u/Newtothethis's SOTDs for challenge 'Lather Games 2023'

July 1, 2023 – So It Begins  

• Brush: Simpson Synthetic  
• Razor: Merkur 34C  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Captain’s Choice – 45th Parallel  

Amaretto is underappreciated both as a flavor and as a scent. Found this soap on my Maggard’s trip, never would have bought it just from an internet description.

May everyone enjoy their games. It’s silly internet hijinks and I hope there are plenty, but it’s also pulled me through some really stressful times as a mindfulness practice and self care routine. I hope that’s something the rookies can experience and the veterans appreciate.

July 3, 2023 –   

• Brush: Stirling Synthetic  
• Razor: Maggard V3  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Dr. Jon’s – Lemongrass & Geranium  

Dr.Jon’s seems to have more staying power with their scents. Their lather takes a long time to build into anything usable. Maybe it’s that my sample is older and the soap was pretty hard. Either way, I do love the smell.

Challenge: I choose my maggard’s razor because it’s variegated colors. One side is purple and green while the other side is actually a rose/gold and green. It helped me to remember what side was the chosen one for this scrape. It’s purple and green btw.

July 3, 2023 –   

• Brush: Stirling Synthetic  
• Razor: Franken-Razor  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: House of Mammoth – Almond Leather  

I don’t know what my razor is, it’s Frankenstein’d together. My soap is almond leather, heavy on the almond and light on the leather.

Challenge: I did some light stalking of u/RedMosquitoMM and found he appreciates both intentional phone-free socializing and D&D. To honor this, I prepped a little adventure to play with my nieces. https://imgur.com/a/FvPb08N

July 4, 2023 –   

• Brush: Simpson Synthetic  
• Razor: Merkur 34C  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Declaration Grooming – After the Rain  

I was so disappointed with this smell. For me, I have very fond memories attached to the rain at my summer camp. It’s a pine and oak forest that’s normally very dry and dusty in the summer. When it does rain in the summer it’s usually part of a lightning storm. It’s very likely the smell in my memories is really just wet dirt, but I still love it and I was actually disappointed in the floral notes of this soap.

Challenge: please see photo below for my lab report, it’s a pretty solid 3rd grade science fair write up. Funny science story: My dad’s first career was in HIV/AIDS research. He had a lab with a bunch of mice and later rabbits for testing. As I was very little I didn’t have much understanding of his job. He told me that he took turns with the other scientists taking care of the mice. I fully believed that he took each mouse out of its cage, petted it, changed its bedding and water, and then tucked it in for the night. Spoiler Alert: that is definitely not what he did.

https://imgur.com/a/XADwT5A

I really enjoyed this post. What put it over the top was the “3rd grade” science experiment write up photo. It was well done and brought a smile to my face!

July 5, 2023 – What Fresh Hell  

• Brush: Stirling Synthetic  
• Razor: Maggard V3  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Gillette – Pure  

Well. This is awful. I usually apply goop by hand the way Satan intended but here I thought I’d see if a brush improved matters. It doesn't. The soap provides a possible amount of lubrication but its a pain to rinse the razor and my skin feels dry and weird after. It’s been a year since I shaved with goop and I had forgotten how bad it is. We call it the LatherGames but today is the spirit of the Hunger Games. An annual reminder of the way it used to be, back when we all shaved with goop daily. Before the peace and prosperity brought to us by Maggard’s and purveyors of decent soap.

For anyone that cares I purchased my goop from the local grocery reject store (grocery outlet).

Challenge: Jasmine. Give me a solid Jasmine soap. Not one with hints, not one with this ‘floral but masculine’ bs. I want that first wiff to transport me home to the wafting smell of the 8ft night blooming Jasmine trellis by the front door. If we are getting fancy Id also like to include the smell of a pine forest after the rain. I don’t have any clue how that would work, but it definitely does in my fantasyland.

July 6, 2023  

• Brush: Century – Pure Bristle  
• Razor: Merkur 34C  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Barrister and Mann – Sunny Lane  
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Sunny Lane  

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: sets don’t make sense for leg shaves. I go through soap alone at roughly quadruple the rate of face shavers. Setting aside how quickly I would run out a bottle, covering my legs in aftershave would literally violate my workplace dress code that requires aftershave and perfume be applied moderately.

It’s safe to say overdose day isn’t high on my favorites list. But, I do have a set from a pif and I reserve it for this occasion. I also set aside this day for an underarm shave. There is no good way to apply aftershave to your armpit FYI. But I achieved it and now I smell like my grandpa. That is not a bad thing. My grandpa was fantastic and I’m lucky to have a scent that associates good memories of him.

Title and picture refer to my own little amusement. It’s my theory that Bath & Body Works body wash + body lotion are the mainstream/ladies version of our soap + aftershave sets. So I dug out my favorite set and used it in my shower. For the judges to note: body wash and lotion were not involved in the actual shave today. It just amused me to have two sets of stuff. I should have included a picture of my shampoo & condition to really round it out.

Challenge: see SOTD picture.

July 7, 2023 – Do You Spice?  

• Brush: Simpson Synthetic  
• Razor: Merkur 34C  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Catie’s Bubbles – Barnegat Bay  

It had the most spices on the label so it got the pick for today. I’m still looking for a soap that smells like an orange stuck full of cloves that weak every Christmas.

Hobbies. Where to start. There aren’t many crafts I haven’t done. Love to bake. Enjoy camping and backpacking when I have time. Fountain pens amuse me. Lately been into the Dungeons and the Dragons. That comes with the fun phrase Murder Hobos. Your party of noble heros that runs around itinerate and killing anyone and everyone they have even the slightest reason to believe they can. They are murder hobos.

July 8, 2023 – Smoll Business Saturday  

• Brush: Century – Pure Bristle  #smoll #runt #ancient
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Maggard Razors – Mango Sage Tea  

Today’s shave was done with my travel razor, a sample soap and the most adorable tiny brush. Smoll kit for smoll business.

Challenge: Stag. Why??

Brush was a pif from u/Impressive_Donut114

Edit: added in link to my post. The database didn't import the link in the markdown.

July 9, 2023 – Not technically sacrilegious  

• Brush: Simpson Synthetic  
• Razor: Merkur 34C  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Catie’s Bubbles – Irish Coffee  

I shaved in the ancient church social hall kitchen with Catie’s Bubbles – Irish Whiskey. There is a big deep dishwashing sink that I can just hook my leg over to shave in. I very seriously considered using the sacramental bread plate as a lather plate but decided that would be over the line.

This one is just wild. Love it.

July 10, 2023 – July 10  

• Brush: Stirling Synthetic  
• Razor: Maggard V3  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Barrister and Mann – Paganini’s Violin  

Paganini’s was the only choice for today.

I have to admit I’m not much of a music person. I’ve never paid money to go to a concert. I did not have an angsty teen music-my-parents can’t stand phase. I do however have a few good memories linked to music. Mountain drives with my brother on a cold day, top down and heater up singing along to Tenacious D and Buck-O-Nine. The Lord of the rings movie score and singing my nieces to sleep with Into the West. And I met my best friends in high school marching band. I might not value any one song or artist all that much, but I do value the memories that were made because of it.

Challenge. I cross stitched the label. I started with a basic treble clef pattern and modified heavily to try and give it the brush stroke look. I’m pretty proud of it. My aida cloth is a pale yellow/warm cream color. I might try going through with some pops of yellow thread but I think it would overwork the fabric. Anyway, this can join my Barrister and Mann Reserve Cool and Summer Break Soaps Bell Ringer cross stitch label collection.

Player chooses one of the slowest possible methods to "draw" a soap label

July 11, 2023 – Summer Sunset  

• Brush: Stirling Synthetic  Kong
• Razor: Maggard V3  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Catie’s Bubbles – Purple Grapefruit
• Lather: Lather Bros. – Flora Colossus Aftershave Balm

A Summer Sunset Shave. I really enjoy how well the Soap and Balm work together. The Asian pear and cedar from Flora Colossus further mellowed out the grapefruit into something that was really fitting for an evening shave.

I only a little bit regret that the balm is mentholated. It felt good on a warm summer night for a few minutes. Now it kinda burns.

Challenge: see SOTD pic. I was pretty proud of getting the purples in the soap label and the purples in the balm label and the purples in my razor accented with a black brush all up against the purple sunset skyline.

July 12, 2023 – The Winnie The Pooh Shave  

• Brush: Stirling Synthetic  
• Razor: Maggard V3  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Catie’s Bubbles – ’95 Liquid Labels  

It’s Catie’s Bubbles. It’s today’s featured artisan for a reason.

Challenge: well, I both leg lather AND bowl lather. Legs are too much surface area to lather all at once. You will dry out.

Normally I shave in the shower. I directly load my brush to put a pasty proto-lather on, then whip up a soap soup runny lather in a bowl and finish the process with a leg lather as I approach each section.

But today is not that day. Today, we have to do the opposite. Today we get weird.

I shaved at the sink so it was a Winnie the Pooh situation. Since I couldnt leg or bowl lather, and because of the aforementioned pants-less-ness I couldn’t go get a plate, so I went for the counter lather.

Now the problem is the volume of lather I need for legs. I couldn’t just lay out a large enough puddle of perfect lather in the space I had. So I built my own bowl of dryish lather up, and created a little lake inside of that. This way I was able to dip my brush in the wet, pick up a little bit of the denser lather and slap it all on my leg for a decent texture. All while standing like a flamingo with one foot in the sink.

Edit: formatting

Player creates all-new lather method to tackle the day's challenge.

July 13, 2023 – Shaaaag  

• Brush: Dogwood Badger  
• Razor: Maggard V3  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Tallow + Steel – Shag  

First. A thanks to u/tsrblke for the shag smush, generously sized for leg shaving.

Second, a thank you to u/phteven_j for the gorgeous brush that makes the dice goblin section of my brain very happy. I have to admit I don’t actually know what the knot is made of or how the heck to classify this in the database.

I just noticed that the wetshaving database logo is actually the little icon for a database dressed up to look like soap and it made me chuckle.

Theme: top of the scent notes list is patchouli. Can confirm it smells like the hippy shop in my favorite artsy mountain town (Idyllwild).

Challenge: The Top Gear Theme Song. All I could think of while shaving was saying “shag” said the same way Jeremy Clarkson says “Jaaaag”. Therefore, top gear is the appropriate sound track. Also, I’ve been watching a lot of Clarkson’s farm. So. Welcome to my brain.

July 14, 2023 – Face Day  

• Brush: Dogwood Badger  
• Razor: Maggard V3  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Orange Chill  

I once made the mistake of getting a glacial soap. Lessons were learned and I now tap out at Stirling’s Chill level. Added bonus of the orange working on washing away the stank of shag from yesterday.

Challenge: well, challenge specified face. Is this the counterpoint to leg day? I gave myself a fantastic beard of lather and ‘shaved’ up in what I’m assuming is against the grain. My face is cool and tingly. Least satisfying shave yet.

July 15, 2023 – What even is chypre  

• Brush: Echolly – synthetic  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)   
• Lather: Grooming Dept – Chypre Peach  

I still have no clue what chypre is supposed to actually smell like, but this is not good.

Challenge: I really do not want videos of myself on the internet. But I also felt like I should at least try to do something other than recommend the same excellent Maggard video every year.

I started with modesty bubbles and low light, then gave it a shot with the time lapse setting on the camera. It’s as much as y’all are gonna get.

July 16, 2023 – Meh  

• Brush: Century – Pure Bristle  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)   
• Lather: Maggard Razors – London Barbershop  

Lather: Barbershop scents don’t do a whole lot for me, they’re okay but tend to lean masculine or powdery. Not my thing.

Challenge: Because u/mrtangerinesky is better at making himself moan than his partners, apparently. And because I cannot wait.

Edit: adding in links because my clipboard can only take so much.

July 17, 2023  

• Brush: Century – Pure Bristle  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)   
• Lather: Declaration Grooming – 88 Chestnut Street  

Theme: D.G + C.L

Fun fact, I mixed up days and did a shave before this. Got as far as going to post it and realized. So I dragged myself back to the bathroom to shave my knee. Just my knee. Just one knee. My legs are a total patchwork thanks to the games. I’ve also been really digging my smoll set with sample sizes.

Challenge: I don’t own alum, I thought it was for if you cut yourself. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve ever cut myself shaving.

As for why I don’t rub straight salt on my skin? Other than the sheer silly-ness, we simply don’t keep enough of it in the house for such things. My dad’s heart is bad, like transplant list bad. When you have cardiac issues sodium is the enemy. So mom bought a case of salt shakers, filled them up from a Costco container and now controls the shakers. Only one is allowed out into the house at a time. Where the rest are hidden? Only she knows, probably with a collection of t-rex and Godzilla figurines we keep sneaking into her nativities and she keeps disappearing.

July 18, 2023  

• Brush: Century – Pure Bristle  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)   
• Lather: Southern Witchcrafts – Samhain  

Theme: It smells like pumpkin. There is a little jack o lantern on the label art.

Challenge: have we checked on the judges? Made sure there’s no bodies in the freezer? Cause asking for pics of used lather is….I’m concerned about what’s being done with these pics.

July 19, 2023  

• Brush: Sock – hobbit foot  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)   
• Lather: Geo. F. Trumper – Coconut  

Theme: It’s a cream. It says cream. Zero cuteness.

Challenge: I choose to believe that today is about fun socks! Not somebody’s plot for feet pics. I like to crochet and I made myself some hobbit foot socks a while back, decided it was their time to shine. See SOTD pic. I made a lather. And then I figured the socks needed cleaned anyway. Lowkey, showering in sockas is not as bed as it sounds.

The fuck are those hobbit socks?

July 20, 2023 – Pasty Day  

• Brush: Century – Pure Bristle  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)   
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Light-ish Red  

Theme: From Stirling’s Site “Inspired by Abercrombie Fierce”. Just call it pink my dudes.

Challenge: I whipped up a lather so pasty it could pass the blizzard test. Then I went to take a picture and, well….you know how people look at clouds and see shapes? Turns out my brain does that with lather. I present what should have been the real challenge today.

Soap shapes aside, my next problem was keeping it pasty. I decided to shave on the side of the tub to keep the legs dry and run myself a bubble bath to apologize to my legs for what I was about to do.

The paste shave wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. No cuts and after a bit of a soak in the bath, no irritation.

Edit: removed a pic because the link is broken and I don't want to fix it.

Shaver discovers a pony in her lather

July 21, 2023 – Fougere > Chypre  

• Brush: Echolly – synthetic  
• Razor: Ever Ready 1912  
• Blade: GEM   
• Lather: Black Ship Grooming – Philip’s Fougere  

Theme: it’s in the name. My first GEM shave. Looks scary as hell, but not bad at all.

Challenge:

Leg day is coming

Don’t slip shaving on one foot

Your partner will laugh

July 22, 2023 – Not the gumdrop buttons  

• Brush: Dogwood Badger  
• Razor: Maggard V3  
• Blade: Feather (DE)   
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Pearberry  

Theme: it’s in the name. Pear and berry. Also, my bubble bath was Lush’s Raspberry reusable bubble bar and my lotion was Bath & Bodyworks Cucumber Melon. Apparently cucumbers are considered a berry.

Challenge: I already leg shave. But Ive never actually shaved my toes. Probably because they grow hair like Homer Simpson. But it had to be done, and all 4 of those hairs got the chop. The legs were shaved as well for what it’s worth. Though since so many people were getting cut I thought i'd break out the feather blade to keep it exciting. Meh.

**July 23, 2023 – **  

• Brush: Stirling Synthetic  
• Razor: Ever Ready 1912  
• Blade: GEM   
• Lather: Declaration Grooming – Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli  

Theme: So last year, I forgot to pack deodorant for camp. But it was during The Games so I had a pile of soap with me. Y/R/P was my backup and I used it as deodorant instead. Do I fully recommend a layer of lather paste as deodorant full time – hard no. Will it get you through 5 days in the woods – yes. The folks I was sharing a cabin with appreciated it. Most people don't recognize yuzu so they think it's overall some type of floral. One person thought it was grapefruit.

Challenge: see picture to judge my lather. Judge away.

July 24, 2023 – Pass It On  

• Brush: Dogwood Badger  
• Razor: Ever Ready 1912  #BRASSING
• Blade: GEM   
• Lather: Zingari – The Gatherer  

Theme: everything is PIF’d. The bowl is my dad’s old shaving mug. The Ever Ready is from Environmental-Gap380. The brush is from Phteven_j. The Zingari is from the LatherGames Fairy.

A bit of amusement/backstory: Family legend is that I forced my dad to shave for several years because as a toddler/little kid I would absolutely melt down if he grew it too long. I do remember not liking if my goodnight kiss was scratchy. Mom worked nights so Dad did bedtime and I guess it just wasn’t worth the fight.

When I showed Dad the Ever Ready, because at this point I enjoy his absolute bewilderment over The Games, he commented that he learned to shave on one. He doesn't talk about his childhood so it was neat it get that little tidbit.

Challenge: u/ktturtlesue makes me laugh, she’s funnier than the esteemed Mr.Miasma. It’s my opinion that he wouldn’t stand a chance if she really went for the gold in these games and he’s lucky to have her support.

u/bloodcrab for being a fellow late-poster, he’s got solid write-ups.

As always, my annual thanks to the community for the general positive culture. As someone who spends nearly all their time in male dominated spaces, if we could capture the culture here and export it - the world would be a significantly better place.

July 25, 2023 – It’s the pits  

• Brush: Dogwood Badger  
• Razor: West Coast Shaving – Frankenrazor  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Red House Farm – 9 Days up Nort’  

Theme: I’m from Southern California. This soap smells more like winter than any winter I’ve ever experienced. This smells like winters I’ve only read about.

Challenge: I shave left handed all the time. Have you ever tried shaving your right armpit with your right hand? Let me know how it goes. Because I did shave left handed, left armpit included.

P.S. I don't know what my razor is.

July 26, 2023 – My mother is so proud  

• Brush: Echolly – synthetic  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Gain – super fresh blast detergent  

Theme: most wildcards are edible or obscure soap. I had just about planned today’s shave to be chocolate ganache but life had other plans. I keep hydrogen peroxide and detergent under my sink for when Aunt Flo tries to ruin my underwear, and when I saw them this morning I knew what I had to do. Detergent is thirsty stuff, it lathered well and makes for a very smooth shave. Plus the bathroom smells amazing. Or course you also have to rinse for 10 minutes solid and my leg kind of burns now but let’s ignore that.

Challenge. It’s more of a shave shelf plus sample bucket and it usually loves scattered around.

July 27, 2023 – Shave in a Tree House…Two Bits.  

• Brush: Stirling Synthetic  
• Razor: West Coast Shaving – Bride of Frankenrazor  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Dr. Jon’s – Flowers in the Dark  

Theme: I used to make lavender soap with my mom and grandma, smells like that.

Challenge: See SOTD picture. Yes, my lather is dry and sad, I had a bottle of water off photo.

Shaved in my treehouse. It’s become overgrown by climbing ivy and ants…so many ants.

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

July 29, 2023 – Mid  

• Brush: Simpson Synthetic  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Astra SP (Green)   
• Lather: Proraso – Sandalwood  

Theme: Proraso was almost my first shave soap because of its availability on Amazon, I went with it because Maggard’s had a sample and I wanted to know what could have been. Its…okay. It smells okay, it shaves okay, but it left my leg feeling very dry.

Challenge: what can I say that hasn’t already been said. Mr.Miasma has to be tired of mentions by now.

Hot Take: Can’t be ROTY if you were too scared and unimaginative to shave something for leg day. u/trsBlke is my pick for ROTY, dude shaved his legs twice.

July 30, 2023  

• Brush: Simpson Synthetic  
• Razor: Gillette Tech  
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue   
• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street – Rose  
• Post Shave: Ethique – Like and Ginger Lotion Bar  

Theme: I’m in the US. TOBS is made in England. I know rose is an ‘old lady’ scent. I want to smell like my grandmas rose garden damn it! It’s a shame that the soap itself isn’t that great, hard to get a smooth glide.

Challenge: Gillette Tech made in England. Simpson Chubby Synthetic is made in Great Britain. Blade made in Russia. Post Shave made in New Zealand.

A thank you to everyone who made the games a great experience this year. I look forward to next year.