July 28, 2023

• Brush: Maggard Timberwolf Synthetic 24mm
• Razor: Zertone 6/8 Straight Razor
• Lather: Cella – Milano Crema Da Barba
• Post Shave: Thayers – Rose Petal

Like many people do, I began wetshaving as a way to save money, though that plan has worked poorly. Cella is by far one of the cheapest lather products on the market. This sample cost me $1.80 at Maggard ($3.60 per ounce), and a 1 kilo brick is $37 (or $1.05 per ounce), handily beating Stirling's $2.46 per ounce. This razor was about $15 on amazon when I got it, although the only straight with the same branding I can find now is a $21.98 package. This brush cost $11.95, made with a Maggard knot and wood that I had laying around. The Thayer's was $10.99 for 12 ounces ($0.92 per fluid ounce). And, of course, the cheapest fragrance is no fragrance at all.

I usually find Cella to be good as a value soap, but not great as a soap. It works, but slightly more expensive options work much better. It mostly smells like marzipan, but there are a huge variety of better smelling almond soaps on the market.

​

A Lather That I Used to Know to the tune of Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye.

Lyrics:

Now and then I think of when we shaved together

Like when you said you felt so soapy you could die

Told myself that you were right for me

But felt so dried out in your company

But that was lather, and it's an ache I still remember

You can get addicted to a certain kind of slickness

Like resignation to the shave, always the shave

So when I found that I would not rather

Well, you said that we could still be shaved

But I'll admit that I was glad it was over

But you didn't have to cut my face

Make out like shaves never happened and lather was nothing

And I don't even need your lather

But you don’t treat me like any shaver, and that feels so rough

No, you just had to lather well

Have your friends collect your soaps and then change your number

I guess that I don't need that smell

Now you're just a lather that I used to know

Now you're just a lather that I used to know

July 28, 2023

• Brush: Vie-Long handle + Maggard 24mm Brown Synthetic #FAUXFUR
• Razor: Gillette Tech #REGUS
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Campania
• Post Shave: Nivea Sensitive Post Shave Balm

I know nothing about Gillette Techs, I bought this for AUD $15. It was described as a 1940s one - can’t see any date codes, not that I even know where to look. Hard to swallow pills…

This brush - the original horse hair knot fell out (it was the cheapest Vie-Long on the market). Replaced with a look-a-like Maggard brown synthetic for USD $11.95. Very tight fit.

Stirling soap also from Maggard at USD $0.09 pr gram. All my other soaps are US soaps and 4oz from $20 and up, so at least USD $0.18 pr gram.

Balm is normally AUD $13 for 100ml, so $0.13 pr ml, but I always get them when they are on sale at 50% off.

Blades… I got called out by u/onionmiasma for having too many blades… Well… Yes, if I use each blade 4 times I’m probably good for around 30 years. Look… uh, for me it just one less thing having to worry about, ok? That’s all. No matter how much I fuck up in life, work sucks and all… if I have the worst day of my life, at least I can come home and know that I’m not gonna run out of blades. That’s… worth something to me. I will PIF some blades in 2053 as vintage blades, how about that?

Music:
“White Crayon” - Athletic Progression Spotify / YouTube

LGSOTD 28-July

• Brush: Erasmic Shave Brush #FAUXFUR
• Razor: Gillette - Tech
• Blade: Gillette Super Blue
• Lather: Arko – Shaving Stick
• Post Shave: Nivea - Balm

The only positive to this shave is the razor and blade. I cannot stand the solid arko soap, be better off as a urinal cake. The brush is also terrible, seemingly synthetic bristle. I think the brush put more 'hair' on my face than the razor took off and felt like I was running a steel brush over my face.

I'm pretty damn sure I've gone off on a tangent and completely missed the point of today's theme and challenge, and I was egged on by the Mrs to attempt to work this out, whether it's right or not is another thing. I've tried to put the workings under a spoiler so no one was forced to read it. If it didn't work I'm sorry, I would strongly suggest just skipping to the end!

!Someone threw in an arko stick on a bst purchase a good while ago, so I haven't actually bought any. But went checking prices. So a 12 pack of arko = £10.87, each stick is approx 75g(91p per stick) which equals about 10.87/(12x75) = 1.2p per g. This stick was 76g pre shave, and this was the weight of the stick post shave. Obviously no change so I'll round up,  shave soap cost me 1.2p for this shave.!<

!The nivea men fresh is about £3 for 150ml, this one is a fresh jar so the weight is as new (can't discount the jar on this one). So the same exercise will have to suffice with this being the 189g pre shave and this is the 188g post shave. So 300p/188g = 1.6p, so I used 1g for a total cost in this shave of 1.6 pence.!<

!The razor is a little trickier, I wasn't sure what this one went for, but the best I could find was 89¢ (CAD) in 1968. So to account for inflation this would equate to approximately $7.48 (CAD). This would convert to approximately £4.42.!<

!The blades picked up from bigdealsmart, 100 for £9.20, so 9p.!<

!The god awful brush was popped in as an extra on an ebay purchase for a puck and mug of Shulton Old Spice, clearly hasn't been used since purchase. This is £3.15 from Savers.!<

!Finally the water, it's £1.4526 per cubic meter, 1 cubic meter = 1000 litres =1,000,000mL. 145.26p/1,000,000 = 0.00015p. 1g water =1mL.Weight of water pre shave 934g, and weight of water post shave 540g. So with 394g = 394mL x 0.00015p = £0.06p!<

So this shave cost approximately £3.15 (brush) + £4.42 (razor) + £0.09p (blade) + £0.01 (soap) + £0.02p (balm) + £0.06p (water) = £7.75, though the hardware is of course reusable.

Converted to USD for the majority this is $9.91.

Nice finish, cheap but not an enjoyable shave. I think I'm a little happier with the extra cash I've dropped on my gear, I feel a little more justified in my hoarding ways.

Hope everyone has a grand shave.

Cheers

Marc

#ROTY

Frugal Friday

Prep: Warm Shower
Brush: Wilkinson Sword Vintage brush
Razor: Wilkinson Sword DE
Blade: Wilkinson Sword
Lather: Wilkinson Sword Black tub
Post Shave: Water rinse

All the Wilkinson stuff came from the local drugstore. All together it is less than $50 CDN but l redeemed points so it was around $20. The razor and blades are fine, the soap and brush...not so much. Have a good day.

July 28, 2023 Frugal Friday

• Prep: Warm Shower
• Brush: Zenith 80R Boar Brush
• Razor: Bevel Essentials Disposable #JETSETTER
• Blade: Bevel Essentials Disposable (1)
• Lather: Arko
• Post Shave: Aqua Velva - Musk
• Fragrance: Parfum Belcam - Classic Match Y by Yves Saint Laurent

How could I not use Arko today, is there actually anything in this hobby cheaper than Arko? I'm one of those that doesn't mind Arko, but talk about a shave with zero skin food. I could almost use the lack of skin care ingredients as my software link today tbh. As such everything is linked by being on theme.

Challenge - Everything today, software and hardware, is the cheapest stuff I have.

Arko is on saleon Amazon currently for $19 for 12 sticks which is about 61 cents an ounce. At normal price ist only $22 for 12 which is still only around 70 cents per ounce.

The Zenith I bought from an old listing that was normally priced at just $7.99

The Bevel razor came in a 5 pack for just under $10. So about $1.90 for blade and razor.

Then the post shave and fragrance were both Walmart specials. Post shave was just over $3 while the fragrance was just over $7.

I'm almost as happy as my wife is about all the money I saved on today's shave!

Lather Games Day 28- If Only I Had Read The Fine Print About These Alleged "Savings" From Wetshaving

• Brush: Semogue 1800
• Razor: Schick Eversharp G
• Blade: Schick - Injector
• Lather: Master Soap Creations - Peppermint Latte
• Post Shave: Thayers - Lemon Witch Hazel

This was not the shave I intended for this day. Once I read the rules for the shave and the Daily Challenge yesterday, everything had to get juggled around. I'm taking this shave as the opposite of last year's Flex Day, or whatever it was called, where you could show off your $400 razor, $500 brush and the rarest soap in the world made with milk from Tibetan mountain goats and white truffles. Since we already had Drugstore Day or Canned Shit on Our Faces, there is no need to use something silly like a disposable. So here's the cheapest shave I could pull off today and still keep my 30/30 soapers intact.

1) The Shick Eversharp G - These sell at a number of price points. I've seen them as low as $10 and as high as $45. This is the injector that got me started down the injector/GEM rabbit hole. I picked this up at an antique shop in Western Maine for a whopping $6 and it needed no restoration. It was pretty much in mint condition.

2) Schick Injector blade - The unfortunate thing about injectors are the price of blades on per blade basis. Where you can buy DE blades for pennies and GEM blades for around $.20/blade, injectors are $1/blade.

3) Semogue 1800 brush - If you Google it, it runs between $15 and $20. So let's call this $17 for the sake of argument

Today's Hardware cost is $24. That's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

Alright, on to software we go.

Master Soap Creations Peppermint Latte was not the original choice for this day, but I couldn't confirm how much (or how little) I paid for a 1oz tin of Red House Farm Lumos. I had already used Arko and Stirling and Proraso is on tap for tomorrow so here's MSC to the rescue. This is a 6oz tub that I bought for $14.99, which comes out to $2.49/oz. This is not too far off the Stirling mark on a per-ounce basis. It's a great soap and it is friggin' cold, which is perfect for a humid morning.

Thayers Witch Hazel can be procured here locally for $10.95. It's a 12-ounce bottle so that comes out to $0.91/oz.

So yes, if I only wanted one good soap that packed a lot of value on a per ounce basis and on a quality-of-shave basis, and if I wanted to use witch hazel as my post (I don't love using it), then I could definitely save money.

Jul. 28, 2023
Brush: Yaqi Casino Husky Knot
Razor: Wilkinson Sword Classic
Blade: Rapira Platinum Lux
Lather: Barbus - - Soap
Post Shave: Barbus - - Aftershave
Fragrance: 4711 - EdC

My cheapest shave, all values in Euros

Razor is 5.20 comes with a pack of 5 WS blades and is frequently on sale. It’s a mild medium razor that pairs well with efficient blades.

The Yaqi “defect” brush can be bought almost always for around 8, my experience is they never show any defects, 1 didn’t have the Yaqi logo on it…

4711 is a very lovely EdC heavy on Citrus. Doesn’t last long but can be reapplied and doesn’t project like crazy. At 11.70 for 100ml can’t complain

The Barbus soap is in my humble opinion the best you can get before spending way more. It’s 2.95 for 150g costing about 0.02 euros per g and is frequently heavily discounted.

The AS is nothing special, basically alcohol and fragrance, smells like clean laundry 1.55 for 60 so 0.03 per ml. I will say that similar and worse formulations cost more so at least it’s not “poor value”

This shave totals at 29.4 from scratch and can last a crazy long time

SOTD

Shared from My Shave Den for iOS

• Lather: Palmolive Classic Cream
• Brush: Maggard Synthetic
• Razor: Gillette Gold Ball-End Tech
• Blade: Astra - Superior Platinum Green
• Post Shave: Brut - Classic AS

Well, no SOTD pic today. I snapped the photo last night but I guess it didn't save or something. Who knows.

Anyway....this is the cheapest setup I've got by volume or thing used.

The Palmolive cost me about €1 at a Netto market when I was stationed in Germany. You can likely get 50 budget friendly shaves out of it.

I bought the user-grade Tech for about $10 off the shave bazaar.

A tuck of these blades runs $1 on Maggard, whereas my normal Gillette SharpEdge blades run $2 a tuck. Looks like you can buy a 100 pack for $13, which would translate to 13¢ per blade.

The brush is either $9 or $10 via Maggard.

Finally, Brut is available for $5.48 at Walmart right now, and it should be good for about 100 uses....it's a big bottle.

I don't know how many shaves I can push this Astra for, but you can buy this setup for about $26.70 plus tax and be good for at least a month. Depending on what I get out of this blade, that could be at least 50 shaves before you need to buy more product. The limiting factor is the cream. If we assume 13 shaves per blade ( I normally get 30+ out of my normal ones). Ignoring the sunken costs of the hardware, you're looking at about 7.5¢ per shave for consumables.

I wasn't expecting much out of this shave, and I got a good shave out of it. Did I enjoy it? Meh. My face is smooth, the blade was not irritating, and I do love my Tech. I do like that this is an incredibly low-cost option to get a solid shave though. It beats the hell out of cartridge shaving ..by a lot. That helps me feel smart and smug, just like a true Redditor.

Have a great day folks!

Today I shaved with the Arko stick. I used my Proraso boar brush and a Gillette Guard razor. I followed up with Aqua Velva Ice Blue and a shot of Azzaro Chrome.

Everyone knows Stirling is the king of value.

Stirling Bay Rum and Aqua Velva was a weird combo but with a shower in between who cares right?

Fri Jul 28 2023

• Prep: Coffee, Face wash soap/warm water
• Razor: Merkur - 34C HD
• Blade: Feather HI Stainless
• Brush: AP Shave Co 26mm 2Bed Knot In The Zen Handle
• Lather: Derby - Normal Moisturizing Cream
• Post Shave: Pinaud - Clubman AS Lotion

Not a fan of the derby but it sure is cheap and the Pinaud is very well priced.

ROTY

July 28, 2023 - Cheapest Day

• Brush: None
• Razor: Assured For Men TTO Safety Razor
• Blade: Assured For Men Blade (1)
• Lather: Bolero - Cedar Wood and Eucalyptus - Cream
• Post Shave: Bolero - Cedar Wood and Eucalyptus - After Shave Lotion
• Fragrance: Mirage - CEO Pour Homme EdT

Daily Challenge/Write-Up:
For today’s shave, I used all the items that I procured for last year’s drug store day. I PIF’d the items from this year’s drug store day (so I wouldn’t be forced to use them today and mess up my brands points), but I wasn’t smart enough to jettison these items as well, and I’m stuck with them. The Bolero Cream and After Shave were two for $1.25, and appear to be so bad that they have been discontinued by Dollar Tree. Pity. I went searching for a suitable frag to go with it, and found this copy of Hugo Boss (my high school cologne!!!) at Five Below for the low price of $5 for a whole bottle of EdT. The razor is absolute garbage; the blade is worse. But the razor was $1.25, and included the 5 unmarked blades. I’d honestly rather be using a disposable, but I used my last one with the motor oil.

Speaking of last year’s drug store day - I’m wondering how alternate-universe OnionMiasma is doing….

First chapter here

It has been 419 days since the accident. Onion absent-mindedly rubs his right shoulder and grimaces at the pain. 419 days since he was lucky enough to have an ambulance feet away as he plowed his small Ford hatchback into the side of a fire truck., and 399 days since he emerged from the doors of his small-town hospital, not good as new, but with a new outlook on life.

He was on his way home to shave before heading to his dead-end job – wow, what a lifetime ago that was! Onion looks around his dorm room, as he takes a drag from his vape pen. The Assured for Men Twist-to-Open razor and the unmarked Chinese-made blade sit out on the top of his dresser; a reminder of his fortune to have been in the right place at the right time. As far as he might get into this hobby, he’ll never get rid of that razor. It was his lifeline.

Oscar, the man driving the town’s only fire truck that Onion slammed into, happened to have been drinking heavily and had a BAC of .32 at the time of the accident. The town wanted to keep that fact quiet, as he was the mayor’s son, so the city quietly paid all of Onion’s medical bills and gave him $85,000 to start a new life.

He sold mother’s house, and was determined to turn his life around. He moved to North Dakota, which had the cheapest college he could find, and enrolled in an English Literature program. He left all his drug use in his hometown. It’s weird starting college at the age of 41. You’re a pariah among the other students, who feel like you’ve failed at life, until they want you to buy a 30 pack of Old Milwaukee. Finding a partner is nigh impossible - anyone with any ambition packs up and leaves this town as soon as they receive their diploma, leaving the dusty plains behind them.

But, as any addict will tell you will happen, Onion quickly replaced his drug use with something else. Something even more nefarious than the methamphetamine that had defined his 30s.

Soap.

Wetshaving had saved his life. He could have a fresh start, solely because he was in an accident due to this new hobby, and he was determined to repay the hobby. Packages arrived at his dorm room almost daily. Inside were plastic tubs with colorful labels and exotic-sounding names. Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. Ariana and Evans. Henri et Victoria. Pinnacle Shaving. Lothur. Van Yulay. These packages caused his bank balance to deplete alarmingly fast, but he couldn’t help it - he had to collect them all, and when he had the opportunity to buy the Soap of the Gods, he did without hesitation. All 619 scents.

Onion walked over to the closet he used to store the fruits of his hobby, stepping over the laundry basket that contained the extent of his clothes. Opening the door, he was amazed at what he had amassed. At last count there were 829 tubs in this closet, with room for probably 200 more. He picked one labeled “Diver Down” off the shelf, opened the lid, and inhaled. Its lime and sultry spice notes were absolutely intoxicating. “How do they come up with such unique scents,” he wondered aloud. He had met the owner of this particular soap company once; one of the fondest memories so far of his new life.

After an hour of soap-smelling had gone by, he grabbed his backpack and headed to class, while thinking about what soap he would use today. He rubbed his sore shoulder, and decided to go with the Bolero Cedar Wood and Eucalyptus Cream when he could be back with his beloved soaps, as this was the soap that started it all.

Soap Theme Justification
Frugal Friday - Soap and Aftershave for $1.25. Nothing in my den is cheaper than that. Or worse

Post-Shave and Fragrance Relevance Notes
* Today’s theme is “cheapest stuff I own” * The soap cost 62.5 cents plus tax. That’s $0.62 per oz. My next cheapest is Stirling, at $2.45 per oz. * The aftershave cost 62.5 cents plus tax. That’s $0.62 per oz. My next cheapest is Stirling, at $4.01 per oz. * Finally, the fragrance was $5 for an entire bottle. It does smell pretty much as I remember Hugo smelling. The base notes of cedar in the frag pair well with whatever they called cedar in the soap and aftershave. This comes out to $0.049/ml. Nothing else in my den is even close - my next cheapest is Kenneth Cole Reaction at $0.271/ml.

Candidate continues the story of his alternate reality self from last year.

Candidate continues the story of his alternate reality self from last year.

July 28, 2023 – Cheap Day

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts Acrylic G5
• Razor: Gillette Red Tip
• Blade: Bolzano Superinox (7)
• Lather: Williams – Mug Soap
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth – Sonder
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth – Sonder

$1.79 on sale a few years ago at the grocery store is what this Williams cost me. I paid too much.

I was going to do the challenge today, but the thought of lathering Williams with my Perfecto brush was just too much.

July 28, 2023 – El Cheapo

• Brush: Omega 40033 24mm
• Razor: Gillette Tech
• Blade: 7 O’Clock – Sharpedge (Yellow) (4)
• Lather: Arko – Arko
• Post Shave: Nivea – Sensitive Post Shave Balm
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux – Agua Fresca

Cheap day! I will be honest, if I told myself I’d save money for it was only briefly. Before I bought my first razor I was actually concerned about getting started because the barrier to entry into wetshaving, before you even know if you can do it, is pretty high. (Starter sets make it easier but, unless you stumble into the sub first you may not find them. So you end up like me, buying a $27 Parker, then separately soaps and splashes in samples, which cost shipping, remembering you need a brush, paying more shipping. Then trying to figure out how blades work, shipping more.) I did some back of the napkin math to make sure I wouldn’t spend significantly more. That math was useless once I found the sub and thrill. Oh well. TBQH, I’ve probably still spent less than a new norelco costs over it’s (increasingly short) life cycle. And I’m starting to tamp down my fomo, and focus on using what I already have… Oh remote learning, gotta order that.

OK, well fine. But this still is less than some of my other hobbies (gaming, homebrew, hunting). And it’s less by… A lot. Pretty sure my den is less than my Xbox, nevermind the TV we got for it, the gamepass, new controllers…. Let’s not talk about how much I could spend on the hunting equipment if I wanted to.

So anyway, here’s my discount shave. Obviously Arko is the cheapest you can get. I planned on this early but didn't have any in my den, but u/loudmusicboy saved me from having to buy a whole tub or stick. Thanks! I didn’t find the smell horrible (but I’ve used war.) definitely medicinal. Brush is a $6 boar I got to try boars when I ordered But first an experiment. The razor is a post war tech. Based on some research they went for less than a dollar around the time this was made (mid to late 50s) which is less than $10 today. All the blades in my den basically cost the same. On a per shave basis I get a bit more shaves out of the yellows. This one in particular has been abused to hell, baby oil shaves 3 different razors. Left handed shaving. And it’s still going. Nivea balm is pretty cheap, certainly cheaper than artisan stuff and the Jack Black I have as well. About the frag. As mentioned I don’t have a lot of frags, and the Chatillon Lux discovery set is really well priced. 11 two ml samples for $25, at the time I bought it, making this the cheapest frag in my den. Even now it’s only $30. If you’re like me and don’t use a lot of frags, and want variety, you could almost survive on ordering this set over and over again. On a price/ml basis it’s the same as the full bottles basically and you aren’t tied to one scent. Though I might get some YRP or maybe unconditional surrender.

Speaking of frags my #fof is a little disjointed here. The Arko is as I said medicinal. Maybe a hint of lemon. I was stunned that it kinda worked with the soft unisex fruit in the Agua Fresca. But it did. I had a little trouble developing expectations for the Agua Fresca. As noted, I’m from the same area as Shawn and this is another scent where the inspiration just doesn’t match my experience. It’s supposedly inspired by Cherokee Street, but that area is known for Mexican culture and food. I was pretty sure a margarita frag was not sometime he’d do. Sure “fruity drinks” I guess, but it’s not really a Pina colada either. The bars of the central west end (heavily trafficked by college students) may have been a better narrative. (seeing as Landing was already taken for admiral.) But it’s a good scent, probably a bit too fruity to me.

For #photocontest here is gaming. My daughter insisted we use Tears of the kingdom since she’s playing that. So I obliged. I wanted to use “Sorry” which is like the theme of lather games. (“sorry honey about this choas,” sorry players I stole your bit, etc.)

OK #ROTY people, 2 more. Let’s do this!

Edited because I forgot to thank u/loudmusicboy.

July 28, 2023 – Cheap Shaves

• Brush: Maggard Razors Timberwolf
• Razor: No Name Generic Safety Razor
• Blade: Rapira Platinum Lux (1)
• Lather: LEA – Classic
• Post Shave: Humphrey’s- Witch Hazel

Well, a cheap shave but a solid shave, all things considered. The razor was a freebie that came with a stand that I bought. There was also a pure badger brush that was cracked down the middle of the handle. I still have the stand, though. So $0. The soap, LEA, was a Maggard Black Friday deal for $2.99, I think, as was the brush, which if memory serves me was around $7. The brush is absolutely one of my go-to brushes proving the cost doesn’t always equal quality. The aftershave is a witch hazel that came from Marshall’s for 3.99. I’ve had it for many years. The blade came free with something I bought on Shave Bazaar.

The razor has only been used once before and has rust all on the inside but I kept it for something like this. It is very bitey and not something I will use often, but passable.

Altogether, this shave came in around $13

July 28, 2023 – Lather games day 28 – AKA Why is my splash blue?

• Brush: Wilkinson sword – boar #MISTURA #RUNT
• Razor: GEM Micromatic Open Comb
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE (15)
• Lather: Wilkinson Sword black bowl
• Post Shave: Booster barbershop classics – Polar ice

This is the cheapest shave that I could put together today. I bought this splash as part of a large lot of crap to get me started way back when, but only used it for the first time today. Wilkinson sword tub and brush were also from the very beginning of my journey when I knew not of anything proper. Boy have I come a long way. MMOC can be found really cheap on ebay and a PTFE GEM blade can last and last, so another economical solution. This one is already on shave 15. Overall it was a really shitty shave, but got the job done. Why is the aftershave blue? The world may never know…

#PhotoContest

Lather games day 28

• Prep: Warm water
• Brush: Hand - right
• Razor: Tih Trud safety razor #UNICORN #JETSETTER
• Blade: Sputnik
• Lather: Fresh Up Cosmetics - Kupa
• Post Shave: Men's Master Professional - Aftershave

Today I'll go cheapest I can!

--- Prep: ~1.7$/1000l use 50 ml.( asking why?!? Coz I am one scrape penny son of a bitch) ~0.000085 $

--- Brush: Right hand 0.00$ ( but priceless lover and has a name to and if judges want to know it = 10 000 points ) I don't wanted to amortize any of my brushes coz it worth maybe 0.000000007 $ and I don't wanted to spend so much money.

--- Razor: old Bulgarian safety razor. Outdated. Not in production from got known when. Friend found it in drawer " you like this stuff take it" price 0.00$. I found some of them selling about 10-25$ totally overpriced and nobody will give them this money and they'll have them forever. My friend from shaving club find picture to similar from same brand with price from 12 may 1965 and it is ~0.72$. Another shave buddy's uncle worked in this factory said that make it from late '50 to '80 but he think my OC is '50-'60. I believed because is so shity like I make it in my garage with dremel and hammer ( and maybe I'll make it better ).

--- Blade: safety razor was given to me with some old blades inside the box and because I find same brand but new production I take 100 of them coz they was discounted. Sputnik 2.24$ for 100 blades ~ 0.02$

--- Lather: you already knew two of deck of cards shaving creams clubs, diamonds now is hearts! There is spades to. Price is ~ 0.76$ / 100 grams and I used ~2 grams ( more then enough ) and price is ~ 0.01$

--- Post shave: today I didn't use alum block to not money only aftershave. I already use Men's Master Professional - Aftershave balm. Now i used aftershave. I keep it for today because is cheaper then balm. Price ~2.24$/120ml I use 2ml price ~0.03$

Today luxury and expensive shave cost: ~0.060085 $ bite me Uncle Scrooge!!!

In conclusion cheap is cheap. Cream and aftershave is kinda OK but safety razor is so pure made and even you can't make a right angle to the blade because teeth of base plate are to long and blade can't touch the face. Has a travel plastic case with designated compartment for blades but this is only convenience that this set provides.

And a short video if someone wants to waste time

ROTY

2023-07-28 Lather Games Fougère Friday SOTD

• Razor: Gillette Tech (1947-1950)
• Blade: Dorco Titan
• Lather: Gillette - Foamy
• Post Shave: Aqua Velva - Original Sport
• Fragrance: Lomani - Pour Homme

Awwww yisssss it's Fougère FffffffffFFFFFFUCK it's Frugal Friday isn't it

Well maybe we can still make this work anyway. Prices in CAD.

• Brush : What brush could be cheaper than no brush at all?
• Razor : According to my research and a handy inflation calculator, this beautiful fat-handle Tech sold for the modern equivalent of about $8.50... nothing else in my collection comes close to being that cheap. Can you imagine buying an all-brass safety razor for that price today? Wild. Such a good deal.
• Blade : At first glance these Titans look like they're the same price as any other cheap blade ($1.50 per pack) until you notice that it's a 10-pack instead of a 5-pack, making them by far the cheapest blades in my collection even without buying them in bulk. Price per shave may not be as good as some of my longer-lasting blades, but for sheer volume of blades per dollar they're a great choice. And they don't even suck that bad!
• Lather : At first I was worried I might be stuck with $11/150g Cella or $10/150g Proraso (which I needed for other days on my calendar) until I noticed that my can of Gillette Foamy is a whopping 311 grams for $3.77. Phew! Looks like I get to shave with a fougère after all today! Good ol' shaving-cream-scented-shaving-cream... classic anisic fougère. And barely more than a penny per gram - even Stirling, the best deal in artisan shave soap, is more like a dime per gram. I know I need more Foamy for a shave than soap, but I strongly suspect that this stuff might actually be more economical than the higher-priced artisans on the market.
• Post Shave : Aqua Velva is 235ml for $5.99 up here, making it about 1/10th the price per ml of most artisanal aftershaves. I'm so glad I enjoy Aqua Velva and Skin Bracer - that has allowed me to save so many hundreds of dollars by not buying matching aftershaves for all my soaps. Plus the green version (exclusive to Canada) is a mossy fougère with a serious smooth soapy vibe... niiiiiiiice.
• Fragrance : Lomani pour Homme, at $8.95/100ml when I bought it on the grey market, very narrowly beats out my plastic-bottle Brut Eau de Cologne at $8.99/100ml... and what is it? Damn right it's another barbershop fougère, this one a more-soapy twist on Drakkar Noir. And it's enjoyable! Nine dollars and I actually Enjoy wearing it! Wild. Who needs something like Creed anyway?

Damned good Frugal Fougère Friday shave.

July 28, 2023 – Frugal Friday

• Brush: Semogue 1460
• Razor: Gillette Old Type Single Ring 1919
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Tuscany
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Tuscany
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Tuscany

It feels super duper great to save soo much money. Got the Semogue for like $10 bux on amazon a few years ago. The Old Type was probably a nickel or something silly when it came out. Got the Astra 100 pack under $10 bux. It’s $8.44 right now on amazon. Everyone knows Stirling is the leader in artisan pricing. I got this Trifecta on clearance on a whim. It’s underrated.

July 28, 2023

​

• Prep: Shower
• Brush: Zenith 507U XSE
• Razor: Gillette - Slim Adjustable
• Blade: Gillette Platinum
• Lather: Arko - Stick
• Post Shave: Old Spice - Original
• Fragrance: Stirling - Barbershop

​

For today's frugal shave and challenge, I went with my "cheapest" items. Cheap of course being relative, but I picked the items that cost the least amount at MSRP. Starting with the Zenith brush, which costs $20.72, a Gillette Slim Adjustable which costed $1.50 when new, Gillette Platinum blades which were 100 for $10, an Arko stick at $2.99, Old Spice from India for $8.99, and finishing it up with some Stirling Barbershop EDT for $23.95. Coming in at a grand total of $58.25 if you only calculate the cost of one of the 100 blades. But the true metric would be cost per use, as the Arko and Barbershop EDT have a finite number of uses, while the razor doesn't. The Arko itself comes out to 4 cents per gram, which is probably one of, if not the cheapest price per gram for a soap.

​

Honestly, saving money always feels nice, but I didn't get into the hobby for savings. Some of these products, such as the Arko, are a legit bargain, as well as the cost of the blades. Compared to other hobbies however, it can be very affordable, and you can spend as much or little as you'd like. Anyway, a good "frugal" shave today

​

Until tomorrow!

#ROTY

Frugal Friday

• Brush: Shitty clipped boar
• Razor: Wilkinson Sword Classic
• Blade: Wilkinson Sword (2)
• Lather: Vitos – Super Extra Coco
• Post Shave: I Am – Aftershave Lotion
• Fragrance: adidas – Dynamic Pulse

It was the best of shaves, it was the worst of shaves. That the Wilkinson Sword razor is surprisingly good and punches way above its weight class is a well established fact by now, but Vitos Extra Super is a real surprise (to me) star in this setup (I shouldn't be surprised, I guess, after all it's both extra and super). Even with this shitty clipped boar brush of which I bought three in spring of 2021 as backup for Lather Games (it was back in the 30 brushes bonus point era, and I wasn't confident I'd have time to make enough of my fimo brushes), whipping this soap into a creamy, shiny, and slick lather is almost too easy. There must me some downside to Vitos soap, but I didn't find it (provided you are OK with coconut scents). If I remember after Austere August, Sample September, and TabOktoberfest, and I still have the energy for a prolonged period of restricted software choice, I might go a few weeks with this to see if it's drying my skin or something. Not sure I can handle 60 Vitos Coconut shaves in BBS November, but maybe 30?.

The brush is a disgrace, though, and the clipped bristles are like poky little needles. These were silly cheap (see below), but I still overpaid. I didn't bother cleaning this piece of shit and trashed it as is after I was done. I'll make sure not to have any of these in my den come next Frugal Friday.

For my fellow djudge, the relevant post and frag theme is frugalily, with the items selected for this shave being those of the lowest price density in my den. I've also added the prices of the hardware items. There is a potential doubt about the razor since I own a cheap Soviet plastic razor (from Lithuania pre fall) but I couldn't find pricing nor convincing inflation calculators for soviet rubles. I didn't insist because if soviet rubles were anything like GDR Aluchips, everyone had a lot of them and you still couldn't buy half the things you wanted, so the point seems moot.

For today's challenge, the answer is "very", and the photo is linked in the title.

Product	price density	Assuptions
Lather	0.0094444444 Eur/g	soap density of 900 kg/m^3
Post Shave	0.0386666667 CHF/g	splash density of 900 kg/m^3
Fragrance	0.2117647059 CHF/g	frag density of 870 kg/m^3

Hardware item	price
Razor (including blades)	5.00 GBP
Shitty clipped boar	1.49 USD

2023-07-28 Arko Day

• Brush: Assured Men - Broosse Rasage [sic] #RUNT #HOLLOW
• Razor: Alshabab Original
• Lather: Arko - Arko
• Post Shave: Lucky Tiger - Aspen
• Fragrance: Old Spice - Swagger Body Spray

Frugal Friday: Shit's cheap, yo. I'm not pulling any of this "look at the price for a gross pack!" foolery, either (a gross is 144, for anyone unaware). No, these are just the regular, normal-quantity, non-deal prices for the stuff.

I actually didn't come into wetshaving with the idea of "I'll save so much money!" I had the goal of getting a better shave, which is important to me because trichotillomania, but I'll spare you from another tangent about that.

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: As required by the challenge.

Challenge Accepted:

#FOF

Alshabab Razor and blade: $0.15 total
I got a couple of these, because it's not like it's gonna break the bank, and this cheap little razor is surprisingly decent—when it has a decent blade. This morning, after I opened the fresh package of the other razor, I learned that the first blade was not just a dud. This blade would be happier yanking hair out of my face than cutting them. It outright refused the denser hair on my upper lip and soul patch.

Assured Men "Broosse": $1.25
Why the hell did I see u/OnionMiasma's post? I visited a few Dollar Tree stores just to see if they had this piece of crap. When I did find it, I was... not thrilled. Yes, the "knot" popped out immediately. If I were more sane, I would have tossed it and used the $4 one I had found, instead. Nope, I expoxied that thing back together, like a dumbass. During the process, my finger got stabbed by something in the conical lump of glue holding the bristles-of-questionable-material together.

Arko: $2.99/75g ($.0399/g)
I got and tried Arko for the first time just before the Games. It was a mystery how rubbing the stick on your face and then lathering would even work, and I'm still not really sure. Especially with this terrible, horrible, egregious excuse for a brush. Holy shit. But I managed a pathetic lather. Another curiosity was the reported "urinal cake" smell. Yes. Urinal cake is correct.
And it's drying! Holy hell, my skin has never felt so dry, and I live next to the sun!

Lucky Tiger: $10.00/16oz ($.0338/mL)
To reiterate, this is the non-exceptional price. Sample prices are obviously inflated. I originally included this in an order as a candidate for one of my barbershop days, but I had that covered and then I realized the stuff is normally sold in a huge bottle at a low price.
Descriptions call it "cool," "classic and clean," and "barbershop classic." I get what I think is citrus off the top, but not much else. I might have expected a bit of floral, but I noticed none. There may have been some spiciness well-hidden under the citrus. Also, is that... iron? It is! Blood.

Old Spice Swagger: $16.00/106g ($.151/g)
"Hey now, ginopono, that's deodorant; it's gotta be specifically marketed as a fragrance!"
I had that concern, too, but nope! This isn't marketed as a deodorant or spray deodorant. The deodorant products are expressly different things. The price of the particular version that I have (notably not labeled as an "underarm spray") may be inflated as a result of it being older, unobtanium-esque, and even so it's by far the cheapest expressly-marketed-as-a-fragrance product in my possession.
The scent, which reviews say have changed since this bottle/can was made, is quite citrusy, I think. Which is surprising, because I quite like it, whereas I've convinced myself I don't like citrus. Is it also spicy? I'm honestly not sure. Sorry, ~~r/cowzilla3~~ u/AirBudRuler, I'm not familiar at all with Old Spice, so I don't know how this compares.

#photocontest
Photo: r/wicked_edge
I don't get the utter disdain that people express for that sub. It's a different place, sure, but I guess if you need to onanistically massage your sense of superiority, that's one way to do it.
"Set up a photo like [I] would in WE"? Okay, well that counts for every photo I set up for WS. I could literally put this on any photo, and it should count (hell, people here still put the same photos on both subs).
But I'll play along.
I'll approach this with the idea that I'm recreating the photos that I shared with WS when I first tried coming here. It was the Games two years ago, and the environment was what I can only describe as "aggressively exclusionary". That said, I'd like to point out that the following year's Games were much better; the good folks running the Games acknowledged this, and made a conscious and noticeable effort to make the Games more accessible. But hot damn, the Games of two years ago were hostile for a newcomer.
But I digress.
It seems appropriate for the cheapo stuff to be laid out on the side of my sink with harsh lighting, much like in those early photos of mine. But that itself doesn't put r/wicked_edge actually in the photo, as the contest wants. To acheive that, there's the sub itself pulled up in the back. This isn't the phone category today.

• Brush: Omega 10098

• Razor: Gillette Old Type

• Blade: Dorco ST-300

• Lather: Arko - Shaving Soap

• Post Shave: Aqua Velva - Classic Ice Blue

• Fragrance: Parfums Belcam - Nitro

Today's Theme: Frugal Friday - Arko, for the same reason everyone else picked arko. Because we're not sophisticated enough to use Derby shave sticks.

Today's Challenge: Frugal Friday - Alright so let's walk through this.

• Omega 10098 is a $10 boar brush, easily the cheapest brush I own.
• Gillette Old Type because inflation isn't real. Inflation can't hurt me. Now why don't you just get a job as a cashier and buy a house like your parents did. They're millionaires now and all you do is complain that things are expensive. Oh, you have a corporate job? And you rent from your parents? And they charge you 4x their 1980's-era mortgage payment for that rent? Well sheesh, maybe you shouldn't have taken out so much in college loans. Your dad paid his way through college by working at the campus book store part time.
• Dorco ST-300 is actually $5.50 for a 100-pack on Amazon right now, almost half the price of astra SP's. Buy now before prices go up or something https://www.amazon.com/Dorco-ST300-Platinum-Double-Blades/dp/B001MJSAJQ
• Arko - again, for the same reason everyone else picked arko. Because we missed out on La Toja thrill when prices were reasonable.
• Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue, was a decant from /u/j33pguy13 he sent me a while back because I'd never tried AV. I wonder if we paid USPS more to ship this decant than it would have cost me to buy it at the store.
• And now, the pièce de résistance of my frugal friday shave - my fragrance.

I actually was planning to use Southern Witchcraft's Valley of Ashes. At $22 for a 30ml bottle it's one of the best deals in artisan fragrances. I'd had it planned out for weeks. This was going to be the one nice part of my shave today! But then, as I was going through my LG spreadsheet yesterday afternoon and reveling in the recent shitlisting of my matcha lather post, it dawned on me. I had pivoted to Tabac for dickhole day and gotten the cheapest Tabac Eau de Cologne I could find online in order to limit my losses.

$17.31 for 150ml of geriatric misery. and it was already used on a prior day of our blessed Lather Games.

I played myself.

I fell to my knees in an arby's. I drove around downtown Denver begging (thru texts) /u/USS-Spongebob family for cheap juice. I cried out to the heavens "DOES AXE BODY SPRAY COUNT AS A FRAGRANCE" in the lather games discord channel. But alas, I had only one option: I was compelled to return to Walmart. I had accidentally gotten rerouted to a nearby walmart of which I was previously unaware when road work blocked off the usual back entrance to my favorite King Soopers when I needed heavy whipping cream for my matcha lather the night before wildcard wednesday. So now I knew where I could get some cheap stuff. But what would I get? Well, as I waited for the non-functioning "call attendant" button to summon a Walmart employee to unlock the glass case that housed their collection of sub-$20 colognes and perfumes, I saw it. My savior. $7.98 for 100ml of something called Nitro that blatantly displayed on the box that it was a dupe of HUGO. I'd never smelled HUGO before, but the bottle looked blue, and the AV decant was also blue, so I sussed out a theme I could pivot to. Toilet bowl cleaner. God bless walmart, and god bless America.

My theme for today's shave: Office Bathrooms After They've Been Cleaned

Everyone is familiar with the Arko = urinal cake scent comparison. But have you considered that Aqua Velva and Nitro (the supposed HUGO dupe) both smell like that blue toilet bowl cleaning liquid that janitorial staff always leaves in the toilet bowls after they clean a stall? Well they do. So now I smell like a clean office bathroom. I'm not happy about it, but surprisingly my fiancee said I smell kind of good. I think she's just happy I didn't get to use Valley of Ashes. #photocontest #FOF #ROTY

Edit: I forgot to talk about music. In honor of the HUGO dupe called Nitro, I picked Dark Passion Play by Nightwish which is the first album the band released after they kicked out Tarja Turunen. Dark Passion Play is a cheap imitation of what Nightwish was with Tarja. I don't know if they ever found their identity with the new singer, but I will forever cherish the Tarja era of Nightwish.

July 28, 2023 – Month of Lather Day 28

• Brush: Yaqi 20mm Tuxedo Synthetic
• Razor: No-Name-Brand Tech Knock-off
• Blade: Feiyu New Carbon Steel (1)
• Blade: Rapira Swedish Supersteel (2)
• Preshave: Stirling Soap Co. – Unscented
• Lather: RazoRock – Classic
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Stirling Blu Balm
• Fragrance: No-Name-Brand - Sport Club for Men EdP
• Music: Molly Hatchet - Flirtin' with Disaster

Daily Theme/Challenge: Here are the cheapest products in my staving stash:

1. Brush: $7.00 USD. This is a second/reject with a cosmetic flaw that does not affect performance. I got this for the Games just in case I needed a "disposable" brush.
2. Bowl: $1.50 USD. Purchased for $2 SGD at the local Singapore dollar store. My first "dedicated" lather bowl and still one of my better performers.
3. Razor: $1.54 USD. This is Cheap China $#!+ (CCS) at its finest. The head is a stamped aluminum Tech head knock-off and the handle is a cast aluminum Merkur 23C long handle knock-off; both with sus quality control typical of CCS. I got this to make an AliExpress purchase quality for free shipping. In hindsight i should have paid the shipping charge.
4. Blade: $0.024 USD. Yes, you read that right - 2.4 cents. It came with a cheap-@$$ razor hair cutter comb. The only place I can them are on Alibaba at 8 cents for a tuck of 10 (minimum purchase 400 tucks). Assuming 50% logistics cost and 100% retail markup, that works out to 24 cents for the tuck and 2.4 cents for the blade. This price should have scared me, but you only live once...

Total Hardware Cost: $10.064

1. Preshave: $0.0321 per gram. Stirling is half the price of other preshaves I've used yet it's better than the rest. Well done Stirling!
2. Lather: $0.0399 per gram. This is 40% cheaper than the retail tubs of Proraso and Cella that I have. Wow.
3. Post Shave: $0.0701 per gram. Stirling Rocks!
4. Fragrance: $0.0214 per gram. Purchased for $1 SGD at the local Singapore dollar store. The alcohol content is so high that it nearly evaporates on contact.

Total Software Cost: $0.1635 per gram

The Shave: Pass 1 with the Feiyu CCS blade was the worst shaving pass I've ever experienced. Imagine taking a blade, buffing it on broken chunks of concrete and then shaving with it. That was this pass. Stupidly, I forced myself to do Pass 1 with the blade and it was torturous. Call me a wimp but there was no way I was doing another pass with that blade, so I loaded the Rapira Sweed and did Pass 2 without donating any more blood. I'm not going to pull an u/OnionMiasma and be stuck having to use the CCS blade or razor ever again, so they immediately were tossed in the sharps/recycle bins. #ROTY

July 28th 2023 - Lather Games Day 28

• Brush: Omega 11137
• Razor: GEM Featherweight
• Blade: GEM PTFE (15)
• Lather: Stirling - Weekend in Malibu
• Post Shave: Stirling - Weekend in Malibu
• Fragrance: Stirling - Lightish Red

Weekend in Malibu - $14.25 soap, $13.65 splash

GEM Featherweight: $5.00 at auction

Omega 11137 - $9.99

Stirling EdT - $18.95

GEM Blade - $0.45

Total $62.29 for my cheapest gear. Sticking with this stuff and not being seduced by the siren song of sundry soaps and splashes and surely you would see the sought-after promised land of Shaving Savings.

To investigate why Stirling remains the best value, I decided to take a page from u/Priusaurus' great interviews and query the soapmakers directly, and maybe see if anyone there would join me in a shave. I packed up my gear, typed Stirling Headquarters into Google Maps and headed out. Upon arrival at Lord Stirling's quarters I was not scared off by the sign that said "Not Open to Public" because I am no ordinary member of the public, I am a Lather Games participant and that status gets you special treatment, not unlike how only Olympic athletes are allowed in the Olympic Village. Unfortunately, nobody was home but since I still needed to shave I figured I would make the best of it and shave there anyway.

Of course, this meant shaving outside in the heat for a second day in a row since my failed attempt to do this yesterday by trying to convince Rod and others that Varen is a lavender soap (it's the second listed scent note!) met with well-deserved mockery and scrub status being bestowed upon me.

I set up my gear on the commemorative plaque outside for some #photocontest history action, and then started to face lather. I stopped to pop a lather selfie, having styled my hair in homage to u/chronnoisseur42O's great 'do, and got to work. I completed my first pass which was somewhat difficult without a mirror, especially my cheeks, went back to my brush and lathered up for a second pass. While all this was going on there was a light flow of traffic on the road behind me; hopefully between the curvy road and peaceful scenery they were too busy to notice the guy shaving in the grass. I got through my two passes as mosquitos chewed my legs, toweled off and put on some Weekend in Malibu splash. I then hit myself with a few sprays of Lightish Red, which for me is a very nostalgic scent because it is a dupe of Abercrombie and Fitch Fierce, which was my perfume of choice back in high school. Both Weekend in Malibu and Lightish Red have a fresh, aquatic citrusy feel, with lily of the valley and sandalwood in the background so not only was this shave frugal but it was a great combination of scents.

After my shave I figured I would do a little sightseeing, so I drove through a nearby covered bridge on my way to the Memorial Arch, where Stirling's name was engraved for what I can only assume is their contribution to frugal shaves.

Now if you'll indulge me while I dust off my history degree, I shaved in front of the house where Major General William Alexander, Lord Stirling, was headquartered during the cold and hungry winter of 1777 at Valley Forge.

William Alexander, Lord Stirling, was born in New York in 1727 to émigré Scottish parents and joined the New Jersey militia as a commissioned colonel during the Revolutionary War. He rose to prominence during the Battle of Long Island, when he led a rear-guard action that allowed the American army to avoid catastrophe and retreat safely, and was captured by the British. He was released in a prisoner swap and promoted to Major General after taking part in Washington's crossing of the Delaware River. This house is where he was headquartered (along with future president James Monroe) during the Continental Army's disastrous winter encampment of 1777-1778. Unfortunately Lord Stirling's drinking and diet led to his death from gout in 1783, just months before the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War. Thanks for reading!

Visited Lord Stirling

July 28, 2023

• Brush: Yaqi Cavern Lake 24mm Tuxedo
• Razor: Gold Dollar Classic (Straight Shave 280)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Margaritas in the Arctic - Soap
• Post Shave: Combe Inc. - Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue - Aftershave
• Post Shave: Thayers - Lemon - Toner

2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.

---

These are all of the most cost-effective products in my collection. I care not a wit about frugality when it comes to shaving, and moved into wetshaving to develop better technique and to enjoy the shaving experience (daily) as much as possible.

The Gold Dollar straight razor is the model I used years ago when I made my first serious attempt at straight razor shaving. This is not the razor. I dropped that one and broke it. This is the replacement. It is poorly balanced and provides no joy with its complete lack of quality. How did I get an excellent shave? Well, I did hours of spine work to take the bevel angle from 21° down to 16°, and there were geometry issues requiring correction as well. In this particular razor, the steel is tempered well enough that it holds an edge. That is not always true with these razors. My point is that I'm getting an excellent shave with a razor that is anything but off-the-shelf.

The Margarita (an actual Margarita) in the photo was made last night for both the photo and to lift my spirits to be more optimistic for using the Gold Dollar today.

July 28, 2023

• Brush: Isana – Synthetic
• Razor: Plastic shavette
• Blade: Permasharp (1)
• Lather: The Goodfellas’ Smile – Chronos
• Post Shave: The Goodfellas’ Smile – Shibusa 2
• Fragrance: Davidoff – Adventure

Saving money does not always make sense. Today was the question of how low can we go by quality and be satisfied.

#FOF

Brush:
You have seen it on my drugstore day. The brush I leanred to shave with. No idea what I payed for, but today a similar one goes for 3.79€. When I press the hair, it does not go back into its former shape on its own. Quality + time.

Soap:
With a price of 109.5€ per liter this is the cheapest soap I own.
The next cheapest is Stirling with a price of 111.47€ per liter.
Chronos is a vegan soap, and I heard its on the bring of beeing artisan and not for the mass market.
Its performance is lacking a bit. While it is easy to lather, I miss the slickness and protection. Scent wise this is like modern barbershop owned by middle eastern guys I frequently go to for a heaircut. Citrus with Pineapple, Ozone and sea water fade to patchoulli and musk. This soap was my entry into artisan soap and started my collection. I rarely use it today.

Razor:
I bought this razor in a turkish barbershop as the owner found out that straight razors fascinated me. I payed 10€ for it with a few blades and was likely ripped off. I used Permasharp blades which cost 4 cent per blade.

Shave:
Little slickness, no protection, a cheap shavette. I expect a bloodbath. With all my morning focus, I was able to get a very close shave, but the gore massacre did not take place. Yes, there was blood. But just tiny nics around the mouth.

Aftershave:
Shibusa 2 is my cheapest splash with 139€ per liter.
Its next contender is Saponifico Bignoli with over 150€ per liter.
The aftershave is a dupe of Aqua di Parma with notes of almond, anise, and white musk.
If it would not be that drying for the skin, I would like it way more. It burns a lot.

Fragrance:
Had to wash of my first fragrance when I found out that my favorite everyday fragrance is pretty cheap by now.
Davidoff – Adventure can be bought for below 19€ for 100 ml. Thats pretty good news to me.
I got curious about the fragrance when the commercial with Ewan Mcgregor aired in Tv. He drives a motorcycle through mountains and rivers there. Pretty cool for 19 year old Marquis.
The scent notes are nothing special Citric start with some pepper for spiciness ends with cedarwood (my favorite wood scent) and musk. Can’t go wrong with it.

Was it good to save so much money… Yes. The shave was better than expected, but a bit too much away from what I want a shave to be like. With some different hardware, a nice brush, a real razor, this might be okay.

Jul. 28, 2023 - Cheap Cheap

• Prep: CeraVe - Hydrating Facial Cleanser

• Brush: Dreadnought Avenger

• Razor: GEM Junior

• Blade: GEM PTFE (1)

• Lather: Arko - Shave Stick

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

• Fragrance: Mäurer & Wirtz - SIR Irish Moos

Todays shave sponsored by the letter “$” and the number “free.”

Todays daily challenge totally messed up my calendar earlier in the month because I originally had Moos EdT for Fougère Friday but realized it’s my cheapest per ml frag and had to save it for today.

Edit: forgot to say how awesome saving money is! As a father of two boys life is fucking expensive! So to take the chance and see how cheap this could be was refreshing. Now I’m never going to swap over to Arko full time because I love my smellz too much but it provided a perfectly serviceable shave! The brush on the other hand…total trash! I got less than what I paid for with it!

My pre shave is the only one I have so it’s my cheapest ✅

My brush I got for $3.75 and definitely overpaid for it ✅

My razor was hard to find an old MSRP for but I got it in a bundle of razors so it was the cheapest for me. Also the cheapest to buy right now. ✅

My blade is the only GEM blade I have. Also cost per shave is the lowest. $20/100 blades and easily get 30+ shaves from them. So cost is below $0.01 per shave. Compared to Astra Greens which are $7/100 and I get ~6 shaves per makes it right at $0.01 per shave. ✅

Arko is $2.99/75g stick or $1.13/1oz. Even cheaper than the gold standard of Stirling at $2.45/1oz! ✅

The Witch Hazel splash I get at Walmart and is $3.98/16oz bottle or $0.25/1oz! ✅

SIR Irish Moos I got at SmallFlower for $28.50/50ml. That puts it at $0.57/ml and everything else I have is at least $1.00/ml so cheapest by far! ✅

Todays #photocontest theme is ditches/trenches/holes in the ground. I took a fun interpretation of this and built a >!Hobbit Hole!<

July 28, 2023 – Frugal Friday

• Brush: Butler & Crispe – H1 Boar
• Razor: Focus – Plastic Slant
• Blade: Polsilver (2)
• Lather: TDS – Red Fragrance Soap Stick
• Post Shave: Tarr – Super

So as per the challenge I went with the least costly items in the den.

• Soap – 6p a Gram
• Splash – 2p a ml
• Brush – No idea new but £4 on ebay
• Razor – £6.50

This Soap stick has been in the den for a very long time just waiting for it’s time to shine, I think I probably cost me way less than the current price of £3 but I have no idea so I will stick to 6p. Straight from the wrapper this was a nice strong powder and herby scent. When I started to lather I don’t know if it was the soap for the brush but it started to smell like car brake pads aisle at work, now if you don’t know what brake pads smell like to give you an idea we call that aisle the stinking granny pants aisle just so you have an idea.

Performance wise I’m awful with a bowl lather but it produced enough for my purpose and the scent tamed a little, for the price honestly it’s a decent Soap and the do many scents I believe now not just this granny undergarments one.

The razor has been left over since the last LG when I needed it for a hashtag completion, if I’m honest it’s sodding awful. It’s light and does really cut anything at all, I’m not saying it’s price related just poor design for my thick hair.

Tarr Super, was a gift but seems to retail around £3 the scent is a nice Fresh Cologne but sadly it’s very short lived. I’m sure it reminds me of a shave Soap I just can’t remember which one, all in all a decent product just lacking a little staying power.

Could I use this every day or even want to use this? Um nope, if I changed out the razor for something a little heavier and the soap for something a little less granny knickers then sure I would low cost shave every day. That said we are shaving Degenerates and the thrill never dies it just sleeps a little sometime till we need to chase that next set, Brush or Razor but now and agaits nice to use some of the more simpler items.

July 28, 2023 – LG Day 28 – Cheap-o Day (frugality implies that it’s worth it in the end)

• Brush: Ever-Ready 100 #ANCIENT
• Razor: Bic Sensitive Shaver #RAINBOW
• Blade: n/a
• Lather: Arko – Shave Stick
• Post Shave: Proraso – Menthol and Eucalyptus
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Glastonbury

Ever-Ready 100 – Generally $5-10 online. I didn’t purchase this, and I found it the other day when digging through a box in storage. I thought I had sold or given away all the vintage brushes my FIL had in his collection, but this one managed to stick behind. I don’t plan to shave with it again as it’s narrow and floppy as hell.

Bic Sensitive Shaver – 12 for $4.99, or $0.42 per razor. I keep these in my car for emergencies.

Arko – $2.99 for 75 gram stick, or \~$0.04/gram. I’ve been keeping this shaving stick, which I assume to be Arko based on its distinctive sanitary scent, for this day of the Games, and this day only. I have not shaved with it before. I may throw it out so I don’t have to ever use it again. Lathers poorly from the stick and grating it defeats the purpose imo. Smells terribly. Drying as hell. Ick.

Proraso Eucalyptus & Menthol – currently $14 on Amazon, but I’ve had this for years and certainly paid less. $0.14/ml at current price, cheaper than anything else I own based on current MSRP, regardless of how much I initially bought it for.

Stirling Glastonbury EdT – Based on full bottle pricing, approx. $0.25/ml, which is cheaper than anything else I have if we consider full bottle pricing. The two full bottles I have are technically less per ml than the sample price per ml, but I don’t think that’s a fair comparison for the essence of the challenge.

I didn’t initially get into this hobby to save money, but rather to save my head from regular razor burn. I did, however, see the price and longevity of Proraso to be a perk. That lasted a couple years, but then my FIL started telling me about artisan soaps. And here we are today.

For the djudges and #FOF, I’m going to be honest here — the link between my products today is simply that they are the cheapest I own. The sanitary Arko is unfortunately long-lasting, soi although it was covered up by Proraso momentarily, it’s already smellable again just 20 minutes after shaving. Glastonbury is one of two samples I have by Stirling, and I’ve already used one of them a different day. It’s remarkably different than either my soap or splash, so I can’t make a reasonable argument that they’re connected. However, I will write for a moment that Glastonbury is a wonderous frag. I didn’t get this in the splash sample I bought, but my partner and I both concur that it smells remarkably like the Fryeburg Fair, once you get through the patchouli. There’s a distinctive hay note, that I know isn’t listed on the product page, but is palpable. There’s also something that’s a slightly nicer version of manure (maybe the vetiver?). It was a very cool experience to run to my partner and say “smell this!”, and have us both agree on how evocative of the fair Glastonbury is.

• Brush: Simpson Classic #1 synthetic brush
• Razor: Karve Shaving Christopher Bradley
• Lather: Gillette - regular shaving cream
• Post Shave: Old spice - Original
• Fragrance: Barrister and Mann - Lavender Interrupted

ROTY

Only 2 shaves remaining...

Today I shaved with what I have determined to be the absolute cheapest available lather product sold at Maggards. It is the Gillette brand regular shaving cream. Apparently this is the Maha jumbo offering with a whopping 33 percent extra for free! Lucky me… At 4.95 per 93 grams, it costs a wallet friendly 5 cents per gram. Cheaper than a Godrej puck at 6 cent per gram. (sold out at time of writing) Technically the Derby and Arko shave sticks would have been cheaper per gram, but they are both also sold out and I don't think I would buy any lather product in "stick" form. Smells like all the other crappy tube creams readily available from the store.

Went with the old spice classic aftershave because it was free to me, but is probably also very cheap when compared to artisan splashes I'm sure. So I think it fits the bill

The razor was a gift so although not particularly cheap it didn't cost me anything. I also only have 2 brushes and the Simpson classic is the cheaper of the 2.

I guess it feels good saving money. But to be honest I'd rather use all the great artisan software I have and support those who make it. Hopefully this tube of crap will last many lather games as it will surely be packed away until next games. Photographic evidence below.

https://imgur.com/gallery/XGBdhTg

Went with Barrister and Mann's Lavender Interrupted for the fragrance choice again because it was also free to me. I wore this one yesterday as well for lavender day and had the chance to meet up with Mr and Mrs. u/OnionMiasma for beers at my work. We were both wearing the same fragrance and apologized to each other for its strength, which I found pretty hilarious. To be honest though, I couldn't tell because I could only smell myself. It was wonderful to link up with another member of the sub and I really had a good time hanging. With the enjoyable evening u/tsrblke and family provided earlier this month, I'm 2 for 2 on meeting awesome people from the sub. Both were perfect gentleman and would love to meet up again sometime. Open invite to anyone in or traveling through Chicago, shoot me a message, well crush some beers!

Cheers and have an awesome day everyone!

July 28, 2023 – LG23 Day 28: Frugal Torture Friday

• Brush: Perfecto Pure Badger 20mm #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS
• Razor: Assured for Men Safety Razor
• Blade: Voskhod (1)
• Lather: Williams – Mug Soap
• Post Shave: Assured for Men – Original Formula
• Fragrance: EaD – ED Uni – EdT

It’s like déja vu all over again, but not really. Drugstores are not just places to find cheap canned shaving goo. In the US, there is a proliferation of ̶p̶r̶e̶c̶i̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶r̶u̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶o̶r̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ frugally priced shaving wares at any Dollar(25) Tree store suitable for today’s S̶a̶d̶i̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ Special Challenge where I perform daring feats of masochism not for the faint of heart.

The cost (USD) of today’s shave: * Brush: Perfecto “Thousand Needle” $0.34/g * “Where’s the” Lather: $0.03/g * “Skin Graft Slicer: $0.05/g * Eau de Floor Cleaner: $0.01/mL * Wannabe One: $0.07/mL

Total Unit Cost: $0.50

Fifty cents a shave. Now that is a value, people! We can get more people into our hobby if we flood the market with Dollar Tree products! Next up, Dollar Tree December. Who needs Austere August when you can devote a whole month to the frugality of a Dollar Tree shave?!? For just pennies a day you can join our illustrious ranks! Pennies a day and a small skin donation and you will be the envy of your once-called friends and the laughingstock of anyone else who has pity enough to gaze upon your disfigured face. Warning: This shave may cause cancer in California.

Spelling it out for the djudges Lather, post, and fragrance are cheap and pathetic.

Contestant thoroughly embraces the spirit of the challenge with a variety of Dollar-Store-quality products, including pure badger brush, Williams soap, pathetic razor, etc. for a really awful cheap shave.

LG23-28: Frugal Friday

• Brush: Tweezerman #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS #RUNT #ANCIENT
• Razor: Parker 89R
• Blade: Astra SP (1)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Margaritas in the Arctic - Shave Soap
• Post Shave: Thayer's - Cucumber - Facial Toner
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Island Man
• Passes: WTG, XTG
• Coffee: Ethiopia. Agaro Gera, Oromia. - v: Ethiopia Landraces - p: Washed, dried on raised beds.
• Music: Colter Wall - Little Songs
• LG Tags: #FOF

It's no secret Stirling's products are a good value, but calculating the numbers really put it in perspective. Pricing it out by ounce/gram, no matter which other currently-purchasable artisan soap on hand I thought might come in cheaper, Stirling's ended up victorious—often because of the 5.8 ounces of soap per $14.25 tub ($0.09/g). If you don't need the fun green labels, you can get even cheaper with a refill puck (though it's the same price per ounce). I would have needed to buy some crummy cream from the big box store to do better; the purchase would have yielded many fewer shaves and the performance would have been drastically worse than any of Stirling's bases.

Stirling has many scents to choose from, but it's been a tough week here at Mosquito HQ, so I went with a fun one that reminds me of summer's best moments. I paired Margaritas in the Arctic (MITA) with a cucumber-scented toner and boozy island floral to create a beach vacation shave. And no, the irony isn't lost on me; vacations are hardly ever frugal.

I lathered up my MITA in a take-out container we saved from a recent Thai food order. That cup of re-used plastic (free with purchase) was better priced than the cheapest dedicated shaving bowl, or even a cereal bowl. It also worked surprisingly well for lathering. I used my oldest, lowest-cost brush in my collection—a terrible Tweezerman—with its minuscule knot, scratchy badger hair of indeterminately awful grade, and laughably cheap handle. This little terror of a brush fit nicely in the take-out container and the scratchiness is less apparent on the face if you lather with a very soft touch. Maybe the strong dose of menthol in MITA numbed the discomfort, or I was distracted by the delightful smell of lemon-lime margarita mix wafting into my nostrils. A stiff margarita solves lots of problems.

I shaved with the first cheap-as-possible DE razor I bought for travel. This Parker cost me $26.67 when I bought it way back, and included a pack of blades to sweeten the deal. This is one of those razors you pack for travel without worrying if it gets confiscated, broken, or lost, though that's (thankfully) never happened to me. I loaded an Astra SP blade. Blade prices are all over the place, but the bulk pack of Astra SP blades I bought years ago remains an absurd deal (100 for $11.40). The shave was really pleasant. This Parker used to bite me whenever I used it, but my lather has come along way, as has my shaving technique. I could reduce my collection down to the cheapest possible equipment and still get terrific shaves, which was always the goal when I first got into this. (Now I'm all about muh smellz.)

I followed up my cost-saving Stirling shave with an equally frugal aftershave and fragrance.

For around $10 for 12 oz. around here, Thayer's witch hazel toners come in at cheaper than even pharmacy plastic-bottle aftershaves, and are a refreshing option to keep around even if you don't shave. I like using mine after my final pass and a rinse to get the soap off my skin; I let that sit for a bit and then hop in the shower when the light cucumber scent has started to fade. For better or worse, this scent has no staying power, though it's wonderful while it lasts. I like how it segues into summery, solar, or aquatic fragrances.

Stirling's Eau de Toilette bottles are an even better value at $26.95 for 50ml. Sure, EdTs don't last or project like some of the more potent formulations out there, but that makes them ideal for a spray in the evening, or on really hot days. They last a lot longer than toners and aftershaves. I bought this bottle of Island Man EdT on clearance, bringing the price down further; it's by far the least costly fragrance I own. I've also read it's an admirable copy of Creed's Virgin Island Water, though I haven't tried the original, so I can't compare them. This boozy, fruity, coconut and musk floral has a carefree tropical vibe, with a heavy focus on the citrus. It smells like a vacation, but with no aquatic sense of place. That's a good thing for me. (Me and Calone don't get along.) I particularly like the spicy ginger note—it keeps the whole mixed-drinks-in-paradise gourmand accord from melting into syrup. Still, I much prefer Island Man as a shave soap, even if it's a wearable fragrance and thematically appropriate end to my shave.

I sure feel like I saved tens of dollars today! I'm wisely investing it in more soaps and aftershaves, which I'll definitely consume and need to buy more of before I die. Who's the clever one now, Mr. Money Mustache?

Lather: The End

Today will be my last day posting in the Lather Games, Air Bud Faithful. No, unlike u/cowzilla3, I have not given up but unlike him I have a life and this weekend will be full of it. Yes, even the Air Bud Ruler does non-Air Bud things. As such, it is time to say farewell to you all in the LG posts. Don't be sad that it is over, be happy it happened (and will carry on!).

Those of you who stayed committed and believed, saw the growth of the Air Bud Rule into something bigger than it ever was under the turncoat Cowzilla3. Now, the Air Bud Rule is something bigger than just the idea of not shaving, it is a movement that will never die even if the judges refuse to acknowledge its power.

Will I return next year? Whose to say. That's a long time and possibly by then the judges will have come to their senses and my role here will be done. Maybe I will be back stronger than ever. The future is as mysterious as the true nature of the Air Bud Rule itself.

What is sure, is that this is not yet the last you will hear from me. The Air Bud Quest is still going on, and you can still participate even if you haven't started questing yet. All the pieces and codes are still readily available within these very Lather Games! There is one last bit of code to find and thus one last puzzle piece to collect! That means there will be one more Air Bud Rule Podcast after the games end and, of course, the reveal of the Air Bud Treasure in all its glory (once it's fully formed). This next and final podcast will be shocking to say the least with a special mystery guest that is sure to shake the very foundations of the Lather Games themselves. I urge you all to tune in. Until then, farewell.

• Brush: Van Der Hagen Boar Brush
• Razor: Van Der Hagen 85mm Safety Razor
• Blade: Tiger Platinum
• Lather: Stirling Soap Company- Triumph
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Company - Triumph

ROTY

Jul 28, 2023 - Frugal Friday

• Prep: Klar - Activated Charcoal - Face Soap
• Brush: Stirling Soap Co. Green & Ivory 24mm Synthetic 2-Band Knot
• Razor: BAILI BR 176
• Blade: Perma-Sharp Super [5]
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Saguaro Blossom - Soap
• Post Shave: Pitralon - Swiss - Aftershave
• Fragrance: Armaf Perfume - Tres Nuit - Eau de Toilette

So after taking into account market prices and excluding soap that I bought on sale, Stirling still comes in as the cheapest soap at almost USD $0.09 per gram or $2.46 an ounce. The Stirling synthetic brush was a steal at USD $11.99. While I bought it on sale, it's still on sale for that price now at the Stirling website.

The BAILI was USD $10.99 and 100 Permasharp blades were USD $0.11 each. The Swiss Pitralon comes out to 0.06€ per ml, and the fragrance set me back 0.22€ per ml.

Saguaro Blossom and the Pitralon worked really well together. Tres Nuit was not quite as complementary, but it's still a great scent. It's a dupe of Creed's Green Irish Tweed.

Rating: 4/5

July 28, 2023 - Cheap ass shave

• Brush: Omega S-Brush - $10
• Razor: Baili BT131 - $8
• Blade: Astra SP (1) - $0.10
• Lather: Williams - Mug Soap - $1.89
• Post Shave: Jeris - Osage Rub - $0.019/ml

TOTAL: 20 bones

It's been ages since the last time I used Williams. I actually grabbed this puck off the PIF table at the Maggard meet up in the interest of giving it another shot eventually so it was free. Unsurprisingly the lather was shit, but it worked. All of the items in my shave are the cheapest in each category, but made for a pretty decent shave. I skipped out on the alum and frag to keep it uber cheap. I actually really enjoy using Osage Rub. The scent and blast of menthol are great for hot and humid days like today.

July 28, 2023

• Brush: My Neanderthal hands
• Razor: Air Canada – We lost your luggage courtesy disposable razor
• Lather: Air Canada – We lost your luggage courtesy cream
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts – Samhain

This no-name razor and cream were given to me when Air Canada lost our luggage and skis for a couple days. It was as awesome as this combo was to shave with. If I were to put a value to these items, even an inflated value, they are 100% going to be cheaper than everything else I own. The disposable razor is probably like a dollar and realistically less. The cream, I can’t imagine it would be more than 50 cents an ounce. Even if it is doubled it would still be cheaper than anything else I have or wife has. Its complete trash that clogs the razor worse than pasty shave day did. It does have a relative pleasant maybe minty smell to it though. I have for the most part purged my den of cheap stuff but have kept this razor and cream since March planning on using it for the LG. If any of you ever want an XXL plain white shirt and cheap-o shave and toothbrush kit, just lose your luggage with Air Canada (through Toronto if case anyone cares). Paired with Samhain, because it is travel size just like the other gear (and obviously is is per oz the cheapest AS I own).

Jul. 28, 2023
Brush: AP ShaveCo Synbad
Razor: Razorock Game Changer .68
Blade: Voskhod
Lather: Bombay Shaving Co - Charcoal Shaving Foam - Soap
Post Shave:* Bombay Shaving Co - Post Shave - Balm

I was recently in India and asked around for a popular local shave product and this is what I was told. This was a gift set that included the 50g travel sizes of cream, balm, a disposable razor, a face wash, and a tote for the equivalent of $6.

For the bonus I tried using the disposable razor and immediately threw it in the trash and swapped to my Gamechanger, which is the least expensive of my current DE razors. That disposable was so bad I can’t even describe the feeling. Most of my synthetics are around the same price so I just picked the one with the cheapest handle (I think).

Shared from My Shave Den for iOS

July 28, 2023 – Frugal Friday

• Brush: Omega 10049
• Razor: Schick Injector Type N1
• Blade: Schick Injector (13)
• Lather: Williams – Mug Soap
• Post Shave: Aqua Velva – Ice Blue
• Fragrance: Eau Studio – Defiance

Challenge:

• The Schick Injector N1 was $2 in 1980. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $7.74 in 2023 dollars.
• I only have Schick blades for the injector. So, these are the cheapest at $1.23 per blade.
• Omega 10049 sells for $10.
• Williams Mug Soap sold for $1.25 for 50 g (1.75 oz), which works out to 2.5 cents per grams. My next cheapest was Arko shave stick at 4 cents per gram.
• Aqua Velva Ice Blue sells for $4.98 at Walmart for 7 oz, making it ~71 cents per ounce.
• Eau Studio is a Lidl store brand of fragrances. These sell for $2.99 for a 1.7 oz bottle, which makes it $1.76 per ounce.

I bought this puck of Williams at a grocery a few years before they stopped making it. I’ve only used it a few times. I remember it making a decent lather, but today was not a positive experience. The lather was airy and barely had any slickness. While fragrance is listed in the ingredients, I don’t smell anything beyond a general “clean” soap odor, and the scent is very light. To be fair, no one was ever buying this soap for the smells. This was a product for old timers who consider any beer that isn’t Budweiser to be fancy, stuck up beer. Now that it’s been retired, it’s mainly a comodity for assholes to flip to hipsters.

Aqua Velva Ice Blue is an item I found when we were cleaning out my grandmother’s house. Coincidentally, a tab on the Williams box suggest (commands?) that I try Aqua Velva After Shave. My aunt immediately wanted to smell it because it reminded her of my grandfather. The splash feels watery. Other than a light alcohol sting, and mild cooling, there doesn’t seem to be anything in this to soothe skin. It’s hard to pick specific notes from this fragrance. I would characterize it as a traditional clean fragrance. If I smell the open bottle, I get lots of mint, lemon, oakmoss, and a touch of lavender or violet. There’s also a note that smells like patchouli.

/u/USS-SpongeBob did a review of Ice Blue in his Classic Aftershave series. He classifies the fragrance as a floral chypre. I still don’t have a good handle on the chypre genre. But, I would like to smell a more upscale/modern interpretation of this. This fragrance feels chemically. I’d like to smell something similar made with higher quality ingredients. I'm torn between liking it and wishing it was less plasticy.

I can’t find any source of what fragrance Defiance is meant to dupe. My first thought when spraying the fragrance was “woody.” I smell citrus top notes, aromatics, and musk. The aromatic notes smell like geranium and moss with a touch of musky lavender. There’s a slight earthiness that I think is vetiver. The woody note smells like a hardwood like cedar. The aromatic notes make this feel approachable, and project nicely. The darker notes makes me think this is more of a date night fragrance. For a cheapie cologne, it smells nice. The performance from these Eau Studio frags hasn’t been great, but that’s not surprising.

#FOF

July 28, 2023

• Brush: Omega Pro 49
• Razor: Maggard Razors DE Safety Razor MR1 Stainless Steel V3
• Blade: Astra Superior Platinum (1)
• Lather: Arko – Shave Stick
• Post Shave: Aqua Velva - Ice Blue
• Fragrance: Antonio Puig - Agua Lavanda

Arko -- $2.99 for 75g

Aqua Velva -- $4.98 ($0.71 / Fl Oz)

Astra Superior Platinum -- $8.09 ($0.08 / Blade)

Omega Pro 49 -- $9.99, my cheapest brush

Lavanda Puig -- 14.99 for 25.5 Oz ($0.59 / Fl Oz)

Maggard Razors V3 -- Don't remember how much I paid for this exactly, currently listed at $24.95 and easily my cheapest razor.

All in all a pretty good shave, none of them are my favorites these days but definitely useable. If I really was in this for saving money I would mostly be happy with these products, but variety is the spice of life.

#ROTY

July 28, 2023 – Frugal Friday

• Brush: Edwin Jagger Best Badger #ANCIENT #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS
• Razor: Merkur 34C
• Blade: Astra SP (1)
• Lather: Red House Farm – Prairie Dog
• Post Shave: Thayers - Original
• Fragrance: Duke Cannon – Sawtooth

The Brush/Soap: I bought this brush a little over 11 years ago for $46 when I first began my foray into better shaving with creams. This little workhorse got me through a number of years and remains my go to traveling brush. While I did receive this soap as a PIF from u/grindermonk, thanks again for that, it is also the cheapest soap in my den at ($0.11/g). Don’t let the steal of a price fool you though as this soap has a fantastic scent and lathers up well even using my cheap Cumberbatch bowl ($10).

The Razor/Shave: Admittedly I never started with a super cheap razor. I went from cartridge shaving to DE shaving via a Merkur 34C. For the low cost of $47 from Pasteur this is a hell of a gentle razor. I paired my cheapest blade with it, a $0.1 Astra SP, for ultimate cost saving shaving. The combination provided a gentle and smooth shave.

Post Shave/Frag: By far my cheapest post shave is Thayers at a whopping $0.79 per ounce. While cheap, it is also quite effective and still in regular use for me. I followed that up with some Duke Cannon Sawtooth ($13.53/oz).

Theme/Challenge: For the cheapest shave out of my den it is actually quite an enjoyable experience. The real question is how much did I save? Well lets add up what the most expensive shave would cost assuming 2 grams of soap are used, 0.1 oz aftershave, and .005 oz Fragrance. The cost differential per shave turns out to be a massive $508.12 when brush, bowl, and razor are included. If we remove them, however, and only focus on the consumables the differential drops to $1.12. So let me tell you, It feels good to save a buck and change. Only 23 more shaves and I can save enough for a new soap, Hooray.

#ROTY

Day 28 - Frugal Friday

• Brush: Maggard Razors - Black Resin Handle Synthetic Shaving Brush
• Razor: Baili - BR179
• Blade: Derby
• Lather: Edge - Extra Moisturizing
• Post Shave: Lubriderm - Daily
• Fragrance: Clinique Happy - Clinique Happy

I bought most of my stuff from the bazaar, so it all was cheap... cheaper. But today, I went with the edge and lotion. Changed the blade out for Derby to keep the cost down. Haha. I didn't really use the brush because of the foam.

For the fragrance, I went to the Clinique Happy. You can't beat it at that price point.

Edit I have been thinking about this since my post and looking at other people's posts. I bet if you did the math the 5.8 oz Stirling is the cheapest per shave. It is such a good soap and heavy pour. I wish I would have used my Stirling. Tear.

ROTY #FOF

July 28, 2023 - Frugal Friday

• Razor: Wilkinson Sword Black Plastic
• Blade: Wilkinson Sword
• Lather: Edge - Sensitive Skin w/Aloe
• Post Shave: Curel Lotion - Unscented
• Fragrance: Racing Club - Blue

FOF

Today’s Theme and Challenge:

It was a little tricky to figure out what to use. I tried looking up the MSRP of some of my products, but for the cheapest things in my den, not finding a consistent answer. I had a gel I used to use with cartridges a couple years ago, but no sticker on them, and ugh, current price was higher than Cremo which I already used. I thought Thayers may be my cheapest after shave product, but per oz. not cheaper than Aqua Velva which is around $.80 per oz. My best recollection is the Thayers cost me around $10 for 12 oz. bottle. Now some of them were bought with a buy three ore more for 20% off, but looking for consistency in my pricing. To the store I go. I actually use Curel lotion sometimes for a post shave and it is cheaper than Aqua Velva per oz.

Prices:

Razor: I paid $8 for the razor and blades together.
Lather: Edge gel was $4.00 for 7 oz. or 198g, so just over $.02 per gram.
Post Shave: $9.95 for 25 oz or about 750 ml, so under $.02 per ml.
Fragrance: $5.00 for 100ml or 3.4 oz. That comes to $.05 per ml.

If I threw away the razor, I still would have had the whole shave for under $8.50 in gear and consumables. Pretty cheap shave then.

Shave quality was average. I had a shower shave for the first time is over 2 years. No brush today, so just my hands for the goo. The shower shave was ok, but I forgot how much shadow my right side is in my shower. The gel performed about as well as I’d expect for a can of goo.

Today’s Fragrances:

To start with, there is description on the can of the scent other than aloe. Out of the can this blue goo smelled of green leaves and aloe. Not much else going on with it. After the shave and shower, the Curel is fragrance free, but has a basic lotion/oil scent. My face was a bit wet, so I had way to much lotion, but that’s ok, I just put the excess lotion on my arms. Now the cheap fragrance from five below has no description of scent other than blue in the name. This was a real test of the nose as I just get a basic cologne scent from it. To the interwebs to see what I can find. The most consistent description was citrus, salt, musk, and woods. Not giving me a lot to go with. Closest I can compare it to is Victorinox Classic. I am not getting anything distinct or that impresses me from this scent, but what should I expect for a spray that cost a couple pennies. Today my fragrance journey took a few steps backwards. In the pursuit of cheap as possible, I was limited in what I could do. Kind of kicking myself for not picking up the perfume in a pink skull from five below. It was very floral and sweet though. It would have been a fun bottle next to all the rectangular ones.

Today’s picture. I think I got 5G reception.

Today’s Haiku:

Cheapest is not best,
What does blue really smell like?
About five dollars.

July 28, 2023 – LG 28: Frugal Friday

• Brush: Maggard Synthetic
• Razor: Gillette Ball End Tech (user grade)
• Blade: Ladas (1)
• Lather: Arko – Shave Stick
• Post Shave: Suave – Skin Solutions Vitamin Revitalizing Lotion
• Fragrance: Beverley Hills Polo Club – Blaze Body Spray for Men

Shaved this morning, finally getting around to posting. Gotta keep it shortish and sweet today, as I’m off to the T Swift concert, cause I’m cool like that and a supportive partner.

Went for cheap all the things. Cheapest brush was my maggard synthetic (barely beating a couple boars) which helped kick off my dive into wetshaving. I have a cheap Amazon badger, but that’s was mostly cheap in quality but quite pricey in terms of the kit it came in in terms of performance. Ladas per maggard were cheapest blades. Went with a user grade tech. Software, arko stick, some suave lotion, and Beverley hills polo club body spray curtesy of an old student. More of that story in todays video., and a little tidbit on how each product is part of my wetshaving journey so far. Price breakdown below.

Brush: 11.95
Razor: originally ~.49. Inflation ~9.50. Purchased for like 4-6
Blade: Ladas, .75, or .15 each
Soap: arko stick, $3, or .04 per gram
AS: suave, $4.69 (nice), .00495 per mL
Frag: $10, or .11 per mL

So, all gear was about $35, but roughly $15.42 per shave assuming 2g soap and 2mL splash and frag. Judges, do I need to clarify these are linked by being cheap? FWIW they also all smell pretty meh.

For #FOF arko is like a citronella mosquito repellent urinal cake. Mine is special edition and unintentionally also soaked in lilac vegetal, giving it some extra rotting veg flair. Suave smells like generic lotion. The Beverley Hills Polo Club Blaze, according to wiki scents “Its Top notes are Cedar, Cardamom, Black Leather, Patchouli, Red Sage, Saffron, Lavender, Vervain, Red Grapefruit, Cranberry, Italian Lemon. Mid notes are Black Leather, Patchouli, Red Sage, Saffron, Lavender, Red Grapefruit, Cranberry, Italian Lemon, Cedar, Cardamom, Vervain and Base notes are Patchouli, Red Sage, Saffron, Black Leather, Red Grapefruit, Cranberry, Italian Lemon, Lavender, Vervain, Cedar, Cardamom.” In other words, it smells shittier than axe and is downright horrible. I like how top, mid, and base are all the same but just in different order, lol. Also, this specimen is the “body spray” and not EDT, though I can’t imagine anyone wanting either.

For #PHOTOCONTEST, went with the mighty airbudrule, cause he be dunking on these shitty products.

soap brands 28/30, post shave 28/30, frag 28/30, post/frag linked 28/30, software sponsors 13/13, hardware sponsors 2/2, razor hashtags 11/15, brush hashtags 10/15, photo contest 28/30, daily challenges 24/25, special challenges 4/5

July 28, 2023

https://imgur.com/gallery/S5bjgDI

Prep: None

Brush: Anbbas - Birch handle synthetic

Razor: Rockwell 6s R6 Plate

Blade: Astra - Platinum Green

Lather: Arko

Post Shave: None

All things cheap day! So this was my 2nd shave using Arko soap, and I really can't get past the burnt plastic smell. But, hey, it's cheap. Also, credit where credit is due; my face did feel freaking awesome after the shave, so it's definitely not a bad soap at all. Just the smell, man. That damn smell. Anyways I used a cheap synthetic brush/stand/bowl combo I bought on Amazon a while back. The Astra greens were super cheap in a 500 pack. Besides the scratchy brush, it turned out to be a nice shave. And I'm sure I saved some money along the way somewhere.

#ROTY

Friday, July 28, 2023

• Brush: Maggard Razors - Midnight Blue - 26mm Turn N Shave Quartermoon
• Razor: Baili - BR 171
• Blade: Derby Extra
• Lather: Proraso - Red - Soap
• Post Shave: Pinaud - Clubman - Aftershave

Day 28 of Lather Games: All the cheapest stuff... I was ~~relieved~~ surprised Proaso at $10/5.8 oz is cheaper than new Conk at $5.53/2oz.

Friday, the 28th of July, 2023

• Brush: Omega Pro 49, red handle (10049)
• Razor: Baili BR177
• Blade: Topaz Platinum (76)
• Lather: Arko - Arko
• Post shave: Stirling Soap Company - Coniferous
• Fragrance: Stetson - Original

This was a cheap shave. Cheap, cheap, cheap! Using Maggard Razors as my reference for everything I bought from them, Stirling for the splash since I bought that direct from them, and Amazon for the rest:

The Omega Pro 49 is only $9.99. The next cheapest brush I own is Maggard's synthetic, which is almost $12!

The Baili BR177 is no longer sold; I recall it being $6 or $7 regular price when I bought it; today the BR179 (same razor in a different color) is $9 regular price at Maggard Razors (but it is on sale right now!). I cannot find a source for prices on Techs in the 30s through the 60s... if my 1969 Tech cost $1, that could be as little as $8.07 today, so if Techs were cheaper than I think they were, it's possible this isn't actually my cheapest razor, at MSRP. But going by what Techs sell for in clean condition, it's pretty rare to find one for less than $10 today, so I'm going with my Baili.

Topaz blades are $1.50 per ten in a sample pack (this one is from a sample pack). Even Shark blades are more, at $1.25 per five in the sample pack (or $16 per 100, but I'm not buying one hundred crappy blades). But this blade was only 15¢. But get this: if I count per shave, after 76 shaves on this blade, that's less than one fifth of a penny per shave! You don't get much cheaper than that! But seriously, no matter how many shaves you get, this is a dirt-cheap blade.

It's no surprise that there's a lot of Arko on display today. Arko is $3.99 for a 75g stick: 5.32¢ per gram. My next cheapest soap (per gram) is, no surprise, Stirling, which is approximately 8.66¢ (assuming the jar is actually 5.8oz). However, Arko is unfortunately a far, far worse shaving soap. It's a drying, has zero residual slickness, but I will admit it gave a good shave today. Water is important! I think I used enough today. The scent... well, it's not great, but I don't hate it. If it were a better shave soap I might even use it more often. The quality of the lather is far more discouraging than the scent.

Stirling's Coniferous witch hazel & aloe is $9.95 per 200ml, or 4.975¢ per ml... on Amazon, Old Spice is $19.92 for a two pack, or 7.968¢ per ml. Dang. You know, I hadn't actually done the math before, but well done Stirling! I have no idea how you manage to sell this stuff so cheaply (well, I guess the alcohol splash is a little more costly).

Stetson Original is $13.73 per oz on Amazon... my other cheap perfume, Gravity, is $14.70 per oz on Amazon. It's a close call, but Stetson is cheaper (46.43¢ per ml under 49.71¢ per ml)! And, I think it smells better.

Overall... it was not quite what I'd call great, but this is evidence you do not need to spend much money at all to get a good shave.

7/28/23

• Brush: Muninn Woodworks w/ 24mm Silvertip
• Razor: Wade & Butcher 7/8, "The Celebrated Extra Hollow" Barber's Notch
• Lather: Arko - Shave Stick
• Post Shave: Pinaud - Clubman Aftershave Lotion

This is a brush I had made for my dad a couple years ago. The knot is a 24mm Silvertip from The Golden Nib and the handle is a piece of black buffalo horn. The knot I had gotten for $30 and the horn for $10. Making this the cheapest brush in my den at $40.

I wanted to try this Arko stick again after trying it for the first time on "It's so fluffy I could die" day. Then I realized it was the cheapest soap I have. It still smells super soapy, but my lather was better this time. It's definitely a good alternative for a quick travel shave soap. My only real gripe with it is the scent. Smells like I'm shaving with hand soap. I got this stick for $2.87.

This W&B I paid $49 for and cleaned up myself. It is a wonderful shaver that takes a keen edge and has a super light feel. I also made the scales myself, which contain $3.33 in hardware, about $.25 in Buckeye Burl and about $.10 in resin. This brings the total for this razor to $52.68. Making it surprisingly my cheapest razor.

The Pinaud I picked up for $9, and by volume is the cheapest splash I have. I really like this splash, I wish the scent would last a lot longer. I also wish an artisan would do a scent like this.

I didn't break this all down by $:ml/g, but in what I ultimately paid for each of these things. I have razors that don't cost as much, but I didn't pay for those. This brings todays shave set up to: $104.55.

#ROTY

User confuses Frugal Friday and Flex Day, shaves with fancy Wade and Butcher and artisan brush, surprisingly, still is in theme.

User confuses Frugal Friday and Flex Day, shaves with fancy Wade and Butcher and artisan brush, surprisingly, still is in theme.

July. 28, 2023 - SOTD 

• Prep: Splash of warm water
• Brush: Van Der Hagen Synthetic
• Razor: Van Der Hagen Gun Metal Safety Razor
• Blade: Van Der Hagen Safety Blade
• Lather: 345 Soap Co - Apotheosis
• Post Shave: Nivea Men - Sensitive Soothing Aftershave Balm

Went back to my very first kit I ever got on the cheap in case I didn't like the hobby.

ROTY

July 28, 2023 – R/wicked_edge Made Me Do It

• Brush: My Own Bare Hands
• Razor: Gillette Guard
• Lather: Old Spice – Swagger Shampoo and Conditioner
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Arkadia

When the LG calendar was released THIS was not the shave I had planned. In fact I hadn’t really had much of a plan. I started on this wetshaving journey with a Maggard starter kit and then some samples and eventually sets. I’d only in the last couple years secured a job in a field that afforded me actual disposable income to spend on hobbies. So while still a frugal and price conscious consumer I am happy to pay a premium for premium products. So what to do? Arko? Derby? Col. Conk? Maybe another canned goo to replace the awful one time use of the one earlier this month that has been banished from my den?

And then, as if from the gods, an answer appeared from r/wicked_edge. Apparently more than one person over there has figure out that all you really need to a great shave is plain old hair conditioner! Forget the brush. Forget the creams, the croaps, the pre shaves, pucks, and tallow based soaps! Apparently the revelation had left previous enthusiasts crushed, wayward, yet secure in knowing the truth. That the answer to a perfect shave lay right there in the corner of their shower. Conditioner. So I had to.

I entered this shave with trepidation. What if they were right? Who would I be? To myself, my family, my community. To God. As a greenhorn to the conditioner game I wanted to trust a purveyor with legacy, a soap maker I could trust, but one who is not afraid of innovation. The sweetest fruit of Proctor and Gambles portfolio, Old Spice. Checked over there on ol man Bezos site and I can get 58.4 ounces of this sucker for a ball hairs less than $20 US. For my scent… Swagger. Trust me there were plenty cartoon characters to choose from. But I don’t need a Tony the Tiger, I am a man so I chose swagger for its classy branding and having a scent profile described as an intoxicating blend of citrus and cedar. The only prep I needed for tonight was a nice cool bath after a day out in the sun and a good hair washing and conditioning with… Swagger.

As for the shave? Terrible. Jesus. This one was bad. I’m not sure if it’s because I was out on the beach all day, or that I was using a Gillette Guard for the fourth time that was hanging out at the bottom of my Dopp kit, maybe that I’ve been shaving daily for the past month, or that fucking 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner is just a shit dumper of a product to use as a shaving soap. This was not a fun shave. I’m not going to do it any justice by describe any sort of performance or passes. But it was fun to write and I hope fun to read. I could have splashed with my cheapest, Clubman Special Reserve, but I want to sleep in the same bed as my girlfriend tonight. Also, after that shave I wanted to treat myself with a splash that was actually nice to my face and actually citrus and cedar so Stirling’s Arkadia fit the bill, and my girl will be happy to kiss me tonight.

Cheers! 🤙

ROTY

28 July 2023 Complementary Non Dickkhole Wholly Kaw Amber Bomba

• Prep: Warm Shower
• Brush: Summer Break Soaps Springview 28mm Zenith Bleached
• Razor: Blackland Dart
• Blade: Gillette Nacet (7)
• Lather: Wholly Kaw - Amber Bomba (2)
• Post Shave: Highland Shaving Soap Co - Eclipse A/S
• Post Shave: Thayer's Concoction
• Post Shave: Cold River Soapworks - Sandalwood Post Shave Lotion
• Post Shave: Chicago Grooming Co - Project Lawnsdale Balm
• Fragrance: Slumberhouse - Baque

I decided to go the anti frugality route with WK Creme Fraiche base which is $19.99 for 4oz of an obfuscated dupe of something.

Cheers

July 28, 2023

• Brush: Assured for Men – 18mm Synthetic Shaving Brush #RUNT
• Razor: Assured for Men – Double Edge Safety Razor
• Blade: Assured for Men Double Edge Blades
• Lather: Luxury Men – Smooth Glide Shave Gel
• Post Shave: XtraCare – Fresh Scent After Shave
• Fragrance: Bod Man – Really Ripped Abs
• Music: Lil Dicky feat. Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan - Save Dat Money

Anyone that knows me, know I LOVE a good deal, so imagine my surprise when I went to the local Dollar Tree and discovered they have shaving gear! Like an idiot, I’ve been shelling out my hard-earned money to “artisans” for far too long. It’s about time I helped to open the eyes of r/wetshaving to the scam that is the hobby of shaving. We've all been duped and I wonder how deep this whole thing goes. Are our esteemed djudges in on this? Are all of you sock-puppet accounts for Big-Artisan-Soap?? Am I the only free thinker here???

At Dollar Tree, you can get a Double Edge Safety Razor AND 5 blades for the low price of $1.25. Is that cheaper than a Wolfman or a CF Legacy? Why, yes. Yes it is – I did the math twice to make sure.

What about a Shaving Brush? $1.25. Is that cheaper than a Declaration Grooming brush? Absolutely! And will this Assured for Men brand follow through on its commitments? Undoubtedly. Will DG? We know, the answer to that is unfortunately no.

For the Lather? $1.25 AND its aloe enriched! Does House of Mammoth put aloe his soaps? They absolutely do not! Why is this Ben guy trying to scam us! Is he cutting corners and skipping the aloe? And if we know he doesn’t have aloe, I think it’s reasonable to wonder… What else is he skimping out on?? The people need to know the truth!

For post-shave? You guessed it: $1.25! And it doesn’t have the bullshit snake-oil “skin food” that these so called “artisan brands” have! You know what my skin lacks? Mouths. If skin doesn’t have a mouth, how can it eat this so-called “skin-food”? I’M JUST ASKING QUESTIONS HERE PEOPLE!!

And finally, for the fragrance, I had to spend a bit more to acquire this. Dollar Tree didn’t have fragrances, so I drove to Dollar General and I hit the jackpot! I bought 3.4 ounces (100ml) of fragrance for $4.50 – or $0.045 cents per ml. That charlatan Shawn Maher is charging AT LEAST $120 FOR HALF AS MUCH – 50ml. That’s a whopping $2.40 per ml! Algebra was never my strong suit, but that’s like 787x what Bod Man charges. Sure, it’s possible a Maher Olfactive fragrance is slightly better… But 787 times better??? You do the math! Plus, according to their website, Bod Man is America’s #1 Men’s Fine Fragrance Brand. I can only imagine how many Golden Pears they’ve won. Must be tripping over them at Bod Man HQ!

So, all I’m saying is open your eyes and be willing to try new things. You may be surprised to find that there are products out there are aren’t artisan, but still get the job done just as good! Originally, I thought it’d be fun to shave outside my local Dollar Tree, but then I thought shaving in a more controlled environment would be more informative. Ultimately, I decided it’d be fun to write this and then shave with everything, on video, in my bathroom for my honest first reactions to this entire set-up. At the time of writing this, none of these have been opened yet and I haven’t smelled or sprayed anything at this point in time. It’s worth noting, that I picked this software because it was all blue. And I happen to like the color blue.

Click here for the first impression video.

You guys. Real talk. Gonna break character for a minute. I stopped recording and my face was on fire. And everything is irritated. I don’t like this feeling and I can’t pretend anymore. I’m legitimately afraid to shave with any of this stuff ever again. Oh, and this shit smells gross. While the splash actually wasn’t bad, it still a big #FOF fail. It smells bad, sad, and…. Really fucking sad. Seriously... But, to spin this: This may actually smell better than War or Peach Chypre…. So… I’m just saying DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!! Poor u/OnionMiasma is being hunted for sending hazardous smells in the mail. That’s proof that you could do a lot worse than the scents of this set-up! This was sad, but not exactly offensive. OK. The Bod Man was kinda offensive... But... It was FRUGAL!!!

Also, very funny the packaging was the razor has a stainless steel handle, but the handle is very much plastic.

BTW – That shit I said about Declaration Grooming was absolutely true. I’m out on Scoot until he makes good on u/djundjila’s 2022 LG Prize.

For the #photocontest. Pets (alive or dead). I’m glad the category for pets includes the caveat that they can be dead. Because that’s what I’m including today! This tiny metal vial is a keychain, which has the partial remains of my first dog, Casper. When we had to put him down, we cremated him. My mom has the majority of is ashes in an urn at her house (which are to be buried with her when she dies). And my sister and I each got a little vial/keychain of his ashes. I carried this around on my keychain for years, but now, I just keep it in my desk drawer.

Just because I’m not using a traditional artisan shaving products or fragrances today, doesn’t mean I don’t have an interview! I was able to get Dan, the cashier from Dollar Tree, to answer some questions about the shaving products I found there. So thank you Dan, the cashier from Dollar Tree, for answering my questions and spending your day scanning hundreds of different items, which all cost $1.25!

10 Questions with… Dan, the cashier at Dollar Tree

1) What can you tell me about this safety razor?

It costs $1.25.

2) A dollar-twenty-five seems like a heck of a deal for a razor and 5 blades! Do you sell a lot of these?

I don’t think so…

3) This might be the best kept secret in all of wetshaving! Do you know the blades are more like Feather Blades or Nacets?

I guess you’ll have to try it to find out.

4) Good point. Blades are very subjective and vary from person to person. I shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that. Can we talk about the brush for a minute? Do you know what the hair fibers are made out of?

You kinda have a line forming behind you.

5) Of course! Do you know how much residual slickness this Luxury Men Smooth Glide Shave Gel offers between passes?

Residual what?

6) Nevermind. What scent notes are prominently featured in the shave gel?

The label says it’s aloe enriched.

7) Does aloe have a scent?

I don’t know, man. What are you asking all these questions?

8) It’s for this series I’m working on for the Lather Games and--

What’s the Lather Games?

9) It’s an internet shaving competition that I’m trying to win. Long story. But I ask the questions around here! What can you tell me about this aftershave splash?

It’s blue.

10) Beyond the color. Like, what does the smell remind you of? What’s the history of the scent-profile? How is the post shave feel??

Your total today is $5.31.

Jul. 28, 2023
Brush: Omega Synthetic
Razor: Merkur 37c
Blade: Astra SP Green
Lather: Van Der Hagen - Shave Soap - Soap

I got this shave soap like 8~ years ago before I gave up wet shaving and used a buzzer. I got a job that requires me to be clean shaven about 4 years ago that got me back into wet shaving. When I bought the puck it was at a Walgreens. I went through two pucks at the time this was my 3rd I ever bought and I had no idea about artisan soaps at all. I got this merkur 37c on sale for like 23$. Coulda used a bic disposable but no fun in that. And this omega brush I bought for travel. It’s a trash brush though so I just let it fester in my den.

Here’s my lineup.

Van der hagen soap: $2.99 Shitty dollar tree mug: $1.00 Merkur 37c: 23$ Omega synthetic shit brush: $8~

Shave went surprisingly well. The soap no longer smells of the shea butter they used to use. It smells like basic soap now. I cut it up and melted it in this shitty bowl 8-9 years ago. Merkur 37c I love for one pass shaves. Omega brush is trash and sucks at splaying or lathering. It’s stiff af and took work to get a good lather(prob a brush soap combo issue). 5/10 shave. Cheers!

https://imgur.com/a/wyOOCFt

ROTY

JULY 28, 2023

• Brush: Stirling Synthetic 24mm ($10)
• Razor: Shaving Revolution - Long Handle DE butterfly ($16.88)
• Lather: Harry’s - Shaving Gel ($6 for 4oz)
• Post Shave: CeraVe - daily moisturizing Lotion ($10 for 12 oz)

Today sucked!!! Save myself some Mulaa but was not comfortable throughout the day. What can I say about Harry’s gel….. aside from the price not much else to say. I tried using my brush with it = epic failure! Didn’t smell like anything and the lotion didn’t help. One pass and I had enough. Maybe tomorrow’s shave will bring me joy? One can only hope!!!

DAILY CHALLENGE: So HERE is the breakdown of my morning shave savings!!! It’s actually one of my first sets that I got when I started wetshaving. Oh the memories…. Yeah don’t miss it. Total for all including lotion = $42.88!!! That’s a cheap deal for hardware. Ya’ll have a good night!

ROTY

July 28, 2023

• Brush: Yaqi – 22mm Badger
• Razor: Gillette Travel Tech
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co – Hot Apple Cider Soap
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co – Hot Apple Cider Splash
• Fragrance: Southern Witchcrafts – Samhain

When I started wetshaving, I told myself there was an initial investment, but I would end up saving money in the long run. That’s what the internet told me. Hell, I even have a very good friend tell me the same thing. And I feel deceived. But it’s so worth it.

Fortunately, I don’t have anything terrible in my shaving gear line-up.

For my hardware: I got this brush as a defect direct from Yaqi on Alibaba and is cost $7, shipping included. It’s not great, but I wouldn’t call it bad. This Gillette Travel Tech came in a vintage razor lot from Ebay, but I think original MSRP was like $.49 – Hell, even today, you can pick one up on ebay for like $10-15 bucks. I think I paid like $40 for a lot of 7 or 8 razors. I kinda landed on Gillette Silver Blues as my blade of choice and that’s all I have, so by default, those are the cheapest I have.

For my software: Stirling is by far the cheapest per ounce of any artisan soap out there. You get a whopping 5.8 ounces for $14.25 and the splash is $13.65. The fact you can buy a set for less than $30 AND the soap is massive is such a frugal win!

For fragrance today, I used a sample of Southern Witchcrafts Samhain. This has got to be the unsung hero of the wetshaving fragrance world. A bottle is $22! I picked up a few samples from them and I’m so happy with the quality, I absolutely will be buying a full size bottle or too.

For my scents of the day, Hot Apple Cider soap and splash combined with Samhain. Two great fall scents. In July. But I saw Pumpkin Beer at the liquor store the other day, so we’re not too early! #FOF

I have a rant about the seasons that beer gets released, but it’s 11PM and I gotta get this submitted and go to bed. Plus, I’m not sure if any judges want to read about how it’s bullshit I ordered my first summer beer of the year on March 5 and on July 8, I saw my first pumpkin beer of the year. THIS IS ASSININE!! WHEN DOES THE MADNESS END??? IS IT THAT HARD TO SELL A SEASONAL BEER IN THE SEASON IT IS MADE FOR??? WHAT’S THE RUSH TO BE THE FIRST TO RELEASE ONE??? UGHHHH…

July 28, 2023

• Brush: Assured for Men 16mm Synthetic #RUNT #SMOLL
• Razor: Assured for Men DE
• Blade: Assure for Men (1)
• Lather: Power Stick Shave Gel
• Post Shave: Power Stick After Shave Lotion
• Fragrance: Abbate y La Mantia – Garribaldi

Welp. Today is this day that I make good on the u/OnionMiasma Power Stick PIF. Some quick googling puts the gel and aftershave at around $0.03 per mL. By far the cheapest thing I own. I didn’t even bother to look up the brush or the razor because they are absolutely the cheapest things I’ve ever seen. I’m also pretty sure this box of blades is cheaper than a box of Astra Greens (the other cheap blade I own). Garibaldi is by far my cheapest frag ($0.275 per mL), entirely due to it being in a comically large bottle. The original PIF included a Power Stick Deodorant spray that I think I was supposed to call a frag? I didn't do this for two reasons: first deodorants aren't frags (I may work in a school, but I don't behave like I'm in school); second the sprayer didn't work on arrival. I blame the heat in transit. I'll gladly take the easy way out.

Now for the shave. This stuff SUCKS. Surprisingly it lathered, this process was surprisingly quick with this brush. The brush broke while applying to the face, so I just scooped and used my hands for most of the shave. After applying the lather, the bubbles all disappeared instantly, which is probably why you don’t lather gels, but after the shave I absolutely can not get this shit off my face. I had to towel off the extra gel and it’s still not gone. This is the worst. I only did one pass, because the safety bar is clearly bent. So, it has two entirely different shave angles depending on which side you use. I used the same side for the whole shave, and the blade was super tuggy and, pretty much, barely worked. Luckily I’m shaving before bed, so I can fix it with tomorrow’s shave. By far the worst shave of the lather games, quite possibly the worst shave of my entire life. If this is what it takes to save money, I'd rather spend myself into debt.

No ride today, dropped my bike off with the shop to get a new stem put on to try and get some handlebar changes. Hoping I can fix my hand numbness (which also made today’s shave worse). LG Mileage: 111 miles.

Tags: #ROTY

July 28, 2023 – Cheapo day

• Brush: Summer Break Soap “Dundy” 26mm Motherlode
• Razor: Gillette Tech Fat Handle (1938-1945)
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Dr. Selby – Lavender
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Island Man

Drove 300 some miles with kids in tow today back to the land of Chicago. We’ll finish the journey tomorrow morning, but, tonight’s shave – the final shave of this never ending trip – went about as well as a motel shave can. Dr. Selby with hard hotel water is not a match made in shave heaven, but it is the cheapest soap I have by far.

Dr Selby was given to me for free. See, I have a shaving Instagram with 151 followers so I’m a pretty big deal in this game. So, several months back, Big Soap sent me a free tub of this. At the time Maggard had just got it so I was excited because I considered buying it. All that excitement quickly washed away with use. The soap performs below average and smells like cheap motel soap. So, if you’re thinking of buying a tub, I wouldn’t. It’s green, though, so there’s that. Even if it wasn't free, this stuff is $14.99 for 125g of hard soap. On a price per gram that is the most inexpensive soap I own, but, given that it is a hard soap it is by far the cheapest soap I own on a per shave basis. I doubt I will ever run out of this, even if I give a bunch away.

I did shave with my cheapest razor and used a cheap sample of island man. And I used the cheapest brush I brought on this trip, but, if I’m honest I don’t deserve the challenge points. I’ve got cheaper stuff, I just left it at home.

Anyway, I won't waste more of your time with a long pointless post. I'm going to bed, instead.

FOF haiku of the day

Selby is cheap soap
Smells like a motel soap should
Would not buy again

July 28, 2023 – Lather Games: Day 28  

• Brush: Yaqi Synthetic  
• Razor: Generic Chinese Shavette  
• Blade: Treet Platinum   
• Lather: Pinaud – Clubman  
• Post Shave: Mennen – Skin Bracer  

So, my shave wasn’t spectacular. Really this came down to using a crappy soap and being a little less experienced with my shavette. Pinaud Clubman makes the worst soap I ever used based on performanse; hard to create even a small lather and not very slick. At least it smells decent. It’s the only nice thing I can say about it. I tried using a shavette I bought ages ago to get a feel of a straight if I ever wanted one (I eventually did get a straight, but prefer a DE). I haven’t used it for a long time, and my face paid for it. Sadly, that was even with a mild Treet blade. The best part of my shave was the Mennen Skinbracer, which I think smells great. Sandpiper by Stirling Soaps is a great cologne, so I also enjoyed that.

Overall, saving money is great, but this comes with some major sacrifices. I’d rather spend a little more and enjoy my shaves. That’s probably why this is now a hobby and not the money saving venture I thought it would be. lol

https://imgur.com/a/kZh43ed

July 28, 2023  

• Brush: Echolly – synthetic  
• Razor: Maggard V3  
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)   
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Saguaro Blossom  

Theme: Consider the sage writings of Terry Pratchett and the Vines Boot Theory

“A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet”

Therefore, having spent more money for a soap and setup I’m willing to reuse is more frugal than the folks using the absolute cheapest they can find. In fact, id argue this is the true Frugal Friday. The rest have competed in Pay for a Bad Shave Day.

Challenge:

Stirling Soap avg $0.09 /g

Maggard’s Razor $30

Echolly Synthetic $7

DAY 28 LATHER GAMES! I'M GONNA FRUG IT UP!

• Prep: Water
• Brush: Studio Pro SB020(that what it says on the packaging) #RUNT #SMOLL
• Razor: Some Chinese No Name Brand AliExpress razor
• Blade: Gillette Minora(18)
• Lather: Viking - Shaving Cream Sensitive
• Post Shave: Balea Men - Ultra Sensitive After Shave Balsam
• Fragrance: Shirley May - Just Black

PIC OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

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Now I could have went the route where I use stuff that was gifted to me, cause then it's 0$ and that's the cheapest, but that's not the idea, that stuff is for scrubs! All these products were bought at FULL PRICE, nothing was reduced!

Short summary of prices total and per g/ml:

• Brushhh: Studio Pro SB020 - 1.13$
• Razorrr: AliExpress Razor - 2.33$(that's what I got it for)
• Bladeee: Gillette Minora 0.56$ per pack of 10
• Latherrr: Viking - Shaving Cream Sensitive 1.13$ per 100 ml, 0.0113 per 1 ml
• Post shaveee: Balea Men - Ultra Sensitive After Shave Balsam 1.69$ for 100ml, 0.016$ per 1 ml
• Fragranceee: Shirley May - Just Black 3.38$, 0.0338 per 1 ml

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So total cost of gear is 6.84$! THAT'S CHEAP!!!!

Now we're gonna take out of the equation the hardware, brush+razor to see how much the consumables cost per shave.

The pack of Minoras is 0.56$ per pack, which makes one blade 0.056$, I haven't seen how many shaves I can get, but currently I'm around 20, let's say 20 shaves per blade, which means one shave of the blade costs 0.0028$.

Assuming I use my usual 1 gram per shave of all the products it comes down to(plus the blade) 0.0639$ per shave.

When all is said and done:

TOTAL GEAR COST - 6.84$

PRICE PER SHAVE - 0.0639$

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SHAVE

I was so ready to moan here about the shave, and was ecstatic actually, sadly it did not turn out like that(almost).....

• Cream: It was almost like water, but it did the job done, Proraso is much better and Arko is way beyond that! Should have gone for Arko now that I think about it...
• Razr: I really wanted to hate this razor cause of how cheap and awful it looked, but God damn it... It shaved me REALLY WELL. Did it feel nice on the skin? NO! Did it take me a great deal of concentration? YES! Was it easy? NO. But at the end of the day, did it irritate my skin? Absolutely not.... One of the better shaves I've had this LG, proves to you everything comes down to technique!
• Post Shav: This is probably the closest I've come to finding an unscented balm, but there was a faint tingle in the nose of chemicals. Did not hydrate skin well enough..... BALEA MEN, YOU SOME SCRUBS, MAKE A GOOD BALM!!!
• Brushj: Now if you wanna find a good scrubber for oily pans and similar stuff, THIS BRUSH IS FOR YOU, THE ALL NEW FACE REMOVER 5000!!! Folks, take a few strokes and magically see how your face disappears.... Seriously I don't think I've ever seen a boar brush with such metal like structure bristles, but hey, it's 1.13$!!!

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I think that this experiment proves one thing, that really probably the most important thing is the razor you're using and HOW you're using it, everything else can be average at best, doesn't mean it should!

I do not feel great about SAVING MONEY!!!!

#FOF

This is my first perfume ever that I used, ever since I was 15, and to this day I sometimes use it, albeit all the other awesome EdT I have.

Before getting all the fancy shmancy stuff I have now, this used to eat up all the compliments, it just really clicked with my skin. It's a simple retro fragrance heavy on the woods with good depth and decent longevity! Really is an old-school aroma, one that you would associate your father with or grandfather with, depending on your age. It is warm and embracing! After 6-7 hours it's just a skin scent, but when someone gets close to you, they can really appreciate how it has developed, and for all intent and purposes that's what we're going for, that close range appreciation!

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• Daily Lather Themes: 28/30
• Daily Challenges: 28/30
• Hardware Scavenger Hunt: 21/20
• Hardware Vendor Points: 2/2
• Software Vendor Points: 13/13
• Software Vendor Bonus Point: 1/1
• 30 Different Soap Brands Point: 28/30
• 30 Different Soaps On Theme Bonus Point: 28/30
• 30 Different Post-Shaves Bonus Point: 28/30
• 30 Different Fragrances Bonus Point: 28/30

NOTE: All spelling mistakes are just in case so that the portal doesn't pick up something it shouldn't!

P.S.- You know what grinds my gears!?!? That I had a razor for 0.33$ from AliExpress but threw it out during the move last year, cause I was like "WHEN AM I GONNA USE THIS!!??!?!?!?"..... And you could bend the head with your hands no problem, it was truly a genius razor, and it was 0.33$!