Have a great day and enjoy the games.

I am not a fan of lavender, but here it tones down the spicy and sweet scent very well. Infinity is “kind maskuline”. Miro infinity is a contrast to Excursion and I am not able to see that they are dupes of the same fragrance.
We are back on theme and have a dupe of La nuit de L’Homme itself.
Fragrance:

This will be the scent that I ll wear, when I am walking the beaches on sunset in italy in white linen pants.
Musk and patchoulli in that concentration make me look forward to times when I am married and have our first vacation without kids.
O’Selvaggio is a dupe of EAU Sauvage, the calabrian bergamot heavy start from more than 30 years ago. A bit sad, that I was not able to get a dupe of the YSL scent, but I am going with another dupe today.
Aftershave:

Unfortunately, I had bad lather today and could not enjoy the scent to its fullest.
It also has a mild spiciness from cardamom and coumarin.
Excursion is heavyier on the bergamot side, without beeing to citric like Neon Sun would be.
Excursion is “inspired by” Yves St. Laurent La nuit de L’Homme and listed as a dupe on the thristy badger site. But with a lot of focus, I finally had a great shave.
Zero slickness
On the second and third pass , my lather got aerie.
The audio feedback was so laud, I was glad we had after 6 am or the neighbours would have called the cops.
When your lather is crap, you have to focus on your technique. More like dry shaving! Wetshaving? I used very little water and ended up with some substance that was more like the white paste we used i primary school art class.
As the brush has pretty huge loft, I often have trouble to get the lather that I want.
My brush soaked while I brushed my teeth. The brush itself is probably a dupe of a Yaki (purple haze?).
Brush and shave:

But challenge is challenge and 0.22 points are a lot. Let me shave clean once again, please! This morning, I woke up with 3 days of beard growth. Crappy lather again? I was not looking forward to todays challenge.

#FOF

• Fragrance: Miro – Infinity
• Post Shave: Extro Cosmesi – O’Selvaggio
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. (Formerly Oleo Soapworks) – Excursion
• Razor: Custom designed Böker with bog oak scale and french head
• Brush: Maggards – purple handle 2 band badger

Dry shaving games 20, 2023, Memento shave

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 – LG Day 20 – I’ve been duped!

• Brush: RazoRock 400 Plissoft Synthetic
• Razor: Merkur 34C
• Blade: Voskhod
• Lather: Summer Break Soaps – Prom King
• Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps – Prom King
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors – Memoirs of a Trespasser

I’m so glad I bought Prom King. Dupes aren’t usually something I go for, but given Kyle’s description of it and the hype around it, it seemed like it was worth getting the set. I haven’t smelled the real dead Le Male by Jean Paul Gaultier, but I assume this dupe is pretty darn similar. I struggle to place what notes specifically I notice most and like, to be honest — this is one of those situations where my newness to this hobby really shows. I used Memoirs of a Trespasser EdP because it’s another amber frag that also has some strong vanilla in its base. They definitely seem to go together, but again, I’m not sure why. I feel like a n00b. #FOF

Re: Challenge – This was terrible. I loaded my brush with as little water as I could and got the pastiest lather possible, so pasty that it looks like I lathered my brush with glue. When I finished the first pass of the top and sides of my head, this is all the soap that came off my head and onto the razor, and rinsing this spackle off was a pain. There was even less (and thicker) soap that came from shaving the back of my head. I’m so happy that tomorrow we can have a normal shave. It’s been a long two days.

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.

• 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

Day 20 - Dupelgänger

• Brush: Yaqi - Arctic brush with Caravel handle
• Razor: Baili - BR179
• Blade: Astra - Green
• Lather: Stirling - Ramblin' Man
• Post Shave: Stirling - Ramblin' Man Balm
• Fragrance: Stirling - Ramblin' Man EdT

For Dupe day, I used the dickhole. I am a big fan of Creed Himalaya dupes. I don't think I have ever tried the actual Creed Himalaya, only dupes. I don't think you can have a bad shave with Stirling. I am definitely more on the watery side for the lather. Today I am going for the lather paste. It works but definitely still prefer more water.

ROTY #FOF

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.

DAY 20 LATHER GAMES! WHO COPIED WHO!?!?!

• Prep: Water
• Brush: DS Cosmetics 30mm Tuxedo Knot
• Razor: Blackland Vector
• Blade: Chinese(9)
• Lather: Stirling - Mountain Man
• Post Shave: Stirling - Mountain Man splash
• Fragrance: Dior - Eau Savage

​

PIC OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

​

Right, dupe day! I understand, that a lot of people enjoy many of the mainstream EdP like Creed Aventus etc. and when getting into the hobby would like to see if there is anything like that in soap format. But to me all these mainstream perfumes have always been boring in the sense that they are people pleasers, and lack character(for the most part). My choice of the day is Stirling Mountain Man, which is a dupe of Creed Silver Mountain Water. Now I have not smelled this one in real life ever, tried to find it in perfumeries, but alas Creed is not popular in Bulgaria, or they just don't stock it, really I've been to so many perfumeries, and asked "Do you have Creed this and this?!?!", they always stop me when they hear Creed, "Oh no, we don't stock Creed".

​

I have smelled a lot of perfumes(not that I can fully appreciate all of them), but still it's experience, and my opinion stands! The niche perfumes that you can get from B&M, HoM, SW etc. are tenfold better and original, and you won't encounter someone smelling of it every 20 metres. Btw, about to get some samples of Imaginary Authors, can't wait \^_\^

​

Maybe I just need to find soaps that are dupes of niche perfumes? Who knows, but I try and stay away from these type of scents, no offence to anyone who likes them, just for me it doesn't ring my bell.

DAILY CHALLENGE

​

I was not a fan of this shave... Sock shave was better! Between those two sock shave at least provided me with a decent enough lather.. I usually hydrate my lather to the breaking point, thanks to u/sgrdddy's video on types of soaps, very informative!

So in honor of today's theme I made a video as a tribute to a YouTube shaver, cause his lather really is something else! Video with awesome lather!!!

u/Priusaurus didn't anyone tell you to never go for sloppy seconds, can't you find a girl of your own? Also why are you airing the dirty laundry of the last girl I slept with(now also you)? I mean yeah Sandy is a bit dry down there, but when you put the work in, you can get her going, first few times was a bit rough and course but when you get the use of things! I actually gave her a call after reading your post, she said you were even worse than I was.... Shame on you.... And don't act like your lather is well balanced, today's challenge was practically "A day in the life of a u/Prisaurus lather", you felt like at home with that pasty lather. You do so many interviews you forgot how to make decent lather! You caught me off-guard yesterday, but I'll get you back, you just wait!!!!

​

#FOF

It's kind of the closest I could find in my arsenal in terms of scent compatibility, but I should say that Dior is a much better scent than Silver Mountain Water by Creed. I find this perfume of Creed to be offensively boring, Dior saved the day with adding a bit of life and colourfulness!

• Daily Lather Themes: 20/30
• Daily Challenges: 20/30
• Hardware Scavenger Hunt: 14/20
• Hardware Vendor Points: 1/2
• Software Vendor Points: 9/13
• Software Vendor Bonus Point: 0/1
• 30 Different Soap Brands Point: 20/30
• 30 Different Soaps On Theme Bonus Point: 20/30
• 30 Different Post-Shaves Bonus Point: 20/30
• 30 Different Fragrances Bonus Point: 20/30

LG23-20: Parisian Dupelgänger

• Brush: Semogue Owner’s Club “Taj” 24mm Boar
• Razor: Carbon Cx-Ti
• Blade: Astra SP (12)
• Lather: Spearhead Shaving - Rive Gauche - Experimental Formula 22.1 Shave Soap
• Post Shave: 345 Soap Co. - White Buffalo - Aftershave
• Fragrance: Maison Margiela - REPLICA At the Barber's
• Passes: WTG, XTG
• Coffee: Colombia. Cauca. - v: Castillo - p: Anaerobic
• Music: Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
• LG Tags: #FOF

I normally bowl load, start my lather there, and add a ton of water before I even start working it into my stubble, making today's pasty lather challenge a fun experiment. And how did it go? This challenge validated my usual as-wet-as-possible approach, but not to the extent I expected.

My daily Precision Loading™ lather starts with a level 1/4 teaspoon of soap, rounded generously in the spoon when using bigger, denser knots. From there I add at least five tablespoons of water while lathering in the bowl; I’m starting off with what’s left in the knot after an initial post-soak squeeze and more water gets added to the mix as I finish up with a quick face lather. (I know, it’s fiddly, but this approach is easier on my shoulder and produces reliably excellent results.)

To comply with the challenge, I added half as much water to my scoop of Spearhead’s Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche dupe spread out in the bowl, and didn’t add any after working the resulting lather into my stubble. It was pasty, with stark ridges (the telltale sign of a dry lather), and left a bunch of soap behind with the finger-swipe test.

I was surprised to shave without any obvious irritation—the lather felt protective. However, my razor was fighting its way through the lather instead of effortlessly skating along the top, plus I had to try much harder to rinse the razor, which is annoying. A single dip and wiggle in the basin should be enough. Even worse, my skin felt uncomfortable under a thicker layer of less-cut soap and then super slick when I rinsed after my second pass, implying I should have added a lot more water before calling that lather lathered.

Beyond loading a certain level of adequate soap and adding sufficient water to match—thoroughly lathered—it's degrees of difference between pasty and super runny lather. But that’s one shave. I wonder how much the minor flaws of a sludgy lather like this compound over time. I suspect any cumulative impact is made worse by using a crummy soap base high in coconut oil and low in skincare ingredients. I’m lucky today’s “shave with a crummy lather while we laugh at your tarnished shave experience” challenge corresponded with an excellent soap base.

My verdict? A wet lather is best, but you can get by with a pasty one, though there’s no reason not to do better. Be best.

Speaking to the theme, all three of my products are a spin on the aromatic fougère YSL Rive Gauche pour Homme—named for the bohemian southern bank of the Seine. I’ve read this is an ancestor of many barbershop fragrances, meaning I should have mentioned it in my Two Bits writeup. Unfortunately, I haven’t tried it, making it difficult to describe how these dupes compare. I can say definitively that I don’t enjoy this style of aromatic fougère. Give me more citrus, more dank fern, or more spice and leather. Or I’ll splash on Skin Bracer and call it good. Heck, I’d prefer bay rum.

But I’ll at least try to compare these.

I’m told by an informed Redditor that the 345 aftershave is the most faithful wet shaving dupe of Rive Gauche he’s smelled, though White Buffalo’s product description makes no mention of Rive Gauche, and the listed notes aren’t a perfect match. The Spearhead version focuses on a soapy, woody lavender and reminds me of what I remember Chicago Grooming Co.’s Irving Park smelling like. Compared to White Buffalo, there’s no leathery quality, it’s more floral, and the fresh spices are subtle. Unsurprisingly, the Maison Martin Margiela fragrance smells the most like any barbershop or salon I’ve been in. There’s the usual mix of fresh herbs, light spices, and a musky fougère accord, but the opening is comparatively sweet and beautifully floral right after the harsh opening settles. It’s on the more well-executed end of REPLICA scents I’ve tried, which is not a high bar in our household’s opinion.

Like I said earlier, I’m not the right person to be selling you on any of these. The important thing is they’re on theme, though I should have chosen a different dupe in the first place. C’est la vie.

July 20, 2023 - Dupelgänger

• Brush: Yaqi Ocean 28mm Synthetic
• Razor: MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Summer Break Soaps - Prom King
• Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps - Prom King Splash
• Fragrance: Jean Paul Gaultier - Le Male (Pride Edition)

FOF

Today’s Theme:

When Summer Break Soaps brought back Prom King, I got it as soon as it dropped. When I saw Dupelgänger Day, it was the first one I thought about using. It is on the often linked list as a dupe of Jean Paul Gaultier - Le Male.

Today’s Challenge:

When I normally shave I want my lather to be a wet soft peak, or ribbon to borrow a couple cooking terms. In making a lather it is kind of the opposite of cooking though. If you whip cream or egg whites, the more you whip, the stiffer it gets until it breaks. But for lather once it starts being a lather, you start at crazy stiff and go down from there adding the water. I made a mistake in picking a bigger brush today, so hungry, it ate up the lather. I ended up adding soap to get it to leave some lather in the bowl. Finally, the brush stopped eating the lather and I could see how thick the lather was getting. I ended up with a thick fairly dry, but somehow glossy lather. It had the feel somewhere between mayonnaise and yogurt. I figured rhe MM24 wouldn’t clog much, but the soap took more effort to rinse. The soap clung onto the razor. I probably loaded 3x more soap than I normally would. On my final pass, I squeezed out the lather into my hand. Not to waste it, I applied as much of that to my face as I could. I probably had 1/4” or more of lather (6.5mm) on my face. It also took longer to rinse the residual soap off my face. I didn’t feel like the shave was rough, but the splash really stung my face. I’ll be glad to go back to a more hydrated lather tomorrow.

Today’s Fragrance:

After I got my Prom King soap and splash, it was quickly a favorite scent. I keep waffling on buying the original scent for a while. I saw a good discount at Macy*s, but by the time I decided to buy it, the offer was gone. So I waited until I got my annual bonus and raise. The special Christmas edition was gone, but I found a good deal on the Pride Edition of Le Male. My wife laughed when she saw the “bulge” on the bottle. In the tin can packaging, there is a cutout in the stand to accommodate it. The scent is difficult to pick out individual scents. It blends together and I just compare it to two other Spring scents Noble Otter - Rawr and Wholly Kaw - Eroe. Now by the notes, they aren’t similar, but to my nose they have a similar scent. Now that I’ve added the original, I get some of the mint and vanilla. Fragrantica calls it an Amber Fougére. I get a little bit of an ice cream float scent from it, but I don’t find it too sweet.

Today’s Haiku:

Prom King smells better,

Than a bunch of horny teens,

Dancing at the prom.

Edit: 4 hours later, the spices and wood notes have come out, and the mint and vanilla are gone. Very interesting perfume, I get the sandalwood and cedar, and nearby is a bakery making cinnamon rolls.

July 20, 2023

• Brush: Boti – Stump 28mm Synthetic
• Razor: Gillette Executive Fatboy
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Summer Break Soaps – Prom King
• Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps – Prom King
• Fragrance: Jean Paul Gualtier - Le Male

Pssst. Guys. I wanna let you in on a little secret. Even though this soap and splash is clearly for Prom Kings, Summer Break Soaps doesn’t even verify you were a Prom King when you buy the soap. This guy just uses the honor system!

Before I bought the soap in the spring, I was nervous because I was never crowned Prom King, but I came up with a convincing photoshop to submit to SBS as proof. But his site never asked for proof. At the very least, I expected one of those check boxes to verify that you aren’t a robot, but saying “Check here to verify you were royalty in high school.” But nothing. They just let ANYONE buy this stuff.

Note: I haven’t tried to purchase Valedictorian yet, so I can’t verify if they check at all for that one at this point in time. I thought about adding it to my cart too, but didn’t want to get caught too deep in this web of lies I’ve created. Ughhh…. I need to lay down.

Before I do, I feel like I need to let the judges know the Prom King is dupe of Le Male, so I used both today for a wonderful smelling shave. Thank god it didn't smell like my actual prom night. Lord knows I don't want to smell like cheap vodka, axe body spray, and fumes from my POS car's engine. I'll take the scent of Prom King every day of the week! The shave itself was meh – more on that below. #FOF

CHALLENGE

I’m beginning to think that the organizers of the Lather Games don’t actually want us to get many good shaves in this month. One of the best things I read when I was first getting started was this post. Really helped me get into the right state of mind for this stuff. So today, I under-hydrated and while it wasn’t bad, per se, it wasn’t as good as I’m used to.

July 20, 2023 – Still better than canned

• Brush: Chisel and Hound v19 Fanchurian
• Razor: Blackland Blackbird Lite
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. (Formerly Oleo Soapworks) – New City: Back of the Yards

This poor knot is a Fanchurian v19, widely regarded as one of the greatest off the shelf knots ever sold. Go back and click that link again and look what you made me do. Must I be punished for lathering well? Apparently, because this lather was stinking dry. A brush should not stay formed in that shape with any kind of decently moistened lather. Just look at this mess.

Two thoughts, though. One, when I first started out and watched some youtube shavers (honestly don’t remember who), I thought my lather should look like this – thick, sticky, under watered, and just generally crappy. Two, honestly this was still better than using canned cream or gel. Way better. Maybe that’s a testament to Oleo/Chicago (this is my first experience with Vida’s stuff – Mammoth notwithstanding) and maybe it’s an indication of just how awful canned cream really is. Probably a bit of both, really. The timing worked out well on Chicago Grooming Tribute day – a bit fortuitous there, I suppose.

Aside from a small nick on my chin this shave really wasn’t that bad. I enjoyed New City – the undertone of leather is not something I’d usually really want, but, this blended really nicely. I paired it with another dupe, my wife’s favorite: Island Man. These two scents have basically nothing in common, but as I sit here post shave I think I smell great. The deep richness of the Tom Ford plays really well with the lighter and more tropical Creed.

FOF Haiku of the day

Dupleganger day
Tributes or rip off you say
Either way, smells great

Edit: forgot markdown mode. fixed formatting.

July 20, 2023 – I’ve been duped!

• Brush: Zenith r/wetshaving sub exclusive MOAR BOAR #CHONK #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Schick Injector Type N1
• Blade: Schick Injector (12)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Sandpiper
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Sandpiper
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Sandpiper

Challenge: Pasty enough for you? Surprisingly, it wasn’t a terrible shave. Wetting my razor helped.

I don’t typically go for dupe fragrances in soap. Some of them smell nice. But, I have yet to smell a designer fragrance I absolutely love. A good original fragrance from a wetshaving brand feels special. There’s a closer connection to the artisan when I get to analyze and enjoy an original fragrance. I bought this set of Sandpiper to support Rod for his help getting MOAR BOAR in the hands of the community. I used this set throughout the month of March, mostly using my MOAR BOAR. I’ve been waiting to use this brush in the Lather Games for this shave.

When I decided to order the Sandpiper set, I already had a sample of the edt I bought along with some bar soap. I figured it would be a good way to find out what YSL La Nuit de l’Homme smells like. So, I already knew that I liked it. My favorite aspect of this fragrance is the prominent cardamom note. It turns out I really enjoy cardamom in fragrances. I find it comforting. The cardamom is complimented by a note of lavender. Then, there’s a woody musky thing going on. I’ve read this dupe is pretty accurate, but I would like to compare it to the real thing.

#FOF

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