LGSOTD 20-July

• Brush: Semogue - Galahad #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Blackland - Vector #CNC  
• Blade: Feather Professional   
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Ramblin' Man
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Ramblin' Man AS  
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Ramblin' Man EDT

I have a handful of dupe sets but plumped for Stirling. This is my second ever set of Stirling, the first being Executive Man. Ramblin' Man being based on Creed Himalaya, an everyday scent that I just enjoy in itself.  Not massively strong, but inoffensive for the office. What I would really like is a Ombre Leather dupe, alas I have not been able to find one. 

The vector is a no brainer type razor, I find I'm able to get a very close and long lasting finish with minimal effort. One of those I tend to pick up when I'm in a rush, but just felt like it today. 

For the challenge, ok so paste it was, only briefly splashes to wet the brush and loaded heavily, and on it went. Flecks of solid Soap attached to my face and I was half tempted to go for it, nah maybe just a little bit of water. So flecks are less pronounced but more paste like, and off I roll. Half way through, it's actually not that bad, not as slick as it should be but I'm not going on raw at least. I don't think I'll be changing my normal routine in favour of paste, but it wasn't terrible. 

Smelling good and ready for the day, but if anyone knows of an ombre dupe then please shout!

Hope everyone has a grand day. 

Cheers

Marc

ROTY

PhotoContest

Lather Games Day 20- We've Been Duped

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving MOAR BOAR (31 mm x 57 mm )
• Razor: EldrormR Industries MM24
• Blade: Gem PTFE (1)
• Lather: Summer Break Soaps - Prom King Soap
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Hygge Splash

There's nothing like a fresh blade in the MM24. It's the shaving equivalent of opening a new bag of Doritos and inhaling the nacho cheesy goodness (and don't come at me with your "Cool Ranch are way better, bro" stylings). But why the MM24 on Dupelganger day? Well, as I was arranging and rearranging and rearranging the rearrangements of the calendar, I ultimately settled on SBS Prom King, which, according to the label, was an r/wetshaving release based off of JPG Le Male (DUPE!!). If I'm going to use one r/wetshaving exclusive, might as well use some others, like the sub exclusive MOAR F'N BOAR. And if we are going to use MOAR F'N BOAR, I might as well use the razor mascot of r/wetshaving, the MM24. Unfortunately, I didn't have a sub exclusive splash but settled on a scent that is sanctioned and praised around these parts in Hygge. As you can see from my SOTD photo, my dog Opie is suuuuuuuper impressed with my shaving choices this morning.

Onto the Daily Challenge of fucking up my lather. I soaked MOAR BOAR during my shower. Unlike most days, when I removed it from the mug, instead of flicking it twice, I flicked it 5 times to remove the excess water and set to lathering and then slathering it on my face. Without adding more water to the brush as I lathered, like usual, I left my lather like this. Now, our esteemed Shaving Overlords may look at those pictures and think, "That's a pretty good lather there u/loudmusicboy", but au contraire mon freres, I'm a guy that likes a much wetter lather when using this brush. I like a lather that easily slides off the razor over the sink. As you can see here, that lather ain't moving off the razor without a deluge of water and so went the first pass. I didn't wash my face between passes and continued with a stickier lather than usual. But, all things considered, it was still a fantastic shave, even though I got more feedback than usual slapping on splash after using the MM24.

Alright, Shaving Overlords, I've made my sacrifices to you this morning, now let me go off and tackle my day.

photocontest pets

How could I not include my old man Opeth in one of these photos.

July 20, 2023

• Brush: Farvour Handcrafts with Oumo Lotus Ace 26mm Badger
• Razor: Rockwell 6s
• Blade: Wilkinson Sword
• Lather: Stubble Buster – Evocative
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann - Lavanille
• Fragrance: Joop! – Homme Joop!
• Music: Greta Van Fleet – Highway Tune

Before I discovered this wonderful world of wetshaving, which is so intertwined with fragrances, my go to was Joop. I’m was a JoopGuy. I didn’t wear it daily, but if I was wearing a fragrance, odds are it was Joop. It’s certainly not pricey, but I loved the sweetness to it – the vanilla mixed with the cinnamon notes was, and still is, just delightful. Given how much I enjoy gourmand scents, it’s no surprise I was drawn to Joop. Then I discovered that Stubble Buster made a shaving soap and splash that is a Joop-Dupe, I was sold and immediately bought a set. At the time, a tub of Stubble Buster was like $6 and the splash was $10. And it so, so, so outperformed that price point. Now Stubble Buster costs significantly more, but that’s a different story for a different day.

Being able to shave with a soap that smells like one of my favorite scents is such a wonderful benefit of the world of dupes. Even with a dry, pasty lather today, the shave was enjoyable because of the scent of Evocative (aka Joop). I finished the shave off with B&M Lavanille Splash because, while I love Joop, I like to mix things up #ridingwithItchy style. The soap and splash share that, oh so important, vanilla connection, but Lavanille is so much more complex that it sends my nostrils through a nice journey past Vanillaville, on the way to Lavenderland, Cedartown, and Muskcity, taking the Mousse de Saxe Highway to get there. To bring all those scents back home, I finished things off with the OG: Joop, himself. While the splash of Lavanille is a nice place to visit along this #FOF journey, the comfort of Joop does brings everything right back home. Cinnamon, Vanilla, and Tonka Bean – yum, yum, yum!

For the challenge today, my lather is usually pretty balanced. But it errs on the side of “well-hydrated”, so for today, I made my lather as dry as u/MrTangerinesky’s last romantic partner. And also, similar to u/MrTangerinesky’s last romantic partner, I left underwhelmed and extremely disappointed. There was a white, sticky mess everywhere, and I couldn’t wait for this experience to be over. And exactly like u/MrTangerinesky’s last romantic partner, I ended this escapade thinking: “There is absolutely no way I’m ever doing THIS again!”

For #photocontest: Masterpieces. Took this SOTD pic at the Danforth Art Museum, in front of this painting by Lawrence Kupferman.

For my interview today, I talked to Bob Farvour, of Farvour Turncraft. Bob made the brush handle I used today and it is one of my absolutely favorite brush handles I own. We often talk about function art and our brush handles are a great way to express that. Bob is such a great artisan who makes such wonderful brush handles in the Bourbon Capital of the World. If you aren’t familiar with his stuff, check out his Etsy store and read the interview below. There’s a lot of good stuff there, including his top picks for bourbons to try! I was really happy that Bob was willing to take part in this series. I’m pleased to present to you:

10 Questions with… Farvour Turncraft

1. How did you get started turning handles (and pens)?

I started restoring vintage ones first and quickly started wanting to get a lathe and make my own. This was in about 2009-2010. I grabbed a craftsman mini lathe and started turning them in a one car garage attached to a town house I was renting. I started selling them on Badger and Blade and back then it was easy. If you wanted a custom brush then, Rudy Vey was the only option. Then you could Make a brush, post it, and it was sold in minutes every time. I stopped for several years due to a move followed by a fire that burned up everything. I finally got around to buying another lathe in 2019.

2. Your brush handles are, without a doubt, functional art. How do you decide what colors/material/shape/pattern you’re going to work with on a given day?

There’s nothing elaborate about it really. Usually, I stand there staring at a drawer full of mica powders until something sounds good. Then other times, I might be sitting under the shade tree when an idea comes out of no where. Shapes I try to keep comfortable and simple. With resin pours I like to experiment, which can often fail.

3. Of the many, many brush handles you’ve made, do any stand out as your favorites? Or most challenging to make?

Most challenging for me is anything with a Cyanoacrylate (CA) finish, which pretty much means hybrids. I detest doing a CA finish but it sometimes is the only option. For favorites, I lean toward the classic and simple. My collection is quite boring. I love a plain ivory handle. But if I started picking favorites, I’d have a list a mile long before it’s all done. My current favorite is a Thuya Burl handle. I make mostly resin but I like wood more.

4. What software/hardware do you like to shave with?

I’ve been using a DE89 head on top of a Merkur 30B handle. Not long ago I got a Gamechanger and it has been pretty common in the rotation since.

My favorite soaps usually come from HoM or Noble Otter, although I use plenty of others too. I lean toward Barbershop scents but my fave is probably HOM Almond Leather.

Lab blues are my blade of choice.

5. You’re based out of Bardstown, KY, which is the Bourbon Capital of the World. Do you have a go-to, or under-appreciated, bourbon you would recommend?

Don’t get me started. Bourbon has exploded so much I could go on and on. Under appreciated, in general, is anything from Heaven Hill. Buffalo Trace gets a lot of attention, rightfully so, but Heaven Hill puts out a great lineup. Elijah Craig is a great option for folks that don’t want to pay a fortune and hunt around for something that is only marginally better. Most unicorns are overrated, and the best hidden value is Old Forester Rye.

The best bourbons that are easily available….

Elijah Craig

Evan Williams BIB

Evan Williams 1783

Russell’s Reserve

Knob Creek

But I put Old Forester Rye atop all those bourbons. $20 bucks a bottle.

(INTERVIEW CONTINUES IN THE REPLY)

July 20, 2023 – Lather games day 20 – AKA muh lather

• Brush: AP Shave Co Synthetic
• Razor: Tatara Masamune
• Blade: Voskhod (3)
• Lather: Declaration Grooming – Sellout
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Executive Man

Aventus dupes all around today. Pasty lather too. A fine shave it was. I hope the same for you.

#PhotoContest

July 20, 2023 – Dupe Day

• Brush: Maggard Synthetic
• Razor: Gillette Tech
• Blade: Parker (3)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Haverford
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Haverford
• Fragrance: Maher Olfactive – Treachery

So today is the day we pay homage to the copycats in our collections. The one day we can say we saved money because we didn’t buy the expensive name brand stuff. So the challenge, I wasn’t quite sure how to handle this challenge with my newfound love for GUTL though. After all with GUTL you’re making 2 lathers basically. One on your face that’s leans dry and one in your bowl, that, if you overhydrate you can mix with the face lather to hit that sweet spot. It’s sorta a built in correction. So here I was worried I’d have to abandon the GUTL I only just now adopted. When it dawned on me, GUTL is really just the acknowledgement we’re not tied to the formalities of wetshaving just because they’re formalities. We blaze new dorito and mountain dew scent categories here. GUTL is just eschewing the old rigid categories of face and bowl lathering to do something novel that works and over engineers our shave. So as long as I’m over engineering my shave, I’m GUTLing in spririt. Basically I’m air bud ruling my GUTL here. So u/merikus and u/airbudeuler (who is definitely not u/cowzilla3) can sit down, share their commonalities as 2 sides of a coin and get along as the memes have now been poorly unified. Or not.

Back to challenge. I’m somewhere between a medium water and too dry normally. But we’re vacationing which means, collapsible dog bowl. And I am always underhydrating in this thing, it’s why I moved to scuttle. So wet sloppy lather it is and I tried to take a picture to show it. The picture doesn’t do it justice. My wife came in to talk to me and I had to hold my face over the sink because lather was dripping everywhere.

For #fof, I’m dickholing Haverford. Which is a dupe of Tobacco de vanille. So far fairly easy. I’ve never smelled the original but this one is quite nice. I don’t have the EdT, but I’ve finished it off with treachery. Not only do the tobaccos play well (though I find treachery to be a slight bit less sweet) but also there’s a bit of wordplay here. After all dupes are, in a sense a bit of treachery. Trying to pass a less expensive version of something as the real thing.

Similarly, my #photocontest in the field of literature. Here we have Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Obviously an early work of philosophy literature. But also, a translation (I don’t read Greek) which is another thing you might call a dupe.

Let’s go fellow #ROTY 10 days left. 2/3 done.

Jul. 20, 2023 -I'm blue da ba dee da ba di

• Prep: CeraVe - Hydrating Facial Cleanser

• Brush: Stirling Soap Co. 2 Band Synthetic

• Razor: Weck Hair Shaper (Translucent Blue Scales)

• Blade: Kismet

• Lather: Stirling Soap Co - Deep Blue Sea

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

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

• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Deep Blue Sea

I went all in on todays #photocontest theme of #Water. Stirling makes a lot of dupes which is perfectly ok, and Deep Blue Sea is fantastic! It’s a Bleu De Chanel dupe and I should try to find some of the original to compare it to this.

Here’s the point where I would rave about Stirling’s performance because I always get a great shave with their stuff but the daily challenge forced my hand. Between this and the sock lather yesterday I just picture the djudges laughing at us trying to one up themselves with the pain and torture of this month.

I probably should have actually read the challenge before choosing my razor and taking my picture for today. But this is the only blue razor I have and it fits the theme too well not to. So I just went for it…I loaded up my brush and face lathered without adding any extra water to make the pastiest lather I could. I typically love my lather to be super drippy, especially with the Hair Shaper so this was tough. I worked it the best I could today and got a surprisingly close shave. It took a ton of time and attention to make sure to not use any extra pressure due to the lack in slickness.

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

• Razor: Blackland Blackbird

• Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum

• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. - 40

• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Wowzers

• Fragrance: Chanel - Allure Homme Sport

Today's Theme: Duppelgänger - 40 is a dupe of Fucking Fabulous by Tom Ford, Wowzers is a dupe of Guilty Black by Gucci

Today's Challenge: Water Day - A wizard's lather is never pasty, nor is it watery. He lathers precisely as he means to. So I defaulted to the pasty lather for today's challenge, which was kind of a bold choice since I was using the famously efficient Blackbird for the first time today. Honestly the shave went well, but I had to keep rinsing the blackbird after almost every stroke to keep it from clogging. By the end of the shave my neck was shedding dry soap flakes.

My theme for today's shave: Mainstream Perfumery

So for today's shave I wanted to do an exercise in mainstream perfumery. Tom Ford, Gucci, Chanel, these are all names that fit right at home in any department store and are known all around the world. 40's scent is really pleasant and generally somewhat floral to my nose. Wowzers smells like "artic cool" deodorant. The bottle of Allure Homme Sport is a fragrance I've had for somewhere between 15-20 years now and while I don't wear it often it's a crowd-pleasing citrus aquatic. Overall, it's a very pleasant fragrance progression, but I also don't feel like I have my own identity in these fragrances. When I put together a fragrance progression I usually want to express some sort of feeling or facet of my personality, but with this shave it felt like I was putting on someone else's smells.

For music, I picked the most mainstream metal album I have, Iron Maiden's Brave New World. It's a good album in its own right, and some really fun songs, but also not my favorite, I like Dance of Death better personally. #photocontest #FOF #ROTY

July 20, 2023

• Brush: Wald Stratos Haunter 29mm A1

• Razor: C.V. Heljestrand MK 31 11/16 Söderfors Extra Specialstål Full Hollow (Straight Shave 273)

• Lather: Pasteur|Master Soap Creations - Bloom - Soap

• Post Shave: Pasteur|Master Soap Creations - Bloom - Aftershave
• Post Shave: Thayers - Rose - Toner
• Fragrance: Tom Ford - Black Orchid - Eau de Parfum  

2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.

---

I normally push hydration in my lather, and I've done this habitually. If I make a lathering mistake, it is always adding too much water. I was originally going to just pass on today's challenge; thinking I'd prefer a great shave to a pasty, sub-par mess. Instead, and at the last moment, I decided to experience a shave with a very pasty lather.

I loaded heavily from the tub with brush that was soaked and had its water squeezed out; barely damp. I had more than enough paste for three passes but due to time constraints this morning I could only do two. I was surprised that I had an excellent shave. There was too much cushion, and I had issues getting lather off of the razor, but where there was lather there was slickness; at least with this soap.

Bloom is a dupe of Tom Ford Black Orchid. I have a lot of the Stirling "Man" series, but decided to go with something a little different for today.

The photo theme is "Flowers". I know. No real flowers in the photo, but the art on the front of the soap and the splash contains colorized roses, and the soap is a dupe of a fragrance with orchid in the name, and I think the photo sort of says black orchid.

#photocontest

lovely colour and reflections

2023-07-20 Dooblie-doo

• Brush: Omega 343178 Synthetic #FAUXFUR #OLDWORLD
• Razor: The Goodfellas' Smile - Kamisori Shavette #KAMISORI
• Lather: The Goodfellas' Smile - Shibusa 2
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Campania
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Dunshire

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: Not only are they all dupes (that's easy and boring), but they're all dupes of "Acqua" scents (equally easy but maybe slightly less boring).
Also, the The Goodfellas' Smile razor (brand to match the lather) is a fascimile of a veritable kamisori.
Finally, the synthetic brush is an imitation (albeit a superior one *darts eyes around*) of a natural brush.

Challenge Accepted: How much water do I normally use? I have had the thought that I tend to go a bit pastier than many, but I would sooner say I do "eh, middle water". Just to be safe, I'ma do both!

Side note: I think there's an important consideration for water quality—i.e. hard vs soft water—that I don't think gets mentioned enough, especially when we're talking about how much water you're using. That's a rant for another time. That said, I do have a bag of citric acid that I never use because PITA.

I wet the brush just out of habit, then backpedaled to squeeze and shake as much as I could out of it to get this. If I'm being honest, it wasn't that bad, but it stuck hard to the razor with a tenacity! On the other hand, it was also straight-up dangerous, because I had to actually force the thing through that dry paste, so any slip of the razor would certainly result plentiful loss of skin and blood. The "lather" kept getting drier still, becuase I live on the surface of the sun.

Next, I got it much wetter than I ever would. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, frankly. Bits of lather and suds were flyin' every which way; I didn't know what was happening! While I expect some would say that this looks close to perfect, it didn't stick to my face very well, and it fizzled away really quickly.

#FOF
Shibusa 2: Acqua Di Parma Blu Mediterraneo Mandorlo Di Sicilia. Holy shit, that's a lot of syllables.
I had picked up a sample of the actual frag, and I find it to be a close match. But focusing on the soap itself, my nose-training during the past few weeks seems to be paying off, because I definitely get anise off of the top (huge win; I fuckin' love anise). While I'm still not sure if it would fly for Almond Day (which is why I originally purchased and didn't use it last year), there is definitely almond at its core. Base vanilla comes through quite clearly, as well.

Campania: Acqua di Parma's Blue Mediterraneo Fico di Amalfi. Fou de fafa.
Figs. Shit, fruit. Well, I have only myself to blame. Maybe because it's an unfamiliar kind of fruit to me, it's not too offensive. But still fruit.

Dunshire: Giorgio Armani's Acqua di Gio. I feel like this leans away from the woodiness of the original.
Hm, it only just now occurred to me that my username might be seen to start with the Italian name 'Gino'. Can I get away from that without Streisanding myself?

#photocontest
Photo: Extinct Animals
Observe the noble samurai fending off the likes of... whatever that thing is!
Side note again: Anyone ever try those long Japanese washcloth things? They're pretty great. I threw one in the photo, because why not pile on with the weird nihon-esque theme I have going on here. That particular kind is really rough, so I generally use a softer one, but they all eat soap like crazy.

July 20, 2023 – LG 20: Dupelganger

• Brush: Catwood Handcrafts 18mm Golden Nib #RUNT #SMOLL
• Razor: Ming Shi 3000s
• Blade: Rapira Platinum Lux (6)
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. (Formerly Oleo Soapworks) – No. 11
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Reserve Cool
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Reserve Cool
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Fluer de France

Everything is a dupe today, and also linked by being a barbershop. No. 11 is based on Maison Margiela At the Barber, BM Cool (Italian barbershop) is based on Floid Blue, and Spearhead FdF (French barbershop) is of course an updated reimagining of Seaforth! Fluer de France. The Ming shi is a merkur futur clone and the catwood handcrafts is clearly a far superior and updated company that will surely have dogwood handcrafts customers moving over in droves. u/Vtephen_j clearly did a great job with this and I’m so glad I sent it back to get refinished this year. You can see the original build here and the refinishing work here. A complete transformation.

As for my my #FOF. No. 11 is a pleasant and subtle barbershop. Little bit of spice from pepper and basil, but mostly a well rounded lavender and rosemary combo sitting atop a tonka and musk base. I used BM cool in 2 variants today. It is a very “cologny” scent to me, with that sort of artificial citrus twang to it. Zesty bergamot and lemon balanced with some sharp lavender. As for FdF, it’s much mellower in its composition, and a rethinking of the classic French barbershop. Citrus and rosemary up top, touch of floral jasmine and geranium for freshness. It all sits upon a soft base of tonka, lavender, moss, and musk. To me the tonka gives it that almost vanilla sweetness (without actually being sweet if that makes sense) but with some earthiness and nuttiness.

As for my #PHOTOCONTEST, I went with vehicles. My car is blue, albeit very dirty, so seemed to match well today.

Edit: forgot my video which shows pasty challenge and thanks to u/priusaurus for the smoosh.

soap brands 20/30, post shave 20/30, frag 20/30, post/frag linked 20/30, software sponsors 10/13, hardware sponsors 2/2, razor hashtags 9/15, brush hashtags 10/15, photo contest 20/30, daily challenges 18/25, special challenges 2/5