Post 'Saturday Lather Games SOTD Thread - Jul 08, 2023' of challenge 'SOTD photo scavenger hunt'

July 08, 2023

• Brush: Maggard 24mm SHD two band badger #SHD
• Razor: ATT - Windsor Pro SB90
• Lather: Barrister and Mann - Fougère Angelique
• Post Shave: LÚCIDO - Aftershave

Maggard is absolutely my favourite retailer. My purchase history is longer than Ben Affleck’s face after day out shopping with Jennifer

Nice clean smooth shave today. Highly recommend the Maggard SHD brush knots if you haven’t tried. Great value for money. Loaded heavy and got heaps of lather. I have the sample of Fougère Gothique too, but prefer this one. I have a lot of soaps but not many aftershaves, so this unscented mentholated aftershave that I recently picked up will be very useful.

Daily challenge

Have a great day!

Edit #photocontest

Music
“Ring of Past” - Men I Trust Spotify /YouTube

July 8, 2023 – Lather games day 8 – AKA Country lime

• Brush: Sawdust Creations Studio Synthetic
• Razor: Merkur 34C
• Blade: Astra SP (Green) (2)
• Lather: Maggard Razors – Limes & Bergamot
• Post Shave: Noble Otter – Monoi de Tahiti

Heading up north with my son today. Smelling fresh. Can’t wait to be devoured by mosquitos. I’ve always liked Maggard brand soap, especially their Limes & Bergamot. A real nice scent balance. Slap some NO Monoi splash on top of that and I think I’m ready to meet a country gal. Or get devoured by mosquitos. Can go either way, I think…

I should have been an ophthalmologist

#PhotoContest

July 8, 2023

• Brush: Yaqi – Evil Zebra #TOLL
• Razor: GR100B #KAMISORI
• Blade: Feather – Professional SoftGuard AC Blades
• Lather: Maggard Razors – Mango Sage Tea Soap
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Mountain Man Splash
• Fragrance: Giorgio Armani – Code
• Music: Snoop Dogg, Fabolous, Dave East - Make Some Money

Happy Maggard Day!! Maggard Razors has become the premiere place to buy any and all shaving related items. What started as Brad Maggard renting a space to service straight razors has turned into a small Mecca for those of us who consider our daily grooming routine a hobby. I still haven’t been to the storefront in Michigan, but I’m hoping the stars align and my schedule allows me to go to the World Famous Meet-Up next year. Being able to meet so many artisans, talk with those on the sub, and sniff so many products sounds like a wonderful time for me and an awful time to be my bank account.

There are other places to buy shave stuff, but none reach the level of Maggard's when it comes to service, selection, or knowledge. If you email them, odds are it will be Brad who responds. This community is a better place because of Brad's small business. So I'm happy to continue to support his small business and hope one day it becomes a large business.

I actually just Googled what the definition of "small business" is: it's 500 employees!! Holy cow! That's a lot bigger than I expected. If that's the case, I'm not sure Brad would want to grow that much. But if that's what he wants, that's what I want too. And if not, I hope he keeps chugging along and doing things the right way.

So lets take a ~~minute~~ entire day and raise a glass to one of the guys who enables us the most: Brad Maggard!

Today, I used the Maggard’s House Brand Mango Sage Tea Soap. I this is a wonderful, slightly sweet scent that is perfect for a July day. The Mango is there to lift the soap up, the sage brightens the scent, while the tea bring everything back down to earth. It’s a great, well-balanced scent and the soap performed brilliantly. It provided a smooth slick lather that was easy to build.

I used Stirling’s Mountain Man aftershave splash because the bergamot and tea go great with the tea in the soap. And it also has an orange note that I thought would complement the mango from the soap. Because oranges and mangos go together like peas and carrots.

For my fragrance, I went with Armani Code because it’s bergamot and lemon notes would play nicely with the tea and citrus fruits from the soap/splash. If the soap and splash were like peas and carrots, this fragrance was the mashed potatoes. Everything was brought together for a #FOF win and I am feeling fresh to death.

For the #photocontest, I have wildlife! I saw a rabbit in my backyard, grabbed my shaving stuff and took a pic just quickly enough before he ran off.

CHALLENGE

Ask a question? The challenge is to ask a question? Aren’t the challenges supposed to be… A challenge? Here’s a link to the thought provoking question I asked.

I absolutely recognize that some challenges are easier than others and the challenge announced tomorrow could very well be “Shave blindfolded, while balancing on one leg, humming the theme song to ‘The Golden Girls’, and wearing a tutu” so I’m just gonna take the W with this challenge and mentally prepare myself to shave my legs in a couple weeks.

Continuing on with my “10 Questions with…” Series, I touched base with Brad Maggard, founder of the World Famous Maggard Razors. He gives a lot of insight into is business and the wetshaving industry as a whole. This one is definitely worth a read! Thank you so much for taking part, u/undream22!! So, let’s get into it:

10 Questions with… Maggard Razors

1) You started your store in 2012, what did you see in the marketplace that made you think this was a good idea?

Service was always the driving force that got me thinking about renting a space that wasn't my garage. At some points in 2011-early 2012 I would have 20, 30, even 40 straight razors waiting for work in my queue. The store idea didn't really come until AFTER I had rented a space in our downtown to move my workshop to so I could be more efficient at servicing straights. I figured - if I was there working, why not have the door open and sell a few items? Of course, that part snowballed, so, I kind of "fell into" the market - it was not a calculated effort to open a store.

2) At the time, did your friends and family think you were crazy to open a store dedicated to shaving like our Grandfathers?

Everyone thought I was nuts. But, my first storefront lease was $350/mo, and at the time I was doing $1500/mo in service and $1000/mo in ebay sales (pin kits and various selling of vintage razors). I knew if I got myself out of the house/garage and into a heated space so I could focus on pumping out a couple more razors, the bills were paid. Thank goodness I did this - as who knows what would have happened had I stayed at home.

3) If you had to guess, how many straight razors have you honed over the years?

I'd have to estimate around 6,500. tough to say. At one point I was averaging 4/day (1200+/yr). Things have significantly cooled off in the SR market---and now I might average 5 a week (250/yr)

4) If your storefront had a theme song, what would it be?

No clue. lol!

​

(INTERVIEW CONTINUED IN THE REPLY)

July 8, 2023 – Buttering toast for the first time

• Brush: Maggard Synthetic
• Razor: EldrormR Industries MM24 #brassing
• Blade: GEM (1)
• Lather: Maggard Razors – Lilac
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Bergamot Lavender
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux – La Petite Prairie

Today I used the MM24. And tied that directly into my DQ thread question.

So no not a shit post but nicely tied together.

I want to thank u/EldrormR for the opportunity to grab that MM24 before he went public with it. It’s a beautiful unique razor. This one in particular because the plating was in such bad shape he removed it from the lid creating a two tone top. His picture is better than mine. I hope he won’t mind if I use it.

The shave was not my best but no worse than the first shave with the Parker or the kamisori. I titled a little too much in several places, nicked my chin 3x and mole once. But nothing serious, a little stypic and fixed. Some feedback on the balm and I feel a bit raw but I’ll get better and probably pretty quick if today’s start was any indication.

On to #fof. Now you’re thinking “wait wouldn’t Le petite prairie made more sense with wild flowers?” No. And let me tell you why. Because my grandparents and mom lived off a street aptly named “Lilac Road.” it’s the second to last Missouri exit on the bypass. They weren’t directly off it but that’s how we got there. Once it was a large farm but by the time I was born and we’d visit (most notably for the large annual family reunions that occurred outside) most of the land was unfarmed and while not quite fully restored prairie, pretty damn close. I used the bergamot Lavender to bridge these two scent profiles and I think I did pretty well. A trip down memory lane. I appreciate Shawn’s recreation of the prairies that became south stl, because I’ve stood in the ones that remained just 15 miles or so away. (that area won’t be developed so they’ll stay there for a while I’d bet).

Hard to tie today’s #photocontest to the challenge as I have been, so I turned my kids lose and this extinct animal is the result. The giant dinosaur may as well be alive with it’s roaring sound. You can see my daughter’s arm holding it up as she tries to get the perfect shot for me. #ROTY

I want to close by just giving my appreciation for Maggards. This hobby revolves around small businesses and Maggards is one of the best. Yes I try to buy from the artisans directly when I can. My sister also has a small business (a clothing boutique in Chicago) so I’m aware of wholesale problems, profit margin, inventory costs, etc. But artisans can’t sell everything and sometimes you need a broad variety of things and it’s more cost effective go get it all at one place. I’ve had to exchange emails with Brad over a few tiny order issues (one my mistake and one the stock counter) and he’s always been awesome. They ship faster than imaginable. There’s a reason they’ve managed to get the most of my shaving spending (though u/Mammothben is trying to overtake them, and he doesn’t sell much in the name of hardware, so that’s impressive.) Today’s shave used as much Maggards stuff as I could. Brush soap, that bottle of bergamot Lavender didn’t come from them but it’s almost empty and the replacement did. They were my first stop to prep for lather games and where I send my wife to get me gifts. Yes I gave away some of my sample to others did this which cost them a sale or too, but I also have spent enough there to offset that several times over. Thanks Maggards!

2023-07-08 Magnificent Maggard

• Brush: Maggard Razors - Black Resin Handle Black and White Synthetic
• Razor: Maggard Razors - MR18 with V3
• Lather: Maggard Razors - London Barbershop
• Post Shave: Epsilon - Blue Mediterranean
• Fragrance: Lulu & Bee - Soleil Blanc "Inspired"
• Blade: Personna Super (4)

Relevant Other stuff: Uh... samples! These clean, bright scents are all samples! I have no doubt that Maggard surely does very well by supplying samples to shavers for the games, so it feels germane to today's theme. Cop-out? Maybe, but I also tie the scents together more below. Also, Maggard razor and brush.

#FOF

Lather: I first tried this scent two years ago for the Games, and I cannot stress enough just how fucking clean this smells! I'm not going to talk, for the moment, about the "Barbershop" label; that's literally a topic for another day. But holy shit, this is the freshest, cleanest scent I've ever encountered.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "What the hell does 'clean' mean, man? Next thing you'll tell me it smells like sunshine; say what you mean!" What? No, it doesn't smell like sunshine. Nothing smells like light; that's stupid.

I will say, though, that this could easily be called something like "Fresh Linen" if that wasn't marketing suicide; that's the kind of fresh clean-ness I mean. It is a bright scent, and the only reason I don't have a full tub of the stuff is because a) I have too much soap and already b) I have another barbershop tub I barely use because I have too much soap already. Plural reasons. Come to think of it, I should get one for August... No, bad! Too much soap!

Post Shave: Chosen for today after seeing it described as "a clean, light" scent, this is exactly that. Sure, it looks like you could pour it in a Barbicide jar and not know the difference (thus making it right at home alongside the Barbershop lather), this is also a surprisingly apt follow-up to the lather. It is fresh and clean, and I am feeling super clean and fresh after rubbing it on my face. That may have come across as sarcastic, but it is not!

Fragrance: (disclaimer: freebie with the awful Magnolia scent from the other day)
This smells like sunshine! If it were a color, it would be a pale yellow. This is purportedly a dupe of Tom Ford's Soleil Blanc, and while I don't' know what cardamom and ylang ylang smell like (apparently it shares the latter note with today's aftershave), but this is a lively, bright scent.
It's not something I'd choose to wear regularly (it's expressly unisex, but I feel like a cooler or darker scent personally suits me better), it makes me feel like spending the day outsi—OH GOD WHY DOES THE SUN COAT ALL OF EXISTENCE WITH PAIN AND DEATH

#photocontest

Photo: Urban/architecture, the built environment
I was originally planning on some setup with maple leaves to match today's theme, but that seems at odds with all this bright liveliness. Meanwhile, even though I had to get a ladder to clean the outside of that window, I forgot to do the same on the inside. ~~Oh, well.~~ Later, because the fancy struck me to start cleaning my kitchen, I thought I may as well drag the ladder back out to get the window and take the shot again, with improved results.

Challenge Accepted: Hold up, there's a DQ thread, as in a thread where all the Lather Games' disqualified posts go? A graveyard of latherlympic shame? So the djudges have made extra work for themselves to track down the questions. Guys, I'm trying like hell to make things better by cutting down my ramblings, and then you do this? Well, all the better, I suppose; it makes it much easier for me to avoid lengthy digressions, and I will take such opportunity; I think this is my briefest post yet!

While I am tempted, I will not go off on some tangent comparing today's challenge from compulsory discussion boards in online classes. Is that still a thing? I imagine online classes have evolved greatly since my time, especially after 2020. It was a nice idea, but utterly and consistently failed to drive engagement from the students—unless they were already engaged, of course.

That's not an issue for us today, because the Lather Games participants are highly engaged; so much so, that today's Daily Questions thread is going to be very much alive, albeit not with very many actual questions, but you knew that.

• Brush: Chisel & Hound Kuai Taper w/ V18 Fanchurian 26mm

• Razor: Muhle Rocca R94

• Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum

• Lather: Maggard Razors - Mango Sage Tea

• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Thé Noir et Vanille

• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - O, Unknown!

Today's Theme: Small Business Saturday... but in July - Used the Maggard Mango Sage Tea soap, and it's a pretty delightful scent. Mango and Tea off the puck, sage heavy when lathered. Very easy to lather up, good amount of structure and whips up pretty quickly.

Today's Challenge: DQT Appreciation Day - DAE PAA BAD? Also neck picture!

My theme for today's shave: Tea

Yes, I know, tomorrow could have been tea day, but it won't be so boohoo to me for making my LG calendar more complicated than it needs to be. For today's shave I decided to have a Tea-themed shave. The Maggard Mango Sage Tea is pretty light on the tea, off the puck it gives mango milk tea boba drink vibes, but loses most of the tea once it's lathered up. Noble Otter's Thé Noir et Vanille reminds me most of a strawberry herbal black tea - the kind that has dried fruit and black tea leaves mixed together - with a hint of rose petal on the finish, and I could see it being a very fancy herbal tea finished with rosehips. Wonderful scent. And finally, Imaginary Authors' O' Unknown! is the most tea-forward scent of the bunch. It's pretty much straight up strong black tea and I quite like it.

For music, I picked Skeletons in the Closet by Gamma Ray. Absolute banger live album, and Kai Hansen's voice + guitars really shine. Incredible energy from the band and the audience comes through in the recording. What does it have to do with tea? Nothing really, it's just a great album. Could I have picked a british metal band to at least pretend like there's a link to tea? Sure but you're not my real dad. Dale. Can't tell me what to do. #photocontest #FOF #ROTY

Small Business

• Brush: Zenith 506U XSE unbleached 27mm × 56 mm boar #TexasPigStinkMassacre
• Razor: GEM Heavy Flat Top (G-Bar) #Twins
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (2)
• Lather: Maggard Razors – Tobacco & Leather
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth – Almond Leather
• Fragrance: Maher Olfactive – Treachery

To get the challenge out of the way: my answer. The DQ thread is my main source of information and enablement when it comes to obscure shaving knowledge, recently primarily about straight razors.

This is the first time I've tried Maggard's Tobacco and Leather, and its scent is pretty much exactly what you'd expect. The leather note is quite strong, and reminds me of CBL Lavender and Leather, which I have on my roster for later this month. I randomly got the most perfect, drippy, slick-as-snot (using Brand Maggard's term for describing the slickness of Barbasol) lather right away. I'm not often that lucky with bases I'm not used to, and it left an excellent impression. Almond Leather's leather note is softer, but the plays really nicely with the scent of the soap.

Treachery is another first for me, and I chose it for the tobacco and almond notes to create a tobacco-leather <-> leather-almond <-> almond-tobacco triangle of scents (relevance of post and frag). It's a very rich scent with a very different tobacco note than the soap. I clearly smell vanilla and some spices (spoiler, there is no vanilla note 😅) but I can't pick out the whiskey, berries, cocoa, etc from the well-blended background. I'll have to remember giving this sample some love after AA, This might be a full bottle candidate.

Regarding the #Twins tag, I've used the E-Bar yesterday.

A few words about Maggard. It's definitely the place where I've left most of my wetshaving money, and it's not even close. I can't help but think of Maggard Razors as the home of wetshaving in a way. Last October, we had the opportunity to talk to Brad Maggard for an hour and a half and discuss all things wetshaving with him. Give it a listen, if you're looking for some entertainment (other than the Lather Games, of course) this weekend.

For #photocontest, I'm shooting for the masterpieces theme, with an hommage to Wes Anderson and his compulsive need for symmetry.

Jul. 8, 2023 - Praise to the Wetshaving Mecca

• Prep: CeraVe - Hydrating Facial Cleanser

• Brush: Maggard Razors Green Handle 2 Band Badger

• Razor: EldrormR Industries MM24

• Blade: GEM PTFE (15)

• Lather: Maggard Razors - Limes & Bergamot

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

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

• Fragrance: Dr Jon’s - Savannah Sunrise

There’s not many companies that can provide the crack thrill enough to satisfy us addicts but Maggard Razors takes the cake there! Not only do that carry everything under the sun but also reasonably priced. Oh yeah and they ship insanely fast! I’ve see them send shipping notifications within an hour of placing the order! I unfortunately didn’t get to visit at the recent Wetshaving meetup, maybe next year I’ll be able to make the journey to the promised land of wetshaving.

Limes & Bergamot is unapologetically citrus and I love it! Sometimes I don’t want a nuanced scent and happy with the simple things. Todays brush was a Black Friday deal that I think was ~$20 and was my first natural hair brush. It’s nothing special but does the job well! I got the Dr Jon’s fragrance from Maggard as well while they handled the last part of the Dr Jon’s inventory. (RIP) It is similarly unapologetic in its scent. There are more layers there but it’s very obvious with its peach and florals.

Daily Challenge link! Help me feel better about my soap addiction please!

Todays #photocontest is a representation of the Small Business world where many people get started at a Farmers Market. I went with a stand selling #vegetables today!

July 8, 2023 – LG 8: Small Business Caturday

• Brush: Maggard 24mm 2-Band Badger
• Razor: Maggard Slant on MR11 Handle
• Blade: Astra SP (Green) (4)
• Lather: Maggard Razors – Lilac
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Fougère Angelique
• Fragrance: Barrister and Mann – Fougère Angelique

What’s better than Saturday, Caturday of course. #PHOTOCONTEST (pets, featuring Mr Cat, aka lathercat).

Maggards soap, made by Through the Fire Fine Craft, is pretty run of the mill if you ask me. Not one of the all stars of this sub, but it still makes the team. Lilac is a pretty straightforward floral scent. Clean, crisp, and safe, but not much of a head turner. I initially had slated lilac vegetal in today, but opted to take a picture of my cat instead of smell like his liquid excretions. Seriously though, that stuff has a decaying floral, ammonia, medicinal quality to it that is a head turner, but for all the wrong reasons. Figured instead I’d opt for the phenomenal maggard exclusive fougere Angelique. A wonderful fougere that paints outside the lines, and is wonderfully citrus forward with loads of lime and neroli to my nose. Killer longevity for a citrus forward scent, but dries down with some floral elements from the geranium and lavender, eventually smoldering out to its woody and mossy base. Quite different than the other fougeres in my den, and really holds onto the citrus side of the scent throughout. #FOF

In case it wasn’t as clear as other day, although some floral elements link the shave, everything hardware and software today was from maggard, and had a nice purple/blue theme as well.

As for the challenge, getting meta today in the DQT and wondering about airbudding the airbud quest.

soap brands 8/30, post shave 8/30, frag 8/30, post/frag linked 8/30, software sponsors 3/15, hardware sponsors 2/2, razor hashtags 4/15, brush hashtags 5/15, photo contest 8/30, daily challenges 7/25, special challenges 1/5

cat.