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.

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

• 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.

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.

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?

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

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

• 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.

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 – 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

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

​

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

​

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$

​

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$!!!

​

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!

​

• 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$!