July 11, 2023 – A Day at the Beach

• Brush: Chisel & Hound Badger #shd #composite
• Razor: Gillette Superspeed
• Blade: 7 O’Clock – Sharpedge (Yellow) (3)
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. – Montrose Beach
• Post Shave: Chicago Grooming Co. – Montrose Beach
• Post Shave: Jack Black - Face Lotion
• Fragrance: Chicago Grooming Co. – Montrose Beach

Today I opted to shave with what Vida calls a scent “just in time for summer.” Just in time indeed. To hit the challenge today I needed a full tub, but the website was sold out. I used the contact form to explain to ask Vida if she expected to have a restock by Mid July for lather games. As a sponsor I figured she’d at least I know understand I was crazy, rather than wondering what I was asking about. I received a quick reply, she actually has 2 in stock and the web site was now updated! I bought the dickhole set, planning to use a different EdT and received a quick email that she had thrown in a gift for lather games. Surprise! She’s thrown in a travel size EdP, which nicely matches the lable of the other products. Score, totally matching set. Got my Jack Black lotion (which also matches the blues in the trifecta.) Lastly my C&H brush seems made for this moment with both blues and the sand color. Use the blue Lancaster Razor Works towel as a background and bam #photocontest entry for r/wicked_edge.

Let’s talk #fof. As I said, I wanted Montrose Beach for this day. I’m off to Chicago next week and 60/40 we end up taking the kids there so it seemed appropriate (even if the timing is off.) It’s a fairly clean aquatic scent to me. It develops nicely from soap, to splash to EdP. I pick up the fruitier notes better in the latter. I do have to chuckle a bit at the sea spray note, since Montrose is on a freshwater lake.

Keep it up fellow #ROTY we’re getting closer each day.

Edited to add the JB lotion. While it doesn't count it's in the picture so I put it in.

LG23-11: Sunny Days

• Brush: Farvour Turn Craft 26mm TNS Half Gel Shoat
• Razor: Chiseled Face Titanium Legacy Razor
• Blade: Personna Lab Blue Super (51)
• Lather: Declaration Grooming / Chatillon Lux - Agua Fresca - Shaving Soap
• Post Shave: 345 Soap Co. - Watercolor Coastline - Aftershave
• Fragrance: Blackbird - Pipe Bomb Blue
• Passes: WTG, XTG
• Coffee: West Java. Cijapati, Garut - v: Typica. Tim Tim. Catimor - p: Triple picked. Washed.
• Music: Sébastien Tellier - My God is Blue
• LG Tags: #FOF

Today’s challenge asked for a color coordinated photo. Ask and ye shall receive. I bet you can guess what the color scheme is without too much deliberation, but I need to appeal to the judges. I admittedly read the special challenge as “color coordinate everything you use in your SOTD photo” and breezed past the bit about samples. However, I added in a perfectly color coordinated razor, which I figure is at least as cool as a color-matched fragrance bottle. Look kindly on my minor transgression and favorably on what I’ve presented in return.

Since I’m about to leave for a few days of work travel, I tried to be more concise than usual (perhaps another attempt to curry the judges’ favor) and briefly describe my wonderfully summery blue-citrus-aquatic shave. That didn’t work out.

I lathered up Agua Fresca, Shawn’s personalized spin on his earlier Nonaginta. The top of the fragrance is all juicy tropical fruit; yuzu and lime make up the citrus, with the tart-sweet aspects of strawberry, pineapple, and an apple-like musk echoing that bright, tangy combo. Agua Fresca is simultaneously an aquatic by way of the scent’s namesake beverage. There’s a bunch of 90s Calone—which I avoid in fragrances, but nevertheless enjoy in this particular soap—cucumber, and various scientifically-named materials that reinforce that watery quality. Billowy hedone makes it “feel like summer” and Shawn capped off Agua Fresca with a creamy base (musks, vetiver) that makes me think less of refreshing drinks and more of summer’s ice cream cones, floats, and waiting in long lines for that perfect frozen custard.

To finish my shave I splashed on a small amount of Watercolor Coastline and an even more judicious spray of a summery, blue fragrance. The coconut-floral aftershave scent is the most straightforward and candy-sweet of these three. Along with the usual trademarks of a suntan lotion and beach scent, there’s a nice creaminess to segue from Agua Fresca, though it’s both more floral (Birds of Paradise, lily) and much brighter.

The blue, blue, blue Blackbird fragrance is the wildest choice here and an interesting foil to my soap and aftershave, which explains my judicious application prior to today’s business meetings. Like the brand’s other Pipe Bomb scents, there’s a summery core of saltwater and metallic notes; they’re the only fragrances I’ve tried that compete with 福 (fú dào) to replicate the smell of fireworks lingering in the air. And if you like Zoologist Squid, you’ll enjoy how Pipe Bomb Blue utilizes frankincense. Combined with patchouli in the base, the frankincense supports a dramatic berry soda accord—violet washed happiness on the tongue, ice cold on a hot day. Deconstructed, these notes sound edgy and impossible to balance, but there’s a synergy to Pipe Bomb Blue. It’s the delirious last days of summer break condensed and bottled, buzzing, nostalgic, and singular.

July 11, 2023

• Brush: TerraFirma Soapery – Deep Blue Spalted with Oumo Best 3 28mm Color Synthetic
• Razor: Roman Empire Shaving Shavette
• Blade: Wilkinson Sword
• Lather: Central Texas Soaps – Padre Island
• Post Shave: Pinnacle Grooming – Virgin Island
• Fragrance: Nautica - Blue
• Music: Zac Brown Band – Island Song

Summertime and the livings easyyyyy. I absolutely LOVE the vibe of today’s shave because I’m all about living that island life. The soap description for Padre Island is: “When summer finally arrives in Texas, going to the coast is usually on everyone’s mind. Notes of mandarin, sand, and ocean mist. It reminds me a little of suntan lotion. As soon as you smell Padre Island you’ll be yearning for your next vacation.” And it is absolutely true. With twin toddlers, I’ve learned vacations with kids aren’t vacations at all. They are parenting in a different location that add more stress and complications than we have at home, with four times the meltdowns! Kids! They’re great! And if you’re really lucky, you’ll have twins, like I did! But seriously, kids are…. Anyways… Island vacations: Need one. Want one bad. And this soap smells like one. If I can’t escape my day to day life, this soap is the next best thing.

I continue to #ridewithItchy and not match anything, so for the splash, I used Pinnacle Grooming’s Virgin Island to stick with my island life theme of the day. The scent is a dupe of Creed Virgin Island Waters and the image on the bottle is probably stolen from the internet. It’s a lot sweeter and fruitier than the Padre Island soap, but still quite pleasant and has my dreaming of lying in a hammock and drinking a drink out of a coconut, while listening to the waves lap against the sand.

And for the fragrance, I picked Nautica Blue mostly because blue fit the color scheme I was going for and it also fits the nautical, island theme of the day (and the bottle looks like a sail). As soon as I sprayed it, the time machine in my mind was taken back to drinking in my college dorms, instead of living the easy life on the beach somewhere. Damn, I guess I wore this scent too much when it came out in 2005, because it IMMEDIATELY reminds me of playing beer pong, listening to Dem Franchize Boyz, and saying, “I’ll just wake up early tomorrow and bang out that paper.” Dammit. Just ruined the whole vibe of my #FOF island day. Funny how scents can do that... It’s certainly not a bad scent, but it was my go-to in college and boy oh boy was that memory still attached to my temporal lobe. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go the beer store and pick up some Natty Ice.

I think the challenge is self-explanatory today. The color scheme is blue and island themed.

For the #photocontest, I have history! Within my SOTD pic is a bullet that was fired during WWI and recovered in a field in Ypres, Belgium. Every year, there is an “iron harvest” when the farmers in that area plow their land in the spring. They continue to find all sorts of old munition, bullets, shrapnel, mortars, etc. from the war to this day. It is such a regular occurrence, they have a process for disposing of unexploded mortars by simply placing them in the telegraph pole and the Belgium Army will come by to take them and safely dispose of them by doing controlled explosions. Nothing to do with today’s shave, but I thought it was an interesting fact.

The brush handle I used today is from TerraFirma Soapery on Etsy. And not only did it perfectly go with my blue, nautical, island life theme of the day, it also looks great and is super comfortable in my hand. I’ve purchased two brush handles from him, and u/keener1000 was kind enough to agree to take part in my daily Lather Games interview series. So go and check out his shop. He has a lot of nice and very reasonably priced handles available, and he seems like an all-around good dude. So, today, I’m happy to present:

10 Questions with… TerraFirma Soapery

1.) How did you get starting making and turning shaving brush handles?

It's a bit of a long, disjointed story but here it goes. I started wet shaving in 2015. I've always been a tinker-er and maker, and liked the idea of homemade gifts for my family. I was also starting to follow the wet shaving communities on YouTube and reddit, where I found Douglas's (PAA*) video on making bay rum aftershave. Lush was getting popular back then too and I figured I could make similar products at home for gifts. I started making aftershaves, bath bombs, sugar coffee scrubs and bath soaps and shaving soaps (hence the name) and giving them to family and friends for Xmas, birthdays, mother's days, father's days. I also started collecting brushes, my first fancy one was from BrushGuy, a green and gold resin one with a luxurious badger knot. A few years went by, I moved back to the east coast (navy...) And I bought a home with a 10x20 shed in the backyard. I continued falling down the YouTube rabbit hole and stumbled onto Dogwood Handcrafts brush making videos. The process and products mesmerized me and that became my new obsession (if you can't tell already I'm a bit of a scatterbrain, to my wife's endless dismay). I bought some resin, mixed up a few blanks and turned two brushes on a homemade lathe (a DeWalt drill screwed into the blanks). Needless to say I was proud of my creations, and still use the "nicer " one to this day. I fell down the lathe and woodworking rabbit hole, 4-5 lathes, 100 or so finished brushes and hundreds more in various states of completeness. It's been a journey.

*EDITOR’S NOTE: PAA is on the sub’s DO NOT BUY List

2.) Okay. I have to ask: Soapery is part of your business name… But… I don’t see any soaps for sale on your page. Is this a joke that is going over my head or did you change your business model somewhere along the lines?

I touched on this above but I can always say more. Currently it's been more of a vestigial part of our name. I love making soaps and the science behind mixing oils, butters, fats and lye to get the desired slickness, bubbliness, creaminess and hardness was so much fun to experiment with but I just don’t have the time or a good setup for it at the moment. I do batches here and there for my family when they ask, but not as much as before. I plan on getting back into software at some point, at least part time, maybe when I retire in a few years.

3.) There’s a quote I love from Jurassic Park, where Ian Malcolm in on the first demo tour, and they haven’t seen anything yet. He looks at the camera monitoring them taps it and says, “Eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right?”… So my question to you is: Eventually do you plan to sell soap from your soapery?

Like I in my origin story in question 1. The short answer is yes, I would like to sell my soaps. During my time making soaps I think I stumbled my way onto a damn good shave soap recipe that I'd like to make more of and share with the world. It's not a question of whether or not I could sell my soaps, just whether or not I should at this time. The idea of selling soaps scares the crap out of me, like a TRex chasing after a little jeep. The legalese required and my worries about adverse reactions, lye pockets and a litany of other things that could go wrong make me hesitant to dive deeper into the software game again. Hopefully soap will slip its way back into my business model.

​

(INTERVIEW CONTINUES IN THE REPLY)

2023-07-11 Summertime Madness

• Brush: Qshave Pure Badger #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS
• Razor: Bambaw Sea Green #RAINBOW
• Lather: Zingari Man - The Navigator
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Island Man
• Fragrance: Bath & Body Works - Mountain Frost
• Blade: - Feather (1)

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: As required by the challenge

Challenge Accepted: Oh, man, I dodged a bullet today. I was about to use Moon's Astoria, because it's an aquatic-woodsy scent and "a heavy-hitter for summer use", except it's also "sure to be popular in the cooler months" and thus explicitly marketed for multiple seasons. So I reverted to my plan A: Navigator. On the upside, this one makes for a more interesting palette of colors. Instead of a bunch of poorly-matched green, we have the blues and white of the sky and ocean water, the brown wood of the ship and the figurehead's hair, the green of her scales, and the gold of her compass.
(I promise the mermaid's scales are greener than it looks. In person, it matches the razor's "sea green" perfectly).

#FOF

I still don't really know what an aquatic scent is, but Navigator is explicitly identified as such in Zingari's description, so at least she did that work for me. I do feel confident saying (obviously influenced by the label's imagery) that the soap smells like salty ocean air.
Meanwhile, Island Man is too fruity for my taste. The glacial menthol of this bottle completely overwhelms the senses when putting it on, but the fruity comes back strong. (Update: I smelled it on myself long into the day, quite more so than the fragrance)

Finally, this bizarre ~~BBW~~ Bath & Body Works scent is a mystery. I've had this bottle for over 20 years, and I used it all the time in high school. A friend of mine was convinced it was "Cool Water for Men" (she seemed to like it, which is why I used it all the time). Well, I recently got some Davidoff Cool Water for Men so that I could compare, and I don't think it's close at all. Even so, her calling it that is why it represents the quintessential aquatic in my brain-space, even though I can't find any information about what this scent is supposed to be. I might still use it all the time, but it hasn't been available in forever so I don't want to use it up.

#photocontest

Photo: Masterpieces
Did someone say "vaguely-defined themes"? It may well be inevitable that I'll fail to come up with a way to cover one of the photo themes, but today is not that day. Today, I count myself under the category of "etc"! No, I'm not referring to the photo itself.
The conveniently-hued book upon which my shaving supplies for today rest contains the best version of what was quite literally my master piece, oh so many years ago.

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts 49ers Custom w/ Declaration Grooming B5 28mm

• Razor: Muhle Rocca R94

• Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum

• Lather: Zingari Man - The Watchman

• Post Shave: Chiseled Face - Trade Winds

• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Every Storm A Serenade

Today's Theme: Sunny Days - my lather, post shave, and fragrance are all explicitly aquatic fragrances.

Today's Challenge: Color Coordinated - I could not make this work under the stipulations that the djudges set forth (no samples) without causing a cascading failure of my entire lather games calendar, so instead you get a shitty black and white instagram filter picture of only samples. Pic below.

My theme for today's shave: Ocean Voyages

To be honest, specifically "Summer" seasonal soaps aren't really my jam, so I was actually really looking forward to working in a completely aquatic fragrance profile instead. For me, the ocean has been something I've always been physically close to, and has been something of a constant source of spiritual peace in the least crunchy way. I just really like being around the ocean. But last year I moved to my first landlocked region, and it's been totally disorienting knowing that there's no ocean nearby. No sound of lapping waves or salt spray to help clear my mind if I need it. So that's been a bit of an adjustment for me, and this shave actually was very comforting in that it really made me feel like I wasn't so far away from the water even if none of the scents specifically smell like the ocean.

For today's music, I picked Lemuria by Therion. It's part of a 2 album set they released alongside another album named Sirius B, and both albums carried a theme related to the title. Lemuria is historically an Atlantis-adjacent "lost continent" theory, so many of the album's songs center around nautical myths in addition to the usual smattering of mysticism that Therion likes to write songs about. If you're a fan of Dethklok's Thunderhorse then you owe it to yourself to listen to Three Ships of Berik, Part 1: Calling to Arms and Fighting the Battle which is basically an unironic version of the same song. #photocontest #FOF #ROTY

Day 11 - Sunny Days

• Brush: Yaqi - Arctic brush with Caravel handle (two-tone aqua green)
• Razor: PAA - La Criatural Green
• Blade: Astra - Green
• Lather: Seaforth - Sea Spice Lime
• Post Shave: Seaforth - Sea Spice Lime Toner
• Fragrance: Noble Otter - RAWR

I listened to the podcast from the weekend for the first time last night. They called out Paganini's Violin on music day, and of course, that is what I picked, oops. Give me a break I am a rookie. But it also motivated me to up my game.

We have been getting more rain here this summer, and I love Sea Spice Lime, so color coordinated around green hues.

I have three that would work for the fragrance: HOM Alive, NO RAWR, or AF Green Envy. I went with RAWR because it perfectly fits the sea and summer.

ROTY #FOF

July 11, 2023

• Brush: Boti Totem Pineapple Swirls with Green Tuxedo 25mm Synthetic Knot
• Razor: Schick Injector #RAINBOW
• Blade: Ted Pella Injector Blades
• Lather: Ariana & Evans – SoCal Hipster Soap
• Post Shave: Ariana & Evans – SoCal Hipster Splash
• Fragrance: Al Haramain - Amber Oud Gold Edition

I love this scent so much. It is absolutely perfect for a hot summer day. The tropical vibes are real and it just like the description says it is a “fantastic fresh, warm weather scent.” I like everything about this soap and splash. Off the puck, its strong pineapple, but as it lathers up, the scent evolves into something more complex and delicious. I haven’t tasted this soap, but I kinda want to taste this soap. Smells absolutely edible.

The fragrance today is perfect after shaving and splashing with SoCal Hipster. It’s sweet and fruity like the soap/splash and even a little tropical, since the main fruit scent I get is pineapple. The scent is light and refreshing. Great for a hot summer day. After today’s shave routine, I’m feeling hot & summery today. #FOF

CHALLENGE

I think I nailed it. The knot of the brush has green tips, which didn’t really show up as good as I hoped in the photo, but it’s supposed to represent the pineapple on the label of SoCal Hipster. I used my Schick Injector today for the 2nd time because it matched the color scheme and I realized I missed the rainbow hashtag last time I used it. I’m pretty sure the yellow-orange handle counts for that and even if it doesn’t it’s spot on for the color scheme of today!

July 11, 2023 – Hot(pink) Summer

• Brush: AP Shave Co Synthetic
• Razor: Valet Autostrop
• Blade: Feather – FHS-10 (3)
• Lather: Noble Otter – Neon Sun
• Post Shave: Noble Otter – Neon Sun Balm
• Fragrance: Bruno Banani – Pure Woman

Pink is just my color. Whenever I can, I set my color choice to pink. Be it in my disco shower, LED light on my gaming PC or keyboard, my card sleeves. Oftentimes, I can still provoke a reaction by choosing pink colors. I am on a mission. Since the movie Alfie I got the courage to embrace pink in my live.

I am also in love with synthwave and the whole aesthetics around it. The music, the style, neon lights, Anemoia. Anemoia? “a nostalgic sense of longing for a past you yourself have never lived”. As a kid of the 90s, I grew up with some 80s music and movies. They formed me and I have very early memories about traveling to east europe with Pet Shop Boys or Michael Jackson playing on the radio.
The synthwave genre captures that decade and breathes fresh air into it. Neon Sun, hits these aesthetics very well. I knew I had to get it, when I saw the label.
To me, Neon Sun is the dirty brother of sea spiced lime. Fresh lime and bergamot beam me into the 80s summer. I see pictures of GTA – Vice city in my head, where I drive around with a motorcycle, dressed in a hawai shirt. Then patchoulli and musk step from the back to the front. Gone is the Hawai shirt. We need a leather jacket, we need pomade, we need huge sunglasses. I am cool like John Travolta in Grease.
The aftershave is more forward in the citric notes and it feels awesome. My face is nourished for hours. Unfortunately, I had some trouble with the Valet. It has a very wide angle where it is able to cut hair, but that does not mean it is the most efficient angle. I guess, you could also shave (scrape off is the better word) in a 90° angle. There were some spots of hair left and they drive me nuts during the day.
Color matching a brush to the Noble Otter label is not that difficult. With my Maggards brush and this wonderfull one I got from u/Teufelskraft, I can scratch that off.
The biggest problem was to find a full sized fragrance, that matches pink. Good luck finding a pink male fragrance. We found Joop Homme, which smells like fancy mouthwash. 40 bucks for a stupid fragrance just to take a pic.
A boy got to do, what a boy got to do. I took my girlfriends perfume. Dynamic and feminine is written on the packaging. Or in my words: girly cotton candy. Marketing gets even worse: forbidden mysterious awakens the sensuality in a lady. For the girl who likes to seduce, like an angle playing with the fire. The striking pink bottle resembles the silhouette of a woman and ignites full passion.
The scent does not develop much. A bit freshness fades away to a little bit of warmth, but everything is sweet. I can just describe it as girly.

But here we are. A pink themed SOTD. I love that the Valet inlays color matches my SOTD too.
#FOF
#photocontest

July 11, 2023 – Sunny Days

• Brush: Ever-Ready 200 w/ Oumo Badger Fan 24mm
• Razor: GEM Featherweight
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (8)
• Lather: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Sea Spice Lime
• Post Shave: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Sea Spice Lime
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Sea Spice Lime

Challenge

I really like the look of the Ever-ready 200 handles. I bought this one on ebay. The knot is scritchy and agitates my skin. The shave was a bit painful. Unfortunately, the seller set the knot with epoxy. I need to look into bleaching the tips.

I’ve started scooping new soaps instead of loading from the tub, especially if I’m not sure I want to keep it. It’s also more precise. I have too many brushes to know how quickly each of them will load with every soap base in my den. I opened SSL and saw I had loaded from the tub previously and was pleased. It feels more satisfying to load from the tub for some reason. Not measuring out my soap kind of bit me. I way overloaded. It was a mess. I inadvertently ended up using my chest to store excess lather (NSFW).

The Featherweight is my least favorite GEM that I’ve used. It’s way too mild. However, the handle looked good with SSL label.

Sea Spice Lime was the subs favorite new fragrance of 2021. It was mine as well. Shawn Maher has done an awesome job with the fragrances for the Seaforth! line. Sea Spice Lime is my favorite of the bunch. The lime forward fragrance is bright, sweet, smooth, and fun. There’s a sharper citrus note I think is bergamot. There’s a soft spice and a touch of aquatic feel. There’s an underlying note of something green/earthy/mossy that’s subtle but keeps things from becoming overly sweet. I wish I had the Ice version. But, I’m hesitant to add another soap to my den when I already have SSL.

This is my first time using the edt. It's been on my wishlist, but the challenge nudged me to finally purchase it. The fragrance presents the same in all three mediums. I went nose blind to the edt fairly quickly. It doesn't have much silage.

#FOF

July 11, 2023 – LG Day 11 – I’m Gonna Soak Up the Sun

• Brush: Stirling Two-Band Synthetic 24mm
• Razor: Gillette Gold Ball-End Tech
• Blade: 7 O’Clock – Super Stainless (Green)
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. (Formerly Oleo Soapworks) – Montrose Beach
• Post Shave: Chicago Grooming Co. (Formerly Oleo Soapworks) – Montrose Beach
• Fragrance: Guy Fox – Tyler

One of my favorite days of the Games since I can wear a scent that actually fits the season! We actually got some sun and heat today as opposed to the seemingly ever-present rain that we’ve had in Maine this summer. Montrose Beach, according to Chicago Grooming, has notes of “sea salt, dried coconut, eucalyptus, jasmine, carnation, vetiver, driftwood and seaweed.” It also is made available “Just in time for Summer”, for the record. I’m quite fond of this one because, unlike many of my other summer soaps, it doesn’t hit you on the head with tropical fruit. There is some, however, which, looking at the note list, must be coming from the coconut. It’s definitely balanced with the rest of the soap which definitely evokes “beach” in all the ways you want it to (not the weird gross seaweed smell that sometimes happens). Chose to dickhole so that I could then thoroughly enjoy Tyler, which gives me more tropical fruit, but like Montrose Beach, has some green notes and patchouli to bring some depth and roundness. #FOF

Due to my lack of actually EdP bottles, wasn’t able to properly color coordinate today. However, I did wear a blue shirt and sand-color linen pants to match with the soap label. So I’ve gotta earn like 1/4 point for that, right?

July 11, 2023 – Summer Blues

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts Declaration Grooming B16
• Razor: Blackland Blackbird Lite
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Summer Break Soaps – Cannonball!
• Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps – Cannonball!

Cannonball! has got to be the scent of summer, every summer. The fine folks at SBS totally nailed this scent and using it any time of year transports me right back to summer at the pool. It helps that when I purchased this last year I regularly used it before going to our local waterpark – I love tying scents to memories as much as I can control it, anyway.

Excellent shave this morning. I wish there was an EDP to go with this set, but, there is not. The suffering we endure, am I right?

As for the side challenge, I think my custom Dogwood matches this pretty dang well – no, they colors aren’t identical, but, hear me out; that handle is a cannonball into my kids’ three favorite colors and yellow, pink, and purple are a heck of a lot like blue and orange so if I were you, sir judge, I would count it – it may not be a perfect color match, but it is a perfect match of the heart.

FOF Haiku of the Day

Summer pool time fun
Cannonball pleases each one
Chlorine fruit and fun

July 11, 2023 - Sunny Days

• Brush: Yaqi Atlantis 24mm Synthetic #COMPOSITE
• Razor: MM24
• Blade: Persona GEM PTFE
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. - Montrose Beach
• Post Shave: Chicago Grooming Co. - Sandy Cheeks
• Fragrance: Dr. Jons - Hydra #FOF

Today’s theme:

So many posts using Montrose Beach for the lather, I need to go through the rest to see if anyone else has the same splash and fragrance. The lather and splash were given to me in a PIF last year from Chicago Grooming Co.

Today’s challenge:

This made my selection a little difficult. Not including samples knocked out 3/4 of my fragrances. Maybe something could be said for the 2ml sprays since they have the label. Not sure, but I had a great little sample that fit a beach theme. It is an aquatic scent called Ibiza. I sort of had Hydra in mind when I settled on using Montrose Beach. Needed to get some blue. My only other blue labeled/bottled fragrance is Versace - Blue Jeans. I think it might make an appearance later. For the picture, I had two beach themed brushes, the Yaqi Atlantis which looks like the bottom of the sea with the multiple materials including seaweed, shell, and gold glitter as a sandy sea bottom. The other is a Yaqi Bali with layers of sandy ivory and a light blue. I thought the Atlantis fit better. After seeing all the wonderful pictures, I needed more than just a stack of products on my counter. I decided since I’m not at the beach, I’ll bring the beach to me. I looked in the linen closet, and there were two towels that fit. Still not enough, so off to the Lego bins I went. I thought my daughter had some Lego palm trees somewhere, but I couldn’t find them. In a bit of serendipity, the little red guy was sitting on top. Finding everything and setting up the picture took more time than the shave.

Today’s Shave:

I wish it had gone better. No fault of the excellent base or the MM24, I irritated the same area I messed up yesterday. It wasn’t looking very red today, so I thought a light pass would be ok. Nope, I’ll have to skip my neck tomorrow.

Today’s fragrance:

I know the soap is themed on the public beach in Chicago, but I took a trip to Cozumel today. The first time I went scuba diving, my certification dives were done in Cozumel. I took the training classes in the diving pool at CU. It was a great facility for our practice dives with a 12 feet depth by the platform and springboards, but to finish your certification, there are open water dives you need to do. Ours we did at a beach/park in Cozumel. Once I passed my tests, we were done for the day and spent a couple hours at the beach having tropical cocktails and fajitas from the grill there. All these scents built up to give me the smell of the beach, piña coladas, daiquiris, and margaritas. Not sure that pineapple is in there, but the coconut in the soap and splash bring the drink to mind. The citrus explosion of Hydra brings in the other drinks. Only problem, my wife hates coconut for the scent, flavor, and texture. This will make tomorrow interesting also. She says even things cooked with coconut oil, which shouldn’t bring a coconut flavor, taste too much like it. I like this combo though, very fruity and tropical.

Today’s Haiku:

Piña Coladas,

Margaritas, daiquiris,

Great tropical drinks.

DAY 11 LATHER GAMES! SUNSCREEN TIME!

• Prep: Water
• Brush: Zenith 2004/B SE
• Razor: Henson AL 13
• Blade: Feather(1)
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. - Montrose Beach
• Post Shave: - Chicago Grooming Co. - Montrose Beach splash
• Fragrance: 4711 - 4711 Original Eau de Cologne

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PIC OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

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SHAVE:

So today's shave was muuuuuuch better than last time and I give it all to the Feather blade, since I wanted everything to be colour coordinated I HAD to use the Henson! Sad part was, that I was in such a hurry that I couldn't enjoy my shave... Why sad? Check out in the next part.

SOAP:

Well I may have mentioned earlier, but I did use THIS exact soap for 30 days during June, and grew fond of it, accustomed to it. It became like my second nature. Why did I use this soap for 30 days? Well cause the scent was INCREDIBLE! I have not smelled another summer/beach scent like this ever, Shore by DG comes close, but this one is just you and the beach. Sitting there on your towel under the shade of your beach umbrella, getting the sea breeze through your face, feeling sprays of salt water from the crashing waves on the seashore. That's it, just perfect!!!! And the soap base is veeeeeeeeery good, also super economic soap(I know most people don't care about that). So yeah, I had to rush a shave with one of the most enjoyable and nostalgic/reminiscent soaps that I have used, of recent times.

DAILY CHALLENGE:

Ugh.... I am so annoyed I didn't have time to make a proper photo today... I wanted to include the CaYuen bowl and the Henson razor, but noooo. Why can't I use them now? Cause the lighting is so shit that no matter what you do, they just screw up the whole colour theme of the shave.... So after an hour of taking photos and rendering them THIS is the best I could do... Honestly I'm pissed... I should have listened to u/raymoonie when he told me that I should buy a lightbox, well he didn't tell me, I asked how he makes such gorgeous photos. A lightbox would have fixed my issue. But nooooo I gotta go and spend it all on soaps and aftershaves....

#FOF

Why 4711? Well cause it's damn classic and out of all the scents I cross checked with Montrose Beach this one fit perfectly! Well almost, the citrus peel smell is a bit more than I would like, but it does bring summer to your skin!

P.S- Because my post today is as dry as a well done steak, I was gonna share a story about my stupid youth and how one summer while drunk I chose to vomit off the terrace, instead of the bathroom, all over some people's laundry that they hung to dry, but the story got long so I opted not to include it. I can just imagine Jeep if he reads this.

• Daily Lather Themes: 11/30
• Daily Challenges: 11/30
• Hardware Scavenger Hunt: 11/20
• Hardware Vendor Points: 1/2
• Software Vendor Points: 6/13
• Software Vendor Bonus Point: 0/1
• 30 Different Soap Brands Point: 11/30
• 30 Different Soaps On Theme Bonus Point: 11/30
• 30 Different Post-Shaves Bonus Point: 11/30
• 30 Different Fragrances Bonus Point: 11/30

July 11, 2023 – LG 11: Sunny Days

• Brush: Rx Shave Synthetic
• Razor: Gillette Super Adjustable #DIAL
• Blade: Astra SP (Green) (6)
• Lather: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Sea Spice Lime
• Post Shave: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Sea Spice Lime
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Sea Spice Lime

This is a citrus forward aquatic, so I’m basically getting 2 birds stoned at once when it comes to being on theme today.

Lime can be so simple (mikes, Stirling, eleven), but this really is an elevated lime scent that was embraced by r/wetshaving, going so far as to be 2021 scent of the year. It’s so lime forward but without being overly sweet, perhaps that’s the bergamot. It has a saltiness to it, with a hint of spice almost like the faintest of bay. Underneath, although I get it less in the soap and splash, is a touch of earthiness and moss the anchors the scent and keeps it multidimensional. #FOF

For todays #PHOTOCONTEST (fruit) I went heavy on the limes, with a spritz of water to emulate the sea spray scent note. I think the cutting limes and figuring out how I wanted the photo for todays special challenge took about 2x+ as long as the actual shave. The brush was a gift in one of the many SS exchanges turned by our very own u/rdthedo. Razor is a birth year/quarter too FWIW. Here are some of my cooler photos over the years while we’re at it.

soap brands 11/30, post shave 11/30, frag 11/30, post/frag linked 11/30, software sponsors 6/15, hardware sponsors 2/2, razor hashtags 5/15, brush hashtags 8/15, photo contest 11/30, daily challenges 9/25, special challenges 2/5