July 22, 2023 – Regretting leg shave?

• Brush: Ap. shave Co. – purple Haze
• Razor: Otto Busch, Weltmeister – Wiener Schaber
• Lather: House of Mammoth – Mood Indigo
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth – Mood Indigo
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors – In love with everything

Razor:
The razor translates to “Worldchampion – Vienne scrapper” and is a lending from u/Teufelskraft.
When I got it, it was as dull as a spoon. Ever tried to shave with a spoon? As I knew we would have this challenge, I knew I wanted to do it with a straight, but not one of my freshly honed Bökers. I took my coticule and honed the razor as well as I could in 12 minutes.
With u/djundjila, we talked about the razor on Discord. When I started the shave, The razor was able to shave armhair, but I did not expect the shave to be super comfortable. I was well aware that I had to shave a huge area with lots of long hair. When newtothis said we should take 2 blades, I was confirmed in my decision.

Brush:
Because of the color, I love to use this brush with Mood indigo. I ll probably use it in AA with Mood Indigo. It has the most backbone in my collection without beeing uncomfortable.

#Fof
Soap:
Mood indigo, he smokey blueberry jazzclub feeling melted to soap and shipped to the wetshaving community. I love this scent for late evening shaves, but we have things to do.

Face shave:
Yes, I had one day stubble, so I had to shave my face. At first pass, I was not sure if the razor feels that good, or doesnt cut at all. How can it be that smooth? That feeling passed at the end of the first pass. The shave became uncomfortable, but close enough to go outside. Now I have to rely on the

Aftershave:
HoM aftershaves are new to me. Mood indigo is heavier on the blueberry than on the soap. It felt good to use it and by the time of writing my skin had a bit time to rest.

Leg shave: Thank you for reading so far. Or maybe you skipped to this section. I dont know.

Things I learned:
1. Straight razors work pretty well for leg shaves. My thesis is confirmed
2. with such a huge area I have to shave, I lost concentration quite often. You can count on my cuts, that I lost concentration 5 times.
3. Lather quality is not as important as with face shaves
4. Its fun to massage the lather into the area you want to shave. You can put way more pressure on the brush
5. My back hurts. Sitting on the edge of the bathtub was not the best for my herniated disc. I have no idea how to make it better.
6. Knees are difficult to shave, but not the endboss. Close to the ankle is most difficult when hair hides in a hollow.
7. There are parts I can not see on my own. GF had to help
8. I dont want to do this again
9. Pants feel disgusting. There is no protecting hair layer.
10. My legs do not look that bad or skinny when shaven
11. I found scars I had forgotten about
12. My legs are still tanned and not an optical illusion made by a bunch of wolf hair

Stupid ideas I tried
If you are not able to read it: I tried to shave “Lather games” into my leg hair

Collected all hair I shaved off. Your choice if you want to see it. Be warned!
Not safe for LIFE Chewbacca costume

Safe to watch again:
Aftermath in ballett pose

Fragrance:

In love with everything sparked my curiosity like no other IA scent. The logo is cool, the theme is awesome, the scent notes of raspberry (berry theme!) and vanilla sound lovely.
Got this tester from my trip to Budapest. Finally I was able to look and test IA scents!
Unfortunately, this is “unisex” and suits my GF better than me. When it settles down, I get a bit of sandalwood and punch (drink).

@djundjila: get a Weltmeister.

Edit: I HATE WEARING PANTS NOW!!!

2023-07-22 Failure is Just Success Rounded Down

• Brush: West Coast Shaving - Two Tone Synthetic
• Razor: West Coast Shaving - Midnight 78B Closed Comb
• Lather: Pheonix & Beau - Spitfire
• Post Shave: Clubman Reserve - Gent's Gin
• Fragrance: Pheonix & Beau - Spitfire

Strange Times for Berry Club: Juniper berries, and "juniper" is smack in the middle of the label.
It gave me pause when u/USS-SpongeBob mentioned the possibility of juniper wood being a scent component instead of the berry; in order to rule that out, I simply asked Phoenix & Beau, who said, "It is Juniper Berry that we use in the Spitfire scent profile."

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: Also juniper.
The frag is, of course, the same. As for Gent's Gin, it features "fresh juniper", as it bloody well should with a name like that.

#FOF
Spitfire was one of my first dozen or so soaps, and it remains one of my favorites. Of the three scent components on the label, the most marketable ones are surely leather and tobacco; they certainly work well in the description of Kerry's own grandfather (I'd link, but the site seems to be dead). But what about the juniper? To get a better idea, I shoved my nose not only in a Juniper candle from Stirling but also in a whole bunch of straight juniper berries.

Through the wisdom of my nose-holes, I can say with utmost confidence that juniper is the star of this soap.

Juniper just isn't as broadly appealling as leather and tobacco. I've previously described this soap as smelling like old, dried-out leather. I now understand that the "old dried-out" is the juniper and how it interacts with the other scents as they grapple and claw to make their way through the juniper just enough to also get their names on the label.

As for the Gent's Gin aftershave, I frankly didn't expect much actual juniper from it, based on what I sniffed off the bottle. Once applied, though, the juniper took over potently.

Pi-Approximation Day: I tend to make a big deal out of this day; I make a deal out of it, anyway, which is a lot more than I can say about literally everyone I've ever met. My favorite part of the holiday, such as it is, is the theme of approximations of success!

Challenge Accepted: Speaking of approximations of success, let's give this leg-shaving thing a whirl!
I approximately got a smooth shave (hey, u/newtothethis specifically said not to do a third pass).
I approximately consistently held onto my bowl.
The bowl approximately did not break.

In all seriousness, though, is anyone familiar with kintsugi? Because I think I'm going to see if I can find a place to do that. The bowl was a gift, and now it carries a story of "I was shaving my legs for the first time ever—you know, because a bunch of strangers on the internet told me to—when I dropped it in the shower."

All in all, it took a lot longer than I thought (approximately 45 minutes, I think), and u/newtothethis' help was invaluable. Most notably, the bit about sitting (I don't have a tub, but that ledge in my shower worked out, even if the adjacent wall got in the way), tendons (extending the leg is good), and mirrors (she didn't mention this, but I found that plopping a mirror on the floor was useful).

Finally, while I don't hate how it feels, there's no getting over how horrible my bare man-legs look.

#photocontest
Photo: Spaaaaaace
Aviation—in addition to being directly pertinent to today's soap—is space-adjacent, hence why air and space museums are a thing. That bright orange thing that you see in the photo is a USAF jumpsuit/coverall from the 70s, an era when spacefaring was exciting.
But if that doesn't suit you (pun intended), I'm pretty sure that the planet is a thing that's in space, so there's that.

July 22, 2023 – LG Day 22 – It rubs its berries on its legs, it does this whenever it’s told

• Brush: Stirling Two-Band Synthetic 24mm
• Razor: Gillette Fatboy
• Blade: 7 O’Clock – Super Stainless (Green)
• Lather: House of Mammoth – Mood Indigo
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Glacial Strawberry Lemonade
• Fragrance: Olympic Orchids – Blackbird

Mood Indigo = blueberry

Glacial Strawberry Lemonade = strawberry

Blackbird = blackberry

Lots and lots of berries today, all delicious, all different. The darker, more rounded Mood Indigo is brightened with a pop of strawberry candy and then countered by a woodsy, medicinal blackberry. #FOF

Challenge:

I’m very new at guitar and clearly am not at my best today in terms of singing. And I’m not a master lyricist. In fact, why did I do this? Why I didn’t shave my legs today.

July 22, 2023 – What did I just do?  

• Brush: Zenith r/wetshaving Exclusive Moar Boar 31mm  
• Razor: Parker 96R  
• Razor: EldrormR Industries MM24  
• Blade: Gillette Nacet (1)  
• Blade: GEM (3)  
• Lather: Daveli Farms – Cranberry Pomegranate Vanilla  
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Black Cherry  
• Fragrance: Replica – Coffee Break  

Okweredoingthis.gif

My wife keeps laughing, I don’t know why? My daughter is somewhat shocked, but… Here we go? The before: https://i.imgur.com/Kv2f7s6.jpeg The after: https://i.imgur.com/MaJFK0k.jpeg I’m giving my best Lavender Interrupted pose there. (warning, all pictures are SFW, but not exactly something you want to look at.) I’m blonde so trust me when I say there’s more hair than the picture shows. Also my whole family came to witness this and took video. Here’s a 30 second clip. (I’m in shirts and trunks so SFW.) https://youtube.com/shorts/QDiqSFcieeI?feature=share

This did not go as planned. You can see me using the 96r in the video, but after that initial luck I couldn’t find an angle anymore. After 10 minutes of struggling I remembered u/unitedstatesghost told me in the discord the MM24 was a great body shaver. Who am I to argue with an expert. And she was right. It cruised though and was almost like using a cartridge. I did 2 passes with it and some last cleanup with the Parker. Only 1 nick on my knee. And the back of my knees are in fact done. I want halfway up my thigh (the trunks were for video purposes.

Let’s get businesses, for #fof, here’s a series of scents involving botanical fruits. Obviously the soap hits the theme with raspberry and pomegranate. As a stone fruit, cherries are not berries but they’re fruits, as is coffee (a berry and a fruit.) Now I know u/newtothethis said bathing is splash was not good. But so many bad choices went into this I’m doubling down on stupid. For #photocontest, I’m running out of themes, so here’s insect! It’s my kids’ bee puppet.

Finally how many other #ROTY did this challenge? Gotta make up for u/pridetwo getting a legendary point. So here’s the most legendary thing I can do. My legs are cold and need lotion…but my wife just called it sexy so... What have I started?!

Edited to add. Holy crap I have freckles on my legs!

Edited 2: I forgot to mention I was singing a song in my head the whole time. No not "man I feel like a woman" too obvious. I went with the deep cut Deana Carter Did I shave my legs for this

Yes yes I did.

Edit 3: yep I shaved my face today. Doubling down on bad decisions I used War https://www.reddit.com/r/Wetshaving/comments/156br72/saturday_sotd_thread_jul_22_2023/jt1424g?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2

LG23-22: Strange Times for Berry Club

• Brush: 3D-Printed 26mm Synthetic
• Razor: GEM Micromatic Open Comb
• Blade: GEM (1)
• Lather: Noble Otter - Thé Noir et Vanille - Shaving Soap
• Post Shave: Lather Bros. - Amoroso - Aftershave
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Cape Heartache
• Passes: WTG, XTG
• Coffee: Colombia. Cauca. - v: Castillo - p: Anaerobic
• Music: Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
• LG Tags: #FOF

Today's shave was all about strawberries: strawberry-vanilla tea in Paris; strawberries and a bouquet of roses gifted for Valentine's Day; vanilla-leaf and strawberry growing in the old growth evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Noble Otter doesn't make a big deal of it in their scent description, but the tangy-sweet ripe strawberry note is the defining feature of Thé Noir et Vanille (TNEV). I'm not saying it's not a tea scent, or that there isn't a strong vanilla note, but the unmistakable strawberry is strong, sweet, and what ties those two together. Before lathering, the strawberry overwhelms; afterwards TNEV opens up, jasmine and bergamot perfuming the bistro patio where strawberry sweets are savored alongside a malty, steaming cuppa. Beautiful.

In a gesture of relationship equity, and hoping to maintain tenuous spousal buy-in to the Lather Games, I asked Mrs. Mosquito how she'd prefer I go about completing today's challenge. She laughed, shook her head, then grinned before excitedly choosing silky-smooth pits over shining legs. I then made the mistake of chatting about this challenge with u/USS-SpongeBob, who rightly gave me shit about my initial plan; legs present a bigger challenge with numerous awkward angles and lots of ground to cover. So I proposed shaving the top of my feet as well. That seemed like a good compromise and in the spirit of the challenge.

...but then I succumbed to peer pressure from u/USS-SpongeBob, u/tsrblke, and u/Priusaurus and shaved my legs anyway. Be warned: those gnarly hooves at the bottom end with hobbit toes. Risky clicks all around today.

• Before: https://i.imgur.com/bDqkaGl.jpg
• After: https://i.imgur.com/EDNmmmk.jpg

The shave went much better than expected. The front of my legs were easy, including my knees, which is the biggest surprise here. (I'm told knees are a danger zone.) The back of my knees were a trouble spot; I have the flexibility to reach them, but am not used to shaving blind, or using my non-dominant hand. I took it slow and avoided any significant carnage. That's not to say I got away without any blood. During the initial two passes I opened up a few weepers, but no cuts I could feel while shaving. (Rinsing off is another story. Ouch!) Doing a final look-over I noticed I'd missed the inside of my left ankle. I was feeling really confident, so I re-lathered and forgot u/Newtothethis's sage advice, promptly taking that skin off with barely a stutter of the razor. Lesson learned. I'm glad I don't need to do this tomorrow and shave over any existing nicks and weepers like my wife does regularly. I've got it easy.

Coincidentally, my wife had scheduled a day at the public pool today, but that was canceled as I was writing this post. Just know I would have showed up with these silky gams glistening in the hot sunshine. And then taken a photo to share here. Because Lather Games, that's why.

It took me a while to decide on an aftershave and fragrance to pair with TNEV. I'm trying to avoid re-using any scents from last year, but I have very few berry, tea, or vanilla-forward aftershaves on hand, so that arbitrary restriction wasn't feasible. I ultimately decided to continue with the strawberry theme, tagging Amoroso back in for another Lather Games. I find this aftershave remarkably easy to wear considering I avoid rose scents and strawberry can be awfully sweet. The vetiver and musk make Amoroso for me; they have the abundant warmth and rasp needed to balance the composition.

Which brings me to my fragrance. Cape Heartache is an easy pairing with today's soap and aftershave, repeating notes of both strawberry and vanilla. Those are supported by citrusy, dark-green layers of conifer. On paper, I love both the concept of Cape Heartache and the way Josh Meyer interpreted it with pine and strawberry, but I rarely reach for my sample. When I'm in the mood, that combination of ripe fruit and sticky pine resin seems inspired. When I'm not, it smells like a Christmas candle. Today I'm somewhere in the middle.

July 22, 2023

• Brush: Farvour Turncraft with 26mm Oumo Lotus Ace Badger
• Razor: GEM MMOC
• Blade: GEM PTFE
• Lather: Daveli Farms – Cranberry, Pomegranite, Vanilla Sheep Fat Soap
• Post Shave: Zingari Man – The Merchant Balm
• Fragrance: Elysian Soap Shop – Lyra EdT
• Music: The Lion King – Hakuna Matata

Hell of day to be a Lather Games Contestant! The day that has been figuratively circled in my calendar for a month and a half. Leg day. I generally live my life the way Timon and Pumba told me: with no worries. Sure, there is important shit to worry about in life, but in the scheme of things, so many of our worries just aren’t that important. Other than the fact I’ve never shaved my legs before, WHY is having hair on my legs important? Why is today such a big deal? I don’t know. Just because that’s kinda what society tells us. Men have hair on their legs. And most of us don’t question it.

But… Hakuna Matata. It means no worries. It means telling society to shut up about gender roles. It means standing up against anyone that says “men are supposed to XYZ”. Hakuna Matata means shaving with Doritos scented soap. Hakuna Matata means being secure enough to order a fruity drink at a bar because it’s fun or tasty. Hakuna Matata means going to brunch with your buddies and getting buzzed on mimosas. It means letting my daughter play with trucks and letting my son play with dolls. Hakuna Matata means celebrating people for being who they are and dressing how they want to dress!! Hakuna Matata means minding your business and letting people be happy. And Hakuna Matata means shaving my goddamn legs for Lather Games!!! Hakuna Matata! Hakuna Matata! Hakuna MaFuckingTata!!! That’s what Timon and Pumba were talking about. And when Timon and Pumba talk – I listen.

Did I shave my legs today? You goddamn right I did! Did I feel weird doing it? Absolutely. Did I regret it the second I put a razor to my legs. No! Because it’s the Lather Games and I didn’t come this far to only come this far. And am I going to let the fact that I don’t have hair on my legs bother me one bit? Hell no! And you know why not? Because HAKUNA MATATA! No worries today, no worries tomorrow, and no worries for the rest of our days. It’s my problem free philosophy. And if anyone has a snide comment about my silky smooth legs, I’m gonna say: “Hakuna Matata!”

Cue the video clip! Or here’s the imgur link if you’re more into that. (Put the sound on for the full effect)

Started the shave with a Rockwell 6s, since that razor is an idiot proof, but after one stroke on the first leg, I realized that wasn’t going to cut it, so I brought in the MMOC with a brand new blade. And that razor worked like a charm. The Daveli Farms Sheep Soap is very good and I was happy to be using that soap today. A few nicks and cuts, but my legs are feeling smooth and great and the soap was wonderful for this tasks. Big shoutout to Zingari Man Balm for keeping everything feeling great post shave. Not sure if I actually like the feeling of smooth legs, but Hakuna Matata indeed.

The scents of the day: Daveli Farms Cranberry, Pomegranate, & Vanilla is obviously berry, for the shave theme, but I connected everything with vanilla. The Merchant Balm is Vanilla and Spices. And Lyra from Elysian is Vanilla, Jasmine, and Patchouli. I love the scent of vanilla, and adding some jasmine and patchouli makes a very balanced, pleasant #FOF scent. Feeling great and confident on my Hakuna Matata day!

For #photocontest: insects. He’s a root borer beetle I caught in my yard (then stuck in the freezer for a couple days for the pic). And before anyone comes at me about cruelty. These bugs are absolute assholes.

For my interview today, I talked with Daveli Farms. He’s posted on the sub a few times and I’m always game to try new soaps. The fact the sheep tallow in this soap comes from sheep on their farm was (and is) very appealing to me. They are definitely a “no-frills” soap shop. You buy from their facebook shop, and the soap comes in a sealed cellophane pack (I put it in my own empty tub for ease of loading). In this interview, you’ll get to read about how they got started making soaps, his perspective on competing against the big guys, and how he is trying to market soaps made from animals on his own farm. I will say that this soap performed very nicely and gave a really nice lather for shaving my legs for the first time ever today. Not an easy task, but this soap was up for the challenge! Thank you u/DaveliFarms for participating in this series and giving my questions a lot of thought! Wish you nothing but this best!

10 Questions with… Daveli Farms

1) What made you get started making shaving soaps?

I was a DE/SE wet shaver and knew that sheep tallow soaps always performed better for me. Once I opened my Natural Food Store, upon picking up a few lamb I had butchered, the butcher actually packaged all the fat up for me. My first thought was, "I'm not a soaper, what am I going to do with this? Oh heeeeey....." And I was off. Our great grand fathers and indigenous peoples never wasted anything on an animal and my butcher knew I requested everything usable back from all of my animals. That's is kind of what makes my store a little unique also.

2) Does all of the tallow in your soaps come from your own animals from your farm?

Every last drop. There is a difference in the fat from different animals (obviously), but there is also a difference in the fat of grain fed vs grass fed animals. I only use enough grain to bring the animals up to the fencling to check their condition, to make sure they are doing good, and to lead them from pasture to pasture. Other than that, they are purely grass fat. Beef and lamb have 4 stomachs that evolved over time. Forcing them to stand at a grain trough in a concentration camp to get fat twice as fast on grain when their 4 stomachs are evolved for it....I feel is unethical. So all of my animals or purely grass fed. I firmly believe this makes a difference in the shave soap even after sopanification.

3) I’ve often had the thought that using tallow in soaps is actually more “green” because it ensures that there is less waste coming from the meat industry. Tallow, which would exist with or without soapmaking, would otherwise be thrown away. Now it is being used. Is that a fair assessment to make?

This is a good question that relates to #2, because most all butchers throw away ALOT of an animal, unless you request it back. Including fat. Some will hold some back for future use in sausages etc. What people don't realize is in the 50s or 60s the cosmetic companies realized there just wasn't enough tallow to go around for all the soap consumers need. So they came up with a chemical concoction that bubbles when you get it wet, and the FDA allowed them to call it soap, even though it isn't true soap. But your statement is true in that less waste goes to the landfill, and if the fat gets used for soaping, it at least serves a secondary purpose.

4) How did you decide what scents to offer in your shaving soaps?

One of my favorite lines from Joe Dirt the movie is from Kickin Wing at his fireworks stand, "Because snakes and sparklers is all I like!". It's about like that. I have spent hours as a consumer trying to decipher the Davinci code of soaper's scent description. And after placing an order I end up with a stinker. My soaps are for the everyman commoner. You don't need a degree in scentology to decipher Green Tea, Peachy Mango, or Cranberry Pomegranate Vanilla. I am not a perfumer masquerading as a soaper. I'm not going to try wet earth or fresh cut grass. I wanted my consumers to easily comprehend the scent of the soap with full confidence when it arrives, it will smell exactly as they envisioned.

​

INTERVIEW CONTINUED IN THE REPLY

July 22, 2023 – Berries, and things called berries

• Brush: Omega 10049
• Razor: EldrormR Industries MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (9)
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. (Formerly Oleo Soapworks) – New City: Back of the Yards
• Post Shave: Zingari – Unscented
• Fragrance: Southern Witchcrafts – Fougere Nemeta

Challenge: I did a two pass leg shave. Thanks to /u/Newtothethis for her helpful leg day guide. I used my MM24 because /u/tsrblke mentioned in his post that it was good for shaving body hair. I showered before shaving and washed my legs with the glycerine soap I use for my face. I gathered my stuff and sat on the edge of my tub. I lathered in my Captain’s Choice bowl. I chose to use my Omega 10049 because the knot is big, holds lots of lather, and has good flow through. I loaded for about 1 minute initially. I had to go back for another 15 second load to finish my left leg. But, it wasn’t a crazy amount of soap.

The GEM 1924 head on the MM24 is very efficient. Even so, it clogged frequently. I found rinsing it under running water then pulling as much hair away from the blade as possible with a paper towel worked best to clear things up. I did my first passes WTG and my second ones ATG. The rules for the challenge say “shave your legs at least high enough to wear shorts.” I’m a man and it’s not the 80’s. So, I shaved from my ankles to my knees (including the knees), but didn’t go above that. Now I just have to hide my legs with jeans in 90+ degree heat for the rest of the summer.

Here’s my pics. SFW but not pretty.

#FOF

New City: Back of the Yards says “raspberry + leather” on the label. I think it might be a dupe of a Tom Ford cologne. I don’t which one, or if the raspberry is a part of the original, or added by Vida. This fragrance is in the same vein as Vor V; or if you prefer, it’s the rasperry version of Almond Leather. The raspberry note is strong and smells nice and ripe. The leather smells like a couch. I don’t get much else from this. Maybe a little geranium.

I had planned on using the matching New City aftershave. But, putting fragranced splash on my legs seemed weird. Like, who’s smelling my legs, and why do they smell like raspberries? I used ZM’s unscented recovery splash and called it a day.

Fougere Nemata is a unique fougere. It takes the framework of an aromatic fougere, with notes of lavender and geranium, and combines it with strawberries. The greenness gives the impression you’re smelling the entire strawberry plant, as you get both the sweet fruit and the bitter green stem and leaves.

July 22, 2023 - Strange Times For Leg Day

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving Exclusive 31mm Moar Boar
• Razor: Schick “Stick Schick” (Type L)
• Blade: Parker Injector
• Lather: Black Ship Grooming Co. - Captain’s Reserve
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Jack Splash
• Fragrance: Dolly - Smoky Mountain

FOF

Today’s Theme:

Another tricky one for me since I don’t have any banana or watermelon soaps. I had a couple possibles, but 30 for 30 killed them as I really needed the brands on another day. So I was looking through my soaps and finding all the scent notes, when a recent purchase popped up 2 choices. I picked up Black Ship Grooming Co.’s Dark Side and Captain’s Reserve just after Star Wars day. Dark Side has blackberry listed 3rd, and first listed scent on Captain’s Reserve was black currant. After debating between the two, I felt Captain’s Reserve was a better fit. Then it was a search to find anything for post and fragrance that fit the theme. Juniper berry is in Jack, and Dolly - Smoky Mountain has black currant. My selections were set.

Today’s Challenge:

First things first, regular leg shavers a tip of the hat to you. Holy **** that is harder to do than I thought. I picked the Moar Boar as it is one of my biggest brushes, and for the razor, the Schick is a longish handle and pretty forgiving (At least I thought so). I scooped 3x what I normally would use to lather. I got my blue plastic IKEA kid’s bowl pretty full of lather, and got it to just starting to drip. I started with my lower left leg. I really massaged it onto the leg. A thicker lather would have been more photogenic, but I wanted the slickest I could get. I didn’t notice it as it happened, but right at the bottom of the shin where it meets the top of the foot, I gave myself a bit of a nick. (warning a little bit of blood) Ok, I need to be more careful on the right leg, but oops, more blood. Next was the thighs, and I am not flexible enough to see what I was doing there, but I shave up to where my boxer briefs would cover. I realized that my pre shave pic doesn’t tell the story, so I took a careful photo that shows where I stopped shaving. I didn’t do the neatest job, but around where the shadow ends is about where the shaving stopped. When I rinsed off, found I had a big nick on my right hamstring area. I really thought this would be an easier challenge. I don’t have a lot of leg hair to start with, and it is much finer than my beard. Not being a contortionist and out of shape really upped the difficulty.

Today’s Fragrance:

As I mentioned, I was a bit stymied n setting up today. I settled on the soap at the beginning of the month, but had no clue what I’d do for everything else until today. First the soap had a fairly familiar scent, but I was having trouble placing it. I picked it for the black currant, but in the jar I was just getting a slightly sweet fruit scent at first. Then I started to make the lather, and it became even more familiar. It smells a bit like this black currant iced tea I used to get. I love tea scents, so I was liking this choice. I don’t know if it was intended to smell like tea, but that is what I got from it. Noble Otter’s new scent Jack is very much a gin and tonic scent (maybe light on the tonic). The lime and juniper berry played well with the soap. Finally the perfume is one I gave to my wife around Valentines day. I decided since she is the only leg shaver in the house, I should use her perfume. It is a bit sweet, fruity and floral on the first whiff. Black currant is listed as the second scent on Fragrantica, and I felt it tied up the whole package pretty well. I wouldn’t make this a common set, but overall pleased with how well they worked together. I almost went unscented for the post shave, but I’m happy I picked up Jack.

Today’s Haiku:

Are points worth so much,
That I try shaving my legs?
I guess they must be.

July 22, 2023 – Strange Times for Berry Club

• Brush: r/wetshaving Zentih MOAR BOAR 31mm
• Razor: Chiseled Face Legacy
• Blade: Rapira Platinum Lux (8)
• Lather: Chiseled Face – Banana
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth – Mood Indigo
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Pearberry

Of course everyone was speculating that this day was intended for banana to honor u/J33pGuy13, since banana is botanically a berry. I got this sample a ways back curtesy of u/jeffm54321. #PHOTOCONTEST is food.

Now, most bananas consumed these days are of the cavendish variety. These are your standard run of the mill banana you’ll find at the grocery store. That said, this soap, to me, is much more aligned with the scent/taste of a Gros Michel banana, which is said to be the inspiration for banana flavored candy like nerds, laffy taffy, now n’ laters etc. Now, I don’t think I’ve ever tried one, but I did have a blue Java banana at a Hawaii farmers market, and it was a bit sweeter, and almost vanilla-like. Still way better than how the aforementioned candies tastes. The scent didn’t really come through until lathering, at least for the sample size I had. As for mood indigo, what a unique and lovely blueberry boozy scent. It’s cool and hip just like those jazz tunes of old. There’s something a bit spicy, but noticeably refreshing (what the scent note describes as night sky), like a breath of fresh air after leaving the booze and smoke filled jazz club and stumbling onto the streets. Pearberry is a sweet fruit bomb. Pear, strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry all combine for a fruit salad overload. I’d say this one is verging on too sweet, but great for hot weather. #FOF.

The following images are NSFW. Nothing horrendous, but you know. Someone had to help fulfill matching todays theme with a go at the challenge, as ~~requested~~ wondered by u/grindermonk. Alas, NSFW twig and berries, ~~FUPA~~ SUPA shave. I tried to flex my abs and made it black and white, so now it’s classy and artistic instead of just weird, right? Being the idiot I am, I just got in the shower and shaved. I assure you, the before went something like this. Fearing I wouldn’t fully qualify for the special challenge though due to my negligence in reading comprehension and lacking a before pic, I continued my quest. I pondered legs, having read u/newtothethis’s guide, but was kinda worried I wouldn’t have enough soap, nor did I want to hop back in the shower. So, I hear u/jeepguy13 likes feet too, so we went for a NSFW good ‘ol foot and toes shave too.. The hobbits might disown me, but the hairless feet with sandal tan is a suave look for sure. I’ll be honest, the feet tendons and angles were way harder than I anticipated. The nether region was easier than anticipated, but slow and steady was key. I should have taken u/newtothethis’s advice of a new blade I think, and sitting, at least for feet. I was awkwardly balancing with a leg up in the toilet.

If for some reason you looked at all that, I imagine your face looks SFW somewhat like this.

soap brands 22/30, post shave 22/30, frag 22/30, post/frag linked 22/30, software sponsors 11/13, hardware sponsors 2/2, razor hashtags 9/15, brush hashtags 10/15, photo contest 22/30, daily challenges 19/25, special challenges 3/5

DAY 22 LATHER GAMES! IN SOVIET RUSSIA, LEG SKIPS YOU! P.S.- THIS IS A LEGENDARY POST

• Prep: Water
• Brush: DS Cosmetics 30mm Tuxedo Knot
• Razor: Blackland Vector
• Blade: Chinese (10)
• Lather: Southern Witchcrafts - Fougere Nemeta
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts - Fougere Nemeta
• Fragrance: Keune - 1922 by J.M. Keune

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PIC OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

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DAILY THEME, OR HOW MY LIFE WENT TO SHIT

I was quite stumped as to what to use on this day... I tried and searched for something and finally I admitted defeat and chose A&E - Strawberry fields. As soon as I picked up the soap, the earth rumbled, the skies were torn with lightning, and ominous music played in the distance. Immediately I got a call from my boss to tell me that I was officially fired, for being scum of the earth, after that my wife stormed into the room and told me she was leaving me and wanted a divorce, not long after that I got a call from my parents who said that they are disowning me, cause they raised me better than this. Mother was wailing on the other end of the phone, repeating "it can't be true, it can't be true", and my father was consoling her, saying "I'm sure he's just confused, it happens to everyone", then he asked me, was I really going to use it, and I confirmed I got the soap and aftershave, there was a silence, so eerie one could hear an ant fart. After what seemed like an eternity he just said "You're on your own son, I'm sorry, we didn't raise you like this". After that I got an eviction notice for the next day, and my car was nowhere in sight. Why? Cause it was towed.... I just went on a bench and sat down crying not knowing what to do.... As my tears started to drop on the hot summer pavement, the earth opened up and hellish demons grabbed my ankles and started pulling me to what seemed like hell, telling me "Oh you sinned hard, there's no getting out this.... you're ours to torture for eternity".... At this point I just started to repent to God, saying that if I could redo it, I would never touch A&E again, forsake it for the rest of my life and steer away everyone who I can, away from them. As I finished repenting, halfway pulled through the earth by the demons, the clouds opened and I saw GOD, he smiled at me and pulled me away from the demon spawns from hell. Continuing to smile, he reached out and gave me a soap saying: "We all make mistakes child, but if your heart is of pure shave then you get a second chance, try this instead!", and I was holding in my hand one of the most beautiful scents with strawberry I have ever smelled. I felt saved, everything was alright again!

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DAILY CHALLENGE, YOU FUCKING READY?!?!?

Now, today we went to have an open concert at one of the most prestigious hotels in Bulgaria. While driving to get there I remembered I can multitask PRETTY WELL so I made a VIDEO while driving, to show u/Priusaurus to show how it's done, and for him to know, I'M COMING FOR YOU!!! That guy thinks he can one up me, I CAN TWO UP ANYONE AND EVERYONE!!!

Now the bad part is, that even I, as smart as I am neglected the fact that when you shave long hairs, you need something to rinse that razor... So I shaved a bit and waited patiently until I got to the hotel. I arrived quite early and a plan was already set in motion, since my arrival was a couple hours before the sound check and the concert, I had some time. I went inside and asked one of the bell boys where our changing rooms will be for the orchestra, and where the toilets are(first question was a trick one, cause I didn't need to know that until much later). And then I went to the toilet and I finished my shave. VIDEO OF SHAVING IN A TOILET (Edit: sorry for shaky camera)

You might ask yourself, "Y THO?", CAUSE I DON'T HALF ASS THINGS! So yeah, I can proudly say that I am the only person in Bulgaria, OR THE WORLD probably, that shaved their leg in the bathroom of one of the most prestigious hotels in Bulgaria!

#FOF

I tried to find a suitable match and 1922 by J.M. Keune is probably the closest I'm gonna be able to get. The fig really elevates the strawberry from Fougere Nemeta and when combined produce a great sweet, but not diabetically sweet, aroma that makes you feel like you are in a fruit market and all the fruits are freshly picked! You can even hear all the vendors who are screaming from the top of their lungs how they can give you the best price!

• Daily Lather Themes: 22/30
• Daily Challenges: 22/30
• Hardware Scavenger Hunt: 17/20
• Hardware Vendor Points: 1/2
• Software Vendor Points: 11/13
• Software Vendor Bonus Point: 0/1
• 30 Different Soap Brands Point: 22/30
• 30 Different Soaps On Theme Bonus Point: 22/30
• 30 Different Post-Shaves Bonus Point: 22/30
• 30 Different Fragrances Bonus Point: 22/30

Day 22 - Strange Berry Club

• Brush: Maggard - Black and White Synthetic Knot Homemade handle
• Razor: Baili - BR179
• Blade: Astra - Green
• Lather: Zingari Man - Rambler
• Post Shave: Zingari Man - Rambler
• Fragrance: Burberry - Hero

Today I went Rambler. I am a big fan how the red berries and tabacco play togethet in this soap. I didn't shave my legs.

For the fragrance, I picked Burberry for the Berry. This is the first time I have worn it and am feeling it out today.

ROTY #FOF

July 22, 2023 – I will skip leg day, thanks.

• Brush: Chisel and Hound v19 Fanchurian
• Razor: Blackland Blackbird Lite
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Catie’s Bubbles – Blugere
• Post Shave: Noble Otter – Tis the Season

Today I shaved my face, again, and only my face. Sorry people – it just wasn’t happening. It’s too big of a week in my family life to be dealing with the fallout of shaving my legs, pits, etc. – so, I’ll chalk this up as a family sacrifice (well worth it).

As face shaves go, this was a good one. Smooth, easy, smells great. Blugere is an amazing scent that hits all the right notes. The blueberry up front is delicious and as it dries down it just continues to get better – it’s like a nice rich blueberry with some woods mixed in. Love it. Tis the Season is the other most berry scent I have with Raspberry being the very front note and I, too, love this scent. I strategically used it last year to tie it to Christmas memories, so, that helps – but it’s a great scent. Every time I wear it my wife says I smell like cotton candy. I get more raspberry followed by a sweet musk, but, either way it’s a double winner around here.

v19 and BB Lite performed admirably as is to be expected.

FOF Haiku of the day (what, did you think these would stop just becuase everyone else did one yesterday?)

Blueberry bottom
Raspberry on top, I say
Berries making love

• Brush: AP Shave Co 30mm Synbad

• Razor: Sharpend Barber Salon/Straight Cut Throat Shaving Razor Shavette Wood Handle Real+Blades #ALLNATURAL

• Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum

• Lather: Chiseled Face - Banana

• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts - Boonana

• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - A Whiff of Waffle Cone

Today's Theme: Berries - Banana is a berry

Today's Challenge: Never Skip Leg Day - I need my leg hair, so instead I used a SE shavette for the very first time in my life. To shave my armpits. Jank-ass chinesium half-DE shavette and I didn't even get the blade aligned in the thingo correctly. I get the need for before/after pics for verification, but I do not envy the djudges today.

My theme for today's shave: Banana Split

So putting together my shave today, I knew I'd be doing banana for berry day. What I did not anticipate was taking a shitty shavette to my pits then smelling like banana nut bread from my pits, but I splashed that alcohol free aftershave into my pits and wafted the Whiff of Waffle Cone all day long. Started the morning with a Bananas Foster pancake and ending the day with a delicious banana pudding ice cream banana split. #photocontest #FOF #ROTY

July 22, 2023

• Brush: Maggard 30mm Synthetic
• Razor: Blackland Blackbird
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: 345 Soaps – Rumpkin Soap
• Post Shave: 345 Soaps – Rumpkin Splash
• Fragrance: Yves Saint Laurent – Y EdP

Did you know that a pumpkin is a botanical berry? It is! A berry is: simple, fleshy fruit that usually has many seeds. Pumpkin = berry. Everyone knows that (now).

This scent is… interesting…. The scent notes are pumpkin, apple, and bay rum. It’s basically a pumpkin spice bay rum. For the basic bitch pirate, I suppose. I picked this up because it was on clearance and I can see why. It’s a combination that no one asked for, or needed - kinda like those pick-up truck cars in the 1970s. But I’m glad I did, because I don’t have a lot of other berry soaps to pick from. I don’t reach for this set often, but it’s a must for berry day!

I matched this set with Y by Yves Saint Laurent because it’s kind of fruity with some spice, just like the soap and splash. Y has prominent Apple, Grapefruit, and Ginger notes, on top of more spicy base base. Can’t see myself wearing this daily, but it did pair nicely with the Pumpkin Spice Latte Bay Rum. #FOF

CHALLENGE

The big news is: I shaved my legs today. Here’s the before and after. It was a catastrophe! Used the biggest brush I had and got a good lather going, but it took FOREVER. In hindsight, I should have got clippers out to shave everything down first, because the Blackbird kept getting clogged or gliding over my hair. In hindsight, maybe a straight would’ve been a better idea? I’m not great with straights, but at least it wouldn’t have clogged. Of course, playing around with a slippery straight in a slippery shower is a recipe for disaster. I don’t know what I expected the Blackbird to do, but I was clearly expecting too much from it. The good news is, I got out the other side and have smooth legs now. I don’t think I like it, but competition is competition and hair grows back.

PS – WHY DIDN’T ANYONE WARN ABOUT SPLASHING SPLASH ON FRESHLY SHAVED LEGS. STUNG LIKE A SON OF BEESTING!!!! HOLY SMOKES MY LEGS WERE ON FIRE!!!!!! (Or was my technique just that bad and I had a zillion cuts on my legs?)

PPS - Much respect to the folks out there that do this on the regular. It was a lot more time consuming and challenging than I expected.