Fitting - I just yesterday bought two jasmine plants at a local nursery to plant outside with my wife (like, she and I will do it together - she isn’t buried outside my house by where I’ll plant the jasmine).

Anyway, it’s a fragrance I like a lot more than I thought I would. She bought it for me a few months ago and I e come to really love it, especially when I have to be in meetings or around people professionally and don’t want to have a strong smell about me. It smells very much like I think an old barbershop would; it reminds me of what I remember dads using when I was a kid (not in a weird way like I went around smelling my friends’ dads. Just like what I remember adult men smelling like). It’s more of a “work” smell; not so much a “date night” fragrance. And I think it’s the only mentholated aftershave I have, so that’s a nice refreshing treat when I use it.

To go for the color challenge, I matched the blue in the label with my WCS razor by attaching WCS’ huge blue 175BL handle. I like a heavy razor but this one is a little unwieldy for me. I used a blue Yaqi synthetic brush as well, and I hardly ever use that brush so this was an excuse to use it. The blue Aqua Man cologne completes the challenge for me (I know it’s called Man Aqua but I like to think it’s the cologne Aquaman would use).

I’m writing this instead of paying attention to my virtual staff meeting this morning so I’ll add the photo later. Anyway, great shave today. Very little feedback from the alum and the SOS spray will take care of any potential redness or irritation. It’s amazing stuff, dudes. (And that’s a gender-neutral use of “dudes”).

Shared from My Shave Den for iOS

Edit: added my photo (I hope)

ROTY

LG2024- June 11th “Chicks dig it”

• Brush: Yaqi Cashmere Synthetic Dandelion Green Handle, 24mm
• Razor: Razorock GC .84
• Blade: Astra Green (9)
• Lather: Barrister and Mann- Diamond
• Post: Barrister and Mann- Diamond splash and balm
• Fragrance: Green Irish Tweed

Shave: April is the best month of the year. Firstly it’s mine and my oldest daughters birthday month. Secondly, depending on where you live it’s is generally the month that the cold and long and dreary winter starts to depart or if it’s a warmer climate, like a few places I have lived, its the last tolerable month before the heat waves begin. Lastly, and most importantly, it’s when baseball begins. There is no better sport that exists.

Early on in my wetshaving journey I happened upon some Diamond splash. Baseball scented aftershave? Yes please. Shortly after, I was able to find a used set on the Bazaar. I then found out that this perfect scent will no longer be made and now have 3 sets ( if you have any that you would like to part with, please let me know.) It is the only scent that I own multiples. I could settle for the other baseball themed scent in Noble Otters Batters Up…but that shit was terrible. Seriously??? green pepper ??WTAF???

Because of the green theme I was not able to include my favorite brush. Last year I broke one of my birch baseball bats during an adult league game. I didn’t just wanna trash it and figured, “hey why not make a shaving brush out of it?” I contacted Levi from Prometheus Handcrafts via Instagram and asked if he could repurpose my bat into a brush. He gladly obliged and made this custom beauty. It has a darker area around it that was lightly torched to darken the wood and meant to simulate pine tar that is used to enhance the grip while swinging a bat.

Viewing: I was in little league in the late 90s and all the baseball heroes of the time were bigger than life sluggers like McGwire and Sosa and Bonds. We now know why they were bigger than life :). I also grew up in a city without and MLB team and the only baseball I could watch were the nationally televised Braves on TBS and Cubs on WGN. The Braves were the easy choice. Instead of the sluggers like Fred McGriff or Chipper Jones, my favorite Braves were Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz. Absolute aces! Behold my favorite commercial of all time

ROTY

June 11, 2024 - PRIMAVERA!

photocontest

Theme: Bokeh Balls (plus some marbles, the closest approximation I could think of to the 10-points "real thing" here)

• Brush: Black & Yellow Merit 99-5 by Heritage Collection Shaving / AP Shave Faux Boar Synthetic 24mm #FRANKENBRUSH #FAUXFUR
• Razor: Muhle Hexagon - DE89
• Blade: RK - Stainless [2]
• Lather: Declaration Grooming - Sunrise on LaSalle - Artisan Shaving Soap
• Post Shave: Declaration Grooming - Sunrise on LaSalle -
• Fragrance: Guerlain - Vetiver - Eau de Cologne (vintage bottle)

"Primavera" is the Italian word for the Spring season.

Wikipedia informs me that it comes from Latin ver-, which in turns comes from a Sanskrit word that means "shiny", or "splendid".

It's a time of new beginnings, a powerful symbol that I immediately appropriate, as I mean this post to represent a fresh new start after a constructive clarification with the judges.

Let's just put on some Vivaldi ~~telephone wait~~ classic music inspired by Spring, and jump to today's frags.

As this is my first time using Sunrise on LaSalle, I wanted to experiment the soap + AS combo to appreciate the common thread as well as the differences.

Also, I wanted to continue yesterday's good-vibes celebration of collaborations, as my choice today is for one of the many collaborations between DG and Chatillon Lux.

The soap lathers impeccably and hits the mark in evoking a flower market, and "reflect the early morning hours of freshly cut flowers, with their dew-laden sweetness and vibrant freshness". Spot on.
Extremely mind-opening that this mental image is evoked through a feat of olfactory alchemy: the main note is, in fact, not floral but fruity. Mainly one fruit, a pear, transmuted into a floral orchestra. What a great symbolic resonance to the impermanent and transformative essence of the Spring season!
Love it both viscerally and conceptually.

The AS, as it's common, features a wider range of facets - some of them a bit disorienting to my nose.
To me, it evokes a ripe pear skin scent, as well as a less "round" scent, possibly evoking the slightly "dirty" smell of pear flowers. It's not off-putting, but my brain keeps searching for a clearer analogy, only to settle on a mental association with an aspect of the scent of Pyrethrum, the (former) name of a variety flowers also used for insecticides. It's not a bad smell, but it's unfortunately a bit distracting to me.

Today's fragrance is a vintage bottle of Guerlain's Vetiver: the top citrus notes are muted by the effect of time, but the drydown feels more complex and, again, "dirty" (in this case, with an intriguing leathery/tobaccoey accord) than the one of current formulations.

The transition from SoLS to GV worked even better than I expected: both evoke a clean accord with a green element, and then surprise you with mysterious transmutations that reveal an unexpected complexity beyond the easygoing façade.

#FOF

#ROTY

June 11, 2024 - BossHoggins10 Brings May Flowers

• Brush: Omega 10077
• Razor: Yates Precision Manufacturing - 921-M
• Blade: Gillette - Silver Blue
• Lather: Barrister and Mann - Le Grand Chypre
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann - Le Grand Chypre Splash
• Fragrance: Tom Ford - Eau de Soleil Blanc EdT

Today's Theme: When I made my Lather Games Calendar, I asked the judges if B&M Le Grand Chypre would count as a spring scent. Fair enough, the product description does not explicitly state it is Spring scent or "prominently floral".

However, as I was mowing and listening to the Lather Games Recap today, they emphasized to read themes and challenges carefully, insinuating this month is a matter of semantics. Cool, I can play that game.

Well since B&M LGC does feature some floral notes and would work for today's challenge, I figured I would make LGC "prominently feature floral, grassy... accords. These beautiful flowers in my yard caught my eye and figured I would pick up some mowed grass while I was at it.

I took a shower, dried off, and started creating my "product", soap featuring floral and grassy accords. It lathered up beautifully and smelled exactly like what the judges are looking for. Even when I applied and shaved with the lather, it was a glorious experience. I'll take my points for hitting the theme today.

Todays Challenge: See my above SOTD photo. My Tom Ford fragrance beautifully matched the rest of my gear. I did not decant the fragrance because that would require pouring, not spraying, according to Merriam Webster.

Sponsor Highlight: Not much can be said about Yates Precision Manufacturing that I have not said already. I probably have the most shaves logged with Yates razors in the last 5 or 6 months here in r/wetshaving. Jake Yates is a stand up guy who knows how to design and manufacture an incredible razor.

ROTY

11JUN2024

• Brush: Aurora Grooming Viscount w/25mm Paragon Boar
• Razor: Karve CB [SB-C] #CNC #RUSTYBUTTRUSTY
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum
• Lather: MacDuffs Soap Co - Spring Cabin

Ahh spring time. The time of cleaning, the time of mosquitos, the time of...wait why do I like spring again? Oh yeah

I Don't.

In the south spring is a hot, humid, mosquito filled hellscape where all the idiots are driving to the beach, drinking, then driving home putting everyone else's life at risk. Crime goes up, people do dumber shit, and I sweat through every shirt I own, making it the most uncomfortable time of year. Getting into an overly hot car, even after letting it run first to get the AC going and circulating.

But hey, at least the flowers are blooming, right?

People who like spring/summer are crazy. Spring--

This soap? This razor? This brush?

++

-100000000/10 for Spring 10/10 for this shave

ROTY

Jun. 11, 2024

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts Maggards 26mm Boar

• Razor: Weck Sextoblade

• Blade: Kismet Hair Shaper [4]

• Lather: Noble Otter - RAWR

• Post Shave: Noble Otter - RAWR

• Fragrance: Noble Otter - RAWR

April Showers bring….

It’s raining today. Bunch of bullshit. I know I live in Florida, I know it’s the rainy season, I know we “need” the rain but I needed to hit the Daily Challenge color coordinated and Photo Contest Grass. Have been plaining this picture since the photo contest was posted. So yeah that all went to shit today. Got my picture but not how I wanted it. But I do have to thank u/infernalinternal for lending me his Weck with green scales so I could have everything match today.

Went to see my cardiologist today, he said my heart is improving to keep doing what I’m doing and to come back in 6 months. That was the news I needed to hear. It was what I needed to push me forward to take the next step on a plan I have been working on for the last few weeks. I can’t say what it is right now, but hopefully soon.

No sibling fisticuffs today and they are back to not talking to each other so all is well there.

Todays shave… I have used a Weck 4 times now and I have wecked myself in the same 2 spots. Left cheek by my mouth and on my lower left side of my neck closer to the ear side. That one I can understand, only having 1 eye the left side is hard to see. But the one by mouth I just don’t get. August is going to be fun…

I know I dickholed it today, but I honestly put a lot of thought into what I was going to do for today’s picture just for it to get screwed by the rain.

#ROTY #FOF #PhotoContest

https://imgur.com/a/yPldJSA

• Prep: PAA - Bubble Gube
• Bowl: Naked Armor - Silver Fox Scuttle
• Brush: Wolf Whiskers - Semogue Galahad Premium IT Boar #OLDWORLD
• Razor: PAA - Crimson Ghost Open Comb Double Monster Slant
• Blade: Personna - Red
• Lather: Martin de Candre- Rose
• Post Shave: Dr. Jon's - Rose of Phrygia Aftershave
• Post Shave: Thayers - Facial Toner Coconut Water

Today was an exciting day for me in the Lather Games! I was looking forward to this special challenge of matching all of my colors. My favorite color is Red so, I used different shades of Red! First was my Crimson Ghost razor with a Personna Red Blade. Then came the light red/pink Bubble Gube preshave, followed by my Semogue Red boar brush perfectly whipping up the MCD Red Rose lather. I topped everything off with my Red topped Thayers toner and Dr. Jon's Red Rose of Phrygia aftershave! Awesome lather and shave with my first use of the Crimson Ghost!

Still going strong with my personal challenge of different blade, razor, brush, aftershave and soap brand every day!

ROTY

Jun. 11, 2024 April Showers Bring May Flowers * Brush: Chisel & Hound Quartermoon
Razor: Gillette Fatboy Adjustable E3
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Lather: Noble Otter Soap Co. - Rawr
Post Shave: Noble Otter Soap Co. - Rawr * Post Shave: Osma - Alum
Post Shave:* Jack Black - Double-Duty Face Moisturizer

Dandelions, bro.

ROTY

April Showers Bring May Flowers

• Brush: Chisel and Hound Vitae Taper w/AP Shave Co 26mm Pure Bliss™ SHD Premium Synthetic Knot #COMPOSITE #FAUXFUR #FRANKENBRUSH #PREMIUMPLASTIC #SHD #TOLL
• Razor: EldrormR Industries MM24 #FLIPTOP #MODERNGEM
• Blade: Personna PTFE Coated Stainless GEM
• Lather: Gentleman's Nod - Juniper Reverie
• Post Shave: Old Spice - Classic Aftershave (American)
• Fragrance: Motif Olfactif - Voile D'encens

Daily Gratitude
Thanks to Arch for giving me a killer deal on a soap lot including this soap. Thanks to ShavinginCT for the fragrance sample. Thanks to my mom for buying me the aftershave. Thanks to EldrormR for including some free blades with my MM24. Thanks to my dad for finding a flower and getting the bugs off of it then holding it in front of my SOTD. Thanks to our wonderful judges and other people for putting this whole thing together.

Daily Mistakes
I should have properly planned today better, I originally had a sample set and I knew I would have to change it for the daily challenge but I was so busy I forgot until last minute.

Daily Writeup
Man this cologne smells terrible! I could hardly breathe after applying it. Today was the first day of marching band and it was meh, I don't like marching band. Then I went over to my grandma's house to help her with some arts and crafts but it took way longer then expected so I had to rush to work without shaving. So I just got home from work and put together a shave and shaved and now I am writing this, way past my bedtime because I have marching band early morning tomorrow.

Daily Theme Points
Don't get it wrong, Juniper Reverie is in fact a spring soap, when Gentleman's Nod first introduced the scent they said, "Spring has arrived - And so has a new fragrance collection." Not convinced? Just look at that logo art, looks like some grassy soap to me! Still need some more convincing, look at the scent notes or just smell the soap, "...soft florals," is directly listed as one of the scent notes. Reminds me of before the summer marching band heat, oh how I miss it.

Daily Relevant Post Shave & Fragrance Points
Today for the relevant post shave and fragrance I matched it by color and tone for the daily special challenge. Old Spice is a pretty light bottle but not exactly white so it matched the sky of the soap label very nicely, for the fragrance I went with a fragrance that is more yellowish orange to match the actual grass of the soap label art.

Daily SPECIAL Challenge
I explained a bit in the daily relevant post shave and fragrance section but to finish off the picture I put it with a brush with some white to match good, a white towel, and last but not least, a nice spring light flower to finish it off and make it relevant for the theme.

Hardware Scavenger Hunt
No new hashtags so if you want to know about these ones you can see my previous posts.

Photo Contest
For the photo contest today I went with darkness because frankly that's what reminds me of spring, maybe it's because when I was a very young child I had breathing issues at night occasionally and my mom would take me outside in the cold and smell the lavender with me, and lavender is a springy scent so it's very nostalgic. Today's photo theme I decided to go outside in the dark and have a spring flower to remind me of those days.

TL;DR
Late shave. I win rookie of the year thank you very much give me my prize.

Side Contests

photocontest

ROTY

June 11, 2024

• Brush: Zenith Boar 24 x 48 mm
• Razor: Fatip Piccolo Slant Closed Comb
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum (Green) (2)
• Lather: Noble Otter - Queen
• Post Shave: Thayer’s – Rose Petal Toner
• Fragrance: Andy Tauer – No. 2 L’air du désert Marocain

Honeysuckle Rose

Yesterday’s SOTD posts were fun because music. Glad to find out there are a few jazz aficionados around here.

My SOTD post from yesterday got a bit carried away, at least in terms of length. Today I’ll try to be more concise.

So for springtime-y scented soap I went with Noble Otter Queen, which the artisan describes as “learning more feminine,” and which has honey and floral notes. I contend that honey and flowers are springtime-y. I thought the scent might smell cloying, but it wasn’t. It has a soft honey fragrance, like the honey cake you get at your local Armenian bakery.

The aftershave is also an understated floral scent, Thayer’s Rose Petal Toner. I topped things off with a more challenging scent: L’air du désert Marocain by the Swiss perfumer Andy Tauer. I haven’t smelled anything else quite like it. It combines spice notes (coriander and cumin—which occasionally veer toward smelling like armpits) with an open, breezy quality. Does that sound like a springtime scent to you? To me it didn’t, but the manufacturer recommends it (“especially”) for springtime. It does have leafy and floral notes: petitgrain (leave and stems from a species of bitter orange tree), along with jasmine and rockrose.

I’m couldn’t participate in the today’s challenge due to most of my shave products being samples.

Brush Strokes: Early Spring edition

The most famous Chinese painting is known as Early Spring. It’s dated to 1072 CE and attributed to court painter named of Guo Xi. It’s a landscape painting, yet unlike any other landscape painting. I recommend going on Wikimedia Commons and examining a hi-res image this masterpiece.

#ROTY

SOTD - 2024-06-11

• Beard Growth: 24 Hours
• Prep: Hot Shower,CeraVe SA Face Wash
• Pre Shave: None
• Brush: Yaqi - Sagrada Familia Synthetic
• Razor: Lambda Athena
• Blade: SuperMax Platinum Plus
• Passes: WTG x2
• Lather: Southern Witchcrafts - Fougere Nemeta
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts - Fougere Nemeta After Shave Splash

• Fragance: Southern Witchcrafts - Fougere Nemeta EDP

• Comments: Another post-bike night time shave… Feels very good to be back in familiar territory. The base is so good, hopefully I can get more out of it in the next few days, loved the smoothness, thickness, slickness of the lather, I’m a fan lol

The razor was super smooth and a great combination with the supermax platinum blade.

Loved going back to this brush too, super soft and worked well for face lathering today. Forgot how much I liked this one, not bad for a sub $5 Yaqi brush off of AliExpress

All Fougere Nemeta all day, spring scent, enough said, love it!!

The pic for today tried to keep it Off-White/Amber theme : https://ibb.co/3NBp5gC

#ROTY