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

• Brush: r/wetshaving 31mm Zenith Moar Boar
• Razor: Titan 17002 Mini Razor Scraper
• Blade: Gem Personna Stainless Steel
• Lather: House of Mammoth Mood Indigo
• Post Shave: Clubman Reserve Whiskey Woods, Osma Alum
• Fragrance: Stirling Sharp Dressed Man

I awoke this morning to realize it was July 1, the dawn of Lather Games. I have failed at this sub lately. I took my kid to Home Depot for the monthly kids workshop, and then recognized the significance of the date ahead of me. I opened up the challenge for the first time.

I still have not looked at the schedule for the month. And I’m probably not going to tonight.

So, this evening carried me to the worst shave of my absolute life. A razor scraper is not something you should ever shave with. I never have until tonight. The gem blades I have are not known for being “the good” blades. I hurt. I am bleeding. I smell good?

shave

aftermath

Shaved with a razor scraper

• Brush: Shave Prescription 28mm B10
• Razor: Blackland Sabre
• Blade: Gem Personna Stainless Steel
• Lather: Southern Witchcraft - Grey Phetiver
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcraft - Grey Phetiver, Osma Alum
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Falling Into the Sea

Hot take: Blackland Sabre has less blade feel than the Titan razor scraper.

I actually grabbed the tools for today because they match stylistically- a nice tribute to gray. I maybe should bust out the calendar at some point to make certain I am not shooting myself in the foot just grabbing things on a whim….

shave

• Brush: Dogwood/House of Mammoth 28mm SHD #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS
• Razor: Blackland Blackbird TI #CNC
• Blade: Personna Egyptian Red
• Lather: Cella Milano - Crema Da Barba All’olio Di Mandorla
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Almond Leather, Osma Alum
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Memoirs of a Trespasser

Bonus: Salud, u/RedMosquito ! That shot of amaretto is for you (and now me).

This is the first enjoyable shave I have had of LG. I smell like an Italian bakery and I feel fantastic. Red was present where I could find it, and Memoirs is to commemorate memories from days before.

shave

• Brush: Zenith B2 26mm boar #HOLLOW #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Tatara Masamune #CNC
• Blade: Personna Egyptian Red
• Lather: Barrister & Mann - Diamond (Excalibur base)
• Post Shave: Barrister & Mann - Diamond Aftershave, Osma Alum
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Soft Lawn

There is nothing more spring than baseball. Diamond has an odd appeal to me. For one, I never liked playing baseball and I think the game is dry unless if’s Dodgers, naturally. This shave soap has nothing I would ever seek in a scent. I got it by a PIF from u/BVsaPike a few years back, and subsequently had the greatest shave I had experienced to date. This was the ware that got me going. It has been a dependable addition to my den, yet I am always suspicious as to how I ever find myself reaching for it. It is something I would never part with- and Mrs. RdtheDO craves popcorn when I wear it, which somehow oddly works out (possibly layering on the oddity).

Weight of razor plus blade: 88.1g

Weight of soap used: 1.4g

Volume of aftershave used: 2.5mL

Volume of cologne used: 0.3mL

shave

blade under polarized microscope

• Brush: muh bare hands
• Razor: Gillette King C
• Blade: Gillette King C
• Lather: Gillette - Foamy Sensitive
• Post Shave: Gillette - Cool Wave, Burt’s Bees - Aftershave Balm
• Fragrance: Stetson - Stetson Cologne

I smell like a cheaper version of a dollar store cowboy that was hit with a handful of thistle and rosemary. And by that, I mean I smell great. shave

• Brush: Zenith Moar Boar #CHONK #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Tatara Nodachi #CNC
• Blade: Personna Israeli Red
• Lather: Noble Otter - Rawr shave soap
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Rawr after shave splash
• Fragrance: Noble Otter - Rawr EDP

Rawr is such a fun shave- I always love how playful it makes the day.

shave

• Brush: Dogwood/Briar Brushworks/Declaration Grooming 28mm B13 #CONPOSITE
• Razor: Merkur 34C #BRASSING
• Blade: Gillette Permasharp
• Lather: Noble Otter - Plunder shave soap
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Plunder after shave splash
• Fragrance: Declaration Grooming - Big Scent Energy EDP

We left for a staycation locally today- it is amazing how two nights’ wares takes up more space when you are accounting for two days of entirely separate shaves. First world problems, clearly.

Plunder reminds me of cruises as this was the only soap I carried. The argument for spice is straightforward- it’s essentially gunpowder and spice. Big Scent Energy is a powerful portrait of amber, florals, but also cardamom. I get pepper as well. Nobody will miss your presence with BSE. Brassing is only present on my 34C where the handle has threading to accept the cap, but that still seems to meet criteria for me.

My most recent new hobby is espresso. My most recent new-found coffee addiction is an aerocino. Essentially, you take an espresso shot, cover it in ice, then use an espresso steam wand to melt the ice while pulling aeration into the espresso similar to milk frothing. What you get is a cold coffee beverage, essentially an americano, but aerated to a mouthfeel similar to a nitro-pulled drink. so, ask for this next time you are at a coffee shop and enjoy a cold summer coffee treat.

shave

brassing

• Brush: Dogwood/Briar Brushworks/Declaration Grooming 28mm B13 #COMPOSITE
• Razor: Merkur 34C #BRASSING
• Blade: Gillette Permasharp
• Lather: Maggard Razors - Mango Sage Shave Soap
• Post Shave: Spearhead Seaforth! - Sea Spice Lime shave soap
• Fragrance: Spearhead Seaforth! - Sea Spice Lime EDP

I never thought to pair these two scents together, but man it just works.

Challenge DQ

shave

• Brush: Zenith B28 #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Merkur 39C Sledgehammer slant
• Blade: Gillette King C
• Shave Soap: House of Mammoth / Wholly Kaw - Iced Tea shave soap
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth / Wholly Kaw - Iced Tea after shave splash
• Fragrance: Creed - Green Irish Tweed

This is too damn timely of a challenge post. So we return from vacation, and my wife naturally clears out the fridge from our time away while I’m mowing the yard. Chiefly, she decides to dispose of leftover lo mein and enchiladas. Now, my wife is a fragile creature. She hates loud noises. So, she shys away from garbage disposal use.

I spent my day scurrying back and forth from Home Depot to fix our drain. For those in need, Ryobi’s p4002 is a fine addition to your v18+ lineup.

Now it is 11:41pm and I am shaving from our kitchen.

shave

• Brush: DG B9A Unicorn Ivory
• Razor: Tatara Masamune #CNC
• Blade: Personna Israeli Red
• Shave Soap: Barrister & Mann - Paganini’s Violin Soft Heart base shave soap
• Post Shave: Barrister & Mann - Paganini’s Violin shave balm
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Every Storm is a Serenade

I loved today’s shave and challenge. Music and art play an integral part of my person, yet I forget to foster these pieces. I made a simple watercolor from the face of Paganini and also the face of his violin to represent the soap of namesake. I married IA’s Every Storm is a Serenade to the soap and balm simply based upon name, but I am blown away by the scent combo. This is a fantastic pairing.

shave

watercolor

This SOTD pic with the watercolor is a stunner

• Brush: SBS B10 28mm
• Razor: Merkur 37c
• Blade: Gillette King C
• Shave Soap: Summer Break Soaps - Cannonball! Shave soap
• Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps - Cannonball! Aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Sundrunk

I am cooked. Today was way too long- worked all day and still going to bed with more work. I did my best to coordinate colors, but I really don’t have an orange and blue shave handle available. I opted for going SBS and matching the greens and blues of my brush to represent summer. Sundrunk was a late addition and did not make it into the pic.

Also, I do not have a great PC way to share this, but be careful where you let Cannonball! splash touch, especially if drying one’s entirety after the shower you shaved in 🥶🥜

shave

• Brush: Zenith B28 #OLDWORLD #HOLLOW
• Razor: Merkur 39C Sledgehammer slant
• Blade: Gillette King C
• Shave Soap: Black Ship - Grace O’Malley shave soap
• Post Shave: Pinaud - Clubman aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Creed - Green Irish Tweed
• Song: Dropkick Murphy’s Bar Room Hero

I kind of blended the whole mess of today’s challenge with tomorrow’s when I read things quickly earlier. Kids, learn to read in advance.

I also realized I can’t count when editing my Imgur album.

I also realized my brush was hollow - whoops.

I do not regret it as I chose the components for Bar Room Hero. This soap base used to seem a lot more drying to me- perhaps bowl lathering forced me to use more hydration than otherwise, but I got a really nice shave.

shave

• Brush: Zenith B28 #OLDWORLD #HOLLOW
• Razor: Tatara Masamune
• Blade: Personna Israeli Red
• Shave Soap: Chiseled Face - Cryogen shave soap
• Post Shave: Chiseled Face - Cryogen aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Tommy Bahama - Set Sail to St. Barts

This was my AA set a few years ago (plus Set Sail), but it seems to have lost some of its bite as I wasn’t left crying like before. I may need to get a new tub. I missed yesterday and am somewhat annoyed at myself for valuing sleep more than LG, so I took a three pass shave entirely against the grain to punish myself for my follies.

shave

• Brush: Shave Prescription 28mm B11
• Razor: Blackland Blackbird Titanium #CNC
• Blade: Persona Israeli Red
• Shave Soap: House of Mammoth - Alive shave soap
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Maher Olfactive - Crystal Moon

U/USS-SpongeBob says Mammoth Ben says this is a chypre. That works for me. Chypre is a fun word- it’s a conglomeration of random letters, probably French or something- and it sounds nothing like it reads. My cave-man depth of understanding is that it means I am supposed to smell like something I would want to eat, but it sounds like a sheep-ruh- something I would not want to eat. Sheep are slow and dumb.

Whatever this may be, I smell like apples and Crystal Moon. I like this.

shave

• Brush: Zenith B28 #OLDWORLD #HOLLOW
• Razor: Blackland Blackbird Titanium
• Blade: Personna Israeli Red
• Shave Soap: Noble Otter - BarrBarr shave soap
• Post Shave: Barrister & Mann - Seville aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Cape Heartache

This was my first shave with BarrBarr, and I really enjoy the take on the genre. We had a nice day with family and a long drive across the state to visit the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables, FL. It’s amazing to see a natural spring be turned into such a nice pool, and the history is rich to read about.

shave

meme

• Brush: Zenith MOARBoar #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Blackland Blackbird Titanium
• Blade: Kai
• Shave Soap:Declaration Grooming / Chatillion Lux Le Petite Prairie shave soap
• Post Shave: Noble Otter/Declaration Grooming/House of Mammoth - Cerebus aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Declaration Grooming / Chatillion Lux ale Petite Prairie EDP

What a miserable shave today accounts for. My family tries for a post reflective of our efforts moving forward towards dual citizenship but meets barriers unnecessarily

shave

• Brush: Zenith MOARBoar #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Merkur 34C
• Blade: Gillette Perma Sharp
• Shave Soap: Southern Witchcraft - Boonana shave soap
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcraft - Boonana aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - City on Fire

What’s scarier than a banana? A smokey banana. Just check out those bats- this has Halloween written all over it.

shave shave bowl

• Brush: Zenith B28 #OLDWORLD #HOLLOW
• Razor: Suppaparts Titanium
• Blade: Croma Diamant
• Shave Soap: Declaration Grooming - Massacre of the Innocents shave soap
• Post Shave: Declaration Grooming - Massacre of the Innocents aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - In Love With Everything

I’m going to go ahead and not lather with a sock. Suppaparts is an interesting little tool; it’s basically a poor man’s Rockwell 6 that combines four plates into one blocky head. It looks silly, but it is functional. When choosing the aggressive block, it is still moderate. The blade feel is present shamelessly. And does it give a good shave? It probably does about as good as a sock does lathering.

shave

• Brush: Zenith B28 #OLDWORLD #HOLLOW
• Razor: Suppaparts Titanium
• Blade: Croma Diamant
• Shave Soap: Declaration Grooming - Massacre of the Innocents shave soap
• Post Shave: Declaration Grooming - Massacre of the Innocents aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - In Love With Everything

If this looks familiar, it should. I misread yesterday’s challenge and did today’s twice. Whomp whomppppp

shave

• Brush: Zenith B28 #OLDWORLD #HOLLOW
• Razor: Gillette red tip
• Blade: Sharp super chrome
• Shave Soap: SpearHead Seaforth! - Heather shave soap
• Post Shave: SpearHead Seaforth! - Heather aftershave splash
• Fragrance: SpearHead Seaforth! - Heather EDP

Haiku: A red tip razor Once met a grove of fern Shark bit through stubble

shave

• Brush: Shave Prescription 28mm B11
• Razor: Tatara Nodachi #CNC
• Blade: Personna Israeli Red
• Lather: Imaginary Authors -The Soft Lawn shave soap
• Post Shave: Imaginary Authors -The Soft Lawn aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors -The Soft Lawn EDP

I can only offer the highest gratitude for our judges- especially having abused the rules for two weeks without even knowing it. I never want to inconvenience anyone, and I got a message a couple of nights ago that I had been violating the post format which makes extra work. I skipped yesterday intending, honestly, not to participate any more, not out of malice for being called out, but because I know I’m just a dude and I’ve missed a few shaves and I don’t want to make extra work for the seriously fantastic group of guys that do this each year.

So before our walk this morning I spritzed a couple sprays of Soft Lawn on, and carried on downstairs. My daughter stopped- looked at me- and then said “Daddy, what did you do? You smell good.”

That’s what this is all about. Respecting yourself a bit so you can bring joy to others. This might even be my new favorite scent.

Judge team, props to you guys for dealing with morons like me that think we have copy pasted appropriately but goof up even simple things. You guys rock.

shave lather

• Brush: Summer Break Soaps 28mm B10
• Razor: Merkur 34c
• Blade: Gillette Perma Sharp
• Lather: u/frankieivfingers meets Barrister & Mann Latha Osmanthus
• Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps - Homecoming aftershave splash
• Fragrance: Southern Witchcraft - Gravefruit II trial run sampler

U/visceralwatch - a few years ago you invited me to IRC to join the community. I remember my first few days and getting kicked out for being silent as not knowing what to say. But that was a great way to introduce me to some people I would easily call friends despite having never met.

U/frankieivfingers - this shave was for all the times we trade our tea olive tree blossom pics despite the IRV caring much less about gardening. Thanks for taking the time for this special shave

U/rocket455 - you gave me this awesome shave handle and splash for winning your AA competition a few years ago. This handle holds my favorite gelly brush B10. While you took my money to place it, so are not officially part of the challenge for the day, thank you Declaration Grooming for the awesome contributions you have brought to each of us in this community.

U/phteven - you rocked Gravefruit twice. The first was with a great partner, the second was uniquely yours. Thank you for involving us in your work.

The merkur was from my first r/wetshave Christmas in July. I am uncertain who gifted it as it was a while ago, but this razor truthfully has brought me more favorable shaves than any I have ever bought myself. Thank you for this wonderful razor.

shave

• Brush: Summer Break Soaps 28mm B10
• Razor: Merkur 34c
• Blade: Gillette Perma Sharp
• Lather: Barrister & Mann - Vespers shave soap
• Post Shave: Barrister & Mann -Vespers aftershave splash
• Fragrance: none- why ruin the scent?

This shave is so, so good. I think I’m going to start this soap at Thanksgiving this year and wear it every day.

shave