July 19, 2023

• Prep: Warm Water Wash
• Brush: Razorock Plissoft Big Bruce
• Razor: Ralf Aust 6/8
• Blade: Ralf Aust 6/8
• Lather: Barrister and Mann - Oceana
• Osma Alum: Yes
• Post Shave: Aqua Velva

Aqua Velva is good.

July 19, 2023

• Brush: Darn Tough Oatmeal Men’s Hiker Micro Crew Midweight Hiking Sock
• Razor: Razorock Game Changer .84
• Blade: Gillette Nacet (12)
• Lather: Proraso – Aloe and Vitamin E
• Post Shave: Thayers – Rose Petal

This is my first time using Proraso cream, and it's … fine. It isn't as good as the soap, but it's super easy to lather and gets a decent shave. The scent is inoffensive, but nothing to write home about. All in all, a great product for someone just getting into wetshaving, but I'm glad I only have a sample from Maggard and not a whole tube to use up.

I know yesterday I said the Atlas challenge was "disgusting", but somehow this challenge is perfectly acceptable to me. Whatever, I'll rub a sock in some shaving cream and then on my face, it's probably clean enough.

​

Creams Rule Everything Around Me to the tune of C.R.E.A.M. by Wu-Tang Clan

Lyrics:

Creams rule everything around me

C.R.E.A.M., get the lather

Wetshaving thrill, y'all

I grew up on the dry side, the Barbasol side

Stayin' smooth was no groove

Bought soap secondhand

Didn’t shave like an old man

So then we moved to r/Wetshaving

A young youth, yo, rockin' the sebum gold, Dec knoot

Only way I be gettin’ the G off was shave loot

And let's start it like this, son

Rollin' with this one and that one, pullin' out straights for fun

But it was just a dream for the teen

Who was a fiend, started wet shaving at 16

And runnin' up in places

and doin' shaves for smooth faces

Shavin' my face on fire escapes

No question, I would speed for brush and soap

The combination brought my face hope

No question, I would flow off and try to get the dough all

Readin’ the shave reports

Creams rule everything around me

C.R.E.A.M., get the lather

Wetshaving thrill, y'all

Creams rule everything around me

C.R.E.A.M., get the lather

Wetshaving thrill, y'all

July 19, 2023

• Sock: UNI QLO レギュラーソックス SOCKS SUPIMA COTTON MEN 25-27cm (new)
• Razor: ATT Windsor Pro SB90
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Proraso - Sandalwood - Cream
• Post Shave: Proraso - Sandalwood - Aftershave

Is it safe to open my eyes now???

I stocked up on new business socks in Japan. The scent of sandalwood combined with a brand new sock exposed to water and soap for the first time was not good at all. I do not recommend.

The lather was not good either. I did the soak. Then I squeezed out the water going about it as if it was a brush. Slowly adding water but nothing happening, so I added more cream and more water. At least my bowl is good for this kind of experiment - it’s a cheapie from Kmart - I have found it to be excellent good size bowl for really working the lather and moving it around. This time however I was left with a foamy soupy later. I tried to apply the lather on the face with the sock. Yucky, so I scooped up the lather with my hands instead. Conclusion: socks sucks.

At least the aftershave was good.

Music:
“Terrassedør” - Svaneborg Kardyb Spotify / YouTube

LGSOTD 19-July

• Brush: Salomon Walking Sock
• Razor: Shield - Predator #CNC
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Proraso - Wood & Spice Cream
• Post Shave: Proraso - Wood & Spice Balm
• Fragrance: Proraso - Wood & Spice Cologne

This was one of my first software purchases and though it sees little use, though I thoroughly enjoy the scent. For the price the performance is decent enough as well.

For the Daily Challenge, I had to give the Mrs a heads up on this one. If she wanders in without a clue she's going to have me committed. So I told her yesterday after she got over the residual hair snap. First response being to shake her head and laugh, the second response was to ask you lot who's going to wash the sock afterwards? Strange response but there you have it, remarkable that my wife is so understanding of these shenanigans, I'll count myself lucky.

So the first hurdle (beyond the better half), sock selection. Do I go for the standard black thin efforts, nah not likely to hold much lather. What about 5 finger socks, certainly be dextrous enough. Nope, what I'm after is volume. So instead I opt for Salomon walking socks, yeah they've seen a fair bit of use in the mountains but they've still got some life in them and surely a thicker sock would do the trick.

Brief soak and what I thought was enough of a squeeze of proraso, work together to form a (hopefully) decent lather. Now, do I transfer to a brush, nope because I forgot to soak the one I took the pic of yesterday and now I'm running out of time. Oh well, let's see how it goes using the sock, so on like a glove, couldn't take snaps at this point I was covered in the stuff. I'm already seeing one fatal flaw, this thing has fluff all over it and it's catching on my face and there's an odd hue to it, ah well carry on.

Sock off and hand cleaned up to take a pic, not horrendous but not brilliant, could have been better. Sock on for the second pass, nah it's already running out of steam, squeeze the sock and I get bugger all out of it but I do notice an odd colour in the sink. This thing is leaking dye, which at least explains the odd hue. One saving grace the bloody stuff washed down the sink without leaving stains. Add more soap and repeat.

So the overall conclusion being, if you have to use a sock, do not use a walking sock, it eats soap (should have known), it leaves fluff on your face and leaks colour.

Still smooth and smelling good though, so aim achieved.

Hope everyone has a grand one.

Cheers

Marc

Jul. 19, 2023
Brush: Green Treat Sock #MISTURA * Razor: Green Cult GC 2.0 II
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Lather: Barbus - - Cream * Post Shave:* Zingari Man - Sego Base Unscented - Balm

Having become and expert in sock lathers and have now done it 2 days in a row, I can say the trick is lots of friction, little water, and lots of squeezing. The Barbus cream unlike it’s soap brother is just awful, like it really socks.

As a reward for ruining my face 2 days in a row I’m gonna do my first air bud rule! The goal was to use a sock as a brush and I have in good faith used a mixed fibre sock!

Shared from My Shave Den for iOS

July 19, 2023 – LG2023 Day Nineteen – Sad Sock Day

• Sock: Superman Knee High W/Cape
• Razor: Strivel – Self Stropping DE
• Blade: Polsilver (6)
• Lather: Solea – D’Amaris
• Post Shave: Solea – D’Amaris

Firstly WTF was in the Djudges minds with this challenge, where you just putting your socks on one day and thought man that would make a good challenge?

Todays shave is pretty much all (Bar the sock) thanks to a couple of friends in Romania and also a good example of how great this hobby is.

I while back I sold a razor to a guy in Romania and we got talking about the hobby and mostly about vintage gear this led to me offering to be his middle man for English eBay, after few parcels I came home one day to a rather large parcel filled to the brim with loads on European wet shave products (including the items I used today) that he had sent me as a gift. I started doing the same service to one of his friends in the hobby, together we chat regularly about not just shaving but life in general and without the hobby these are people I would never of met. The Razor I have used today was a surprise gift from them this Christmas as they know I always on the lookout for odd razors and the Strivel although not the smoothest shave is an odd razor.

It wasn’t until I was talking to my wife a while back (Bare with me as this seems paints her as a mad woman) that it cemented what a great hobby this is, she was quizzing me about why I keep getting parcels. She managed to concoct a scenario in her head where neighbors would see we get parcels and for some reason would narc to the cops, me laughing at her didn’t really help but she genuinely thought I was like a smuggler of some kind like razors and soaps are code for crack. The more I laughed at her the more so got really angry, bare in mind I have never even touched weed (I Know I’m dull) so why she thought I had turned into kingpin is beyond me. Once she calmed down and believed I wasn’t Pablo Escobar and all I was doing was saving some guys multiple foreign postage she looked and asked what I get out of it, she found it hard to believe people would do things for my benefit but that’s what this hobby is all about for me. We all help each other out, you talk to people out may never meet but form a bond over spending stupid money on badger fur, so many people have helped my over the years in the hobby I think its great that we do things with no expectation of anything in return.

Daily Challenge

I went with my Superman sock today as you can see, also I don’t think you can have a sock on your hand and not talk to it like its a glove puppet. It doesn’t really lather up so to speak but just spreads the cream over your head, I was part way through this embarrassing task when my son walked in just looked at me and I could see the respect leave his body as he stood looking at this. Shave done, self respect gone, respect from child gone, sock used abused and tossed on the floor just like when I was a teenager.

User is suspected of drug smuggling HairyWife.

Cream

• Brush: H&M Djunior’s Sock
• Razor: Weck Sextoblade Med Prep
• Blade: Kismet Rostfrei, Polymer beschichtet (3)
• Lather: Lea – Classic Cream
• Post Shave: Lea – Classic Splash
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors – A Whiff of Wafflecone

Ok, today's challenge was something. Admittedly, I am no expert in sock lathering, and as a novice sock latherist, I shouldn't expect excellent results on the first try, but I can't help but think that socks aren't the best lathering device. That, or I didn't use the right artisan sock.

Luckily, Lea cream is really easy to hydrate and immediately gets decent slickness like u/EldrormR's mum, and I still had a fine Weckoning. For today's relevant post and fragrance: How do we usually consume cream in the summertime? That's right, in ice form, and in a wafflecone. Boom, today's theme is an ice cream cone: Mentholated (ice) cream (cream), matching splash (frozen topping), and a whafflecone (cone).

LG23-19: CREAM

• Brush: Don’t need one my dude! I got this sock. Fancy gear is for suckers.
• Razor: Chiseled Face Titanium Legacy Razor
• Blade: Personna Lab Blue Super (52)
• Lather: Catie's Bubbles - Blugère - Luxury Cream Soap
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts - Fougère Nemeta - Aftershave
• Fragrance: Motif Olfactif - Mon Oasis
• Passes: WTG, WTG Again Because Socks Should Stay on Your Feet
• Coffee: Peru, Cajamara - v: Geisha - p: Washed.
• Music: Disclosure - Alchemy
• LG Tags: #FOF

Lessons Learned From Lathering With a Sock:

1. Don’t lather with a sock. Ignore what tyrants on the internet tell you to do and let a WetTuber debase themselves for those ginormous sponsorship bucks. Something something something about jumping off a bridge. Don’t do it for the fame. Don’t do it for the glory. Don’t. Lather. With. A. Sock.
2. If you ignore the first lesson, reconsider.
3. If you ignore the second lesson, set aside lots of time for this shave. It’s going to be a while until your lather is ready.
4. Lather with a white sock. Colored fibers in your lather look gross.
5. Lather with a cotton sock, presumably. I got cute and tried an old merino wool ski sock with a hole in the toe. I think it was extra absorbent and sucked up soap and water like an open drain.
6. Squeeze the right amount of water out of your sock before you begin. I can’t tell you what the right amount is, but I can tell you to find that amount. Good luck.
7. Load heavy. Lathering with a sock uses much more soap than a brush. I scooped a big mound of soap and went back to the tub twice more; that yielded enough “lather”—and I'm putting that word in massive air quotes—for one pass and one application of runny, sudsy slop.
8. Use your hands. Use a bowl. Use an old soap tub you have laying around. Set the sock down when you start questioning how your life went wrong. Pick up the sock and keep at it. Rubbing the sock against itself didn’t do much, but rubbing the sock back and forth on my hands did, and I can’t explain this phenomenon. Friction is friction baby.
9. Squeeze the lather out of the sock, because rubbing it on your face does nothing except bury the lather in your sock.
10. Use that brush you got out to apply the lather. I forgot to use mine, but I suspect it would have given the lather structure. A boy can dream.
11. Use a gentle razor. You’re gonna need it.

Judges...please don’t make us do this again. Please. PLEASE. I know I won't be. I'll use the time I save to start recovering my dignity.

Now back to the shave.

Fougère Friday is right around the corner, but I'm using Blugère for 'dat CREAM, so I paired it with other fruity fougères in advance of a second glorious all-fougère shave later this week. One cannot have too many fougères.

I tried Blugère for the first time last year and this blueberry fougère immediately became one of my all-time favorites. Catie's Bubbles describes the blueberry note as fresh, "over a woody and green fougère construct," but that description doesn't capture it. The blueberry works because it's rich and sticky, like inky-violet compote just taken off the burner to cool. More importantly, the blueberry doesn't read like a novelty; the stout lavender, oakmoss and coumarin core is there, but an aromatic edge of basil and galbanum connects seamlessly with fruity tang. Genius.

My aftershave and fragrance are both lighter in tone (now we can say "fresh"), but like Blugère, they're defined by their unusual mashup of distinct fruit and fougère accords. Shawn’s seasonal for Southern Witchcrafts, Fougère Nemeta, is all about the strawberry. Petitgrain and cassis give the ruby-red berry a thorny zip (like fresh ripe strawberries do); galbanum, fig leaf, and vetiver make the foundation startlingly green. Shawn knows his way around a fougère.

I followed that up with one of my first bottle purchases—Motif Olfactif’s expectedly-relaxing Mon Oasis. More complex than either Blugère or Fougère Nemeta, this creamy delight is light, sweet, and yellow in tone, balancing a bright lavender, musky fruits, and pastoral aromatics. Mon Oasis revolves around the melon-like combination of yuzu and pear; barrel strength in the opening, then lush and honeyed through the rest of the progression. A bouquet of hay, tobacco, vetiver, and oakmoss defines the hazy drydown. Pear is a challenging note to work with, yet perfumer Oswald Paré uses it masterfully here and in Voile D'encens, where he combines it with potent, resinous incense. Neither sound like an easy fit, yet the musky-ripe fruit softens the fougère and sweetens the incense without becoming syrupy. He’s another perfumer to watch if this is how you like fruit in your fragrances.

Lather Games Day 19- Cream in Your Socks

• Brush: Shore Shave 26mm Motherlode
• Razor: Schick M1 Adjustable
• Blade: Schick - Injector (6)
• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Sandalwood Cream
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Northern Elixier Splash

I just want to know which one of the judges found a suspect sock in their teenager's room and then said, "Hey, I bet we can make this a Daily Challenge during the Lather Games!" Sure, this challenge is interesting, if I had 15 minutes to spare in my morning to create a lather in my sock. And this challenge would be a great way to show off my cool sock collection since I don't own any tube socks or the like. My giant squid socks would be perfect for a day like this. This challenge would also find me getting the hairy eyeball from the pre-coffee wife as she strolls into the bathroom while I'm playing with my sock. So, once again, in the interest of marital harmony, I'm going to take an F on this assignment.

As far as today's theme, it's pretty straightforward. I figured I'd go right to the classic I started shaving with 15 years ago. In the before-times of wet shaving, TOBS was considered the "good shit" in a world where the options were limited. I know, for many of you wet shaving youngins, this kind of statement sounds like heresy in an artisanal shaving world. But Ol' Man Shaver is here to carry the flag for the classics (from time to time) and pull them out for you to kids to gawk at. As far as Sandalwood scents go, this is by far the most confusing scent in the spectrum. If TOBS Sandalwood is the first experience you have with this scent spectrum, it's going to fuck you up when you stumble into Proraso Red (another classic) or B&M's take on sandalwood or any other artisan's for that matter because it is way more floral than woody. I'm good with it and I got a nice slick shave with the stuff so I'm pretty happy. Of course, tomorrow our Shaving Overlords are asking as to make shitty lathers so I'm glad I had a good shave today.

Jul. 19, 2023
Brush: AP ShaveCo Synbad
Razor: Razorock Game Changer .68
Blade: Wizamet SI
Lather: Dr. Harris - Lavender - Soap
Post Shave:* Ariana & Evans - Kaizen - Aftershave

This cream sample is a few years old now, and despite being stored in ziploc bags it is finally starting to dry out. Put a drop of water into the sample before storing to see if it can be revived.

I’m bowing out of this daily challenge, lol.

Shared from My Shave Den for iOS

https://imgur.com/a/eN5MOzo

• Lather: Proraso - Eucalyptus Oil and Menthol Cream
• Sock: Runnox, Ankle Cut
• Razor: Gillette Gold Ball-End Tech
• Blade: Gillette 7 O'Clock SharpEdge Yellow
• Post Shave: Duke Cannon - Ice Cold Balm

Djudge's and Lather Competitors, I'm sad to announce that we have a mole. Yep, that's right, an insider threat has wormed their way into our ranks. Now I'm not sure who it is, but I assure you that we're in dangerous waters. We have been infiltrated by Big Lather.

Let me explain. I conducted a thorough investigation consisting of listening to the Lather Games podcast and completing the daily challenge on theme today. Let me tell you that within those parameters and through my exhaustive research that no stone was left un-turned.

Discovery 1: the sock EATS cream. I used at least 3 times as much cream to get any sort of Lather.

Discovery 2: the Djudges mentioned reaching out to Proraso to sponsor the Lather Games (like they aren't already lining your pockets).

Discovery 3: Proraso makes shaving cream.

Conclusion: the Djudges are ALREADY in bed with Proraso! Whoever decided that today was lather with a sock day did it to get us to use MORE of their product! Look at the facts sheeple, Proraso is a gateway drug to a shaving product addiction, we all probably have some in our den and it's a theme of the games every year! By having us unsuspecting participants lather with a SOCK, we're going to consume much more of their product! Proraso stood to gain upwards of 25¢ from today's theme and likely TRIPLED their take to 75¢ by making us lather with a sock! Don't be naive Lather-letes, Proraso has flipped one of the Djudges into making this happen.

So what was it, traitor? Money? Sex? Travel? Career opportunities? Fringe benefits?

Was it worth it?

We, the faithful shaving community DEMAND answers!

Today I shaved with Proraso Sandalwood and Shea Butter Shaving Cream. I used my Proraso boar brush and a Fatip il Piccolo Special Edition Black and Gold razor with a Personna blade. I followed up with Henri et Victoria Duc de Santal aftershave and edt. I did not lather with a sock.

• Prep: Shower

• Razor: Fairschenkt GreenCult GC 2.0 II

• Blade: Bic Astor Stainless
• Brush: Muehle Rytmo Ash handle, Fibretip synthetic
• Lather: D'amaris by Solea Shaving Cream
• After-shave: D'amaris Classic by Solea
• After-shave: Thayer's Unscented N/A Witch-Hazel

A nice floral shave, this cream and after-shave are cheap and good. The smell is extremely flowery and powdery in the cream, and a much sweeter floral scent in the A/S than the cream. The A/S reminds me a lot of Chanel nr. 5 for some reason, but I like it.

2023-07-19 Cream (Feeling Blue)

• Brush: Maggard Razors - Maggard Blue Swirl, Timberwolf Synthetic, 24mm
• Razor: Above The Tie - Calypso Blue V2 SB90, DE
• Blade: Tiger Platinum, DE
• Lather: Godrej - Cinthol Shaving Cream
• Post Shave: Veleiro - Veleiro Balsamo (balm)

Godrej shave cream has a pleasant but difficult to describe scent - the Cinthol version is kinda fruity, kinda minty / toothpastey. The Cinthol version has a nice payload of menthol. Does a good job.

Did not use a sock - darn it! (If you got the pun well I'm shocked)

Take care and have a good one.

July 19, 2023

• Brush: awesomesocks.club June 2023 Crew
• Razor: Gem MMOC
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Derby – Lemon
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Glacial, Lemon Chill
• Fragrance: American Perfumer – Lockdown

Yesterday, the judges asked us to torture them with our gross photos. Today, the tables have turned. Whoever came up with this idea should be banned from not just the sub, but from the act of wet shaving forever.

If I have to use a sock to lather and write about it/take photos, it seems like an apt opportunity to let people know about awesomesocks.club (shoutout to r/nerdfighters). It’s a monthly sock subscription where you get a pair of socks every month, designed by an independent artist, where all profits go to charity, specifically to help build healthcare systems in impoverished communities.

This is a great sock. However. A sock, no matter how great a sock, is not a great lathering tool. I knew I would need more cream than usual, so I dumped a bunch in my Timeless shaving bowl. This stuff is cheap, and I rarely ever use it, so I should have used more. This was the first mistake. Second mistake was to try to use the sock as a sock puppet, which created a terrible lather. Honestly, I don’t know if I can even legally call this a lather. I took the sock off my hand, wrung it out, and folded/bunched it up to try to create the shape of a brush. This was the best choice I could have made. Don’t get me wrong – the lather still sucked. But it was better than before, and it gave me just enough for one pass. So I grabbed the MMOC, because there was no way I was making another batch of lather. As u/RedMosquitoMM pointed out, putting it on your face (or for me, my head) with a brush is the way to go. The sock just soaks it up. I squeezed everything out of the sock, grabbed my Stirling Lil Brudder, and got a lackluster layer of soap on my head. The rest of the shave was…fine.

Lemon all the way down. Well, all the way until the parfum. Derby is straight lemon. Splash is straight lemon plus too much menthol (I can still feel it between my fingers). Lockdown, created by Mark Sage, was a wonderful surprise gift (sample) that was included in my last u/AmericanPerfumer order. It’s exactly the type of frag I love. The notes are listed as: lime, fig leaves, pink pepper, cardamom, cascarilla, elemi, ginger, myrrh, smoky incense, weeping cypress, jasmine, ylang ylang, labdanum, sandalwood, civet, musk. This all comes together perfectly. I feel like it pairs with the citrusy shave well, and gives me some balance and complexity after the lemon bomb. The incense and musky, amber notes aren’t what I would initially think to pair with lemon, but it really does work quite wonderfully. #FOF

P.S. Please don’t bring this challenge back next year. Please.

[edited due to typo]

Wed Jul 19 2023

• Prep: A hot shower
• Razor: Merkur - 34C HD
• Blade: Feather HI Stainless
• Brush: Perfecto Badger
• Lather: Geo F. Trumper - Sandalwood Cream
• Post Shave: Pinaud - Clubman AS Lotion

I like the old school George Trumper creme. Definitely not up to the soaps of today but still a good shave. Did not attempt todays challenge.

ROTY

2023-07-18 Creamy Goodness

• Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: Gillette Tech
• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Tobacco Leaf (Cream)
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Tobacconist
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Tobacconist
• Blade: Astra - Platinum (3)

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: Tobacco

Challenge Accepted: Well, this sounds like an awful series of thoughts led to this idea.

You may use a brush to apply the lather to your face, as long as the lather was made with a sock.

I can use a brush as long as I make the lather with a sock. Cool.
Look at that ugly-ass sock! I'm never gonna wear that. I mean, definitely not after I make my lather with it! Now how much sock do I need? Apparently, one blade can't handle very much sock. That's probably enough sock. Sock. Lather.

It did not work well. Creams are enough of a pain on their own, but add several pinches of sock? I was trying to keep sock from going into the drain the whole time, and I expect I'll be finding sock in my brush long for a long time. On the other hand, I didn't have any sock getting in the way of the razor, which I expected.

#FOF TOBS Tobacco Leaf is a vague tobacco smell. There's a lot of different tobacco smells, ranging from ashy to flowery (no one has smelled a tobacco flower) to pipey to cigary. I guess this is accurately leafy, but it's unremarkable.

When I sought out to find a tobacco scent, I sought one that recreates what it's like to walk into a humidor, its walls lined with cigars. Tobbaconist gets as close as anything, for which reason I can't seem to be able to shut up about it.

I want to preface this by saying Tobacconist is beautiful. I definitely can't stay mad at it.

With all my praise, I'm going to be critical of one teensy, minor thing. It's been recurrent over the past few weeks and perhaps my concentrated nose-efforts during that time have made me more sensitive to it: the fruit. Kill the fruit. No one even likes to eat fruit, much less smell it. When was the last time you voluntarily selected and consumed a piece of fruit, and enjoyed it? It was never, wasn't it?
I'm kidding; I know there are weirdos in this world.

#photocontest
Photo: Insects/Invertebrates
Gross.

Jesus, this guy diced his sock and put it into his lather.

CREAM

Prep: Warm shower
Brush: Omega Professional Boar - 10098
Razor: Parker adjustable injector - setting one
Blade: Schick
Lather: Proraso - Menthol and Eucalyptus - Cream
Post Shave: Proraso - Menthol and Eucalyptus - Aftershave
Fragrance: Ferragamo -Acqua Essentiale

The Proraso is easy to use and the
hardware is trouble free. Nice summery scents. Have a good day
everyone.

Jul. 19, 2023
Brush: AP SHAVECO AP400B XL 28 mm (G5C) #PREMIUMPLASTIC * Razor: Karve CB SS SB (B Plate)
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (2) * Lather: Pacific Shaving Co. - Natural (Shaving Cream) - Soap
Post Shave: Wholly Kaw - Fougere Mania (Toner) - Aftershave
Post Shave: Zingari Man - AS BALM (Unscented)

I know this is not goop day, but as a contestant who failed to prepare for LG23, I am looking for anything in my den that I can use to compete. Alas, I got lucky today! I haven’t used this stuff for at least three years, which is getting back to my cartridge days.

#ROTY

Shared from My Shave Den for iOS

July 19, 2023 – I Creamed a sock

• Razor: Gillette Tech
• Blade: Parker (2)
• Lather: Barbasol – Classic Shaving Cream, Brushless Cream
• Post Shave: Zingari – The Watchman
• Fragrance: Jo Malone – Wood Sage and Sea Salt

Since today is cream day and I’m traveling, I used the barbosol brushless I originally bought for this vacation before lather games moved to July. Which posed and interesting problem for lather in a sock day, as you don’t really lather this. Also my kids were sleeping, so I couldn’t get to my clean socks. Nevertheless I loaded some cream on yesterday’s dirty sock and went to town on my face. It… Didn’t work at all. The cream simply absorbed into the sock. Now I have a soapy (well creamy) sock and no slickness on my face. I realized I need to just get the job done up so I finished with my bare hands. While shaving I realized I may have misunderstood the directions for the barbosol, it was way too thick and clogged the razor. I had to unscrew it a ton to clean it. Pass two I I realized it was supposed to be so thin it was transparent. And that’s when I sliced my mole open. Oh well. Listen judges I rubbed a dirty sock on my face. I think that at least gets some credit for trying.

So #fof. I dunno why but barbosol makes me think of boats? It’s a generic barbershop scent but.. I get boats. So I completed it with The Watchman and this wood sage and Sea salt tester. It worked surprisingly.

Today’s #photocontest is for cell phones. This is our spare phone that runs our telescope. (One of those celestron models that uses a phone to locate itself.)

Still tagging #ROTY too.

July 19, 2023 - C.R.E.A.M.

• Brush: my sockless right hand
• Razor: Yates 921-H
• Blade: Wizamet (20)
• Lather: Declaration Grooming - Brushless Cream
• Alum: Osma
• Post Shave: Fine Accoutrements - Clubhouse
• Fragrance: Southern Witchcrafts - Boonana

Today's C.R.E.A.M. is another little gift from Scoot when he used to live in my neighborhood. It was never "marketed" as anything because it was never sold, but it is definitely a cream and lathers well enough without a brush. This is the first time I've actually used it and it's not bad, but it doesn't really stack up against any of DG's other soap bases. Shave number 20 on this Wizamet was not as bad as you would expect from a blade with this mileage. I can't remember the last time I took a DE blade this far. I can definitely tell that it's duller than the other Wizamet I have going at 7 or 8 shaves however. Totally random choices for the aftershave and frag today. They work surprisingly well together! And no, I did not lather with a sock. That's just lunacy.

• Brush: Champion Ankle-High Sock

• Razor: Muhle Rocca R94

• Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum

• Lather: D.R. Harris - Marlborough

• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts - Autumn Ash

• Fragrance: Maher Olfactive - Red Skies

Today's Theme: CREAM - D.R. Harris' Marlborough is specifically a cream on the label even though it's harder than milksteak.

Today's Challenge: Lather with a sock - so just because the challenge is to lather with a sock doesn't mean we have to hurt ourselves doing it. I picked a clean sock that had longer fuzzies on the inside, turned that sucker inside out, got a big ol dollop of Marlborough cream on the toe section of the sock, and started to work on face lathering. It worked pretty well, though I definitely under-hydrated my lather out of impatience.

My theme for today's shave: Marlboro Red 100's

So when planning today's shaving software, I thought I could do sort of an homage to the cigarettes I used to smoke in my younger days - Marlboro Red 100's. Awful cigarettes that were terribly silly even for cigarettes because of the extra long and skinny shape, but they were kind of my crutch for a period in my life where I really needed something to lean on. The Marlborough scent was kind of just a generally pleasant scent, while Autumn Ash is exactly maple creosote. But what surprised me the most was when I applied Red Skies, it kind of mingled with the Autumn Ash's creosote smell to resemble Southern Witchcrafts' Valley of Ashes.

For music I picked Children of Bodom's Are You Dead Yet. Great metal album that was derided by some CoB fans at the time for being "too slow" but in retrospect was unfairly maligned.

I'm also starting to realize that I'm doing the photo contest totally wrong, but I'm going to keep doing the tag anyway. #photocontest #FOF #ROTY

July 19, 2023 – Cream Day

• Brush: Summer Break GP B11
• Razor: Blackland Ti Blackbird
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum (22)
• Lather: Cella – Crema da Barba
• Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps – Picture Day
• Fragrance: Summer Break Soaps – ROTY 2021

Crema da Barba is a nice pleasant scent. I definitely prefer the cream and the scent to regular Cella.

So here I am, trying to do a nice thing by giving the masses what they want, which is for some reason cheese soap. Reddit says, “nope,” and suspends me for 3 days for sliding into too many people’s DMs… Thankfully they didn’t decide to throw the ban hammer at me I guess. The lore of Remote Learning grows.

Challenge

July 19, 2023 – CREAM

• Brush: Wolf Whiskers Black Wolf
• Razor: RazoRock MJ-90A
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)
• Lather: Catie’s Bubbles – Dirty Prose
• Post Shave: Catie’s Bubbles – Dirty Prose

My Vader sock is a latherhog. I had to sacrifice a good chunk of this precious cream for the saddest lather. I hope the gods are happy.

7/19/23

• Brush: Sock
• Razor: Filarmonica 14 Doble Temple (JMP) 8/8, Extra Hollow Square Point
• Lather: Proraso - Green
• Post Shave: Pinaud - Clubman Aftershave Lotion

This was my first time trying Proraso. This is not how I imagined my first time with Proraso. This challenge, man. I'm not a fan of it, and I'm not quite clear why this is a thing. But it is, and none of us are the better for it. The proof is in the pudding. I'm thankful my wife didn't wake up early and see that. As far as the Proraso goes, I liked the scent and also enjoyed the menthol. I can't speak to the performance really, because I built my shitty lather with a god damn sock. The method is flawed. I will try Proraso again after AA.

I don't know if Clubman was the best mix to go with this, but I don't really have anything with eucalyptus or mint. So I just decided with something equally as boomer.

The Fili was my shining star today and carried me through this sad shave. I'm thankful for this.

#ROTY

July 19, 2023 – What am I even doing with my life?

• Brush: Fruit of the Loom – Black Sock (with hole)
• Razor: Gillette Aristocratic
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (5)
• Lather: Cremo – Original
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Triumph

I’m standing there in the bathroom with a sock in my hand and some shitty Cremo shaving cream (because I already used the cream I planned to use today earlier in the month-for about the sixth time completely fucking up what small amount of planning I did for LG) and I caught a glimpse of myself in the steamy bathroom mirror. What the hell am I doing? I’m a grown man, wiping shaving cream on my face with a sock with a giant hole in it all over my face so I can please the reddit shaving judges. This is what my life has become. And really, I’m totally okay with it. Which somehow makes it worse. Not a great shave today and this cream gunks up the razors and my lather was super weird and thin from the sock. And even the Triumph aftershave, which I have always loved, smells a bit funky today. Not sure what that is about.

Lather Games 2023 Day19

• Prep: Warm water
• Brush: Sock
• Razor: MMOC #RAINBOW
• Blade: GEM PTFE
• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Tobacco Leaf
• Post Shave: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Tobacco Leaf

My first WOW!!! in wet shaving gets "Taylor of Old Bond Street"! And "Tobacco Leaf" is my firs set soap and aftershave. Compared to other creams I used to seen in general stores was totally new world! I couldn't stop sniffing and I was sure there are no better soaps! Still I love this set because of the scent. Tobacco ( most of tobacco fan says that is not typical tobacco scent and maybe this is the reason to like it ) citrus, leather and coffee. Making lather is really quick but fragrances loosing a lot of his strength and I hate this. Its always a deal break to me. Aftershave in other hand is strong and long lasting. I can say its more like a cologne not aftershave. All set is a little overpriced. For this money I can buy my beloved Gentleman's Nod soap and after. Gem micromatic is like steampunk safety razor. The open comb. Color and how lid is opening. Handle. This my third shave wit GEM razor and I am amazed from old safety razors. Aggressive and efficient and intuitive to shave. The thicker blade give feeling more close to straight razor. Day 1 I tried SE Artist club blade and now GEM confirmed that. Today challenge..... Another twisted .... creamy video.

ROTY

July 19, 2023

• Brush: Stirling 24mm Synthetic
• Razor: Muhle R89
• Blade: Elios Inoxidable (2)
• Lather: The Body Shop - Maca Root & Aloe - Softening Cream
• Post Shave: allMan - Fearless - Aftershave

This cream is decent. I wouldn't pay full price for it, though. Still, say you're travelling and staying near a mall, or maybe you get lucky and the airport has a location... maybe you could pick this up in a pinch.

Day 2 of not rinsing the soap off after the last pass, and instead wiping it off with a dry towel. Feeling younger, firmer, less wrinkly. My bank account is growing, as is my reproductive organ. I may be on to something here.

No daily challenge for me.

• Brush: Sock

• Razor: Friedrich Herder Abraham Sohn 49 straight razor

• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street - St James collection luxury shaving cream

• Post Shave: Noble Otter - bare splash

ROTY

My first time using a Taylor of Old Bond Street product. So soft. The scent was light and pleasent. I ended up using an entire sample of the stuff to hedge my bets lathering with the sock. I choose a Halloween sock that was thin hoping it would keep it from being able to absorb too much lather. Honestly I think the nubs in my Stirling silicone lather bowl saved my ass and I was still able to whip one up decent enough. A little pasty but I gave the sock a squeeze and some water dripped off into the bowl which after I agitated it In, it actually made a Purdy good lather. Just a one pass shave. Here's some pics as proof. I was going to use the brush but decided to go all the way with the socko. I miss mankind...

https://imgur.com/gallery/hBXm21u

July 19, 2023

https://imgur.com/gallery/7hHh4so

Prep: Proraso - Refrescante Preshave Cream

Sock: Gold Toe - Men's No Show Sock Black

Brush: Antiga Barbearia de Bairro - Principe Real Green Boar Brush

Razor: Rockwell - 6S R6 plate

Blade: Treet - Platinum (1)

Lather: Antiga Barbearia de Bairro - Principe Real (Green) Shave Cream

Post Shave: Antiga Barbearia de Bairro - Principe Real (Green) Aftershave Splash

I really enjoy this stuff. It's the second tube I've bought, and it's almost gone. The scent isn't too strong, but it is very pleasant.

Challenge:

Alright

Here we go...

What the hell is wrong with me?

I guess this is my life now

#ROTY

July 19, 2023

​

• Prep: Shower
• Brush: Zenith 507U XSE
• Razor: Chiseled Face Legacy Aluminum
• Blade: Gillette Platinum
• Lather: Taylor Of Old Bond Street - Avocado Shaving Cream
• Post Shave: Myrsol - Formula C
• Fragrance: Hugo - Hugo Boss
• Sock: Hanes - X-Temp Black Ankle

Had a few creams to pick from, but decided on this TOBS Avocado, it smells like no other lather I've encountered. Keeping it "green," Myrsol C fit in nicely, it's very sweet and IMO complements the avocado. After the sweetness wears off, it has almost a burnt rubber smell which is very interesting. Topped off with some Hugo and it was a great shave.

When the challenges first started happening, I was excited because they added a new facet to make things even more interesting. Whipping up lucious avocado cream with a sock is not what I had in mind. But points are points. I used the brush to paint my face, but whipped up the lather in a bowl with a sock. And by whipped up, I mean stirred around a wet goop combo of water and cream. What a waste of a sock. Here you go

Until tomorrow!

#ROTY

July 19th 2023 - Lather Games Day 19

• Brush: Zenith MOAR BOAR
• Razor: GEM G-Bar
• Blade: GEM PTFE (11)
• Lather: Catie's Bubbles - Blugère
• Post Shave: Catie's Bubbles - Blugère
• Fragrance: Rogue Perfumery - Mousse Illuminèe

CREAM day and lucky for me, Catie's Bubbles Luxury Cream base counts because I used my wife's shaving cream during Goop Day. And damn, Blugère (respect the diacritic!) is the shit. I've lived in New Jersey for my whole life and the fact that it inspired such a phenomenal scent fills me with state pride. The Luxury Cream base is soft and the lather it makes is creamy and slick. It's just a total pleasure to shave with this stuff. I broke out my G Bar today, a razor that I love the look of but have failed to make a connection with as sometimes it can be a bit rough for me. No issues to report today though, the razor was fine.

I topped it off with Mousse Illuminèe, which is connected to Blugère not only because it also features a mostly-ignored diacritic, but both have a woody base with green fougere elements, except Mousse Illuminèe cranks up the very subtle oakmoss in Blugère up to 11. I bet this would go well with Varen as well, for a real oakmoss bomb.

As for today's challenge, Blugère is a goddamn treasure and I won't sully it by sticking a sock, clean or otherwise, in it.

July 19, 2023 – please kill me
Sock: Tommy Hilfiger - white sneaker socks * Razor: Custom designed Böker with bog oak scale and french head
Lather: Proraso – Sandalwood cream
Post Shave: Chiseled Face – Midnight Stag balm
Fragrance: Dior – Sauvage
Music:* [Arctic monkeys - Knee socks] (https://youtu.be/lyO-Sveg6a8)
#FOF

When I read todays challenge, I got excited at first. Juhu, Marquis can be silly again. Also, as my sub theme for today is “questionable scents”, what fits better than using a sock for lathering?

Dub di dub di du, I enter the bathroom. Did not want to wake up my girlfriend by looking through my sock collection so I picked a nice (dirty) sock I wore on the weekend or god nows when.
I do a nice SOTD picture and soak my sock. I soak all brushes, so why not soak my sock?

Daily Challenge and soap:
The first questionable scent is Proraso Red. I got it from u/djundjila last lather games and put that thing in quarantine. My girlfriend usually refers to stinky soaps as “Stag number 5”. I believe she erased all memory of Proraso red, as she never talked about it again. I still believe djundjila tricked me and mixed djunior snot with used wet tissue extract and vaseline, labeled it with Proraso red and send it to me. Back then there was no reason to do so, because I started the mocking when the games started. So maybe it was just djundilas shenanigans. But he agrees that Red is smelling bad. HE! That man has an extra fridge with stinky cheese!
So when DJ and me agree that Red is so bad, why is it questionable? Becase I often read on W_E that people love it. WTF?! Is W_E completely lost? Is it a regional thing like with american chocolate smelling like puke to europeans, because of the butter acid?
Let’s lather that baby snot poo soap.
Put a great amount of the sample on my wet sock and started rubbing. Barely anything. After a while I felt a little lather inside the sock. Maybe thats enough?
Let’s squeeze it…
Dear djudges: I am not here to kink shame. Yesterday was odd, but okay. Now this?
You want to watch me put lather jizz on my face? (I cant remember what I did with it. probably put it on my face and forgott about it)
Whats your idea for next week? ”Draw us a picture of dwarfs dressed in nothing but gladiator helmets and capes jumping into wedding cakes”
I got my brush out and with the last halve gram of the soap sample, I made some lather (if you can proraso call that). For a second, I thought that I might exagerate Prorasos scent. Then it hit me. The used baby wipe smell. To go with the challenge as far as possible, I used my dirty sock to apply the lather to my face.
Decide for yourself what your favorite is.
I felt the lather wandering inside the sock and barely going on y face. After the second pass there was barely any lather left for a third pass. I quit. I dont want to continue this shitty shave. There is so much stublle left, I dont want to touch my face today. Had to leave the bathroom to park my motorcycle so my gf could take her car. Thats why I did not use the aftershave imediately after the shave. I felt my skin go dry and stretching. #bestcreamever.
My morning was ruined. I just want to go to bed, sleep till tomorrow and hope to have a good shave again.

Aftershave:
Everyone here knows the Stag cult and everyone knows that a lot of people do not like the scent. Perfect for my questionable scent theme. Stag grew on me and the aftershave performance is awesome. That motoroil dirty car workshop scent. Reminds me of the time I worked in a car rental and drove to another workshop who was specialized on changing tires.

Fragrance:
Diors bestseller questionable? It got its reputation here. See, you cant take public transport without 3 people wearing Sauvage. It’s success is also its curse.
I have to admit, that it has the freshest bergamot I ever smelled. Patchoulli and vetiver, with lavender and a bit of pepper make this wearable and so approachable. In other words: it smells like biceps curls in the sqaut rack. Like that consultant with bleached teeth, who only talks about soccer or work. It’s the fragrance for the male basic bitch.

July 19, 2023 - CREAM

• Brush: Wool Sock, 406mm loft #TOLL
• Razor: Blackland Razors Era
• Blade: Gillette Platinum (1)
• Lather: Wholly Kaw - Dulci Tobacco - Cream
• Post Shave: Chiseled Face - Sherlock
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Tobacconist
• Music: Green Day - Longview

Daily Write-Up:
I’m seeing everyone posting with their cotton or dress socks. But around here, we like animal hair brushes, because they have “character”. So, I’m certain that a wool sock is the way to go.

I turned my sock inside out, as the inside seems to be much more conducive to making a great lather.

I creamed my sock (phrasing, people) with a lot of the Wholly Kaw cream, and moved to my bowl to build a good lather.

After a lot of work, a lot of soap, and a lot of water that kept being whisked away by the sock, I got a small amount of serviceable lather.

I moved to my face, and had a quick two-pass shave with minimal irritation or drama. 2 passes with a mild razor is much better than 10 passes with an aggressive one.

Since MotherMiasma is no longer around to wash my dirty socks, I rinsed it out and threw it in the laundry. I definitely wouldn’t want someone to see my sock with cream all over it.

Soap Theme Justification
* This is a shaving cream. It says so right on the lid.

Post-Shave and Fragrance Relevance Notes
* My theme for scents is “Tobacco, three ways” * For the AS, I chose Sherlock. Per CF: It is a warm tobacco based scent blended with toasted caramel, black pepper, moist dirt, and finished with a touch of leather, moss, mandarin, honey and rose. Fun fact, when I asked Ron which scent of his he was most proud of, he answered Sherlock without a moment’s hesitation. * For the Frag - I pulled in HoM Tobacconist. Per HoM: Tobacconist is full and natural, with wood and tobacco taking center stage. * Today’s scent is always a hard one for me - I’m not a big tobacco fan. I grew up in a smoking household and hated it- I couldn’t run away from tobacco fast enough. Some of the really quality scents like Sherlock and Tobacconist are slowly allowing me to see why so many like tobacco scents, but I still don’t see any of these items becoming part of my regular rotation.

User measures loft of his woollen sock.

Day 19 - Cream

• Brush: Dirty Sock
• Razor: Baili - BR179
• Blade: Astra - Green
• Lather: Proraso - Green
• Post Shave: Catie's Bubbles - A Midnight Dreamy
• Fragrance: Montale - Intense Cafe

I am traveling and only packed enough socks. So today, I used a dirty sock. I kinda washed in the sink before. I guess you could call it a lather.

For the fragrance, I picked Intense Cafe. This was my first time using it. Definitely, more rose and powdery than I prefer, but it worked. Proraso added some green notes, but they will fade away soon.

ROTY #FOF

Jul. 19, 2023 - No Sock for Dobby

• Prep: CeraVe - Hydrating Facial Cleanser

• Brush: Chisel & Hound Mighty Duck v19 Fanchurian

• Razor: Blackland Era SB LVL 3

• Blade: Astra Green

• Lather: St. James of London - Sandalwood and Bergamot Cream

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

• Fragrance: Lesli Wood - Ossuary

Daily Challenge

Yeah so I had a sock out on my dresser for todays challenge but this morning realized that I have a little pride in myself and 0.2 points isn’t going to make or break anything for me. So instead I’m here laughing at the posts of people regretting their decision without any guilt.

St James of London cream is one of the better ones I’ve tried, it holds a good bit of water and gets pretty darn slick! It’s just boring…Sandalwood & Bergamot smells pleasant but there’s nothing to it! No layers, nothing to discover as you lather and shave. The cream does a good job but you don’t have to work to make the lather, it’s just there. Half of what I really like about this hobby is the process and attention to detail needed to make a good lather and hold the right angle when shaving. I have kept this tub for those random 5 AM shaves when I really need to just be on autopilot and not spend any extra time on the process.

Todays pairing to the cream is all based on my #photocontest theme of #Extinct Animals. My picture is self explanatory but the rest could use explaining. My brush is a v19 Fanchurian which is no longer sold (Extinct) My razor is out of production (extinct) My balm has a Mammoth on it (Extinct) Finally my fragrances name “Ossuary” literally is a place for holding the bones of the dead (Extinct)

• Brush: Van Der Hagen Boar Brush
• Razor: Parker Clip-Type Shavette Dark Sheesham Wood Handle
• Blade: Tiger Superior
• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street - St. James

ROTY

JULY 19, 2023

• Brush: NIKE Everyday Max Cushioned SOCK
• Razor: Paragon - Shaving ‘Don’ DE razor
• Lather: Truefitt & Hill - 1805 shaving cream
• Post Shave: Tayers - Witch Hazel

So shaving with a cream is a change of pace for me. It’s supposed to be soft I assumed but my sample was super hard (thanks for the sample u/curbside_champ no hard feelings just love ). So either the sample got harden by sitting in an UPS truck in Phoenix (record high temps) or I don’t know! And the daily challenge didn’t help my lather either. In fact the scent was okay but I don’t know if it was my sock or the soap :-) The true winners of today’s challenge before I go in more detail!

TODAY’s CHALLENGE: WTF??? I tried a thick sock and couldn’t imitate the guy on the video. So my second sock attempt was thinner athletic sock which worked better but not much. I got enough lather for one pass. I must work on my Sock Lathering Technique. Is that something u/merikus may further develop and thus take us through the next philosophical paradigm shift of not GUTL but GUTSL??? (Grand Unified Technique of Sock Lathering)

To Be Continued……..

ROTY

Jul 19, 2023 - CREAM

• Prep: Klar - Activated Charcoal - Face Soap
• Brush: Sock
• Brush: The Razor Company Cream Soda Acrylic 28mm Synthetic Knot
• Razor: Gillette English RFB NEW No. 77 (1933)
• Blade: Gillette Platinum [4]
• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Mr. Taylor's - Cream
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann - Fougère Classique - Aftershave
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Cape Heartache - Eau de Parfum

Sock lather!? Okay, I guess we're doing this...

Using Yosh's instructional video he posted before his lather video shown for inspiration, I managed to work up something that didn't really resemble lather at all. I'm actually kind of impressed that he got what he did from his sock lather. I opted to use a brush for applying it to my face, which helped some to build better consistency by adding more air to the mixture.

The RFB is a wonderful shaver, and still managed to shave well with the quasi-lather produced this morning.

While I normally really enjoy fougère scents, Mr. Taylor smells like my grandfather, but not necessarily in an enduring, nostalgic sort of way. It seems more like a scent from a bygone era. Some have said that Fougere Classique also has an old man scent quality, but I think it fits into that timeless fougère category.

Rating: 3.5/5

Edit: So distracted by sock lather, I forgot to finish my write up.

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

• Prep: Proraso - Azur Lime - Pre-shave
• Brush: AP Shave Co - Black Matte Layered Comfort Alumihandle - 25 mm Mühle STF
• Razor: Wolfman Razors - WR2 0.75 DC x WRH2
• Blade: Personna Med Prep
• Lather: Proraso - Azur Lime - Cream
• Post Shave: Proraso - Azur Lime - Balm

Day 19 of Lather Games: Broke out Azur Lime for a nice summery CREAM

July 19, 2023 – Cream… again

• Brush: Heritage Collection 26mm C-Mon
• Razor: Hoffritz of New York OC
• Blade: Personna Platinum Chrome (3)
• Preshave: Baxter Shave Tonic
• Lather: Old Spice – Old Spice
• Post Shave: Old Spice – Indian

I tell you what, this Old Spice Cream is getting a workout this Lather Games. Maybe it’s because I just didn’t plan so well. It’s definitely not because I’m busy doing Air Bud stuff.

July 19, 2023 – Cream, cream, why are you still a theme?

• Brush: Red House Farm Wool Sock
• Razor: Schick Injector Type N1
• Blade: Schick Injector (11)
• Lather: Geo. F. Trumper – Extract of Limes
• Post Shave: Declaration Grooming – Peaches + Scream
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors – A Whiff of Wafflecone

Challenge: What a terrible idea! I won a PIF from /u/grindermonk a while back for one of his soaps, and he threw in a pair of wool socks! I don’t wear wool often, but I know it’s very absorbent. Sounds perfect for making lather right? I lathered it buy rubbing both halves of the sock together, like I would a washcloth. It took a lot of soap. I rubbed the lather onto my face with the sock. It was hard to get enough soap on my face. It was a bad shave.

I didn’t have anything planned for today beyond using one of my Geo. F. Trumper cream samples. Are there really enough Geo Trumpers in the world to warrant the middle initial? This theme doesn’t really lend to scent pairings. So, rather than match the fragrance of the soap, I’ve organized the shave around the idea of cream.

Geo. F. Trumper Extract of Limes is a simple fragrance. It’s sweet. There’s not any sharpness to the citrus. It’s one-dimensional in the way a lot of these old timey shave like your grandpa branded products are.

Peaches and Scream is a set that I bought and never really used. I kind of regret not using it, because it smells really good. It’s very peachy. There’s a creaminess to it. There’s just a hint of something boozy, almost as if this was a liqueur.

I’m not a fan of A Whiff of Waffle Cone. It’s artificial and saccharine. But, there’s a fragrance note of ice cream, which fits today’s theme. This smells like caramelized sugar. There’s lots of vanilla. There’s a warm amber-like note that provides the waffle image. There’s a bit of cinnamon. It definitely makes me think of ice cream.

#FOF

July 19, 2023

• Brush: My fucking sock?!??
• Razor: Rockwell 6s
• Blade: Wilkinson Sword
• Lather: Taconic Shave – Tequila Lime Shave Cream
• Post Shave: Henri et Victoria – Lime Splash
• Fragrance: Noble Otter - Lone Star EDP
• Music: The Champs - Tequila

Man, I need a shot of Tequila after that shave. Using a sock to lather is a bad idea. Like an awful idea. This is coming from the guy that shaved in a bathtub full of ice. Now, it’s entirely possible (and maybe even likely) that my sock-lathering technique is bad. However, lathering with my sock isn’t something I want to perfect.

Today, I went to the beach for this shave for two reasons (1) I like to feel the sand between my toes in the summer and (2) because u/MrTangerinesky thought he could intimidate me by shaving next to a little river. A little babbling brook in the background is supposed to impress me? Bitch, please. You bring a river and I’ll bring the ocean! As my arch nemesis, u/MrTangerinesky, would say: VIDEO OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!

Despite the piss-poor sock lather, the shave was slick. However, it took way too long to build any sort of lather with a sock and sand was all up in my lather, so I only did 1 pass today.

I really enjoy this cream from Taconic – it smells like a margarita and performs great under normal conditions. I chose Lime aftershave because, well, lime is one of the two scents in the soap. Then for my frag, I picked Long Star, since it opens with a nice lemon scent, and lemons & limes are like best friends. The Lone Star then gets really nice with complex blend of floral and woody notes on an earthy base of oakmoss, leather, and hay. It’s nice to have a shave that starts with a relatively simple scent (margarita) then then the frag builds that into a complex #FOF summer experience.

As with a lot of my shaves this month, I have a few lessons learned:

1. Soaking my sock was a good idea, but I should have done a better job at keeping sand off the sock.
2. Sand is a good exfoliator, buuuuuuttttt…. Shaving with a mix of sand and sub-par lather is not ideal.
3. You need a LOT more cream for a sock shave than you expect. I started with this and had to go back to the tub two more times. These socks EAT lather.
4. Socks don’t make good brush replacements.
5. If you are going to use your socks to build a lather, bring an extra pair, so you don’t have to go sock-less for the rest of the day.

For the #photocontest: Sports with the baseball, since I asked Taconic who their favorite baseball team is.

For my interview today, I chatted with Nancy from Taconic Shave. Nancy, and her husband Howie have been slinging wetshaving products for 20 years - long before it was cool. Nancy was such a nice, nice person for this series that I feel absolutely awful publicly desecrating her product by using it with my dirty sock…. BUT… If I can get a serviceable lather using one of my socks, imagine the dreamy lather you’ll get using a brush!

10 Questions with… Taconic Shave

1) How did you get started making shaving creams, soaps, aftershaves, etc?

When we started our wet shaving business about 20 years ago, there weren’t very many good shave soaps available. The retail stores that were selling our Parker Safety Razor products were asking for an American made line of shave soaps and creams. The best ideas come from our customers and we were able to offer the right products at the right time. The wet shaving community was expanding rapidly at that time.

2) What was the first product you ever sold?

Our first Taconic product was a mandarin orange shave soap in a cold poured formulation which is much different than we’re offering today. Our products today have been formulated differently over time.

3) I’ve only tried your shave cream, and I will say it performs wonderfully. How do you compare your cream to your shave soaps?

Our shave soaps have very different formulas than the creams. You’ll have to try one! The shave soaps require a mug and a little more work to create a lather, but they deliver unbelievable glide and cushion thanks to some key ingredients like hemp seed oil and bentonite clay. They are also formulated with all naturally derived ingredients like the rest of our line. We are committed to making our products chemical free.

4) You're from New York. Dare I ask: Yankees or Mets?

Yes we’re from New York, and we’re Mets fans (with a high pain tolerance) :)

5) My sister-in-law has a tshirt that says “I love cooking with wine... Sometimes I even add it to food!” Is the recipe for tequila lime soap similar?

In some ways yes - it was always a fun drink and lime is one of our favorite natural scents.

6) Do you have a go-to drink you order at a bar?

Howie loves a good local craft beer. His favorite is Bear Naked Ale from the Adirondack brewery in NY. I always love a good glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

7) You offer 5 different scents of shave creams and 6 options for shave soaps. How did you decide which scents you want to offer in which form?

We asked our customers and our retailers which scents they would prefer. We have a close rapport with our customers and gathered preference feedback. For example, one of our later scents Excalibur started as a solid cologne and our retailers loved it so much they wanted us to grow the use of this scent with our other shaving and beard care products.

8) Of the scents you offer, which one is your favorite?

Mine is Lavender Lime (I just love the citrus balanced with a bit of earthy lavender) and Howie’s is Eucalyptus Mint for its cooling effect.

9) I noticed one of the ingredients of your Creams is honey. I've never made my own soaps or creams, but I have to imagine that's a somewhat unique ingredient. What does the addition of honey do for someone's lather/skin?

Honey is an excellent moisturizer for the skin and has really great antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It can also be helpful with razor bumps and adds additional glide.

10) How do you differentiate Taconic Shave from all the other shaving companies currently out there?

We have consistently stuck by our values to offer a broad line of wet shaving and grooming products, using the healthiest choice of ingredients that we would want to use ourselves (avoiding many common allergens such as nuts). We always choose to go with small batches, using only all natural and many organic ingredients that are locally sourced whenever possible.

Claims to have used his sock and posted a pic with slacks, loafers, and no socks on the beach.

Friendly feud between Pri and Tangerine 🍊

Lather Games Day 19 

• Prep: Splash of warm water
• Brush: Noble Otter Synthetic 26mm
• Razor: Viking Revolution Long Handle Safety Razor
• Blade: Treet Silver
• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Rose
• Post Shave: Nivea Men - Sensitive Balm

Once again I smell like an old lady thanks to TOBS- Rose but at least the sample has been killed

July 19, 2023

• Prep: Truefitt & Hill - Ultimate Comfort - Pre-shave Oil
• Brush: Truefitt & Hill Wellington 24mm Silvertip
• Razor: Rolls Razor #SELFSHARPENING
• Lather: Truefitt & Hill - Grafton - Cream
• Post Shave: Unilever - Brut - Aftershave
• Post Shave: Thayers - Lemon - Toner
• Fragrance: Floris Elite - Eau de Toilette  

2 passes. Bowl lather. Excellent shave.

---

A very English shave today. The Truefitt & Hill products were part of a gift set that I received. Everything I've tried from them is top notch. With 218 years of being in business they've had time to get it right. Rolls Razor Ltd was headquartered in London, as is Floris and Truefitt & Hill. So, English.

The T&H pre-shave is has a very light citrus scent. The pre-shave is a mix of a variety of oils including avocado, coconut, bergamot, mandarin orange, and grapefruit. I'm assuming it is the last three oils that give it its scent. The oil is, well, oily, but it does seem to protect the skin and allow the razor to glide. I normally make my own pre-shave from lather paste (aka protolather). I prefer my method, but it's nice to change it up occasionally.

The Grafton cream is a spicy fougère. Scent strength is on the strong side and takes me back to the smells of '50s and '60s. It pairs very well with Brut, but really, what doesn't?

Finally, I went with a sample of Floris Elite. You can read all of the notes of this scent. I just get the blend of notes when I use it. Seems very nice and masculine to me; especially after it dries down.

And then there's the Rolls. Not this one, this one. I have shaved with a Rolls before. u/Tetriside sent me his blade to sharpen and I asked for the handle to be sent as well so I could test shave with it. But thanks to u/djundjila I was able to get the full Rolls system experience!

He sent me a spare blade to sharpen as well. Because I identified today (English day) to use the razor, I've had time to study the packaging and to sharpen the spare blade. To me, the system is a set of compromises except for the box aesthetics which look like "quality"; especially for the early to mid 20th century time period.

I had issues sharpening the spare blade. I think oxidation has weakened the steel at the edge. Nonetheless, I tried finishing it on the Rolls hone, and stropping it on the Rolls strop. I don't have microscope images, but it was a disaster. The edge was chipped when I was done.

The shave was done with the "good" blade. I sharpened this one too, but that was more to do with worry about similarities with the spare one than the good blade's shave-ready condition.

The actual shave went just fine. The Rolls is basically a straight razor with a blade size and handle like an Ockmock (yes DJ I read your posts). I don't care for the balance of this affair, but was able to get a very close, comfortable shave from it.

Photo contest theme: Royals. Not the stretch of imagination you might think. I try to relate all themes to shaving. In this context, Truefitt & Hill are barbers and Royal Warrant holders to H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh. And, Floris claims Royal Warrants from King George IV and Queen Elizabeth II.

#photocontest

DAY 18 LATHER GAMES! SO CREAMY, MMM I LOVE IT!

• Prep: Water
• Brush: socks
• Razor: Blackland Vector
• Blade: Chinese(8)
• Lather: Nivea - Sensitive Shaving Cream
• Post Shave: Brut - Brut Oceans
• Fragrance: Jean Paul Gaultier - Le Male

​

PIC OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

​

THEME+DAILY CHALLENGE

Honestly I don't know where to start, cream itself for a start is bad enough, but then you add THIS daily challenge!?!?! I still can't figure out if the guy in the original video is a genius or an idiot! But someone should message him and tell him he inspired A WHOLE day of the LG, and that's quite the achievement!

Well I'm not sure if I ever used this Nivea since last year, but it definitely has gotten a lot more thicker than then, maybe in about 2-3 years it might calcify itself inside the tube(cause all them good ingredients). In general I'm not a fan of creams, this day, budget day and drug store day are my least favourite cause of the fact of what I have to use... I know I know, I just wanna moan and vent!

Now for the challenges I tried two ways to lather with socks:

- In my opinion, this video is THE BEST way to make a lather with a sock!!! No second opinion needed!!!

- The video of the second method shows that it is more practical and boring, but it does the job.....

​

#FOF

The whole combination of scents is very chemical, Brut Oceans is a better variant of the green Brut, still it has that cheap-o smell to it. No offence to Le Male, but it fits great with all the scents! Just an average smelling shave...

• Daily Lather Themes: 19/30
• Daily Challenges: 19/30
• Hardware Scavenger Hunt: 14/20
• Hardware Vendor Points: 1/2
• Software Vendor Points: 8/13
• Software Vendor Bonus Point: 0/1
• 30 Different Soap Brands Point: 19/30
• 30 Different Soaps On Theme Bonus Point: 19/30
• 30 Different Post-Shaves Bonus Point: 19/30
• 30 Different Fragrances Bonus Point: 19/30

God tier sock lather splooge.

God tier sock lather splooge.

2023-07-19 Lather Games SOTD

• Brush: Semogue 1305 (22x55mm Boar)
• Razor: Schick Injector Ɪ1 (1954-1957)
• Blade: Schick Injector (21)
• Lather: Geo F Trumper - Eucris - Cream
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Stirling Green
• Fragrance: Ralph Lauren - Polo (vintage)

Chypre! Sheep-ruh! Shee-it it's cream day, not chypre day - aw hell, why not both?

Eucris is a smoky, woody, mossy chypre, deep and dark and ancient-smelling. Stirling Green is an inaccurate, brighter-and-fresher-than-authentic dupe of Polo. And Polo itself? Another mossy, woody, borderline smoky chypre. My specific bottle is a vintage Cosmair 1oz splash-on, back in the pre-reformulation glory days of the fragrance. It's not radically different than the current version but I do find it smoother and less cigarette-y. I think I could probably tell them apart in a blind test, but I couldn't tell you whether they smell different due to the change in formula (to meet IFRA requirements) or because my bottle is 30+ years old.

Oh, and cream-colored razor along with a green-and-cream brush to link the day's CREAM theme and my internal DARK GREEN CHYPRE theme together.

July 19, 2023 – LG23 Day 19: CREAM Day

• Brush: Sock – Sock
• Razor: Razorock Game Changer .84
• Blade: Gillette Winner (3)
• Lather: Catie’s Bubbles – Lancaster Leather
• Post Shave: D.R. Harris – Windsor
• Fragrance: Dana – English Leather – EdC

What a day to toss ̶o̶f̶f̶ out all your plans, or at least some of them. I was going to use my horse’s ass Cremo brush for CREAM day, but no. Now I’ve got to go sticking my ̶g̶l̶a̶n̶d̶ hand in a sock and make it get creamy for the Daily Challenge.

At least Catie’s Bubbles is up to the task and Lancaster Leather is a nice olfactory combination of leathery and sweet. It combines nicely with the leather notes in D.R. Harris Windsor and perfectly with the English Leather Cologne Splash for the fragrant finish. I’m always partial to English Leather as it was my grandfather’s signature fragrance. It’s one of the few tangible memories I have of him after 46 years.

Hope you all enjoyed your CREAM! And your sock!

July 19, 2023 - Cream

• Pre Shave: Proraso - Crema Pre Barba - Pelli Sensibili
• Brush: Sock with a Golfer on it
• Razor: Karve CB Solid Bar
• Blade: Gillette Minora Stainless
• Lather: Proraso - Sapone De Barba - Pelli Sensibili
• Post Shave: Proraso - Balsamo Dopobarba - Pelli Sensibili
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Agua Fresca

FOF

Today’s Cream, umm Theme:

I have a limited number of shaving creams. I got a gift set of Proraso Sensitive (White) over a year ago. I don’t use it enough, but for today, I doubt anything else would have worked as well as this did.

Today’s Challenge:

Lather with a sock is up there with shaving in the kitchen as a thing I wouldn’t do unless it was part of a contest. Well here we are. I chose my sock with a golfer on it since The Open Championship starts tomorrow. I though to make it easier, start with a huge dollop of the cream. I don’t think that helped. I started with wetting the sock and trying to make lather in my bowl. It was pretty pasty (perfect for tomorrow), so more water. I got what seemed like it may work, but everytime I added more water, the sock just soaked up more of the water and soap. First pass was pretty thick. The razor clogged a few times, but it felt like it was slick at least. More water, but more disappeared into the sock. I thought since the sock was a cotton/poly/spandex blend, it wouldn’t soak up as much as a mostly cotton one would. For the remaining shave, I had to squeeze out a bit of lather to get enough on the face. I was left with a very soapy sock. I don’t see this becoming much of a fad after today. To add a bit more sock to the shave, I rinsed and wrung out the sock, then used it to wipe the excess lather off my face.

Today’s Fragrance:

The set of Proraso I used has a very mild and pleasant scent. Proraso says it is a light lime and apple scent. The oatmeal and green tea are there to sooth irritated skin. I didn’t pick up a tea or oatmeal scent anyway. All three products smelled about the same. I thought of a few of my scents that could work here. Dr. Jons - Hydra would definitely work, but I already used it. If I had the EdP of Noble Otter - Thè Noir et Vanille or even Rawr could work, but I don’t have them. I have another EdP that I’m planning for tomorrow. I reached yet again into that versatile box of sample from Chatillon Lux. Agua Fresca is mostly a blend of fruit scents plus vetiver and cream. I can get the melon, pineapple, and maybe some cucumber and the yuzu. The rest is just fruity to me. I’m really not positive I’m getting the yuzu since pineapple I think has a fairly citrus note to it even though not a citrus fruit. The melon is probably covering up the cucumber, or the melon I am picking up blends very well with the cucumber. There are really a lot of scents that could work with this Proraso scent since it is very mild, and would not likely clash with much of anything, but I’m trying to pick things that can tie to the soap scent. There are a couple days coming up that will probably have fitting the theme dictate what choices I have more than matching things up, plus I have now used close to half of the EdP/EdT fragrances in my den.

Todays Haiku Effort:

Socks are not good brushes.

Really they are terrible.

Awful for lather.

Jul. 18, 2023

• Brush: Semogue #Horseass
• Razor: Maggard Slant Head on Alumigoose Black Handle
• Blade: Personna Super (2)
• Lather: Cremo - Sandalwood - Soap
• Post Shave: Proraso - Sandalwood - Aftershave

Cream shave.

This theme just sucks. We can do better.

Same with "Drugstore Day".

The whole reason we started wetshaving was we didn't want to use that shit in the first place.

It's like walking into your first day on the job and seeing this. #NSFW

I miss Prince so much.... Cream...

July 19, 2023 – Lather games day 19 – AKA What me worry?

• Brush: Sawdust Creations Studio Synthetic
• Razor: Chiseled Face Legacy
• Blade: Gillette Nacet (12)
• Lather: Cremo – Original
• Post Shave: Pinaud – Clubman

I don’t wear socks when on the clock. I could not, should not lather by sock. Yesterday I was jumping in the water off a dock. But today I’m supposed to lather with a sock. What a shock. This challenge I must balk. I don’t want to hear it, Just don’t talk.

CREMO is meh to me. So is Clubman. Perfect all around meh shave. Time for a new blade. Party on!

#Photocontest

July 19, 2023 – Balboa from here on out.

• Brush: Maggard Synthetic
• Razor: Gillette Tech
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (2)
• Lather: LEA – Classic Shaving Cream
• Post Shave: Proraso – Menthol and Eucalyptus

Yeah mang, no sock for me today. I’ve realized I’m taking the Rocky route for the rest of this LG. I’m just trying to survive, make it to the last bell. My lather will be on theme and I’ll post daily, but I only have one trick up my sleeve to finish this month out. I doubt that haymaker will even land, but I just gotta stay upright.

LEA, I’ve always been curious and im just a sucker for well done classic design/deco. How could you not love that beautiful tube. Purchased this for LG and I love it. I used a brush today to practice for u/cowzilla3 Tale the East Route Austere August, which was a total sight for sore eyes. Such an easy lather, such a great clean scent. This setup may totally work for the month, save for the razor and post shave. Have a great night everyone.

Cheers! 🤙

ROTY

July 19, 2023 – Cream

• Brush: None
• Sock: Hanes Ultimate X-Temp Crew Sock (Black)
• Razor: Blackland Blackbird Ti
• Blade: Astra SP (3)
• Lather: Truefitt & Hill – 1805 Shaving Cream
• Post Shave: Castle Forbes – Lime Essential Oil Aftershave Balm
• Fragrance: Duke Cannon – Sea Solid Cologne

The Shave: Mistakes were made in today’s shave. It all began with a poor cream selection. u/2SaintsDude is right, the dregs of my T&H 1805 tub had hardened up some. I decided it would be fine as I had fashioned my sock into a brush like apparatus and would lather it up like a champ. Well it turns out sock lathering a hardened cream is not as easy as one might think. After spending an inordinate amount of time for a complete lack of lather I had the genius idea that the rules had never said you couldn’t face lather. So I reached my hand in the sock and went to work on my face. Looking at other posts I see that no one else was stupid enough to make this mistake. Let me tell you, face lathering with a sock is probably about as much fun as making out with a sock puppet. It did however generate just enough lather for me to shave. Overall I would not recommend.

Post Shave: After my sock shave debacle I decided to use Castle Forbes Lime Essential Oil Balm to soothe my irritated face. I quickly finished up with a little Duke Cannon Sea and was on my way.

Theme: 1805 is a shave cream. Why CF Lime? Firstly, the closest you can get to a cream in aftershave is balm. Second CF is a well known maker of shaving creams, no soaps allowed. Last is the Sea solid cologne. I used this because it also seemed more like a cream in that it is a soft solid.

Challenge: I face lathered with a sock and I’m not proud of it. Here's what my sock looked like after tub loading, during the face lather, and after. After I was done I did place the sock in a random spot in the house for my wife to find and wonder what the hell I had been doing with it. Ah the joys of marriage.

#ROTY

July 19, 2023 – Running Sock Cream Day

• Brush: Darn Tough Running Sock
• Razor: Merkur 34C
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Cremo – Original
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Mountain Man

First, just why? Second, I went for a 4 mile run (ok yes it was two 2 milers back to back, but I had to pee and the house we’re staying at in Michigan was the perfect stop). Gravel roads are some of the best to run on – so much easier on these knees. It’d also help if I lost another 20 pounds, but what’s the fun in that.

Anyway, I tell you this not because I’m flexing the run (just look at the time, it’s not worth flexing) – but to give you the back story of the sock I used to lather. 4 miles in some stinky running shoes before soaking, creaming, rubbing, soaking again, and finally settling for a not so bad first lathering. First pass went A-OK.

Then, the sock just ate my lather and I didn’t bring that much with so I couldn’t just keep loading the sock up. So pass two looked like this and by the end this was what I had for pass 3 which, needless to say, did not go well. I spared the photos because this is not r/wicked_edge, after all. We’re dignified over here, remember?

How am I supposed to explain one cream filled soaking wet sock to my wife when she does laundry tomorrow? I can’t tell her I rubbed that thing on my face, how humiliating.

Overall, the shave sucked. Big shock. I don’t generally enjoy shaving post workout because it leads to razor burn and now you Neanderthals thought it would be fun to make me lather with a sock. Just listen.

The scent on Cremo is fine. Cremo describes it as a citrusy smell and I guess I get that – it really just smells like the Cremo base with a little bit of citrusy lemon mixed in. I did sniff the Silver Water & Birch variety today and that was nice. Not $10 nice, but, nice. Mountain main will pair with about anything and it worked well here to cover up any sweaty sock stench, plus my wife likes it.

Anyway – the Merkur 34c performed well, I tried to learn from some earlier participants and use a nice, mild razor. I don’t know that it really helped such a dry shave experience, but, using a feather in a Blackbird would have been worse, I guess.

Anyway. Screw you, creator of this challenge, I hope you get awful sleep tonight (and nothing more because really it’s not that bad and I’m not a monster like you)!

FOF Haiku of the day

Sweaty Running sock
Citrusy cream spread thinly
Thankful no sweat stank

A well written and documented chronicle of the disgusting running sock.

A well written and documented chronicle of the disgusting running sock.

July 19, 2023 – LG 19: CREAM

• Brush: Umbro Red Soccer Sock
• Razor: Gillette Ball End Tech
• Blade: Rapira Platinum Lux (5)
• Lather: St. James of London – Cedarwood & Clarysage
• Post Shave: St. James of London – Cedarwood & Clarysage
• Fragrance: Taylor of Old Bond Street – Jermyn Street

Spelling out the connection, London Products. With an English tech to boot.

For #FOF cedar wood and clary sage was just that, it’s in the name. Touch of floral rose too, but mostly a spicy, earthy sage complemented by wood. The AS gel was almost scentless compared to the cream, and had some more artificial hoopla going on. Jermyn street is one of those colognes that blends a bunch together making it so not much stands out. Heavy lemon and lime citrus, some herbaceous lavender rooted on top of a touch of musty musky patchouli.

Our #PHOTOCONTEST was sport. We all know the Brits put “u’s” in random places in words, but I always found it more interested how they add or drop and “s.” For examples, the photo category today was “sport” instead of sports. Or instead of math they say maths (pronounced maffs). Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to brew some Yorkshire gold, but seriously, if there’s one thing I got from me mum it’s a love for a proper cuppa.

challenge and video here. Sometimes we have to be creative for shenanigans, sometimes it’s forced upon us. I think the only way this could be worse is if you have a teenage son and you went to find a sock from their room…

soap brands 19/30, post shave 19/30, frag 18/30, post/frag linked 19/30, software sponsors 9/13, hardware sponsors 2/2, razor hashtags 9/15, brush hashtags 8/15, photo contest 19/30, daily challenges 17/25, special challenges 2/5

July 19, 2023

• Brush: A Literal Sock
• Razor: Karve CB (SB – C)
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue (6)
• Lather: Proraso – Green Tea & Oat
• Post Shave: Noble Otter – Rawr

Cream Lather, Cream Aftershave.

I can’t decide what I hate more, the person who came up with this idea or the fact that it actually kind of worked. If I used way less water I might have been able to actually get this to be a decent lather. I could try again… actually fuck that.

Healthy Activity of the Day: Took a day off to sleep in today. Going for 10 miles tomorrow. LG Mileage: 53 Miles

Tags: #ROTY

July 19, 2023

• Brush: AP Shave Co Independent 28mm
• Razor: Leaf Elite
• Blade: BIC Chrome Platinum (1)
• Lather: Antiga Barbearia de Bairro – Principe Real
• Post Shave: Antiga Barbearia de Bairro – Principe Real
• Fragrance: Antiga Barbearia de Bairro – Principe Real

I really enjoy this cream, and the fragrance is very nice and refreshing. It consists of bergamot, orange, lemon, mandarin, wood, and spice notes. It also contains lanolin, which my skin really seems to like.

#ROTY

July. 19, 2023 - SOTD 

• Prep: Splash of warm water
• Brush: Oumo O4 Venus SHD Badger Brush 26MM
• Razor: West Coast Shaving Multi Titanium Collection Razor
• Blade: Treet Platinum
• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Royal Forest Shaving Cream
• Post Shave: Nivea Men - Sensitive Soothing Aftershave Balm

ROTY

Wednesday, the 19th of July, 2023

• Brush: a clean sock
• Razor: Gillette thin cap old type
• Blade: Topaz Platinum (71)
• Lather: Speick - Soothing Lavender
• Post shave: Storybook Soapworks - Hook
• Fragrance: La Curie - Faunus

OK, I bit on today's challenge. But it turns out I hate the lather sock. First of all, I had to use an insane amount of shaving cream. Like, maybe five times what I should be using for the shave? Second, it took forever to lather it up. I think I spent like half an hour just trying to get a decent lather out of this. And a cream should be faster to lather up! Good grief, I'm glad this was on cream day.

Now, once I did get a lather, it was fine. Maybe a little suboptimal, but OK. Sure, I suppose with practice I could do better, but man, my first brush lathers were, like, orders of magnitude better.

Speick is a good cream, with a nice lavender scent. And the old type razor gave another good shave with this blade. Hook is an interesting scent... honestly, today I ended up getting some chlorine off it, I think, as it wore on later in the day. Faunus is a fun little scent, and kind of, sort of, thematically linked to Hook, perhaps only in that they're both evocative of fantasy settings.

July 19, 2023 CREAM

• Prep: Warm Shower
• Brush: AP Shave Co. 24mm SynBad #FAUXFUR
• Razor: GEM Junior 1912
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (5)
• Lather: Proraso Cream - Green
• Post Shave: Proraso - Green
• Fragrance: Acqua di Parma - Colonia Club

I really enjoyed the menthol in today's cream and I enjoy the scent enough not to complain. On fragrantica, the fragrance that Proraso green most reminds people of is the Acqua di Parma Colonia Club. I used the scent comparison and the color green to link all my software for the day.

Challenge - I knew almost instantly that the lather sock wasn't going to work out well. As such, I admittedly didn't spend very long trying to make a lather that would do more than just cover my face. I started by squirting the cream straight on to the sock and worked it together like a washcloth until something sort of lather-like started forming. I ended up having to add cream 2 more times and water throughout. Even with the extra cream I didn't end up with anything special and blame the poor lather for the irritation I dealt with most of the day. I did throw the lather on the brush the second and third pass and painted it on just to get credit for using it.

• Brush: Zenith B28 #OLDWORLD #HOLLOW
• Razor: Suppaparts Titanium
• Blade: Croma Diamant
• Shave Soap: Declaration Grooming - Massacre of the Innocents shave soap
• Post Shave: Declaration Grooming - Massacre of the Innocents aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - In Love With Everything

I’m going to go ahead and not lather with a sock. Suppaparts is an interesting little tool; it’s basically a poor man’s Rockwell 6 that combines four plates into one blocky head. It looks silly, but it is functional. When choosing the aggressive block, it is still moderate. The blade feel is present shamelessly. And does it give a good shave? It probably does about as good as a sock does lathering.

shave

Jul. 19, 2023
Brush: Kirkland Ankle Length Sock
Razor: Karve CB
Blade: Astra SP Green
Lather: TOBS - Almond Shaving Cream - Soap
Post Shave:* Cella - Red - Balm

Welp I used a sock. And honestly it wasn’t bad. Took a while to get the bubbles out and I watched the video of the guy wringing out his sock so I did that a few times and vigorously worked it. Brush is more effective for sure but a sock was doable. My wife walked in on me lathering it and basically said ‘wtf’. She knows about the lather games and thinks it’s ridiculous but now it’s probably worse. Here’s a photo of me about midway through. Prob took a good 6-7 minutes to get a decent lather after this photo. Cheers!

https://imgur.com/a/lGoxB0o

ROTY

19 July 2023 Complementary Non Dickkhole Proraso Green

• Prep: Warm Shower
• Brush: Zenith r/wetshaving 2022 Moar Boar
• Razor: Mongoose Alumigoose
• Blade: Feather Pro Guard (15)
• Lather: Proraso - Green (1)
• Post Shave: Captain's Choice - North A/S
• Post Shave: Thayer's Concoction
• Post Shave: Cold River Soapworks - Sandalwood Post Shave Lotion
• Post Shave: Chicago Grooming Co - Project Lawnsdale Balm
• Fragrance: Banana Republic - Vintage Green

Cheers

July 19, 2023

• Brush: Adidas Ankle sock
• Razor: Gillette Executive Fatboy
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Geo F. Trumper – Coconut Oil Shaving Cream
• Post Shave: Clubman – Citrus Musk Splash
• Fragrance: Azzaro - Chrome Sport

You know, here I was thinking now that I got my open blade hashtags out of the way, I’d be on easy street. Then I saw the challenge for today and I thought it was weird as hell. Then I tried the challenge for today and I didn’t enjoy it. For the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone ever decided to do this. In every post I’ve done so far, I think I always lead with the shave, then end with the challenge, but this one was so intertwined, that the challenge has to come first.

It was a bad day to be a guy with a tiny sample of Geo F. Trumper, that’s for sure. Used this whole MFer on the challenge and honesty could’ve used more. I didn’t get a good lather, didn’t enjoy it, and I can’t see the point. But, since this is my first Lather Games, I’m assuming there’s some story here and legend behind it, so I’m just rolling with it. After I built my “lather”, I switched the gold Fatboy to its most mild setting and gave it a go. I haven’t had a shave or lather this bad since I first started wetshaving. I really hope this fraction of a point ends up pushing me into the next spot or something, because this one was not enjoyable.

For the scents of the shave, since the Coconut Oil Shaving Cream smells sweet and tropical, I used a citrus aftershave splash thinking it may smell like a tropical drink or something. Wrong. I bought a few samples of Clubman aftershave because they were cheap. And now I know why they are cheap. The scent of this one didn’t quite meet my expectations. There’s a tiny bit of citrus hiding in this aftershave, but I wouldn’t say it smells good. For the cologne, I used Azzaro – Chrome Sport, which is also a citrus scent. Fortunately, the fragrance smells a lot better than the aftershave did. My plan of doing like a complete tropical, citrus drink didn’t quite go to plan, but at least I tried. #FOF

July 19, 2023

• Brush: Nike Portugal Soccer socks #ANCIENT
• Razor: Karve CB SB-B
• Blade: Gillette Nacet
• Lather: Proraso – Sandalwood
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts – Samhain

Socks. Next year will be underwear (please, for the love of god djudges don’t do that for the videos that would be made). Proraso is the only cream I have so today is the day it shines. Paired with Samhain, the only AS I have that has sandalwood as a scent note. My knot today is >10 years old. I know this because I dressed up as Christiano Ronaldo my freshman year of college in 2008. I begrudgingly kept these socks since I spent an absurd amount for them on my college budget, which was probably 20-30 dollars. I honestly don’t know any longer. They built a lather, technically. Hard to see but its the first time I used a red Proraso Red. Maybe I can trade my knot on the ‘zaar for a tub of Dammusi…seems fair.

July 19, 2023 – Month of Lather Day 19

• Brush: Lands' End Black Cotton Crew Sock circa 2011
• Razor: Edgewell Personal Care Brands Speed3 handle #RAINBOW
• Blade: Edgewell Personal Care Brands Speed3 3-blade cartridge (1)
• Preshave: Proraso – Eucalyptus Oil and Menthol Cream
• Lather: Proraso - Green Tea and Oat Sensitive Skin Cream
• Post Shave: Nivea – Sensitive Post Shave Balm
• Music: Cream - White Room

The Challenge: Sock Puppet Theater, also known as Lather with a Sock. Challege accepted. Here's the evidence.

Daily Theme & Shave: Decided to go with Proraso White cream soap today. I know from (too much) experience that no matter how badly I screw up the lather building process, the Proraso will perform given more water. As seen in this glorious (NOT) pic, the lather needed help. After multiple handfuls of water, the cream was slick enough to support a two-pass SAS. Post-shave cleanup was a breeze.

If Djudges are willing to Air Bud that my sock is a brush, the following hardware tags would be appropriate: #ANCIENT #HOLLOW #RUNT #TOLL

Public Service Announcement: u/hugbckt is concerned about Big Almond. u/glink48 is concerned about Big Lather. Me? I'm concerned about Big Perv. Yesterday it was this. Today it is this. What's next? This?. Be afraid. Be very afraid... #ROTY

July 19, 2023 – Lather Games: Day 19

• Brush: Zenith Boar
• Razor: Tatara Muramasa
• Blade: Astra SS (blue) (0)
• Lather: C.O. Bigelow – Premium Shave Cream
• Post Shave: Mennen – Skin Bracer

C.O. Bigelow, from what I read, is made by Proraso, but is made with a few other ingredients incorporated. To me, I can’t tell the difference. They look the same and they smell the same. They lather the same and are equally good. I am not into creams after switching to soaps, but I still keep a tube around for quick shaves. I usually just put it on my face and lather it with a wet shave brush. Simple and quick. It doesn’t produce a great lather, but is slick.

I found today’s challenge a bit disgusting. I’m not sure why; I did use a clean, unworn sock. I don’t really create a great lather with Bigelow cream even when I do use it with a brush correctly. However, the sock was worse. I even used more cream than usual to help improve it. I’m surprised I could even finish my shave.

July 19, 2023  

• Brush: Sock – hobbit foot  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)   
• Lather: Geo. F. Trumper – Coconut  

Theme: It’s a cream. It says cream. Zero cuteness.

Challenge: I choose to believe that today is about fun socks! Not somebody’s plot for feet pics. I like to crochet and I made myself some hobbit foot socks a while back, decided it was their time to shine. See SOTD pic. I made a lather. And then I figured the socks needed cleaned anyway. Lowkey, showering in sockas is not as bed as it sounds.

The fuck are those hobbit socks?

July 19, 2023 * Brush: Declaration Grooming Washington B3 * Razor: Razorock Gamechanger .84 * Blade: Gillette Silver Blue * Lather: Catie's Bubbles - Eau de The - Cream * Post Shave: Catie's Bubbles - Eau de The - Aftershave * Fragrance: Davidoff - Cool Water - EdT

Which djudge came up with this challenge? We need a name and a video of them going though this. Sock lather is something I hope to never have to use again. Brush wasn't needed, I just hand applied the sock lather that was generated. I found moderate success loading the sock (something I never thought I'd say) then agitating it with the ridges on the loading bowl to create the lather.

Eau de The is one of my favorite scents by Catie's Bubbles. Chris's Luxury Cream Soap was the absolute pinnacle base, until he went and outdid himself with the new premium shave soap line. Eau de The is easy reaches no matter what mood I'm in. It's clean, crisp, and refreshing. Not overbearing in the slightest. Perfect on a day where you need to give your nose a rest. Cool Water has this sharp and crispness that I thought paired nicely with the soap and aftershave.