Post 'Wednesday Lather Games SOTD Thread - Jul 26, 2023' of challenge 'SOTD photo scavenger hunt'

July 26, 2023

• Brush: Priusauruswood Botcrafts – B.O. Inspired Synthetic Brush 24mm
• Razor: Priusauruswood Botcrafts – ErgoRazor V1
• Blade: GEM PTFE
• Lather: KY – Warming Jelly
• Post Shave: Apex Alchemy – Alchemical Romance Splash
• Fragrance: Jovan – Sex Appeal
• Music: Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On

It’s the wildest night and day in r/wetshaving! Everyone scrambling to use something unique and some lunatics staying up until 2AM to make sure they are the first to post whatever the hell they shave with. Fortunately, I don’t think ANYONE is going to shave with this set up, but I’m taking no chances and decided to have a nice little midnight shave for myself, by candlelight. First off, I wanted to be safe, but also because I was in the mood… Here’s the video

Since my brush and my razor are unique, one-of-a-kind prototypes, I’ve pixelated them in the SOTD picture so no potentially competing company sees what I made and copies it - looking at you, Mojo Handcrafts! u/Phteven_j warned me about you assholes!! I’ll talk more about the custom hardware today down below before my interview.

When I was thinking of what to shave with for Wildcard Wednesday, I didn’t want the stress of picking out a soap that no one else was using. I did that last year, and it was stressful! So, I wanted to think outside the box this year. I knew I wanted something super slick, so I googled the best lubricants. After taking a deep dive down some weird internet rabbit holes, I read glowing reviews of the performance of the K.Y. Brand. None of the reviews mentioned shaving (that I could tell), but I’m willing to take the chance. Then I had to decide which K.Y. lubricant to pick, and since I like to treat myself with a scuttle sometimes, the Warming Jelly seemed like a natural fit. Glad I did, because this warms up within like 4 seconds of brushing it on your face and it is LUXURIOUS! Glad I sprung for the warming version.

The scent is non-existent, which allowed me to fly free with my post-shave routine. I selected Apex Alchemy – Alchemical Romance because the logo seemed appropriate for tonight for some reason. The scent is absolutely delightful – chocolate AND vanilla with a hint of butter. YUM! And because I like to feel sexy after late night shave, I went with a fragrance so sexy, I’m not sure if they even make it anymore: Jovan – Sex Appeal. The scent description is: This provocative and stimulating blend of rare spices and herbs was created by man with the only purpose of attracting women. Ummmm… Don’t tell MrsPriusaurus bought this! The scent is actually not bad. It doesn’t blend nicely with Alchemical Romance at all, but the theming is spot on for tonight, so I’ll take the #FOF loss.

I kinda have a lot of other stuff going on right now, but there’s always time for a den tour challenge! But… Ummmm… Why do I think this is a clever ploy for u/J33pGuy13 to get more feet pictures? Whatever, I need the points. This time last year, I could fit all my shave gear in one toolbox. I’ve since expanded to a couple different toolboxes for the miscellaneous soaps and aftershaves, then for the soap & splash sets, I have them in these organizers in my home office. Generally, they’re sorted by artisan, except I have a tote and a half dedicated to gourmands. I have a separate tote for balms, one of full size frags, and then a nylon bag with the oh-so-important sample frags. I also have an little bins for sample soaps, sample splashes, and straights. I have these two razor holders and my brushes mostly organized in one box. When I’m not Lather Gaming, I regularly rotate in razors 3, at a time into on my bathroom stand. When it’s time to change the blade, I put that razor to the back of the line, and rotate in another one. Lather Games has REALLY thrown off my system, but it’s #worthit.

For #photocontest, I have literature. When I was in the library, I thought the title was Fifty SHAVES of Grey and it was a book that would improve my shaving technique. I haven’t got to any of the shave parts yet, but I have improved other worthwhile techniques since picking up this book.

Now, for today’s interview, I have MYSELF. Since I designed and manufactured hardware I used today, it seemed appropriate. A little background about what I made for today’s shave: The brush shape is inspired by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Rocket. I 3D printed this prototype brush and I’m really happy with how it came out. I picked an all-white brush to simulate the rocket breaking through the earth’s atmosphere. The brush feels natural and comfortable in my hand and I enjoy rubbing it on my face. The ErgoRazor V1 Prototype is a unique shape, designed to comfortably fit in the user’s hand and takes advantage of a GEM Lather Catcher design. I also allowed for interchangeable razor heads to potentially swap for more mild or aggressive heads in the future.

For today’s questions, I have some journalistic integrity, and very little actual integrity, I’m fully aware it would be wildly inappropriate to write my own questions and answer them. Therefore, I turned to Artificial Intelligence. I gave ChatGPT the prompt: “What are 10 Questions to ask a Lather Games participant?” and below is what it came up with. Without further ado, I present to you:

10 Questions with… Priusauruswood Botcrafts

1) What initially inspired you to participate in the Lather Games, and how did you prepare for the event?

My first Games were last year, and I had so much fun doing it. Initially, I did it because it seemed like a good way to participate in the r/wetshaving community and “get off the sidelines”, so to speak. And boy, was I correct!

2) Could you share a particularly memorable or exciting moment you experienced during the Lather Games?

This year, there are so many to pick from! Getting asked to leave a restaurant for shaving on their patio is unforgettable, my 30 lb ice bath shave was something, but my Spite Shave was the best. It really kicked off the feud with MrTangerinesky. Of course, getting Remote Learning to be made a reality on Meme Day will be truly unforgettable.

3) What challenges did you face during the competition, and how did you overcome them?

The worst challenge so far was sock lathering. I did it on the beach, between work meetings, and in my haste to get everything I’d need, I forgot to bring extra socks. Big oof. As much as I’d like to say I went the rest of the day without socks, the truth is I stopped at Marshall’s and bought new socks on my way back to work.

4) The Lather Games can be quite intense. How did you manage stress and stay focused during your matches?

It all starts with preparation. I had most of the interviews lined up ahead of time to coincide with the soap or brush I was going to use on a given day. Going in with a plan, and executing on that plan was my strategy this year. Of course, things can change and I had to remain flexible to accommodate the different things that came up.

(INTERVIEW CONTINUED IN THE REPLY)

LGSOTD 26-July

• Brush: Blackland - Signature
• Razor: Blackland - Dart #CNC  
• Blade: Wizamet Super Iridium    
• Lather: Southern Witchcraft - Fougere Nemeta  
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcraft - Fougere Nemeta AS 
• Fragrance: ScentUK - Inspired By Sauvage

So today, is it the fastest finger first? Well if I’m first across the line for this set then grand, if not oh well.  As mentioned in previous posts this is a cracking scent and I almost used it for fougere day but went another way, so decided to try and slip it in here.  I think it’s the wrong term but there’s something almost spicy about it which really appeals, another one where I’ll try to get the matching scent at some point.

On to the challenge, this was actually embarrassing, and I had to try and do it on the sly in segments so the Mrs didn’t really see how much stuff there actually is, and I managed to find some stuff I had completely forgotten about.  First up are the Brushes dominated by C&H, followed closely by Simpson and a scattering of other brands, I love them all equally-ish, much prefer the badgers, followed by Boar and only the top synths remain.  One not pictured is the SOC Taj purchased for Austere August and the piggy break in, that's currently packed in the luggage ready for the trip to Turkey on the 30th.  Now the hardware, high proportion of blackland gear with a smattering of other brands.  As I was packing them away I kept finding others that I’d missed so tagged them on at the end.  Now the bit where I get embarrassed, the software, I had to break this into a handful of photos as they are scattered in various locations, I actually got a sweat on at one point lugging all of these around before packing them away again.  I keep thinking I’ll have a clear out one day and I go through the list, but I just can’t bring myself to get shot. 

I’m sure a number of other folk have significantly larger and more varied collections, but this one is mine.

Hope everyone has a grand day.

Cheers

Marc

#ROTY  #PhotoContest

Edit: added another picture of software I'd forgotten to pop on Imgur, and wow haven't seen this many posting first thing in the morning so far, some of you must be knackered.

nice shot

Jul. 25, 2023 - Trying out GRUYE

• Prep: Grocery Shopping

• Brush: Basting brush

• Razor: Hemlock Bread Lame #AllNatural

• Blade: Personna whatever came with the Lame (1)

• Lather: Private Selections - Cheddar and Gruyère Cheese

• Post Shave: Hot - Shower

• Fragrance: Barrister and Mann - 42

Todays #photocontest is #food (duh!) I made a lego sandwich to go along with me wonderful lather product! Also 42 has a drink in its ingredients so that qualifies as food adjacent!

So I started hearing about this weird thought about using GRUYE cheese to shave all year long and I’ll have to admit I was confused at first. I mean we have so many good options for soap why would you want to limit yourself to one thing? And then I heard they also aren’t buying anything else all year! Lots of people who have been doing this a long time! People like u/Wyze0ne u/enndeegee u/visceralwatch & others I can’t remember right now pledged to this cause all year long. There were some staunch opposers of this with u/djundjila and u/j33pguy13 leading the pack shouting what a silly idea this was.

Finally after 7 months I cannot withstand the urge and I simply have to see what all the rage is about! Call it FOMO, call it stupidity but I just had to know!

So I took a trip to the grocery store, well 3 stores actually. You see I live in the rural nowhere of the US so to find this acclaimed GRUYE took a while. To top that off, I couldn’t even find a pure block of it so I’m just going with close enough today. I’m sure it will do the job, just might be similar to non Osma alum and be a little less luxury.

Onto the shave!

Ok so what the ABSOLUTE FUCK!?! I don’t understand how this can work at all! I took my block of cheese broke it up into a bowl and started trying to melt it incorporating water like a normal lather. Trying to get it on the face was an absolute nightmare! I tried at first with by brush and eventually resorted to using my hands to get anything to stick at all! Next up came the shave which was pretty tricky as the lather just kept falling off of my face. I managed to get a single pass on each cheek, not touching anything else today! All I can smell is cheese now, but at least it tastes good!

Now I know, this GRUYE craziness isn’t for me! I totally understand why some of y’all haven’t been able to stick with it! I know there’s no way I could. After this experience I need some retail therapy, u/j33pguy13 what crack are you selling?

Speaking of crack, here’s my current den! 30 full size tubs and countless samples! The shelf I built last summer while on paternity leave! It was a fun build where I can show off my favorite soaps!

Edit: fixed a link and tag

July 26, 2023 – Wildcard Wednesday, Baby

• Razor: Gillette Travel Tech #jetsetter
• Blade: 7 O’Clock – Sharpedge (Yellow) (4)
• Lather: Johnson’s – Baby Oil
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Marilyn
• Fragrance: Barrister and Mann – Marilyn

Let’s get down to it. This is a baby shave. Even the razor is baby sized. I mean look at the travel tech! So tiny! Another loaner from u/Chronnoisseur420 to help with the tags.

The internet says mineral oil (the main component of baby oil) can be used as a shaving solution. So we’re gonna do it. Baby Oil, baby post shave, and a baby frag. “Wait what?” you’re thinking. Well let my #fof post explain. I get a very heavy powder note off Marilyn. Not to say I don’t like it, I like it enough to own a trifecta. But it reminds me a bit of baby powder, (I’m old enough to remember using that for my siblings.) So here we are, a shave that’s not quite BBS but smelling like a baby’s butt. Even my #photocontest entry is babyfied. It’s an entry for “food” and what food did I choose? A pouch of baby food puree. (alas the only way our kids will eat vegetables.)

For challenge, I give you a video tour of my den led by my daughter. It’s only a minute and 20 seconds so take a look around with us.

OK #ROTY folks. 5 let’s go.

Lastly, since this is Wildcard Wednesday, Wildcards are cards that than mimic or beat another card’s value. I’m gonna assume that applies to LG bits today too. Sorry u/Priusaurus, gonna make use of your interview bit your use with a not at all made up interview with ~~our friends~~ the assholes at PAA.

1. So you’ve gone by a few names, who exactly am I talking to now?

I suppose that depends on who gets me the most clicks.

2. Ok.. Uhh how did you get into shaving supplies.

I was on on a trip to the exotic land of…

Ok I’m gonna stop you there. Don’t really need one of your rambling bullshit product descriptions. Is there a real answer?

I saw some marks to leverage.

3. You mean markets?

No.

4. Sigh. Ok. You’ve been accused of ripping off… Well a lot. including recently the Hawaiian Punch logo Care to talk about this?

You’re blatantly ripping off this bit, do you have a leg to stand on?

5. I’m shit posting. But I did walk into that, so let’s move on. Is there anything that makes PAA different?

A legion of bought YouTube influencers, SEO, and a ton of r/w_e shills posting affiliate links? What do you got?

My integrity. And enough sense to end this.

Edited to fix some formatting

Edited 2, forgot the travel tech pic.

July 26, 2023 – Lather games day 26 – AKA My den is messy

• Brush: Razorock Synthetic
• Razor: GEM – Pushbutton
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (14)
• Lather: RazoRock – Tuscan Oud
• Post Shave: RazoRock – Tuscan Oud

Tuscan Oud. Love the scent. Who else would use such crap? Nice shave this morning. Here’s the den all messy and disorganized. Do I have too many things? Yes. Yes I do.

#PhotoContest

Amazing model of Prince Andrew! Well done!

2023-07-26 Nondescript Slime Day

• Blush: Ikea - Tillagd Fork
• Raser: The Goodfellas' Smile - Kamisori Shavette #KAMISORI
• Leather: Viet Huong Three Crabs Fish Sauce + Red Drago Tapioca Starch
• Post-Share: Viet Huong Three Crabs Fish Sauce
• Flagrant: Viet Huong Three Crabs Fish Sauce

Wildcard Wednesday:
I'm a fan of cooking. One of my favorite things to cook is stir fry, and my approach thereto has evolved quite a lot. In times past, I'd just throw some meat and vegetables around in a wok, but now I like to make a sauce to throw them around in. The sauce is a little different every time, but an invariant ingredient is: Fish Sauce.

Also critical for the sauce is some kind of thickening agent, which helps it stick to the noodles and solid components of the stir fry. Today, it will also help the fish sauce stick to my face. Corns starch is commonly used for this, but I like to use tapioca starch. Nice, that'll stick real nice.

On second thought, you know what? Fuck that noise.

2023-07-26 No one has used this yet

#photocontest
Photo: Trenches/Holes. It's this photo, guys. Not the first one. That's a trench that's sided by concrete, but it's a trench in the ground all the same.

• Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: The Goodfellas' Smile - Kamisori Shavette #KAMISORI
• Lather: Gentleman's Nod - Musashi
• Post Shave: Gentleman's Nod - Musashi
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Tsuka

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: Japanese-inspired.
Musashi (lather and post-shave) are obvious, but Tsuka is a dupe of the original scent by Japanese designer Hanae Mori.
In the spirit of the theme, the kamisori shavette returns again. I quite surprised myself with how I've come to command the thing, at least on the WTG pass. Practice, I guess.

#FOF
I think this is the third time I've had some vaguely Japanese theme to my shave, which was not planned. In fact, I just got Musashi yesterday. I saw that the scent purports to be built around jasmine tea, and I said, "Oh, fuck yeah." I even made a cup of jasmine tea for comparison to accompany my shave.

The yuzu on top is exactly that: on top. It's backed by what the description calls an "earthy and woodsy" mix, the earthy part of which directs one's attention to the core: is it jasmine? Well, no; jasmine isn't earthy or woodsy. In truth, I don't get much jasmine out of this, but what I do get is green tea.

Enter Tsuka, which kind of makes me question whether the jasmine is as absent from Musashi as I thought; it transitions from the soap seamlessly. Tsuka is nothing if not floral, and I'm quite certain is categorically a women's fragrance, but one that I've never been bothered to don.

Challenge Accepted:
Here's my shaving space. I love that cabinet and I will miss it when I leave where I live now for cooler climates, so I bought another one; it actually just arrived yesterday, and will just stay in the box for the foreseeable future.
The weather here is like living inside of an oven (you sadistic bastards just had to wait until the end of the month for Outside Day), but I've also been saying for the past year and a half that I'm going to move for the PNW. Trouble is, the job I started last April is amazing. So I'm hanging out until I can line up something new either in that area or fully remote. But I digress.

• Brush: ZENRC Golden Bamboo Matcha Whisk #HOLLOW

• Razor: Razorline Razor Master Kamisori Shavette Straight Razor for Barbers #KAMISORI

• Blade: Bic Chrome Platinum

• Lather: Ujido - Matcha Green Tea Powder

• Post Shave: B_Lab - Matcha Hydrating Facial Toner

• Fragrance: Le Labo - Thé Matcha

Today's Theme: Wildcard Wednesday - I think I went a little too hard on this theme. First, I decided to make my own whipped-cream based Matcha tea lather. So land o lakes heavy whipping cream and a whisk it is!.

I knew it was going to be a process to get my homemade whipped cream together, so that I worked on last night. It took me several tries of refrigerating, whisking, refrigerating, whisking, and more refrigerating and whisking before it left frothy cream consistency and started to resemble something close to whipped cream. When my fiancee got home she questioned my logic for the first time all month. The thing that finally didn't make sense to her? "Why aren't you using a hand mixer?" Well I don't have one, and didn't realize I should have one. So that's why I used a normal whisk.

Eventually it turned into proper stiff-ish peaks whipped cream, so I popped it into the freezer to save for this morning's shave. Well, apparently homemade whipped cream freezes way more than cool whip does. So while that thawed, I got to work on my matcha base. The matcha whisk I got worked great for the matcha powder and some water.

Once enough of the whipped cream had thawed, it was time to fold it into the matcha. It folded in easily enough and got to a nicely hydrated matcha whipped cream mixture that I was hopeful would shave decently.

Well I found that a matcha whisk makes a poor brush for applying the matcha cream to my face, so I resorted to applying it with my hand which gave me big evangelion vibes. Eventually I got my face covered with the matcha cream and it was time to have one of the worst shaves of my life.

So fun fact, I've never used a kamisori shavette before. Or an Asco half DE blade. But they showed up together from ebay, so here we are. Sliced my right cheek a little, but the styptic pencil took care of that. Otherwise an awful, rough shave.

Today's Challenge: Den tour day! - I have cleverly arranged my main soap drawer to hide the majority of my shame. Then under the sink I have space set aside for only the highest quality stuff like APR, Fine (new base), and Van Yulay. Overflow space above my soap drawer for a couple extras that don't fit anywhere. I keep the current and upcoming razors just by my sink. And lastly, samples, frags, some overflow software, brushes/razors that I don't plan to use, and blades all go in the medicine cabinet.

My theme for today's shave: Matcha

I'm a big tea guy in general, it's one of my other rabbit holes of a hobby that I enjoy. I happened to have a bag of matcha from 2018, and when /u/j33pguy13 sent me a link to a matcha whisk as a joke, I knew I had to take the joke way too far and have a literal matcha shave, with matcha aftershave and matcha fragrance. Well, I did it. Your artisan soap bases have nothing on my 35% superfatted matcha whipped cream emulsion. Suck it /u/bostonphototourist.

Real talk though, this was a miserable shave. All the grease and none of the slickness. 2/10 would not shave, elbows too pointy. #photocontest #FOF #ROTY

I don't even know what to do with this shit anymore. You don't get to make up your own themes, but I'll say tea is a drink and we'll see where all these monkeys got you in the end. Good luck. God speed.

July 26, 2023 – LG 26: Wildcard Wednesday

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts Coprolite B15
• Razor: Edwin Jagger DE 89 #TWINS
• Blade: Personna Stainless (2)
• Lather: Summer Break Soaps – Remote Learning
• Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps – Remote Learning
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth – Smash

Video first

Soooo… over the years I’ve seen WD40, numerous personal lubricants, melted anal suppositories, and PB/Banana “lathers” among many others. My first year I’d only heard of the famed jizz shave. I’ve dabbled in some weird stuff for this day, but today I thought I’d go with the greatest meme soap wetshaving has ever seen – Remote Learning. As it stands, this is one of 2 in existence, until u/priusaurus managed to get u/rocketk455 to make a batch if at just 10 people were in. Well… looks like r/wetshaving is getting its wish. If you missed the preorder, or just want one of the OG April Fools edition sets because it’s true UnOBTaNIuM, comment your favorite Doritos flavor below, and we’ll let LatherCat decide who the lucky winner is. Additionally, for each entrant I will donate $5 to East Bay Children’s Book Project. up to $150. I really benefitted from this org as a young teacher bolstering up a class library.

Now, when I won this in a PIF, ~~just the other day~~ many months ago, it hit close to home. I was a teacher through distance learning, and to put it lightly it was tough. I work at a school (I joined the dark side of admin… boo) that is traditionally underserved and 100% BIPOC, and the pandemic only exacerbated the inequities and issues faced, and is still clearly impacting students and outcomes. Stepping off my soap box now, I knew I had to wait and save this soap for lather games, with the clear intention of passing it on (see above PIF guidelines). I sat on it like Smaug, basking in its glory, sniffing it every so often, just to finally shave with it today.

I’ll keep the #FOF short. It smells like cheesy tortilla chips, the corn quite prominent. The AS is actually decently spot on for The Dew. Smash kept the theme ~~food oriented~~ gourmand, and I was no stranger to a cocktail post remote learning days. It’s peachy, it’s boozy, it’s delicious.

Our #PHOTOCONTEST is technology, as zoom was clearly the winner of distance learning. Dumbass Skype had years of advantage at hand and fumbled that opportunity.

Den tour in picture form, which is most comprehensive. To expand on it a bit, main den vid, brush vid, and sample more in depth vid. Edit to add: custom shelf I made. Sadly it was custom fit for an old bathroom and isn’t getting use now, but hopefully soon.

Lastly, obligatory thanks u/onionmiasma for the razor loan.

soap brands 26/30, post shave 26/30, frag 26/30, post/frag linked 26/30, software sponsors 13/13, hardware sponsors 2/2, razor hashtags 10/15, brush hashtags 10/15, photo contest 26/30, daily challenges 23/25, special challenges 3/5